Page 40

Cillian

Last night when we arrived at the Garcia’s mansion, I took us to one of the guest rooms. I had our dinner brought to us; I could tell Bia was getting overwhelmed being around a ton of people. She would shuffle closer to me and hold onto me tighter.

I held her all night long as she slept. She woke up many times throughout the night crying. She had nightmares about Thalia being killed, about Tristan, and just cried out for them not to hurt her. Granted, I didn’t sleep much either, I would wake up petrified I was dreaming that I rescued her.

I wish I could take away her pain. I just held her as she cried, and I whispered how I had her and she was safe. How I promised nothing would hurt her ever again. I meant every word I said to her.

I almost feel bad how overprotective I’m going to be with her. Then again, she has been through hell and each time it has been when she was out of my sight.

Am I being unreasonable? Maybe? Do I care? Absolutely fucking not.

I’ve been awake since she had her last nightmare a few hours ago, and she is laying with her head on my chest. I hold onto her and am running my fingers up and down her back.

I can’t wait to go home. I already told Daidí I would be taking a few weeks off work. Bia needs me. I have already found her a new therapist because Maya is still in a coma. Bia needs help and the therapist can also help guide me on how to help Bia.

Knock. Knock.

I groan and carefully move Bia’s head from my chest to the pillow. She whines in protest but rolls closer to my side of the bed. She pulls my pillow to her chest and inhales deeply; she smiles and settles back down.

She is so fucking adorable. I lean down and kiss her forehead.

Knock. Knock.

Oh, for fuck's sake, I grumble to myself as I slide my sweatpants up my legs and make my way to the door. I open the door only to see Keenan’s annoyingly happy face.

I push him backward and shut the door behind me.

“What the fuck do you want?”

“To see Bia.”

“Go the fuck away, she is sleeping.”

“Wake her up so I can spend time with her before breakfast.”

“Absolutely the fuck not. She had a rough night; I’m going to let her sleep as long as she needs to.”

“You’ve been hogging her.”

“I swear, for a fucking nineteen-year-old you are a pain in my fucking ass. Leave Bia alone right now, and I’m not hogging her, I’m taking care of her; she has been through hell.”

“Bu-.”

He is cut off when Bia cries out. I ignore him, slamming the door open, and I’m at her side in a few seconds.

“Easy, little lamb, I’m right here,”

I tell her as I pick her up in my arms.

“No! Please don’t touch me. Please stop. STOP!”

she screams as she tries to fight me off her. I wrap my arms around her, holding her to me.

I put my mouth next to her ear, and I whisper, “You are okay, little lamb. You are safe, I promise.”

“NO! Don’t use his name for me. I’m not your little lamb, only Cillian’s.”

“I know you are only my little lamb, my sweet little lamb. Take a deep breath.”

I continue to whisper to her, and she slowly stops fighting me. I watch as Keenan’s eyes are wide as he watches Bia. He mouth to me that he will see me later. It takes Bia a few minutes to stop fighting me, then she finally slumps against my chest.

I hold her close as her tears drip down my chest, I don’t say anything just hold her.

“I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“I do, I’m so weak.”

“Weak? You are the farthest thing from weak. You have spent your whole life fighting and only to be in a new level of hell for months and you survived, Bia.”

“But I’m damaged. They said I’m damaged goods.”

“They are wrong. So, fucking wrong.”

“Cillian!”

“What?”

“That’s not nice to say.”

“What? Fucking?”

“Yes.”

I chuckle. “So sweet and so innocent. You are not damaged goods.”

“But I have scars. My skin is ugly.”

“I have scars all over my body too, scars do not make you ugly. Your heart makes you ugly, and you have the prettiest heart in the whole world. You are kind, loyal, sweet, and forgive those who don’t deserve it. You should hate me for what I have put you through, I wouldn’t blame you if you did.”

“You were just guarding your heart, I understand.”

“Doesn’t excuse what I did to you. I have so much to make up for.”

“You don’t have to.”

“But I do. And I plan on making them up to you for the rest of our lives.”

Knock. Knock.

“Oh, for fuck's sake. Can a man not enjoy a morning alone with his wife?”

I grumble out loud as I move Bia from my lap and march my way over to the door. I fling the door open to find my father on the other side of the door looking amused.

“Can I help you?”

“Yes, come down and eat, then we have that meeting after.”

“Bia is coming with me,”

I tell him as I cross my arms across my chest.

“Esmeralda already asked for her to be there, we are hoping she will know something that can help us. Esmeralda has spent all night talking to the other women. She left Bia alone knowing you probably would have shot anyone who tried to disturb her last night.”

“Yes, I would have, and I’m still tempted to. We will be down soon.”

“Keenan said she had a nightmare. Is she okay?”

“She will be.”

“Good,”

he says before he turns and walks down the hallway. I shut the door.

“You ready to go downstairs and eat?”

“I can stay here,”

she says as she touches her hair. I grab her clothes and my sweatshirt.

“No one will say anything to you, I promise. But, if it makes you feel better, you can wear my sweatshirt again.”

She ends up wearing my sweatshirt and stays quiet during breakfast keeping her eyes on her plate and picking at her food. I make sure to keep a hand on her, rubbing her shoulder, hugging her to my side, or holding her hand. I don’t push her to eat more, but after the meeting I will see if she will eat more when we are alone in our room.

Now we are in the mansion’s conference room I have her sitting in my lap as we talk about everything that has happened. We talk about how successful it went, and we also take a moment to mourn the men we lost.

“Over eighty percent of the women’s families have either already been here to take them home or are on their way. The others were running away from abusive family or husbands,”

Esmeralda says.

“What is going to happen to them? We can’t send them back to be abused after everything they have been through,”

a man says.

“No. I wanted to ask what your thoughts were about seeing if they would like to work for our families. Honest work like being a maid, cook, or something like that,”

Esmeralda asks.

We all agree, then Esmeralda walks over to us and crouches down to meet Bia’s eye.

“Sweet girl, would you be able to answer a few questions for us?”

“I can try.”

“Thank you, sweet girl. Many of the girls talked about the poor conditions you were kept in; moldy food and dirty water until you were moved to Morocco. Did they touch you?”

“With their hands. They said they were checking to see if I was a virgin and made comments.”

“What kind of comments, little lamb?”

I ask, running my thumb across her knuckles, taking several deep breaths trying to control the rage that is threatening to take over my body.

“Said it was tight,”

she whispered.

“Bia, that is a compliment, but one that should have never come from their lips. The only person who is allowed to say anything like that is Cillian, and only if you want him to,”

Esmeralda says, grabbing Bia’s other hand. Bia nods and Esmeralda continues to ask her questions.

“Did you hear anything about what happened to the other girls that were left behind?”

“Only that they would be going to the auction house that they deserved. The men said the auction we were at was for women with good bloodlines. Do you know where the other auction houses are? My best friend was taken, I need to find her,”

Bia says as she looks up into Esmeralda’s eyes.

“I do not, but I promise you I will look for her. What’s her name?”

“Thalia Drakos, she was one of my Grandfather’s men’s granddaughters.”

“Can you describe her for me?”

“Black hair, hazel eyes, tan, she’s the same height as me and tiny.”

Esmeralda gets busy typing away in her phone and then turns the phone around and asks Bia,

“Is this her?”

Bia nods her head.

“Okay, I promise, as I keep working to take down these sick motherfuckers, I will keep looking for her.”

“Thank you,” Bia says.

“No need to thank me, sweet girl. I want to destroy all human trafficking one day. No one deserves to be ripped away from their lives and forced to be in hell because of sick assholes.”

Bia nods and covers her mouth as she yawns. Esmeralda gives her a soft smile.

“Go rest, sweet girl. You’ve been through hell and need your sleep.”

Bia nods, and I move her head to my chest.

“Go ahead, Cillian. We don’t need you for anything else. Your Father can catch you up on what you miss.”

“Thanks Esmeralda,”

I tell her as I pick Bia up in my arms and make my way out of the room. I sit down with her in my arms. She rests her head against my chest but before she can sleep, I have one thing for her.

“Before you close your eyes, there is someone who wants to talk to you,”

I say as I call Leonidas on facetime.

“I told you, I don’t want to see…BIA!”

Leonidas says.

“Hi, Leonidas.”

“Hi, monkey.”

“I haven’t heard you call me that in a long time.”

“Well, things are changing now.”

“They are?”

“Grandfather is dead, along with many of the other high-ranking soldiers. I’m now the boss.”

“I’m sorry he’s dead, Leonidas, I know how much he meant to you.”

“I’m not sorry in the slightest bit. He deserved everything Cillian did to him. I wanted to piss on his grave for everything he did to you.”

“What?” Bia asks.

“I hadn’t told her that part yet,”

I grumble.

“You're welcome.”

The fucker looks smug as hell. If he wasn’t Bia’s brother, I would give the asshole a black eye for running his damn mouth.

“You killed him?”

Bia asks me.

“I tortured him for everything he has done to you. You finally need to feel safe, and you would never feel safe if he was still breathing.”

She surprises me when she wraps her arms around me and thanks me. I smile down at her and kiss her forehead.

“Aww, you look happy lover boy.”

“Would you fuck off, asshole?”

“Be nice Leonidas,”

She scolds him.

“Nope, I get to give my brother-in-law hell.”

Bia starts to yawn again.

“Okay, I will have her call you again soon. She needs to get her rest.”

“No, I want to keep talking to Leonidas.”

“You can after you have rested.”

“But-”

“Little lamb, I promise you can talk to him later.”

“I will come visit you in a few weeks.”

“Okay. I can’t wait.”

“Good. I will talk to you soon.”

He hangs up the call and lay us down.

“I know you have questions and I promise to answer all of them but take a nap first.”

She nods her head against my chest and her eyelids are falling closed.