Rage (Wildcats #1)

Chapter 1

DOMINIC

N ine missed calls. All from my sister Sophie.

I walked down the hallway of my office toward my cabin, checking the timing of the calls.

Two calls from around eleven in the evening and seven calls from about half an hour ago.

It was one in the morning, and my meeting with some Korean clients had run later than expected.

My phone had been on silent the whole time.

The entire office floor was empty, except for the evening cleaners, who were quietly tidying up the open kitchen area.

My sister was attending the Manhattan Center for Healing for Survivors’ charity event, which aimed to provide support and shelter for abused women. Our parents were also at the gala, representing our company, Park Real Estate Group, the largest real estate business in the US.

Ever since Dad retired, he had been going to these events with Mom to pass the time.

I preferred working in the comfort of my own office over talking and schmoozing with Manhattan’s elites.

They rarely cared about a gala’s cause and gossiped worse than my mother and her five sisters on a phone call.

I stepped into my cabin and closed the door behind me, wondering why Sophie would’ve called in the middle of the party.

Something dark and threatening churned in my gut at the seven successive missed calls from merely half an hour ago.

Just as I was about to return her call, my phone rang again, her name lighting up my screen.

I picked up the call, worry sitting heavy in my gut.

A panicked voice—not Sophie’s—screamed on the phone. “Dominic, it’s Sophie. I’ve been trying to call you for the last half an hour.”

My stomach dropped, and my hand clenched into a fist as Ashley, Sophie’s interior design firm partner, cried on the damn call.

“Ashley, what’s going on? What happened to Sophie? Where are you?” I barked, whirling around and marching toward the elevator.

A tearful, broken sound escaped her. “Hospital. We’re at the hospital.”

My feet halted as a tremor of bone-chilling fear raced down my spine.

“What the fuck happened, Ashley?”

My heart pounded in my chest, and my hands trembled as a sinking sense of impending doom washed over me. I wanted to end the call. I wanted to go back five minutes and freeze time, anything to avoid hearing what Ashley had to say. Some part deep within me knew I wasn’t ready to hear it.

“Raped. Sophie was raped. We’ve just arrived at Mount Sinai Hospital. They say it’s critical, Dominic.”

Every word from her mouth dropped like a grenade at my feet. My chest caved in as my legs gave out, and I collapsed to my knees in the middle of the office hallway.

My baby sister.

Raped .

Critical.

My stomach revolted as bile rose in my throat, and I threw up right on the floor.

Terror, unlike anything I’ve ever experienced, raced through my veins.

My vision blurred, and all thoughts left my mind.

It felt like I was caught in a free fall of disbelief and sheer horror.

My eyes stared at the blurry hand streaked with drops of water, the other still clutching the phone.

Somebody touched my sister.

I wanted to scream and break something, but my throat had closed up, and my body felt like it was being torn apart from the inside.

As if someone were digging into me and sucking out every ounce of happiness and joy and heart I’d ever experienced in this life, leaving behind nothing but agony and rage.

I stared at the phone in my hand as I leaned on the floor, my body shaking. Slowly, I raised it back to my ear. Ashley’s crying pulled me out of my spiral as she said, “Your parents are here, and they’re inconsolable. We need you, Dominic. Please hurry.”

“I’m on my way.”

My next call was to Maxim, my driver who’s been with me for the last fifteen years.

I ran to the elevator, my feet slipping slightly on my own bile, and hit the elevator button.

“Dom,” he said, his voice sharp and attentive as always.

“It’s Sophie. Get the car ready. Mount Sinai Hospital.”

“Fuck. What happened? Is she okay?” His voice rose in panic.

My voice shook as I felt wetness on my cheek. My throat closed as words refused to surface.

“Dom!” Maxim barked.

“Critical.”

The elevator dinged, then opened, and I stepped in. I stared at my reflection as the doors closed and the elevator started to go down.

A shell of a man—an utterly defeated man—stared back at me. Cheeks streaked with tears, jaw clenched tight, suit completely rumpled, and eyes completely devoid of light. He kept holding the phone to his ear even as the call cut off.

I looked back at those eyes—my eyes—and they stared back at me, full of accusation and anger. If I’d just picked up the phone the first time she called, would she have been okay? Did my neglect lead to her rape? Would she be alive when I got there?

A numb mist was pulling me under, refusing to let go of me, when a tight slap rang in my ears. My face jerked sideways as I slammed into the elevator wall. I was hauled by the collar of my shirt, and another slap rang in my ears as pain burst across my cheek.

Clarity burst through my vision as my eyes met Maxim’s.

“Snap out of it, Dominic. Everybody needs you.”

Right. My legs shook as I walked, but somehow, Maxim pushed me into the passenger seat and ran to the driver’s side. He drove like a madman, while I managed to get some words out and update him on what Ashley had told me.

My baby sister. Raped. Critical.

The car screeched to a halt right outside the front door of the hospital. I jumped out, uncaring of everyone and everything around me.

I was rushed to the top floor, thanks to Dad being there with Sophie. The moment the elevator doors opened, I ran.

The first person I saw when I reached the waiting room was Mom. She sat on a metal chair in a corner, holding her head in both hands as her shoulders shook with her sobs. My eyes met my father’s devastated ones as he held Mom in his arms.

My father looked broken. Devastation and heartbreak were etched in every angle of his body. For the first time, he looked defeated.

Tears freely flowed down his cheeks. This man, this strong man whom I’d never seen shed a tear, never break down, crumpled right into my arms the moment I stepped closer to him.

“Dominic,” he cried, his hands shook in mine as I clutched them, holding him up as the urge to break down at the knees overwhelmed me.

“What did the doctor say?” My voice broke as I asked the question, petrified to hear the answer.

Mom sobbed louder at my question, and I instantly regretted asking it.

Just then, a doctor, followed by a nurse, walked into the waiting area.

“Mr. Park?” she asked.

“That’s me,” I said, not wanting Dad to take on any more burdens.

As she approached us, I noticed the strain and worry in her eyes.

“How is Sophie, Doctor?” I asked.

Her lips pursed, and she sighed in defeat. “Let’s step into my office, please.”

I was tempted to shake her to get some answers right now, but Mom and Dad rushed behind the doctor.

As soon as we were seated in her office, she looked at all of us.

“I can only imagine the pain and shock you have been through. I’m sorry about what has happened.

Sophie was conscious when she was brought in.

She was able to give us as much information as she could.

She also gave us her consent to share all the information about the incident, as well as her physical condition, with her immediate family. ”

My fists clenched as she talked, the need to know what happened to my baby sister colliding with the need to put my hands over my ears and scream into oblivion. “How is she, Doctor? Tell us everything.”

Her eyes met mine, and her throat bobbed before she uttered, “Sophie was raped by three men.”

My soul shattered.

“She had vaginal and anal tearing.”

My mom wailed.

“Trauma to the uterus.”

Dad’s shoulders shook as he sobbed.

“A fractured cheekbone. Severe concussion.”

My baby sister, my little Soph, who’d followed me around as a toddler and made me have tea parties with her.

“Cracked ribs.”

Every word out of the doctor’s mouth wrapped itself around my heart, weaving an impenetrable wall of raging, hot wrath and bone-deep guilt. The need to slam my head into the wall to relieve some of the agony threatening to burst from my body had my limbs shaking.

“Internal bleeding in the abdominal cavity, caused by punches to the stomach.”

My chest heaved, and tears streamed down my face as the doctor continued listing every injury Sophie had sustained. I sat there, listening to and committing every single one of them to my memory.

Whoever did this to her was going to pay.

Guilt tried to drown me, but my parents’ cries kept me rooted to my seat.

I looked at the doctor and asked the question I was dreading the answer to. “Will she be okay?”

“We’ve performed the necessary surgery. We have her sedated and on a ventilator to allow her body the time it needs to rest and heal.

Her injuries were severe but we're hopeful she'll make a full physical recovery. It is going to take time. But she is out of critical danger. However, it’s her emotional trauma that is of utmost concern. ”

“We will hire the best psychiatrist to help her, Doctor. But I need my sister to be alright.”

“I understand, Mr. Park. But these things require time and understanding. All you can do is be there for her and help her feel safe.”

My dad nodded. “We understand, Doctor.”

She looked at all of us with a kind smile, maybe trying to put us at ease.

She shouldn’t have bothered. Nothing was going to revert the harm that was done to Sophie.

Nothing was going to change the fact that I’d failed to protect my baby sister.

Nothing would help except finding the bastards who dared to harm my sister.

The doctor’s next words pulled me out of my spiraling thoughts. “Would you like to see her?”

“Yes,” I said, needing to hold Sophie’s hand and tell her everything would be all right.

I turned to Mom and Dad. “You guys are coming to see Soph, right?”

Dad started to shake his head in denial when Mom snapped at him. “Don’t you dare, Michael. Our daughter needs us, and if a few minutes are all we get with her right now, we’re going to be there. Don’t you dare be a coward.”

With that, Mom wiped her tears and turned to the doctor. “Take us to Sophie, Doctor.”

I held Mom’s hand while Dad rested his hand on her shoulder as we walked down the hallway.

Nothing could’ve prepared us to see the woman lying on the hospital bed.

My baby sister—her face swollen from someone’s punches, a black eye, bruises on her arms, and dried blood at her lips—had a ventilator helping her breathe.

Mom stepped toward Sophie first. She placed a soft kiss on her forehead, her tears dripping on Sophie’s cheeks. “You’ll be alright, baby. Eomma is here.”

My dad dropped onto the chair by her bed, his chest heaving as he sobbed. He held Sophie’s hand in both of his, chanting a million apologies in a whisper.

Nine missed calls from Sophie.

Guilt so sharp burned through my veins that I wanted to stab myself to let some of it out. I should’ve picked up when she called.

Nine fucking missed calls.

The overwhelming need to apologize to my sister tore open my chest. I put one foot in front of the other and walked to the other side of the bed.

Gently, I ran my hand along her head. “Wake up, Soph,” I whispered, my voice breaking.

“Please, Sophie girl. Open your eyes.” Tears blurred my vision when she didn’t. I was distantly aware that she was heavily sedated but my heart screamed at me to wake her up, to see her eyes shining with that light, to make sure she was all right.

Mom’s sniffles were another dagger to my bleeding heart.

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you. I’m so, so sorry I didn’t protect you.”

Sophie didn’t even stir.

I gently took her hand in mine and pressed a soft kiss to her bruised knuckles. My sister had put up a fight.

I was going to find the fuckers who did this to her. I’d scorch the earth or tear apart the world if I had to.

I didn’t know whether Sophie could hear my voice, but I made her a promise.

“You have to wake up fast, Soph. You need to tell your big brother who did this to you. I promise you. They will pay. For every cut, every bruise, every punch, every despicable thing they did to you, they will pay for it a thousand times over. You have to wake up to watch them suffer, Soph. I’m right here. ”

I looked at the despair in my mom’s eyes, the defeat in my dad’s shoulders, and I met their eyes even as I clutched Sophie’s hand in mine, feeling the pulse in her wrist, and made a promise.

“I’m not going to let anything happen to Sophie.

Whoever did this to her just made the biggest mistake of their lives. ”