Page 37 of Until Ace

She takes a ragged breath, then looks up at me. Her eyes are red and haunted, and when she speaks, her voice claws at my chest, trying to get through the skin and bone until it hits my heart, leaving the wound open and raw.

“My family sold me. They see me as nothing more than a cash cow. I’m nothing to them.”

It takes a moment for her words to register in my mind. But when they do, it takes everything in me not to immediately hunt down the people who call themselves her family.

“What the fuck?” I hiss through clenched teeth.

When she doesn't answer, I try to go to her but stop when, at my first step, she flinches and tries to get the cabinet behind her to absorb her.

I take a breath and with strained patience, I repeat my question, “Mandy, what the fuck did you just say?”

Her chin trembles, and a tear drips from her lashes. It’s the most agonizing experience of my life, watching that tear track down her face.

Goddammit, I feel powerless.

Never in my life have I felt like this, not even when my own life was blown to smithereens when I was a kid, before Beverly took me in.

I want to take her in my arms, promise her everything will be all right.

I want to shield her from the unknown, but I’ve seen too much to do that now. Not until I know who’s behind this. Then, and only then, I will do everything that’s needed so she can breathe easy.

But I know she’s too fragile right now to even bear my touch.

She’s still leaning against the counter, no longer holding the glass. That’s because, as her words left her mouth, she folded her arms across her midriff, and if it was even possible, she shrank into herself more.

It’s like she’s trying to be invisible, when all she can be to me is a beacon of light.

I take a moment to tamp down the hot feeling that’s burning inside me, before I grunt, “Talk.”

It’s the wrong thing to say.

Her eyes tip up to mine, the numbness disappears, her face twists, her tears glide silently down her cheeks, and she screeches, “I’m nothing!”

Dammit!

All her stuff is gone. Whoever got in made sure to ruin every single thing she had in her home. And by her own words, someone in her family is the culprit for it all.

What she needs to understand, even in her current state, is that what she lost is only things. Material stuff.

The stuff that matters, the essence of her, is not gone.

It’s wherever she is.

And I will bleed and die before I let anyone take that away from her.

As for her family, I’ll make sure they can’t touch her anymore. I just need to figure out the extent of the hurt they’ve inflicted on Mandy.

It’s something I know well, since I lived through similar pain.

“Baby, calm down. Breathe,” I urge her.

“No, you don’t understand,” she cries and starts pacing the kitchen like a caged animal. Suddenly, she stops and turns toward me. “This is all happening because of my own family!”

It’s a good thing I brace myself for what comes next.

“My brother.” She licks her lips, her eyes darting all over the dark kitchen. “He’s mixed up in something; I don’t know exactly what. I thought it was a gambling debt, but I’m not sure anymore.” That last part, she mumbles like she’s talking to herself before she looks back at me and continues. “He wanted me to pay for it, and when I said I couldn’t, that I didn’t have the money, he got nasty. And soon after that, he disappeared. I thought that was the last of it, but then these weird messages started coming. When I texted him, asking what was going on, he again said I needed to pay the debt, or else. I even went to my parents, but as usual, when it comes to me, they refuse to help.”

Fucking hell, her brother used her as a bargaining chip?