Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Gigi
The voice coming through the phone wipes away every other problem as my body starts to shut down.
I’ve lived under near constant fear for three years. Vigo was volatile and abusive, and I never relaxed. Hearing his voice sends me into flight mode. “Vigo.”
“You fucking little whore!” he screams into the phone. “Did you think I wouldn’t find you? Did you think I wouldn’t make you come back?” Then he gives a harsh laugh. “Did you think he would protect you?”
A small cry falls from my lips. Rush isn’t going to protect me. How did my world fall apart so fast?
One minute I’m in Rush’s arms and the next…
“Are you fucking him? You had better not be or you have not begun to know pain, you little bitch. You are fucking mine, Giulia. Mine!” He’s screaming now. “If that British prick has had his cock inside you, I am going to make you wish you were never born.”
Sobbing, I pull the phone from my ear as I try to push myself up. I have to go. I have to get Emma and we have to run.
“You come back right now, and I’ll make it easy for you. But if you don’t—” I can hear his teeth gnashing together, even with the phone away from my ear. “I’m going to take your little girl, and you will never, ever see her again.”
And then he hangs up.
I can barely catch my breath, my eyes completely blurred with tears. I’m crawling toward my bedroom.
I need to get some things, get Emma…
And go where?
I can’t just run onto the street with a three-year-old.
Lifting my phone again, I pull up the call list, my eyes blurring with tears as I go to press Erika’s name. I have no idea what to do, but I know she’ll have answers.
The line clicks. I know she’s in the office.
“Erika,” I gasp, speaking so she doesn’t have to.
Even as I’m trying to hold back the tears, I push out the words, “I don’t know how, but he found me.
He found me. He says if I don’t come back, he’s going to take Emma, and I’ll never see her again.
” Another sob rips from my throat. “I don’t know what to do. ”
“Don’t move.” But it’s not Erika’s voice that echoes in my ear. It’s Rush’s.
“Rush,” I half choke on his name before I hang up the phone.
My chest is heaving as I melt to the floor, pressing my face against the cold tile. How did I just make this worse?
I stare at the phone still in my hand when the door bangs open. Did I not lock it?
I scream, thinking it might be Vigo, come to make good on his threats. But it’s Rush who fills the door.
He’s got a bat in his hand, and I stare at it, trying to understand. But as he catches sight of me, he drops it on the floor.
He doesn’t say a word as he kicks the door closed, and then crosses to me, pulling me off the floor and cradling me in his arms.
He just fired me. He’s the last person I should seek comfort in, because I know whatever we had before is gone, but for just a moment, I sink into him, burrowing my face into his chest as another sob breaks from my lips.
He holds me closer, his mouth pressing to my forehead. “Hush, sweetheart.”
I tip my head back, looking up at him. Even through the tears, I can see something is wrong with his face. Is that why he was carrying a bat? “What happened to you?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he answers, as he sits on the couch, settling me in his lap. “What matters is that you trust that I will protect you. I promised you, remember? He will never touch you again.”
“But…” I try to sit up, but he holds me in place. “You fired me. I…”
He grimaces. “You are Vigo Sinclair’s ex-wife. You are divorced, right?”
“Of course I’m divorced,” I say as I try to wiggle from his grip.
He doesn’t let me. “So you changed your name and hid your identity to…”
“Protect my daughter,” I cry, actually feeling hurt and annoyed. How can he not know that about me?
“Try to understand, Gigi. You lied. And you have a past with my worst problem.”
That deflates my anger.
“I’m not even sure I can trust you’re telling me the truth now.”
I choke on my own tears, understanding more than I want to how right his position is. I have lied to him, he has no reason to trust me.
I look away, as a knock sounds on the door. Everything in me tenses and I move to roll off Rush and hide.
He holds me firm against him as he calls out, “Who is it?”
“It’s Gris.”
He gets up then, gently setting me down, as he moves to the door and opens it.
Gris steps inside and hands Rush his phone. I have no idea what’s happening, but I can’t even worry about it. Whatever is on that phone can’t be worse than what’s happening in my life right now.
So I curl into the cushions, my cheek pressed to the fabric as I close my eyes. Somehow more tears drip off my lashes and track down my cheeks.
“Gigi,” Rush calls to me, his voice soft. Easy. I don’t open my eyes. “Look at me, baby.”
I squeeze my eyes shut instead. “Killian said that he’d help?—”
“Killian is not helping you.” My eyes pop open as my cry fills the room. Rush stands in front of me, looking down at me with a ferocity that should scare me. “I am.”
“Rush,” I breathe, my eyes going wide with confusion. “What do you mean?”
But he doesn’t get a chance to answer.
In the building, an alarm sounds.
I stand, absolute panic making my muscles, weak a moment ago, now rigid. “What is that?”
“Lockdown,” Gris answers with a frown. “I wonder why?—”
But I shoot up from my spot, the fear that moves through me like lightening in a storm. “Emma!”
I don’t wait for either man as I race toward the door and throw it open, grabbing the bat as I go.
I’m running like I’ve never run in my heels before. Racing toward the elevator.
But even in my fear, I can see something is wrong. The numbers at the top are completely dark.
I make this guttural noise deep in my throat, as I skid to a stop, pressing the down button. But nothing happens. It doesn’t light up, the elevator doesn’t work.
I press it again and then again.
“It won’t work,” Rush says as he reaches my side.
But I don’t listen. Giving up on the button, I bang my open hand on the door again. “Emma,” I cry, hitting the door harder. “Emma!”
Then I raise the bat. I’ll break it down if I have to.
“Sweetheart,” Rush pulls me into his arms again, pulling the bat from my hands, even as I fight. “Emma’s safe.”
“No,” I push at his chest. “It’s him. I know it’s him. He said he’d take her and I’d never see her. Emma.” Every word gets higher pitched, more frantic as I cry, my knees starting to buckle. This is my worst nightmare come to life. My baby girl taken and I can’t do a thing…
Rush tightens his grip on me. “Killian went to fetch Emma ten minutes ago. She’s safe with him, I promise.”
The words have barely registered when the door to the emergency stairwell opens, Killian appearing with Emma in his arms.
Rush finally lets me go, but I’m so relieved, I sink to the floor, opening my arms, as Emma wiggles out of Killian’s grasp and races to me.
I fold her into my embrace, the relief stealing the rigidity from every muscle as I curl around her. “M&M,” I breathe. “I was so worried.”
“I’m fine,” Emma chirps. “Uncle Lian says I can play with my dolls now.”
And then she wiggles from my grasp, running toward the apartment. “Uncle Lian come see what Rush got for me,” she calls over her shoulder. “It’s so great!”
“I’ll be right there,” Killian calls back, but his eyes are on me. He squats down, low so our gazes are level.
He doesn’t speak until Emma disappears into our apartment. “But first, I want you to tell everyone how Emma got those marks on her back.”