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“I don’t want to go in there,” Emily cried as she held her hand over the buckle of the seatbelt, trying to prevent me from getting her out of the car.
My heart was breaking for her. I knew how hard this was going to be, but it was important. “I know you don’t, princess, but you need to do this for closure. I would never put you in a situation where you were unsafe. I’ll be with you the entire time, okay?”She had so much fun passing out donuts at Elliot's office this morning and I felt awful having her do something that changed her mood so quickly.
She sobbed into her hands and I felt like an ass. Being a Daddy was hard for a lot of reasons, but I personally thought times like this were the hardest. My Little one was terrified, but I still had to cultivate her growth and help her do this hard thing.
I rubbed her back and continued to kneel by the car, waiting for her to be ready. “I know this is scary, but I want you to think about all the scary things you’ve already done and overcome. You were raised in a cult, princess. You escaped. You fought to free yourself and to better your life. Were those things worth it?”
She nodded.
“Were you terrified when you did those things?”
“Y-yes.”
“Why did you do them?”
“B-because I couldn’t keep living like I was living on the compound.”
“Can you keep living like you are living now? Always scared, constantly looking over your shoulder, wondering if he is going to be there?”
She was quiet as she thought about my words. I was learning that she was always quiet when processing something. She was a serious thinker. “N-no,” she finally whispered as she looked me in the eye.
I wiped her tears away with my thumbs. “I know this is scary, but I promise I am going to be with you the entire time. He can’t hurt you anymore.”
She trembled, but steeled her shoulders, her expression determined as she unbuckled her seatbelt. Taking her hand, I helped her from the car and walked her into the police station. I kept my arm around her and held her close to my body.
Locken met us in the front of the building. He sent her a soft smile, but I saw the rage behind his eyes. He was just as angry at this bastard as I was. When he’d called me yesterday, it was from his car. He’d had to leave the scene and take some time to collect himself. Emily had been truthful about her past; she just hadn’t told us everything. I didn’t think she intentionally left things out, she shared as much as she could mentally process at the time.
Her parents, William and Donna Giles, had started the cult. They’d left a small church and launched The Movement. Her dad was manipulative and cunning. He’d scammed hundreds of people out of their life savings as they sold all their belongings to follow his beliefs. He promised them —spiritual blessings and prosperity. He targeted people who came from broken backgrounds, people who were searching for a chance to belong. His beliefs were rooted in authoritarian control, dogmatic beliefs, and extreme isolation from non-believers. The bullshit he’d fed to his followers sickened me, as did the way so many of them had accepted it without question. No surprise though. He had poisoned their minds. That was how cults worked.
As soon as the people began to become suspicious about missing money, he and the girls’ mother had fled, leaving Emily and Rouge to be raised in the chaos. They’d sold their children’s futures for money.
Once their parents left, Malachi had become the leader of The Movement. His beliefs mirrored William’s. These girls and the other women in the cult had been through hell. The better news was that The Movement had been disbanded sometime after Emily and Rouge left. The remaining children—there’d only been six of them left—had been taken by social services. That was why Malachi had been so insistent on finding Emily. The crazy piece of shit had convinced himself and a few others that she was God’s plan to restore The Movement..
To Locken and me, the cult was only surface deep. It was several men with crazy beliefs who’d convinced less than sixty people to join them. To Emily, Rouge, and the other innocents whose lives had been forever affected by their teachings, it was real and terrifying. That was why I’d brought Emily. I wanted her to hear these facts from Malachi himself. In a fit of anger he’d confessed everything. He had nothing without women willing to serve him. He was going away for a long time.
***
Emily
“I know this is scary, but I promise I am going to be with you the entire time. He can’t hurt you anymore.”
I trembled as I walked into the station, but Daddy's promise played on repeat in my head. He has his arm wrapped around me. Locken walked in front of me and his partner followed behind. I knew they were trying to make me feel safe, but I was terrified. I wasn’t a child anymore. I didn’t know if there were any laws to protect me if he tried to drag me back. More tears rolled down my face at the thought.
“I’m right here, princess. I’m not going anywhere,” Onyx promised.
Locken led us over to a window. I froze when I saw Malachi sitting handcuffed to a table. He still had on the clothes he’d been wearing at the club. His face was bruised. He looked so much older than when I left. Now that I wasn’t terrified of being forced to go back and bear his babies, I could see how the years hadn’t been kind to him.
“He can’t see you, princess,” Onyx reassured me, rubbing circles on my back. “We can only see him.”
“What’s wrong with his face?”
Locken chuckled. “Onyx beat the shit out of him.”
Surprised, I looked up. Onyx and Pike had said only that Onyx had hit him. This was far more than one punch.
Onyx shrugged. “He hurt you and that’s not acceptable.”
Nodding, I took a timid step closer to the window.
