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“I meant when I had Rachel tell you to send the girls here. They will be safe at the compound. I can also send you some men if you need more. You know how I feel about women being abused. I won’t fucking stand for it.” The anger in his voice is evident. Clearly, Rachel has told him everything if he’s even offering the help of his men.
“I don’t think it will be necessary. Plus, if I’m going to hand all my information over to the authorities, it would be better if you all had no involvement.” I hate turning down his offer since I could use a couple more men just in case, but I also don’t want to fuck my chances up at taking Robert down in any shape or form.
“Understood, Brother. Keep us posted. The offer will always stand no payment needed, you’re family.” A shuffling of the phone can be heard again before Rachel comes back on the line.
“You should take the offer, Trev,” Rachel’s voice is softer.
“We all know I can’t. At least not for the extra manpower. I’ll send the girls there if something goes wrong.” Shit! Looking at the clock, I realize we’ve been talking for almost an hour, and I need to get to Evercrest. “Now I have to go, Rach. The fights start in two hours, and I need to get to the arena. Give my niece and nephew a kiss for me.”
“Will do. Be safe.” She demands before hanging up the phone.
“Rachel?” Knox asks from the doorway startling me as I turn around in the chair.
“Yup. Thanks for that.” I grumble, running my hand across the top of my head, and sigh.
“We need to get going if you're going to make it on time. Forget whatever that conversation was about and focus on the fight. You can’t afford to be distracted.” His eyes tighten with concern before he schools his expression and turns to leave. “Meet you in the car.”
This is seriously going to be a long ass night after everything today. Knox is right though. I need to get my head in the game. Not only for Emma but for Alexis, my girls are counting on me. I won’t let them down.
After a few calming breaths, I finally stand up from behind the desk. Sitting on the couch is my gym bag for the night and the suit jacket and button-up shirt I need. I am already wearing my dress slacks and had thrown on a white t-shirt after showering earlier, knowing I will need to dress up once again tonight. Throwing on the button-up, I know I will just button it in the car and throw on the jacket when we get closer to the venue. I grab my gym bag and follow my brother to the waiting SUV. With all the pent-up aggression I have been feeling from the week, I know tonight’s fight will be the perfect place to unleash it. Whoever my opponent is tonight, I sure as fuck better be ready to get their ass kicked.
SIXTEEN
EMMA
He told me to be ready at a moment's notice. How the hell am I supposed to do that? Nothing in this house has anything of value to me, at least nothing tangible. The only thing that matters is my daughter's safety. Everything we own can be easily replaced in time. I have taught Alexis since she was young to not get firmly attached to any object. If my father knew she cared about something, he would use that to his advantage. I hated having her grow up that way, but if it kept her safe, then it was needed.
The only object valuable to me is my Jeep, and Trevor knows that. It’s exactly why he had Knox pass me a note asking me what I wanted to do with it. I hate leaving my baby behind, but it is something that I know can be replaced. Trevor will let me pick out whatever car I want even if it is another Jeep. Sure mine is my first car, and it holds a lot of memories. Like the first time Trevor ever ate me out, which was in the backseat, but we could always make some new memories.
All weekend I spent thinking about everything Alexis and I needed, or would need, to be able to leave at a moment's notice. The only things I ended up compiling were some important documents. Even then it wasn’t the ones I knew we would really need. My father kept all our birth certificates and social security cards locked up in a vault in his office. No way was I going to get my hands on those without him asking questions. The only paperwork I did have was Alexis’s medical records. He didn’t know I had asked her primary care to print two copies of the records. I gave one to him and kept the other for myself in a hidden floor bed in my closet.
When I wasn’t thinking of what the two of us would need. I spent my focus on Alexis, helping her with the little homework she had for the weekend and we read the Harry Potter books together. Now that they had been making the illustrated versions she seemed to take an interest in them. Who was I to tell her not to? I was just happy she wanted to be reading.
When my father and brother had gotten home late Friday night, they had made a huge ruckus. They were practically shouting over what had happened during the fights. I tried to listen in and catch any mention of Trevor's fake name, but they never said anything. I only heard that they were pissed that someone was killed during a fight.
It’s rare, but I know it does happen. One wrong hit and someone can die almost instantly.
I was torn up just thinking about who it was that had died and hoped to god that it wasn’t Trevor. If it was him, I don’t think I would survive losing him again. If it was him, his team wouldn’t even be able to get a message to me until this morning when I took Alexis to school. Over and over the thought ran rampant in my head not knowing if he was alive or dead. He got my hopes up when he cornered me in the bathroom and fucked me, reminding me that I belonged to him. When he told me to make sure Alexis and I were ready to leave, I let myself believe that maybe, just maybe, there was a chance to find happiness and an escape from this life of control.
Last night I didn’t sleep at all. Every time I closed my eyes, I pictured Trevor being the fighter that was killed. The stress and worry overtook my mind. When I did find a moment of sleep the nightmares started. There was no reprieve for me. I wanted to go in and watch Alexis sleep like I did when she was little, but I thought that might be too much and I didn’t want to freak her out if she woke up at some point and saw me in her room. Instead, I focused on clearing my already immaculate room as quietly as I could and made sure there wasn’t anything I needed to gather and hide in my purse.
Glancing at the clock for what feels like the millionth time I see it is finally time to make sure Alexis is awake and getting ready for school. Within minutes I am across the hall,knocking on her door to wake her up. Thankfully, she’s good at knowing when it's time to get up and rarely fights me in the mornings. Today is the same, and I see her already sitting up in bed.
“Hey, Sweetie,” I smile, trying to hide my worry. I know she can sense that I was on edge all weekend even when I tried my best to hide it.
“I’m up, Mom.” She pushes her comforter off her lap and swings her little legs to the side of the bed.
“Make sure you’re dressed and have everything you need.” I stand in the doorway knowing she understands what I’m implying. I explained to her on Saturday what was going on and to make sure her backpack was always packed and near her bed.
“I will, Mommy.” She stretches and then stands to go to her closet.
With that done I head back into my room to start getting ready. I know I probably look like shit and it’s going to take a good shower with a lot of makeup to hide how exhausted I am. Knowing I’m short on time, I rush through the shower and pull out all my makeup. I have dark circles under my eyes from the lack of sleep and my green eyes lost their brightness; now they just look dim and sullen.
Because my father expects me to look my best when I leave the house at any time, I quickly throw some curls in my hair when my makeup is finished instead of throwing it up into a messy bun like I really wanted to do. By the time I am in the closet grabbing some jeans and a nice blouse, Alexis has made her way into my room and sits on the bed.
“Ready?” I ask, knowing it’s not just about being ready that today may be the day we leave but also about whether she’s ready to make it through breakfast with her grandfather.
“Mom, will you stop stressing, please,” she begs before pulling me out of the closet.
