Chapter 34
Samantha
We’re finally back in Tampa. I had the Uber drop us off in a busy Walmart parking lot. If Michael’s men find us again, at least there’ll be witnesses. Besides, I need to get Rona some things since I abandoned her suitcase. Thank God she’s been clinging onto Bear. I couldn’t replace that.
I ignore the stares at my bruised and swollen face as I push Rona around in a cart, gathering things we’ll need for a few days. Sunglasses for me, clothes, toiletries, snacks, coloring books and crayons and a new mermaid Barbie.
She’d woken up on the drive and, after I calmed her down about my “boo boo” eye, she asked for Celia.
“She had to go back to New York to visit her family. We’ll see her soon.” The lie was so bitter on my tongue, so vile, I almost choked on it.
I tried to call the burner phone I gave Celia, but it just rang and rang.
If they had her, they would’ve tossed it first thing.
Thinking about Celia in Michael’s clutches threatens to send me into a tailspin of panic, so I have to keep that thought at arm’s length.
One minute at a time, that’s how we have to survive now.
Rona’s been quiet since she asked about Celia, watching me with uncertainty in her eyes. She’s sucking her thumb, which is something Celia said she’d stopped doing.
I go through self-checkout, so I don’t have to see the pity in a cashier’s eyes and then call another Uber. Abandoning my car has made it more difficult to move around, but it is one less thing for Michael to track.
After having the driver go through a McDonald’s drive-thru, he drops us off at a hotel.
I’m getting low on cash, and it’s not safe to go back to my apartment to grab more.
I’d cut a hole in the drywall in the bedroom closet to hide my money in.
It’s safe but doesn’t do me any good if I can’t access it.
I sigh. That’s a problem for tomorrow. Today, I have to heal some of the emotional damage to my daughter. This hotel is pricier, but the rooms are on the inside of the building, so I feel more secure and it’s cleaner.
I dig through the Walmart bags and pull out her new mermaid Barbie. “Want to make friends with your new doll?”
She silently slides off the desk chair, where she’s been taking tiny bites of her cheeseburger and watches as I tear open the packaging, struggling with the stupid plastic ties holding the doll to the box.
It’s a small bit of relief to finally free her and hand her over to Rona. It’s the little things.
If we didn’t have a psychotic killer chasing us, this would actually be my idea of a perfect day.
We color, watch movies, order pizza and I hug and kiss her every chance I get.
She finally starts to relax, and I see the old sparkle back in her eyes as she lays on her stomach, kicking her bare feet and trying to sing her ABC’s as she colors.
When it gets dark, we snuggle up, and I tell her bedtime stories until her eyes drift close.
Mine stay open for a long time, watching her, trying to focus on the gratitude I feel in the moment instead of the terror for our future.
The next morning, I take a shower and order room service for breakfast. As Rona gives her mermaid doll a bath, I try to figure out a way to grab my money from the apartment.
It’s not a lot, definitely not enough to start over somewhere without a job, but at least it’ll put some more distance between us and Michael.
Every mile gives us a little bit more of an advantage.
I come to the conclusion that I’ll have to ask someone to get the money for me.
The only person I can think of to trust is Lennon, but I just can’t put her in danger.
For one, Sandro would literally murder me.
And two, she’s my friend, and I really care about her.
What if Michael’s men are waiting at the apartment? I just can’t do it.
There’s a knock at the door.
“Cakes!” Rona is leaning over the tub, splashing both her hands in the water. I bend forward and pull the plug. Despite our situation, I smile softly. It’s so good to see her happy. “All right, dry off Miss Mermaid while I grab our breakfast from the nice man.”
Peering out the glass peephole, I see the edge of the cart and the hotel worker’s badge.
I open the door. “Bring it in, please,” I say as I hold my robe closed. And then the smile freezes on my face.
Because leaning against the wall on my right is Killian. His arms are crossed and his gaze turns murderous as it sweeps across my face.
He pushes off the wall and follows the hotel worker in. The worker glances between us nervously. Killian hands him a wad of cash without taking his eyes off me.
I press a palm over my thumping heart. How did he find me? Does that murderous rage in his eyes mean he hasn’t forgiven me for almost getting his father killed? I glance around for anything I can use to defend myself. Oh, God. Rona. Surely, he wouldn’t hurt a child.
The man scurries from the room like his ass is on fire. Coward.
As soon as the door clicks shut, Killian steps into me.
My breath catches in my throat. I try to squeak out a “please”, but my throat is too constricted.
His hands reach up and... cup my face.
The gentleness is so unexpected, I almost pass out in relief.
He turns my face so my swollen, bruised eye is visible. His expression darkens and his mouth flattens into a hard line. “Who the fuck did this?” His words are barely a whisper but hold so much venom, I get a flashback of Ernesto’s intestines on the warehouse floor.
I begin to tremble. The rage is rolling off him in waves. Between that and the incongruence of his soft touch and the worry in his eyes, I’m completely overwhelmed. My face heats and tears spill down my cheeks.
“Feck.” He sighs. Then he pulls me into his chest, cradling my head gently in one large palm, the other arm wrapped around my lower back to steady me. “You’ll not be fightin’ this devil alone now, Vixen.”
And then, just as my shoulders relax, knowing he’s not going to strangle me, he freezes. Very slowly he pulls away and looks down into my eyes. Shock and confusion brighten his.
I glance down and realize why.
Rona is tugging on his cargo pants, her small face tilted up in curiosity. “Hi,” she says.
“H-i,” he chokes. And then his eyes come back to mine, startled, bright and incredulous and the questions are an avalanche in his gaze, but he only lifts the pierced brow. “Yours?”
I give him one nod.
And so many emotions travel over his face, I can’t keep up. It’s like watching puzzle pieces fall into place. And the last one is understanding.
He lifts a hand, stroking my bruised jaw with a feathery touch, then crouches down and looks my daughter in the eye. “Name’s Killian. What’s your name, little beauty?”
She cocks her head. “I’m Rona. And this is Mermaid Barbie.” She holds up her doll and waves its arm.
Killian takes the tiny plastic hand and shakes it. “Nice to meet you both.” His voice holds a touch of awe as he clears his throat. “You ready to eat some breakfast, yeah?”
“Yep! Cece makes the best cakes. She’s in N’York. I miss her.” Rona begins to hop up and down.
“Right. Where do you want to sit?” He chuckles as he stands.
“Wanna watch bunny cartoons.” Rona climbs up on the edge of the bed and arranges her wet doll beside her on the comforter.
I’m struggling with my tears as Killian plates a pancake, cuts it up into small bites and rests it on Rona’s legs, handing her a fork.
Silently he returns and pours two cups of coffee, adding three creamers and two sugars in one and handing it to me.
I want to ask him how he knows but obviously he’s been paying attention.
“Thank you,” I whisper. And we both know I’m thanking him for more than the coffee.
He turns up the TV volume on the cartoons, picks up his black coffee and motions for me to follow him.
We settle in the alcove where the bathroom counter and sink sit. He leans against the wall and sips from his cup, his gaze locked on mine.
He’s quietly waiting for an explanation.
I tighten my robe and wrap my arms around my middle, still not sure if I should open up to him. “How did you find me?”
His eyebrow lifts, a tiny spark of amusement in his eyes.
“Right,” I sigh. “Mafia.”
The amusement dies and his jaw clenches as his gaze locks onto my ruined eye. “Time to give me the name of your devil, love.”
It’s not the threat or the promise of vengeance behind his words that makes me answer him, though that’s all there, too. It’s the tenderness. It’s the promise that I’m not facing this alone anymore. I see it now, how genuine, raw emotion presents.
With Michael, everything was an act, he mimicked human emotion like an A-list actor.
But it never showed in his eyes. They were dull, dead, empty.
This… this glittering fire throwing sparks into the darkness, the swirl of changing emotions as unstable as spring weather in Killian’s gaze, this is real human emotion. He cares.
“Michael Barone.” Even though I’m the one who said it, hearing his name out loud is like a fist seizing my lungs.
He nods and I notice his knuckles whitening as he grips the coffee cup with more force. “Rona is his?”
I swallow bile, force myself to take a deep breath.
“Unfortunately. It wasn’t by choice.” I lift my bare ankle, the one with the scar.
“He held me captive, raped me until I got pregnant. After I gave birth, he let me go back to work at the hospital but kept Rona. Used threats to her safety to control me. He threatened her life to make sure I kept my mouth shut about what I saw. I could visit her with supervision if I obeyed.”
His face is pale with shock. “His own bleedin’ daughter? Fucking monster.” And then I see another puzzle piece fall into place for him. “The thirteen months you took leave.”
He’d looked into my past? Now it was my turn to be shocked. I shouldn’t be, I guess. “Yeah.”
“He’s a doctor then?”