Chapter 21
Julia
Asound pulls me out of my sleep.
It’s a low hiss of pain behind the door.
For a second, I am disoriented. I don’t know where I am. The room is dark, the sheets smell like Mikey, and the panic that usually sits in my chest is strangely quiet.
But then I hear the noise again. This time, followed by a muffled groan and a sharp inhale.
I sit up in bed, my heart pounding out of my chest.
That was the sound of pain.
I slide off the bed. As soon as my bare feet hit the hardwood, I am moving towards the door. Everything in my body is screaming at me to stay in bed, that with the life I grew up in, danger lurks in every shadow… but curiosity shoves me forward.
The voices get clearer as I inch down the hallway.
“... He wants her back. You damn well know what that means.” I hear Mikey say through groans of pain.
Her… they are talking about her…
Kai’s voice comes next. “That motherfucker.”
My heart is racing. Are they talking about me? Or is there another her that ‘he’ wants?
“There’s more,” Mikey says again. His voice is so hoarse, I can tell he is seriously injured.
“He arranged a marriage for her. Years ago. She was his bargaining chip. He found out she was planning on running, so he sent his guys to find her and ‘discipline’ her.” Mikey continues. “He… ordered it.”
Fuck! He is talking about my father. I just know it.
“No,” Kai whispers. “He’s not taking her. He’s not fucking touching her. He’s not getting anywhere near her.”
His confidence in protecting me is so sweet, but unrealistic with my dad. My dad will do anything to get me to do what he wants. Is he the one who hurt Mikey?
I swear to fucking God I will kill every single one of my dad's men, and my dad, if they hurt Mikey.
“He said he’ll come for her…” Mikey says, then pauses for a second. “If I don’t bring her by midnight tomorrow… he’ll come himself.”
Someone hits the wall, and then Kai growls like an animal. “Over my dead fucking body.”
I walk over to the kitchen and start brewing myself a cup of coffee. My emotions are all over the place, and I am going to get every ounce of information out of these men.
I grab my cup of coffee and head back to the bathroom, waiting to hear if they say anything more. There are several curse words and a lot of hissing or grunts, but no conversation.
I finally decide what I am going to do, and I push the bathroom door open.
Both of them freeze.
Mikey is sitting on the edge of the tub, his shirt off and blood smeared across his ribs and jaw. Kai is kneeling on the tile beside him with a bottle of peroxide in his shaking hand.
Mikey is the first to look up at me, his eyes blown wide in shock, then you see a wave of fear cross over them, and then they finally settle with guilt.
“Julia,” he whispers my name. His voice sounds like he smokes two packs of cigarettes in an hour.
I don’t answer him, I just look at him, his face is black and blue, his nose is bleeding, he has a cut on his eyebrow and his lip, then I look further, and his shoulder is bruised. Then I get to his ribs, they are swollen and bruised also. He is so injured that he won’t be able to play hockey.
I feel like I can’t breathe. My dad did this. My fucking father!
“What happened?” My question comes out thin and cracked. “Who did this to you?”
Mikey tries to stand up–of course, he does– but the pain hits him too fast, and he winces, grabbing the edge of the tub.
Kai rises instantly, blocking me, like he is trying to be the human shield to soften whatever truth comes out of Mikey’s mouth.
“Julia,” he says carefully, “ you shouldn’t be up. Go back to bed.”
“No.” My voice shakes, but I don't back down from him. “I heard you. Both of you. Just… tell me the truth… please.”
Mikey’s jaw clenches as he sits back down on the edge of the tub. “Julia,” he tires again, his voice raw and vulnerable. “Please…”
“Is it my father?” I choke out the last words. “Did he do this to you?”
They don't answer, and the silence slices through me.
I grip the door frame, keeping myself upright when my legs want to collapse in on themselves. “This is because of me,” I whisper. “He hurt you because of me, didn’t he?”
Mikey shakes his head violently, as tears threaten to fall. “No. No, Julia… he didn't hurt me because of you.”
Kai touches my shoulder, and I look over my shoulder at him. “He wants you back.” He doesn't hide the truth from me. He never has. “And he’s willing to hurt anyone who stands in his way.”
The room starts to spin, my throat starts to burn, and my eyes start prickling.
Because of course he is… Of course, this is happening again… I’m dragging destruction behind me everywhere I go. I can never just have a life that is mine.
Mikey reaches for me with a trembling hand. “Princess, please come here.”
I walk to him on autopilot. When I get close enough, I can see more bruises forming and the blood drying his skin... But something shatters me when I see his split lip.
“Mikey…” I crouch down in front of him and touch his cheek gently. “Why would you let him do this to you?
His eyes soften, full of pain, and it makes my chest ache.
“I didn’t let him,” he tries to say, but his throat is raspy.
“But I also didn’t fight back. Because if I did…
if I escalated it… It would have come straight back to you.
But in all reality, when he told me he was going to take you regardless, I swung on him first; this was the backlash and warning from him. ”
A tear slips down my cheek. “You got hurt because you were protecting me.”
He looks at me with so much love in his eyes. “I’d do it a thousand times.”
I hear Kai take a sharp inhale. I can tell he hates hearing it out loud, but we all know it’s true; these men wouldn’t hesitate.
I wipe my face with the back of my hand and then get the courage to ask the question I know I will regret. “What does he want with me?”
Mikey hesitates to speak, but Kai doesn’t.
“He arranged a marriage for you. Years ago.”
My blood runs Ice-cold. Arranged marriage? I knew my father was cruel. But this is something I didn’t think he would do.
Mikey whispers, “He said it’s been planned since you were born, and he is ready to get it back on track.”
Stars burst behind my eyes as my heart drops into my stomach.
Not again.
Not again.
Not again.
He wants to marry me off to a family he can still control me with; he always wants to have a leash on me, even with my new husband.
I stumble backwards, but Mikey grabs my wrist. He is being so gentle, like I’m made of glass.
“Julia,” he says, voice breaking, “look at me.”
I do, and it fucking destroys me.
There is so much pain and fear in his eyes, but I also see so much rage he is swallowing for my sake.
“We’re not giving you to him,” he says, “I don’t care what he thinks he owns.”
Kai steps up behind me, pressing his body against my back.
“Julia,” he murmurs near my ear, “you’re safe here.”
I look between them. I look at the blood, the cracked tile, and all the bruises forming beneath Mikey’s ribs.
Safe…I don't feel safe… But I do feel something else… Fear, terrified, protective, loved, wanted… I feel many things, but safe is not one of them.
I cup Mikey’s face with both of my hands again and force him to look at me. “Don’t you ever…,” I whisper, “Take a beating for me again.”
His eyes flutter shut. “Too late,” he breathes.
Kai’s hand gently slides down my spine, grounding me right where I stand.
“We’re in this together now,” he says. “All three of us.”
And I believe him.