Chapter 9
SAMAIRA
W e all had baggage and issues that we silently—or violently—dealt with. Mine was approaching me from behind and touching me without permission. Add in the conversation that we were having, and my mind wasn’t in a cool and receptive place. It was a barely contained storm of rage and revenge.
So when I felt that touch on the back of my shoulder, my body reacted in reflex, and before I knew it, I had Dominic pinned to the floor, my hands at his throat. My mind knew that he meant no harm, that he was one of the good ones, but my body was trained to react first and think later.
The moment he raised both hands in surrender and nodded at my words in understanding, I loosened my grip on his throat.
I lightly grazed my fingers on his chest as I got up and extended my hand to him as a show of friendship and apology.
He only hesitated for a second before grabbing my hand and pulling himself off the floor.
I, then, turned back to Sophie, who had just watched her big, bad brother get knocked on his ass in under a second, staring at me with eyes wide open and her jaw on the floor.
Her eyes were still glued to me as I took my seat on the bed. “So, Sophie. Where were we?”
When she didn’t respond and kept staring at me with starry-eyed awe, occasionally glancing at her brother, who I knew had an identical starstruck expression, I continued, “Yes, you were thinking of what-ifs and if-onlys.”
With those words, she shook off the shock and slowly nodded. “I just wonder,” she said with a slight shrug.
“From here on out, no more wondering. There is no point. We are going to find those fuckers and show them that they messed with the wrong woman. Are you with me?”
Her jaw hardened at that, and she gave me a single nod that was far more confident than before.
I braced myself for what I was going to ask her to do. “Now, Sophie. I’m going to ask you to do something really difficult, but just know that I’m right here with you.”
When she nodded, silently asking me to continue, I said, “I need you to go back and recall the events that transpired in the car after they grabbed you from behind.”
Dominic growled in protest. “Absolutely not. There’s no need for her to recount those events, Samaira.”
I paid no heed to his noise and continued to look at Sophie.
“You don’t need to describe every single thing they did to you.
But I need you to try to pull yourself out of your body at that moment and focus on your surroundings if you can.
Was there a landmark where your car passed?
Were there any tattoos, anything noteworthy in any of the men’s features?
What were they talking about? Were they all in agreement with what was happening?
Were any of them panicking? Did they stop the car somewhere along the way?
“I know you were only trying to survive in those moments, and you didn’t care about any of those things at that time, but our mind is a potent tool.
Our subconscious records far more details than our conscious mind remembers.
I need you to close your eyes and try to focus on the things that I asked. If talking out loud helps, I’m here.”
For a second, Sophie’s eyes met Dominic's, and an unusual, uncomfortable moment passed between the two of them. She bit her lip nervously as Dominic shifted on his feet, his face turning red. And something dawned on me. I looked between them and landed on Sophie. “You haven’t talked about what happened in front of Dominic, have you?”
Dominic ran his hand through his hair as Sophie shook her head. “I couldn’t get the words out. It was too painful and embarrassing.”
I nodded in understanding. Most women felt too embarrassed to share the details with the men of the house. “I understand. Do you need him to step out of the room?”
Sophie turned to look straight at Dominic. “Are you going to hold it together?”
His eyes blazed. “What do you mean, am I going to hold it together?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I mean, are you going to blow up?”
His eyebrows reached his forehead as he straightened up and towered over us. “Of course I’m going to blow the fuck up. What, you want me to silently listen to you talk without wanting to put my head through the wall?”
“Yes,” Sophie and I said it together.
“It’s difficult to talk as it is. I don’t need to worry about your reaction and how you feel when I’m barely holding myself together.”
I was so proud of Sophie for standing up to her brother.
He shook on his feet and bent down so his face was on level with hers as he pointed at his head. “You see these stupid gray hairs popping up on my head?”
Sophie’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Yes. You’re getting old.”
I snorted. Dominic’s eyes widened in shock as he spoke through clenched teeth. “I’m not getting fucking old. It’s the stress you put me in when you say shit like this. You think I’m dramatic now? You just wait till we find those motherfuckers. I’ll show you fucking holding it together .”
I couldn’t help but smile at his dramatics. Well, it wasn’t dramatic, and the moment was totally inappropriate with us discussing the most traumatic event of Sophie’s life. But a smile slipped across my face.
Sophie noticed my smile and gave me a smile in return, rolling her eyes at her brother. “Fine. You can stay. But sit quietly in the corner facing the wall. I can’t do this with you looking at me like that.”
“Like what?” he asked, dragging his chair to a corner.
“Like you blame yourself.”
He sighed at that, a world of hurt and defeat crossing his face, if only for a second, before he pulled himself together and nodded. He turned the chair and sat facing the wall.
When I gave Sophie an encouraging nod, she gulped and started talking.
“So the main guy was wearing a black wolf mask and was about six-two since he towered over me at least half a foot when I hit him. He also wasn’t an old man.
He was Caucasian, and his hair was dark brown and wavy.
I only saw one of his friends at that time, who grabbed him and dragged him away when I attacked him.
He was an inch or two shorter than him, also Caucasian. He, too, wore a black wolf mask.
“It was the friend who grabbed me from outside the building. He dragged me around the side of the building where they had an SUV waiting. He threw me in the car, and before I could make a run for it, the masked guy I’d attacked had already got his hold on me.
The guy who’d thrown me in the car had then rushed to the passenger seat, and the driver had immediately gotten the car on the road. ”
With every word Sophie spoke, my own past kept trying to rear its ugly head in my mind. She had no idea how close her experience was to mine. I needed to hear what came next just as much as I wanted to shut my ears and scream into oblivion.
I could feel the helplessness and rage bubbling in Dominic even though he was behind me. I could feel the tension rising in the air, in the swift breath he took, in the way his feet bounced on the floor, the tap-tap-tap of his shoes giving away his bubbling wrath.
Sophie bit her lip as she hesitated. “And then…uh…then, obviously, there was a lot of fighting, resisting, kicking, biting, screaming, slapping.” Her eyes widened as she stopped at slapping.
“What is it?” I asked her.
She quickly looked at where Dominic sat before turning her eyes to meet mine.
“When he’d first slapped me, I remember wishing he wasn’t wearing such a big ring because it had hurt so much.
I don’t know if his wearing a ring helps in your investigation or not.
A lot of men wear rings, or maybe he only wore it for the occasion. ”
I quickly reassured her before she started to doubt her intuition. “Sophie, this is exactly what I’m talking about. Every little detail helps when it comes to narrowing our search. Now, can you tell me on which hand he was wearing the ring?”
She closed her eyes for a few seconds, thinking things through.
I quickly looked behind to check on Dominic, only to find him sneaking a glance at us.
Our eyes met, and his were brimming with bottomless agony for his sister.
They were rimmed red and shone with unshed tears, and my entire being wanted to walk to him and pull him into a hug.
Instead, I gave him a quick nod in reassurance, trying to convey through my eyes that I was here.
The deep line that was etched between his eyebrows smoothed a bit as his eyes softened.
He gave me a jerky nod back and quickly turned to face the wall.
I looked at Sophie, who was still deep in thought, her hands clutching the pillow in her lap as if her life depended on it. I was about to call her name, just to tell her not to stress too much about it if she couldn’t remember when her eyes snapped open. “Right. It was his right hand.”
“Very good, Sophie. This is helpful. Can you recall if they were talking about anything? Any name that they uttered? What did they call each other?”
She closed her eyes again, but instead of remaining silent, she started to talk.
“I don’t…I don’t recall much.” A tear leaked from her eye as her lip trembled.
My mind kept throwing my old wounds back to the surface, knowing the terrors that Sophie was recollecting.
I wanted to apologize to her for putting her through this pain all over again, a pain that still managed to haunt me even after thirteen years.
Sophie frowned with her eyes closed as she said, “Uh…the driver kept saying ‘This will mess up the plan,’ ‘You’re messing up the plan,’ and the guy in the passenger seat got into an argument with him.
I was, uh…busy resisting and fighting off the masked guy above me, when he’d yelled at me, saying, ‘This bitch is the one who messed up the plan,’ and well, he’d shouted at the guys in the front to shut the fuck up and drive if they wanted a chance at me. ”
She opened her eyes as we heard a loud crack behind me. We both turned to find a hole in the wall with Dominic’s fist in the hole. He didn’t turn back to face us but mumbled, “I didn’t say anything.”
Sophie grumbled and closed her eyes, either trying to ignore a raging-mad Dominic or to recollect more clues that she thought could help.
“Umm,” she said, “the guy in the passenger seat had really sharp incisors. Uh, at one point, I remember thinking how he reminded me of an actual animal. And…uh…and the driver guy was suffocatingly hairy.”
Another loud crack snapped Sophie out of her memories with a sudden gasp. “Dominic, you scared me,” she shrieked, her eyes flooding with tears.
Dominic’s shoulders were bunched as his head hung in defeat. He was trembling, and I was torn between needing to hold Sophie and the man who was trying to hold himself together but failing miserably.
The moment he heard Sophie’s sob, he flung out of the chair and turned around. His cheeks were streaked with tears, his knuckles bleeding in several places. He rushed to Sophie and pulled her into his arms.
“It’s okay, Soph,” he whispered, holding her head against his chest. “I’m here. I’m here. I’m so sorry.”
She clutched his shirt as tears created a wet patch on the fabric.
He only pulled her closer as I watched his heart breaking for his sister all over again.
His eyes met mine over her shoulder, and everything within me wanted to reach over and wipe the tears from his cheeks.
I wanted to take him in my arms and tell him everything would be okay.
I wanted to promise him that I’d slay all his demons and bring him the heads of the monsters who did this to his sister.
I promised myself that I would.
I let the siblings grieve. It was sheer torture to watch a man as strong and powerful as he crumble with so much guilt and agony.
It was my personal nightmare appearing right in front of my eyes, to watch a woman as strong and beautiful as Sophie, a woman with dreams and passion, a woman with a loving family, be crushed and tormented all because of men's bruised egos.
Sophie’s eyes and nose were swollen red, yet she held her head high as she straightened and let go of Dominic. I was in a far worse headspace when I was in her position. And I was so proud of her, so insanely proud of her, for surviving. “Can I hold your hand?” I asked her.
When she nodded, I clutched my hand around hers. “Believe it or not, I understand what you went through better than most. I’m so sorry I made you go through this pain all over again. You did so well, and I know it doesn’t feel like you gave me many clues, but you did. And you were very brave. ”
She gave me a small smile, and after a glance at Dominic, she turned to me. “It’s okay. Your specific questions helped me stay out of the more traumatic moments better.”
I squeezed her hand. “That’s all I need from you for now. Would you like to be kept in the loop about things we find or any progress? Or should I just stay in touch with Dominic?”
Even Dominic looked at Sophie for an answer. She cleared her throat and said, “Honestly, I’d rather you just keep Dominic posted about the progress. I don’t really have much hope. Being involved with constant updates would just rack up my anxiety.”
I nodded. “Makes sense.”
Our hands were getting clammy as I continued to hold her hand—probably more for me than her at this point—when she said, “If anyone can find those three men, it’s you.”
That brought a smile to my face as I gave her a confident wink. “Damn straight.”
“One last thing,” I told her, very deliberately not looking at Dominic. “Do you want to learn to fight like me?”
Before even Dominic could react, Sophie said, “Fuck yeah.”
“Atta girl. Training begins tomorrow at 6 a.m. sharp. Be at Thunder Claw Bar & Restaurant. Basement. Your brother knows the place.”
Dominic’s eyes were wide with shock at, I guess, my offer as well as Sophie’s immediate acceptance.
I met his eyes and gave him a nod. “You wanna walk me to my car?”
He quickly closed his gaping mouth. “Uh. Yeah.”
We stood from the bed. I patted Sophie on her head in goodbye. “See you tomorrow.”
She gave me an excited smile that had my heart feeling slightly lighter than before.
Whoever decided to mess with Sophie had just started their countdown to fucking hell.