Page 60 of Slaying for Santa

I can’t make fucking sense of things.

Taking a steadying breath, I try to analyse the scene.

Then my eyes land on the fragile, trembling form of my little girl, huddled in the corner, wielding a fucking knife.

“Libs!” I almost fucking cry, reaching up to tug off my mask so she can see it’s me. “It’s me, sweetie.”

Those big doe eyes shoot up and lock with mine, fear bursting from them in the form of tears as her lower lip wobbles.

“D-daddy?”

I step further into the room, bending to lay my gun on the ground before raising my hands in front of me in a calming gesture.

“Yes, Libi. It’s me. Daddy.”

A sob lurches from her before she lets the bloody knife tumble to the floor and runs for me.

I meet her more than halfway, catching her as she leaps at me, her guttural cries nearly breaking me as I finally hold her in my arms.

“Shhh. It’s okay. Daddy has you. You’re safe now.”

Her cries don’t ease, her little arms so tight around my neck that it’s entirely possible she might choke me out soon.

With my hands clutching her to my chest, I quickly study the space again, my gaze snapping to Ghost, who is no longer crushing Bell to the floor but is hovering over her as he speaks to her quietly.

The fuck happened down here?

“Is she alright?” I ask Ghost while Wildcard moves past me to lower to his haunches on Bell’s other side.

“It’s okay, Bell,” he rasps, lifting her blood-soaked hand in his. “Libi is safe.”

She mutters something I can’t understand, which is when I notice her hand flop back against the floor with a thud and Wes darts a concerned gaze my way.

“She’s taken a beating and… they drugged her.”

Those three words have my heart sinking.

They drugged her.

The Serpents drugged Bell.

Bell, who is a recovering addict.

Bell, who had been sober for nine hundred and twenty days.

Fuck.

Standing, Ghost turns to me, but my eyes move past him to land on Bell, finally giving me a better look.

She’s a mess. Her dress is torn. Her hair is a frazzled mess. Her eye makeup is smeared. And she’s covered in blood.

“Has she been stabbed?” I snap, and Ghost shakes his head.

“Not her blood.” He points to the dead body on the floor to our left and then to the door, indicating to the hallway.

Shit.

She did that. She killed those men for Libi. For me.