Chapter 14 #2
I know fury when I see it, and the way he storms towards his bike with his fists curled at his sides proves it. That’s not just anger, that’s the kind that spirals. The kind that looks for the nearest throat to wrap itself around.
My seatbelt’s off, and I’m out of the car before he’s even straddled his bike. He guns it hard, the rear wheel fishtailing through dry grass, sending a cloud of dust bursting into the air. He cuts across the lawn like a maniac, hops the footpath, and flies down the gutter.
I’m already crossing the street as he tears off at lightning speed. Fucking fool. He’s in a residential area, and I saw small children playing down the street on my drive here.
With a bit of luck, he’ll wrap himself around a pole and save me the trouble of having to end him myself.
Although I’d rather enjoy giving him a taste of his own medicine.
My fingers are itching to wrap around his scrawny throat.
Any man who puts his hands on a woman is a lowdown, dirty fucking dog, so he deserves whatever is coming his way.
I storm up the driveway. I have no idea how long her boyfriend will be gone, and I don’t care. If this is the only chance I get to see her, I’m taking it. After his aggressive departure, I have no other choice.
If he comes back while I’m still here, I’ll deal with it.
I jog up the front stairs and pound on the siding before my mind even registers my actions. My knuckles sting from the ferocity, but I don’t stop.
“Emily,” I call, my tone urgent, but all I get in return is silence. I try again, louder this time. “Emily, it’s Dominic, open up.”
Images of her lying facedown on the floor behind that door flash through my mind. I’m about to kick it down in desperation when I hear a faint shuffle inside. The lock clicks, the knob turns, and I brace myself for what I’m about to face.
The door opens a crack, just enough to reveal a sliver of her pretty face. The one blue eye I can see widens when it locks on me, and the first thing I notice is that it’s lacking its usual sparkle.
“Dominic,” she says over a gasp. “Why are you here?”
“I needed to make sure you were alright.”
“So you came to my house? You could’ve come to my work to see me.”
“I did, but it’s a bit hard to see you when you’re not there. Why did you call in sick? Did he hurt you again?”
Her gaze diverts off to the side, and her lack of a response tells me he has.
“You can’t be here, you need to leave,” she deflects.
“I’m not going anywhere, Em.”
Her gaze snaps back to me. “If he comes back—”
“Let him. I hope he does. I’ll teach that piece of shit a lesson for putting his hands on you.”
“He didn’t—”
“Stop covering for him. You and I both know he’s the one leaving those marks on you.”
“You should go,” she says, her voice cracking as she speaks.
When she attempts to close the door on me, I stick my foot out, stopping her. “I can’t,” I admit. She has no idea how deep I’m in. How, even if I wanted to walk away, I couldn’t.
“You can’t be here, Dom. Please. You don’t understand.”
“I understand more than you know.”
“How did you even find out where I lived?”
“The owner of La Riviera is also my boss,” I reply, because telling her that I knew where she lived long before he handed me that slip of paper this morning is only going to scare her, and I don’t want that.
I can’t help her if she doesn’t trust me.
“He gave you my address? Seriously? I’m pretty sure it’s against HR policy to hand out my personal information like that.”
A small smile tugs at my lips. “He’s a mob boss, Em. I’m guessing his version of HR doesn’t leave much of a paper trail.”
“I …” She tries to suck in a deep breath, and that’s when I hear the whistle.
Shit, her asthma.
“Where’s your inhaler?”
“What?”
“I can hear the wheeze when you breathe.”
“I have it right here,” she says, releasing the door and pulling it out of her pocket, holding it up for me to see.
The sight settles me somewhat. “Let me see the rest of your face.”
“What? No!”
A low rumble bubbles in the back of my throat. “Let me in, Emily!”
Her eye widens again, but I know she’s hiding the rest of her face for a reason. I’m not fucking stupid.
Even as a kid, when my father used to slap my mother around, I had enough sense to notice when mum was hiding bruises from us … from her friends … from anyone who cared to look. You learn early what fear looks like when it’s hidden behind a smile.
“Dom, you can’t come in. I’m begging you, please leave.”
“Let me see for myself that you’re okay, and I’ll go,” I lie, because there’s no way in hell I’m leaving her here so he can come back and finish the job.
“You’re looking at me right now.”
“I’m looking at your fucking eye, Emily. Open the door and let me see the rest of your face.” I blow out a long breath, scraping my hand down my face, trying to calm down. “Please.”
She hesitates as her fingers tighten around the edge of the door. For a second, I think she’s going to slam it in my face. Instead, her voice drops to what could best be described as a defeated whisper, “You’re not going to like what you see.”
My chest pulls tight, the kind of tight that makes it hard to breathe. “Em, open the door,” I plead in a softer voice.
The door shifts a fraction, but not fully. Something in her posture sinks, like she’s too tired to keep holding herself together, and when she finally opens it all the way, something inside me snaps.
Her other eye is almost swollen shut, and the tissue she’s holding under her nose is soaked in blood, but that’s not even the worst of it.
I reach forward and gently pull her hand away from her face, and that’s when I see the finger marks forming around her throat.
My breathing evens out, and my pulse slows, as something inside me stills. Eerily fucking still. It’s a quiet I haven’t felt in years, the kind that comes before a storm breaks everything in its path.
“Fuck,” I say when tears rise in her eyes. I don’t even hesitate to step forward and wrap her in my arms. “Fuck, Em,” I repeat.
She cries softly into my chest as I stroke her hair.
I’m struggling not to lose my shit, to turn this fucking town upside down until I find him.
Every part of me is wired to get that bastard and put him in the ground for what he’s done, but that won’t help her right now.
She needs my comfort. My arms around her, not my hands around someone else’s throat.
I press my chin to the top of her head, holding her tighter. When I finally release her, I cup the side of her face. “Go pack a bag.”
“I can’t leave.”
“The way I see it, you don’t have a choice. I’m not leaving here without you.”
“He’ll come looking for me.”
“And he’ll need to get through me first if he does.
You deserve better. How many more chances are you willing to give that cocksucker?
How many more times are you willing to be disrespected, unappreciated, manipulated, and undervalued?
He has completely undermined your worth.
I bet you told him how much his actions hurt you, but he kept doing it anyway. Am I right?”
She tugs her chin out of my grip and looks away. She doesn’t need to answer me; that movement said it all. “I … I have nowhere to go. No money. He takes it all, so I can’t leave.”
My hand rises so I can skim my knuckles down the side of her face. “Pack a bag, Em. You’re coming with me. I’ll make sure you’re taken care of.”
Her gaze snaps back to mine. “I can’t ask you to do that, Dominic.”
“You didn’t ask, and this isn’t up for negotiation. Get it through your pretty little head, I’m not leaving you here.”
She swallows hard, her eyes flicking away for a second like she’s weighing all her fears against the tiny bit of trust she has in me. When her eyes come back to mine, they’re wet but clearer, like she wants to believe me but isn’t sure she’s allowed to.
“Dom, I’m scared.”
“I know, piccola (Little one), but believe me when I say you’ll be safe with me.”
Her breath shudders, and she nods, just barely.
That’s all I need.