Chapter 4
CHAPTER 4
MEREDITH
" P lease, I'm sorry," I begged, tears streaming down my cheeks.
"Sorry? If it weren't for you, your mother would still be here!" my father shouted, spittle flying from his alcohol tinged lips.
Why wasn't Gray here? Why'd he leave me alone with him?
"I didn't ? —"
The air was knocked out of me as his open palm struck me, my cheek stinging as my head snapped to the side.
I slid down the kitchen cabinet, the shakes setting in as he towered over me with all the wrath of an unhinged, drunken man.
This man was the dark side of my father, the side hidden behind closed doors.
"Worthless," he spat as he reached down.
I whimpered as he yanked me to my feet, raising his hand yet again.
This time, his hand closed into a fist, and fear sliced through me.
He'd never punched me before. Slapped, pushed around, verbally berated.
I sobbed, which only seemed to anger him more as his fist came down, crunching into my cheek and sending me sprawling across the floor.
A harsh kick followed, winding me even more as my world swam, pain coursing through me as I curled in on myself.
"Daddy, please…"
"You're a waste of space!"
I squeezed my eyes shut, awaiting another blow, only to hear the kitchen door fly open.
"What the ? —"
Gray's voice cut through the panic and fear gripping me, and I dared to look, in time to see Leo appearing beside my father, his hand wrapping around my father's wrist like a vice.
The rage in Leo's eyes was unlike anything I'd ever witnessed from him, and his lip was pulled back into a snarl as Grayson was beside me in an instant.
I jolted awake, my father's furious, twisted face still vivid in my mind. The memory had been so clear – his alcohol-fueled rage, the pain of his blows, the terror. Then Leo and Grayson bursting in, Leo's face transforming into something terrifying as he saw what was happening.
My chest constricted as my eyes shot around, each breath becoming harder than the last. The room was too dark, too unfamiliar. Where was I? What was going on? The sheet was tangled around me, holding me prisoner in this foreign bed. I couldn't?—
"Meredith." Leo's voice cut through the panic, and suddenly he was there, pulling me into his lap. "Focus on my voice. Tell me what you can smell."
I sucked in ragged breaths, my hair plastered to my face as he held me tight, his strong arms providing some sense of safety.
I buried my face in his neck, inhaling deeply as my body shook. "Your cologne. Something woodsy and... you." My voice was raspy as I tried to focus, my heart thundering violently in my chest. I drew in another shaky breath as I nuzzled into him, letting his scent fill my nostrils.
"Good. What do you hear?"
"Your breathing." The steady breaths were grounding, and I tried to slow my own to match his.
"Good, focus on those things. What can you feel?"
"You. You're warm," I mumbled, my shakes starting to ease as the terror slowly drained.
His arms tightened around me, one hand running up and down my spine. "Keep breathing with me. You're safe."
The tears came then, hot and unstoppable. "I remembered something. My father, he was beating me, and you and Gray came in. You stopped him."
His breath caught now as he tensed. "What else do you remember?" The words were low, tinged with a strange unease that made my brow furrow.
"Nothing. I woke up." I lifted my head to look at him. "Why can't I remember more? I barely remember my childhood, just glimpses. Especially when it involves my dad."
"Because he wasn't a good man, Mer."
Again, the nickname he and Gray had always used when we were growing up until things changed. He'd said it when I'd first awoken last night, and again, it made a warmth bloom deep inside me.
"I know. Gray always said that, that his death was a blessing ultimately for us, we were better off," I admitted softly.
Leo's jaw clenched, but he said nothing.
Our father had passed when I was seventeen in a car accident. Although everything involving his death was a blank memory of mine. I barely recalled the funeral, except that that was when Leo had become more distant with me. He wasn't around as much after that.
We'd lost both our parents, Gray and I, now orphans. Thankfully, my father had left everything to Gray in his will, and he'd split it with me. My father had always blamed me for my mother's death when I was just a baby. From what I'd gathered from Gray, it had seemed like she'd developed postpartum depression, and wound up overdosing on sleeping pills.
Something my brother made sure to drill into me wasn't my fault, no matter what my father said. A part of me had tried so hard to believe him, while the other part heeded my father's nasty words.
"He hated me," I whispered, and Leo sighed as he shifted us so we could watch the sunrise through his floor-to-ceiling windows, the sky painting itself in pinks and oranges.
"He was not worthy of being called your dad. Not with how he treated you." Leo's voice was oddly tender, and I closed my eyes, finding too much comfort in his embrace right now.
Who was this man? This was not the Leo I knew. The cold, calculated Leo who was always so busy, too work oriented to even date from what Gray told me. I'd started to think he was sociopathic or something with his lack of emotions, but this was a whole other side of him he was revealing.
A side I quite liked.
Who also seemed to have a very distinct belief on who was worthy of me too at this point.
His fingers found their way into my hair, gently working through the tangles. The rhythmic motion was soothing, and I found myself drifting off once more, feeling safer than I had for quite a while. Every now and then, I'd stir, only sleeping lightly in his arms.
He didn't move, only continued to stroke my hair, as if it was the only thing that mattered.
The sharp ring of his phone tore me from my shallow slumber, the familiar ringtone making a smile touch my lips.
Heat flooded my cheeks as I scrambled off his lap, wondering how much time had passed. The sunrise was long since past, daylight flooding in through the windows. Leo's expression was unreadable as he answered.
"Yes?" His tone was clipped. "No, she's fine... Yes, Gray, I'll let her know." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "She said she was out of town, so, she didn't want to bother her." He glanced at me and nodded. "Got it."
When he hung up, he focused on me fully. "Have you checked your phone?"
"It's on silent." I retrieved it from the bedside table, groaning at the missed calls from Sofia, then an array of texts from her. "Gray told her?"
"She was worried."
I scrolled through the texts, deliberately ignoring the ones from Logan. Sofia's messages grew increasingly frantic until the last one.
Gray finally told me where you are. Call me!!!
As if on cue, my phone lit up with her call.
"Sof—"
"Where the hell have you been? Are you okay? Gray said you're with Leo fucking Donati? What happened with Logan? I'm coming to see you right now. You can come to mine."
Sof had always had a strange dislike of Leo, although she had never elaborated why, something to do with how her family's business had clashed with his at one point.
"She's not leaving the penthouse today." Leo's voice was firm, having overheard Sof's loud voice through my speaker. "Enforced rest and relaxation."
"Was that him?" Sofia demanded. "Put him on."
I held the phone out to Leo, who took it with a slight eye roll. "Sofia."
Whatever she said made his lips twitch. "She's not leaving here. She's safe with me." His icy eyes looked bored with the conversation already. "Yes, you can come here. Bring her some clothes." He listened for a moment before relaying the building's address. "Upper penthouse. Roman will escort you up."
Leo handed the phone back to me, then rose from the bed and moved toward the door. "Breakfast is on the way. Go shower – there's a robe in the bathroom you can use."
"Mer?" Sofia's voice drew my attention back. "I'll be there in an hour. And honey? I'm so sorry about Logan. But maybe being with Leo isn't the worst thing right now."
I watched Leo's retreating form, remembering how it felt to be held by him. "Yeah," I whispered. "Maybe it's not."
The robe Leo mentioned was black silk, probably worth more than my entire wardrobe. I cinched it tight, trying not to dwell on how he'd held me this morning.
Not to mention that memory of my father. I knew he'd been bad news from the few fragmented memories I had, but that harsh one had hit hard.
When I emerged from the bathroom, the smell of coffee and pastries filled the air. Leo stood at the kitchen counter, dressed in navy blue suit, looking completely on point despite me having been in the bathroom. Was there another one I didn't know about where he'd freshened up and slicked his hair? Or did he just wake up looking like a male model daily?
The dangerous businessman was back, no trace of the man who'd held me through my panic attack.
I shoved the thoughts aside as I strode towards the kitchen.
"Sit," Leo commanded, sliding a takeaway cup of coffee across the marble counter. "Two sugars, splash of cream."
I blinked, surprised. "You remember how I take my coffee?"
His only response was to open a box from my favorite bakery, revealing an assortment of pastries. Right. The man who remembered my love of eggnog ice cream would naturally remember my coffee preference too. But all of this, things I may have told him in passing or he'd taken note of over the years, it was impressive, and oddly sweet.
"About earlier..." I started, picking up a chocolate croissant.
"Don't." His tone was firm but not unkind. "You needed someone. I was there."
"Right."
His eyes met mine, something dark and unreadable in their depths. Before he could say anything else, the intercom buzzed by the fridge.
"Ms. Savoca is here," Roman's voice came through the speaker.
Leo turned and pressed a button. "Send her up."
"She's early," I noted, glancing at the clock.
"She's worried." He moved toward the entrance. "As she should be."
The elevator doors opened directly into the penthouse, revealing Sofia in all her whirlwind glory. She carried several bags and looked ready to wage war.
"Mer!" She dropped the bags and rushed to hug me. "Oh honey, Gray told me. That bastard Logan, I'll kill him myself."
Over her shoulder, I saw Leo's lips twitch. "I'll leave you two to talk."
"Oh no you don't," Sofia called after him. "We need to discuss some things. Gray mentioned?—"
"Sofia." Leo's warning tone cut her off.
Something passed between them, some unspoken communication that made me wonder exactly what Gray had told her.
"Right," she mumbled, then turned back to me. "I brought clothes and toiletries. My spare laptop too in case you can't make it into the office Monday." She gave Leo a pointed look.
"She needs to focus on herself," Leo stated, as if that settled everything.
"And you're going to ensure that?" Sofia's tone was challenging, but there was something else there too. Something knowing.
Leo's jaw ticked. "I have meetings. Roman will be downstairs if you need anything. Use the intercom in the kitchen to contact him."
"Okay," I said softly.
"Meredith." He paused at the elevator. "Stay in the penthouse."
It wasn't a request.
As soon as the doors closed behind him, Sofia rounded on me. "Spill. Everything. Starting with why you're in his robe and?—"
"Sof!" Heat flooded my cheeks. "It's not like that. He's just... helping."
She snorted, grabbing a pastry. "Honey, Leo Donati doesn't 'just help' anyone. Even if you guys are supposedly like family, getting you to stay here with him? In his penthouse? That's a big thing for someone like him. Now tell me what happened with Logan, and why you're really here."
I took a deep breath, wondering how much I should share. The memory of my father, Leo's protective embrace, the way he'd known exactly how to calm my panic... Was it really such a big deal with him bringing me back to his place? My brother had been fine with it.
"I found him in bed with someone from his work," I finally said, and Sofia's face twisted into hatred.
I couldn't help but be glad to have her here with me. I needed my best friend right now.