“DAD.” I stood up when they brought him out. But he didn’t look at me right away, just glanced my way, then lowered his head as he walked with a limp toward the barrier.
He was hurt, badly. His eye was swollen, his lips bleeding. The sight of that hit me hard. “Jesus.”
He forced a smile as he sat. “It’s okay, Ry.” He nodded at a chair, urging me to do the same.
“Did they do that to you?” I whispered, unable to take my eyes off his face. His poor, beautiful face.
“It’s nothing I can’t handle,” he said as tears welled in my eyes. “Hey.” He leaned closer to the divider. “Look at me.”
Through the sheen of tears, I did.
“It’s nothing I can’t handle. Now I need for you to do the same.”
My voice trembled, still I held it in. “T-they told you? Told you about the house?”
He just nodded and licked his lips before meeting my gaze. “Your mom’s gonna do her best to keep you protected until I get out of here and figure all this out.”
Protected? Fear found me, so it had been them…the Rossis. Shit, this was worse than I’d thought. “When, dad? When will that be?”
“I don’t know, princess.” He licked his split lip, fixing me with a desperate gaze. “But I need you to know, I’d never do anything to put you or your mom in danger.” He pulled away as pain dulled his gaze. “I just wouldn’t.”
“Who was it?” I clenched my fists. “Tell me, tell me and I’ll…”
He saw me then, saw the way my body shook and my hatred raged, and gave a hint of a smile, even with his busted lips. “What? You gonna pay them a visit, my little lioness? You always were more like me than your mother.”
And in an instant, his smile faltered and sadness consumed that flicker as the guard behind him called out. “Time, Castlemaine.”
He gave a nod and rose. I followed, standing before I caught the reflection of my face in the divider, then reached up and pulled down the side of my hair.
“Be careful out there, princess,” dad called, his gaze moving to the birthmark on my face. “Stay strong. I’ll be out of here soon enough.”
“Castle!” the guard barked. I jerked my gaze toward him and glared.
But it didn’t matter what I wanted, in here my dad didn’t exist. He was a nobody, just another inmate, one who had to obey the rules.
“Give my love to your mother, princess. Tell her I’m thinking of her,” dad said before he turned and walked away, disappearing through the door, leaving me behind.
I punched my fist against the glass, drawing a savage glare from a guard, before I turned and stormed toward the door to the hallway. The sun glared, blinding me for an instant, until I saw the sleek Mercedes waiting in the parking lot. Creed Banks was a nice guy, for some kind of lawyer. He’d taken us in and given us somewhere to stay for the last two days, had even taken us shopping for clothes and necessities. But I didn’t want to stay there, not in his house with his three sons I’d spied from the doorway of the bedroom where I was staying.
Not just a bedroom…the storeroom, remember?
That voice in my head whispered as I crossed the parking lot, yanked open the back door, and slid inside, instantly blasted by the cool air-conditioned air.
“Dad asked about you.” I glared toward the passenger seat, but was met with silence.
Mom just stared straight ahead, even as Creed glanced her way, then looked over his shoulder to me. “I’m glad you got to see him. I’m sure he needed that.”
“He would’ve liked to see his wife more.”
But she said nothing, just dropped her head and cried. She wasn’t the same since dad had been arrested, nonresponsive, broken. I winced. “Mom, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She reached behind the seat for my hand. “Next time, huh?”
“Okay.” I grabbed her hand and squeezed.
“That’s the way.” Creed gave me a wink before he put the car into gear and pulled out of the parking lot.
It was over an hour’s drive back to the city. An hour when I sat back in the seat and replayed dad’s words to me.
I’ll get out, princess…I’ll get out.
He had to. Our family depended on it. By the time he did, mom and I would be waiting, just in a different house.
“Have you found a place yet?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Seems there’s a bit of a problem,” Creed weighed in.
“What?” I jerked my gaze to him, then back toward her.
Mom dropped her head, her voice filled with desperation. “Our bank accounts are frozen, we have nothing left.”
Nothing? But we’d just bought all new clothes…and a MacBook for school…I lifted my brand new iPhone. If we had no money, then…
I shifted my gaze to the man behind the wheel. A man who’d been a stranger less than a week ago. A man who’d just spent a small fortune on clothes and things for us.
“Then I’ll get a job,” I declared. “Whatever it takes.”
“No, Ry, you have school.”
“Fuck school, this is important.”
“Your mom’s right.”
I jerked my gaze toward Creed, biting my lips to keep from snapping back at him. It was none of his business. But the moment my anger rose, it left just as fast. This man had just spent a lot of money on us, and never once said a word about it.
Why?
Did he think I wouldn’t figure it out? Did he not want me to know about us not having any money? Shame filled me at the anger I felt. I stared at him as he drove us home…this man had gone out of his way for us…me specifically.
Taking me to see dad.
Getting me things I’d needed…and some I’d just wanted, if I was honest. There was no way my parents would’ve spent that much money on a damn laptop. But there wasn’t even a word spoken. Mom had said, “Pick out a laptop for school, whatever one you want.”
So I had…walking past the normal range and walked into the Apple section, where I’d found Creed staring at the brand new MacBooks. Fast, sleek…and so damn pretty.
He’d known.
Even then he knew we had no money, and still he’d wanted me to have something special, something that gave me a little excitement. I swallowed hard, hating myself for the anger I’d felt a second ago. “Okay, I’ll stay in school.”
“We’ll figure it out, okay, princess?” mom said, her voice strained.
By the time we got back to the house, it was growing dark. The parking spaces out front were empty and for some reason, a wave of relief hit me. It wasn’t that I didn’t like his sons, I didn’t really know them. They stayed mostly in their rooms. The sounds of gunfire and screams occasionally came out of one of their rooms on the same floor as mine.
Only one had really seen me.
My pulse sped as I remembered the encounter. His dark, brooding, sullen stare as he’d stepped out of his bedroom wearing nothing but cut-off gray sweats that hung low on his hips. Hate raged in his eyes the minute he saw me. I just looked at the floor and hurried past, praying to God he hadn’t seen me…
I reached up and touched the mark on my cheek, praying he hadn’t seen that.
He would…eventually.
I closed my eyes, knowing he’d snigger and laugh, and mentally prepared myself for the taunts that’d come.
They always did.
You look like you just got slapped, Castlemaine, obviously not hard enough.
They made fun of me. Everyone did. I swallowed hard and pressed my fingers to my cheek, wishing for the millionth time I’d been born normal. Why couldn’t I just be normal?
‘Home,’ Creed murmured, drawing my gaze as we turned into the driveway.
I lifted my gaze to the gorgeous house as panic raced inside me. ‘For now,’ I muttered, and released my seatbelt as we pulled into the garage.
Creed braked, then switched off the engine. “I’m feeling like a pizza tonight.”
“Oh?” Mom glanced his way, a hint of a smile on her lips as she climbed out and glanced my way. “That’s Ry’s favorite food.”
“Really?” He cut a glance my way as he closed his door. “That true?”
“Yeah.” I hated how my belly tightened at the words. “It’s okay.”
“Just okay, huh? I know of a place that does the best grilled chicken and bacon. The cheese…oh, man. Stringy, sharp, just oozing as you lift it to your mouth.”
My own watered as he spoke. I licked my lips. “Yeah. I could go for a pizza.”
He smiled, then gave mom a sly wink. “How about you run upstairs and get ready and I’ll order it for an hour, sound good to you?”
In an hour I could start to set up my new MacBook. Excitement hummed inside me. “Yeah, that’s perfect.”
He strode to the interior door and opened it, motioning me through. “Sounds like a date to me. It’ll be good having you and your mom here, I won’t tend to eat so much. I love pizza,” he said, as he looked down and slapped his hand against his hard stomach. “Although the waistline doesn’t.’
I gave a shrug and slipped past. ‘You look fine…for an old guy.’
“Old?” he growled as I quickened my steps, fighting the smile on my lips. “Why, you little…’ he growled, playfully pretending a grab at me.
And just like that, the heaviness of the prison slipped away.
I climbed the stairs and made my way to my bedroom. Even the house felt different. Lighter, emptier. Almost like…home.
Home.
I swallowed, my fleeting smile slipping away. It was almost a betrayal. Almost like I wanted to leave it all behind, the frequent fighting…the constant worrying, the numerous lies. I’d heard it all from the cracked open door of my bedroom.
I swallowed hard and opened the door to the new bedroom, and stopped. It was empty…I glanced at the clear space now at the end of the bed. All the machines were gone. “What?” I stepped inside and closed the door behind me, moving around the room. The indentations on the carpet were still there. But apart from the bed and a dresser next to it, the room was bare.
I glanced over my shoulder. They’d done this? Came in and cleared out all their mother’s things?
I didn’t know how I felt about that. Sad. Happy that I could at least walk around the other side of the bed without stubbing my damn toe. I glanced at the corner where the stack of paperwork and the bereavement cards hidden underneath had been, and found they too were gone.
Like they hadn’t been there at all.
Something else was different, though. I glanced at the bed, conjuring the memory of where everything had been. My gaze went to the MacBook first, on my pillow, then my clothes…and stilled at the crumpled ball of my panties. Fear coursed through me. I stepped closer, picking them up and they expanded in my hands.
Creases in the fabric.
What the hell were they doing touching my underwear?
Maybe they fell. Maybe they knocked the bed as they moved the machines out and they picked them up before tossing them onto the bed. I glanced at where I was sure they’d been buried under the pile of new clothes I’d grabbed, and pushed the thought out of my mind.
It didn’t matter. I tossed them to the side and flopped down on the bed, reached for my new laptop, and spent the rest of the time pulling it out of the box, hooking it up to charge, and deciding my settings, then I loaded a pretty image of a purple butterfly on the screen before the heavy thud of footsteps drew my attention.
My pulse thundered as the sound stopped on the landing outside my room. I pushed the Mac from my lap and rose, but then a beep came from a cell and the heavy thud of steps drifted back down the stairs.
I stepped closer as the thump of the front door closing sounded.
“Dinner, Ryth!” Creed called.
I opened the door, my gaze moving along the landing to their rooms. The doors were closed, no sounds of gunfire. Peace. I made my way down the stairs as the heady scent of cheese and deliciousness hit me.
“Oh man, that smells…” I began as I stepped into the dining room, and froze.
They were all there…all three of them.
Three grown men as well as Creed…and Mom, staring at me.
“Delicious,” the deep growl came from the broody one who was glaring at me.
“What?” I jerked my gaze toward him.
But he didn’t answer, just glared, those dark eyes glinting.
“The pizza,” one of the others stepped forward and lifted his arm over the broody asshole’s shoulders. “It’s Tobe’s favorite.” He slipped his arm free then, taking a step closer. “I’m Caleb, this is Nick.” He jerked his head toward the other, who just leaned against the wall and watched with his arms crossed against his chest. “And you already know the moody one, Tobias.”
I licked my lips, met each piercing gaze, and nodded as Caleb’s gaze went to my cheek.
No!
Panic ripped through me as I jerked my hand up, tugged my hair low, and turned away.
“Guys,” Creed murmured. “How about we sit?”
“I’ll stand,” Tobias declared.
I felt his stare as I moved away from them, made my way around the other side of the long dining table, and took a seat toward the end, but still close enough to reach the food.
“Ryth, honey,” Mom called, and stretched over the open boxes of pizza and mountain of garlic bread, coleslaw, and sides as she reached for a plate. “Sit closer.”
The two other guys sat, barely glancing my way. But I couldn’t move, my cheeks burning with humiliation. A couple of growls erupted as pieces were snatched, bites were taken, and conversation filled the air. They even chattered to my mom, asking about the fire.
I lifted my head and took a plate when mom passed it to Caleb, and gestured to me. He gave me a smile and a wink as he handed it over and, for the first time since I’d stepped into the dining room, I allowed myself to breathe.
They weren’t that bad.
I glanced at Nick, who watched me, then forced a smile. One I faintly returned as I grabbed a slice of pizza and bit.
“So…damn…good,” Creed groaned from the head of the table, and grinned as he glanced my way. “What do you think, Rye?”
Rye?
“Good.” I chewed and took another bite, tracking the movement from the corner of my eye as Tobias strode toward the table, yanked out a chair next to me, and sat.
They all tried not to look his way, even as mom smiled at the others and helped herself to more food than I’d ever seen her eat before.
All of a sudden, it felt almost normal. Food, friends…apart from the glaring asshole who dragged his focus from my breasts to my eyes as he took a massive bite of his pizza and chewed.
