Chapter Twenty-One
Olivia
“M r. Ricci, back so soon?” Ruth’s voice says from the porch as Hayes walks up the steps.
Gloria and I are walking behind him with my arm wrapped around hers and rubbing her hand.
“You are going to be okay.” I whisper into her ear.
“You need to know something,” she says, stopping me before the steps, out of ear shot from the others.
My eyes search hers, confused. “You need to tell him who you are. There’s more to this than you realize. Mr. Ricci will find out and better it come from you than someone else.” She pauses; a single tear comes up in her eye. “I knew your mother, Olivia. She and my mother were best friends. I remember when you were born.”
A few tears slide down her eye. “Our mothers were sex slaves of Ashton and his men. One of his men is my father.”
She takes a deep breath, and I can tell she’s struggling to tell me something else.
“Gloria, what is it?” I scan her eyes with worry.
“Ashton killed your mother soon as you were born. She threatened to take you and run away if he tried to sell you into the sex trade. The morning she had decided to escape, he shot her dead in the living room.”
I can feel my heart beating in my throat.
I think I might puke.
The tears forming in my eyes are starting to make Gloria’s face becomes blurry.
“Gloria,” I whisper and grab her into a hug, “I will be back for you, and I am going to make that fucker pay. As God is my witness, I will kill him myself if I have to.”
She pulls out of our hug and grabs my shoulders. “No. Please do not get yourself hurt. Tell Hayes who you are and let him keep you safe. Become someone new. Run away. Just please do not attempt to take on Ashton and his men alone. You will end up dead.”
I place her hands in mine. “Please know I am going to be coming back for you.”
I bring her into another hug one more time. “Thank you for telling me the truth.”
Hayes comes down to meet us. “Everything okay ladies?” His tone is hesitant.
We look up and notice the porch is full of women starring at us.
Wiping tears, we both giggle. “Yes, just saying our goodbyes.”
Gloria eyes the women on the porch and she suddenly takes off running from me up the steps to hug Ruth. “I thought you were dead,” Ruth says grabbing Gloria and they both almost fall to their knees as they embrace.
After a moment, Ruth pulls out of her hug and she calls for her daughter to come up to her and says, “Meredith, honey, meet your aunt Gloria.”
That’s it; the tears come flooding back.
These women have been through so much; Maybe once Gloria is okay, she can help Ruth heal, too. They can help one another.
––––––––
Hayes
W E SPENT OUR EVENING with the women again.
I stand in awe, leaned up against the wall while Olivia sits in the living room of the Hope House playing with the children and talking with the ladies.
They all laugh and the giggles from the children radiate through the walls.
This place needed this.
They needed, Olivia.
With my arms crossed, I wonder what my mother would think about this place and all the things I have done.
How she would take to Olivia and all she has done lately for these women, but not only that, all she has done for me.
I have always had one rule, never mix business with pleasure, but the moment I laid eyes on this woman I knew she was going to be different.
Though, I still cannot pinpoint why I am drawn to her, I know my mother would have loved her.
“Your mother would have loved her,” a whisper comes up behind me.
I turn and smile at Gloria, “That she would.”
My eyes fall to the bruise starting to form around her eyes. “Gloria,” I sigh, “I am so sorry this happened to you. I should have never left you.”
She shakes her head, “Hayes. I told you to save Jessica before me. I made my decision, and I stand by it.”
Olivia tickling one of the children gets our attention and we both watch them for a second before Gloria states, “She is a precious soul, Ricci. Protect her and keep her close.”
I nod. “Would you know why Ashton would have wanted Dante to buy her that night at the auction?”
She shakes her head, “Not a clue. He never discussed those types of things with me.”
I stare at her, unsure if I fully believe her since she looked away from me quickly; but given the state she is in right now and after the day she has had, I choose to not press the issue.
After giving the children one more hug, Olivia stands and hugs the women around her before slowly making her way to me.
Smiling she asks, “Ready to go home?”
Something in my chest constricts at the word ‘home’ and the way she used it.
Leaning off the wall, I nod. “As long as you are.”
“Please take care of yourself,” Olivia says to Gloria, and they hug for a long moment.
“Same to you sweet girl. Come back soon, okay?” Gloria proclaims.
Grabbing her hand, we both head out the front door to my car.
I notice Olivia is excessively quiet on the ride back to my home after leaving the Hope House.
“Everything okay?” I ask her.
Deep in thought, she mumbles, “Huh?”
“Is everything okay? You seem lost into another world,” I ask her again.
“Oh, uh, yeah.” She sits up taller in her seat. “Is your phone Bluetooth to the car stereo?” she asks, and I nod handing it over to her. “Play whatever you want.”
She runs through a few different selections and eventually set the phone back down into the cup holder when Battlefield by Skydxddy plays through the speakers.
I look over at her, shocked by the song choice and notice she is yet again, deep into thought.
I think about asking her what’s on her mind but decide to stay silent and listen to the lyrics she chose.
Normally a woman’s music choice will tell you what she is thinking.
It gets to the chorus and her head starts bobbing to the beat of the song.
I’m not sure if I should be proud of this once timid girl or scared of the new one that’s being born.