CHAPTER 8 #3
I nodded again, then watched him leave. He closed the door behind him and instantly tears started falling down my cheeks.
I moved to shut off the taps of the bath and almost cried out as agony tore through my core.
It was still wet with blood between my legs and the pain seemed unbearable.
My head was throbbing angrily too and I felt weaker and more broken than I had ever felt in my life.
I had always been a fighter, but over the years that fight inside of me had been dwindling more and more as the obstacles just became harder and harder to get over, and put behind me.
Now the last of my fight was gone and I just felt defeated, utterly, and completely.
I didn’t have anything left to fight for, and I didn’t give a damn about fighting for myself.
Slowly and with an overwhelming amount of pain I managed to get out of my clothes.
The soles of my feet stung with every step, and the tears refused to stop flowing, but I managed to lower myself into the warm water of the bubble filled tub.
I half laughed, half sobbed at the amount of bubbles surrounding me.
I had never had a single bubble bath since I left Rafe, and my home all those years ago.
It seemed fitting that it should all end in one now.
DARIO
“Here mate.” I turned and nodded to Brax who handed me a clean t-shirt.
I was in his room. He’d suggested I go with him to clean up and I had agreed.
I was covered with blood. We’d be lucky if no one called the police on me, because they surely had to have seen me walk through the lobby, despite the fact I’d had Dom’s coat covering most of me.
Thankfully, it had been in the boot of the car, but it hadn’t been enough to cover all of the blood in which I was drenched.
“Cheers.” I took the shirt and pulled it on.
I’d taken a shower and shampooed my hair three times to get out all of the fragments of that bastard’s face.
I looked like I was back to myself, but I didn’t feel it.
Inside I was raging still and desperate to hit something else.
If only Brax and Rafe hadn’t killed the fuckers they’d been dealing with, I could have torn them to pieces too.
I wasn’t a good man. I knew that. Rafe knew it too.
We had both been forced to do things when we were younger that could never leave us good men.
We’d got our hands dirty plenty since then too.
It was the cost of the business we were still mixed up in.
Threats came and you had to deal with them.
Issues arose and blood was the only answer criminals respected and understood.
No, we weren’t good men, but I had never in my life lost control the way I had that night.
Something overcame me when I saw that fucker on top of Cara, raping her.
She’d been beaten too, and she was crying out, begging him to stop.
I just lost it. Once I started hitting him, I couldn’t stop, and even after I knew he was dead I started kicking him, unable to rein in the rabidness that had overtaken me.
I told myself it was because Cara was family. I tried to convince myself I’d lost it like that because I knew Cara when she was a kid, and I felt the need to protect her after what she had already been through, but it was more than that and I knew it.
I wouldn’t admit it, mainly because Rafe would likely kill me for even thinking it, but I was drawn to Cara since the first moment I saw her hiding in that wardrobe in her apartment.
She had become a beautiful woman, with her wide eyes, thick lashes, sultry pouty lips, and her beautiful, porcelain pale skin.
She’d been so scared that night, and all I had wanted to do was lift her into my arms and hold her so tight no one could ever touch her again.
Then I had seen her fiery side that day too, and I loved that just as much.
She was brave, and she could defend herself.
She was strong and so tough. We’d been with her less than twenty-four hours and I knew I was falling for her already.
It was insane. I’d never even had a real relationship.
I had one night stands. Never more than that.
That was the way I liked things, and there I stood, having lost my mind with rage because that bastard had touched my Cara!
“I need to check on Cara,” I growled at Brax. “Get cleaned up and then back to the suite. Stay close. I have a feeling those three were there looking for Cara tonight, She’s not safe here.”
“Don’s already there and Sil is doing a sweep of the building.
We’ll make sure she’s protected,” Brax assured me.
I just gave him a nod, then left the room.
I trusted the three of them. They had worked with us for years and I knew they would willingly lay their lives on the line protecting Rafe and his sisters, just as any of us would, if it ever came to it.
I took a deep breath before I used the keycard to let myself into Rafe’s suite. I needed to get rid of the rage that was riding me hard. The last thing I wanted was to scare Cara more after what she’d been through.
I walked in and looked around. I didn’t call out – again not wanting to scare Cara.
I found Rafe sat on the floor against the en-suite door in Cara’s room.
He had his back against the door and his legs stretched out before him.
His stubble was thick, as were the smudges under his eyes.
He hadn’t slept in almost forty-eight hours, and I knew he was exhausted. I was too.
“How is she?” I asked as I sat beside him.
“Trying to be brave,” he whispered back with a strained smile. “I don’t know what to do. I think she needs a doctor.”
“I’ll arrange one. I’ll see if we can get a woman too,” I said. It tore me up to even think it, but Cara had been raped, possibly twice in almost as many days. She was going to need a doctor to check her properly this time.
“Yeah. She needs food too, and water. I can’t let her get hurt again, Dario. How did I allow that to happen?”
“We got to her as fast as we could. We can’t change what’s already done, brother.”
“I want to know who those fucker’s were! I want to know who’s doing this and then I’m going to kill every last one of them,” he seethed.
“You won’t be doing it alone. We’ll deal with them, Rafe. Every fucking one of them,” I agreed.
“She told me everything would be okay. I have to make sure it is.”
“You will. You have all of us to help you. We’ll get her through this, as a family. Everything will be okay in the end.”
“I hope so.”
“How long has she been in there?” I asked as I nodded back towards the bathroom.
“A while. She always liked to sit in the bath for too long,” he sighed.
“Have you checked on her? Her head was bleeding? She could have a head injury?” I worried.
“CARA?” Rafe shouted instantly. He got to his feet and knocked on the door urgently, but no answer came.
“Carr? Can you hear us?” I called again, but still no answer came.
“Stand back!” Rafe ordered, then barely gave me time to jump aside before he slammed his booted foot right through the locked door handle. The door gave instantly and I rushed in.
“FUCK! CARA?” I ran to the bath and grabbed Cara under the arms, pulling her up from where she had been submerged under the water.
“She’s not opening her eyes!” Rafe panicked.
“Get her on the floor,” I said, much calmer than I felt on the inside. As soon as she was laid flat on the ground I felt for her pulse, but felt nothing, so I started trying to resuscitate her.
Dante, Rafe, and I had all taken a first aid course together when Gia was seven.
She’d almost choked on a fucking grape and if my Mum hadn’t been there to save her, I don’t know what would have happened.
After that we all wanted to know the basics, just in case.
Thankfully, we’d never needed to use our skills, until that moment.
“Cara? Wake up for me,” Rafe pleaded as he held her head between his hands and leaned in close to her.
“Come on!” I gasped as I thrust my interlocked hands against her heart over and over again, trying to recall the stupid rhythm I was supposed to be using.
Just when I was starting to lose hope and my God-damn mind, she finally took in a small breath, then swung to the side and spit up a few mouthfuls of water. Rafe lifted her so she was leaning against him and held her close as she fought to get the water up and breathe.
“Thank fuck! Oh thank fuck! Cara?” Rafe cried. I got to my feet and grabbed one of the large white towels, leaning in to cover her body with it.
Rafe tried to pull her wet hair from her face, but he was struggling with only one hand free, the other holding onto her.
I knelt beside her and took over, gathering it all up and pushing it behind her shoulder.
She was fighting to breathe and I’d never been so grateful to hear anything in my whole life.
Not her struggling, but her breathing – knowing she was back with us.
“Jesus Christ,” Rafe gasped. “Get a doctor here Dario, right away. We need to know what the hell just happened.”
“No,” Cara sputtered. “No doctor. I…I’m okay.”
“Do you know what happened, Carr? Was your head hurting?” I asked her. I already had my cell in my hand, searching for the number of Xander King – the doctor who had been out to help Cara before.
Instead of answering me, she looked up and her wide, panicked eyes met mine, glassy with tears.
She was trembling violently and her pallid colouring was concerning.
None of that was what hit me most though.
It was the look on her face, filled with fear and turmoil so palpable I was sure I could feel it come off of her.
She looked so lost and broken, then it hit me harder than any physical blow ever could have.
“Cara, did you try to hurt yourself?” I asked gently as I ducked low to meet her gaze.
“What?” Rafe gasped, and I saw him clutch her tighter to him in fear.
“I c-can’t do it…not anymore,” Cara squeaked out. She was crying and still fighting for breath, clutching onto the arm her brother had wrapped around her with everything she had left. “I….I’m so tired.”
I looked up to Rafe and the only thing I saw in his face was what I was feeling too – utter panic. I had no idea what to do to help Cara now, but I knew we had to do something.
“You can’t give up now, not when we’ve only just found each other again. You said you were going to give me a chance,” Rafe said to her, and once again he sounded completely devastated.
“I don’t want to be scared any more, Raffy. I’m s-so sorry,” she whimpered shakily.
“Nor do I want you to be. You’re safe now, sweetheart. If you’ll just stop running away from me, I can protect you the way I always should have.”
Cara just seemed to slump against Rafe completely, as though she didn’t have the strength to keep herself upright.
She started to sob and I tried to understand what she was going through.
But that was impossible. We had no idea what she had been through since the day Isabella ran with her.
We didn’t know what the rest of her childhood had been like, though I had a good idea that it hadn’t been good.
Then, just the last few days she had possibly been raped before or after witnessing the murder and dismemberment of her mother, then seen her brother, who she feared terribly, for the first time in years.
She’d run, we’d terrified her again by trying to stop her, then those fucking bastards had cornered her in that car park and raped her again.
She hadn’t slept nearly enough, hadn’t eaten, and was most likely dehydrated again too.
No wonder she was struggling to think straight.
“Cara. Dr. King left some sleeping pills for you when he was here. I think you should take some and get some rest. You haven’t slept anywhere near enough and you’ve been through so much.
You can’t try to make important decisions right now when you’re struggling to think straight, can you?
” I suggested, keeping my tone gentle and soothing.
“Dio’s right, Tesorino. When was the last time you ate? I haven’t seen you eat once since I’ve been here, and you’re exhausted and in pain. Let’s just get you comfortable so you can rest, please?”
“I am tired,” she sniffled.
“Of course you are. Let’s get you up. I’ll help you pull some nice warm clothes on and Dio will get some food for you.
Once you’ve eaten you can try the sleeping pills and rest for a while.
How does that sound?” Rafe coaxed with just a note of his usual command that never got ignored, not even by me.
“I guess,” she shrugged. “For now anyway.”
“Good.” I let out a sigh of relief. Obviously, we needed to talk and take the fact she had literally just ended her life seriously, but it seemed unwise to do that when she was so weak and obviously right on the cusp of a cliff edge.
“I’ll run down to the restaurant and get some food.
Brax, Don, and Sil are all on watch,” I added the last for Rafe’s benefit, knowing he was worried about who had attacked Cara outside the club she worked in.
Rafe just nodded, then gathered Carr up into his arms. I helped him to straighten the towel that was covering her nakedness, then grabbed his arm as he stood with her.
“Don’t take your eyes off of her,” I uttered close to his ear, so only he would hear me, though Cara looked too out of it to have heard my words anyway.
Rafe nodded then turned to carry Cara to the bed in her room.
I watched them go, wishing I could be the one holding her and assuring her that I would keep her safe.
Instead I walked right out of the room to do as Rafe had asked me to.
Right now we needed her to trust one of us, and it was most likely going to be Rafe, because he was her brother.
No matter my growing feelings for Cara, I was going to have to step back a little so she could learn to trust Rafe.
All that truly mattered was that she was safe, mostly from herself, more than anyone else.