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Once we’re in the car, she sinks back against the seat with her hands over her face. “I can’t believe any of this. How did everything fall apart all of a sudden?”
I’ve asked myself the same question more times than I can count in the past year alone. Especially in those early days, when I was still moving half in a dream most of the time. Unable to process what had happened, and without the time to do it, either. I had a family to pull together, pieces to pick up. People depended on me, lives hung in the balance.
That must be why my heart goes out to her now. Why I reach for her, why I gather her in my arms and hold her close. I press my lips to the top of her head and close my eyes while Chuck drives us out of the garage with Scott beside him in the front seat.
This woman. This impossible woman. This woman who’s so brave and strong and kind and frustrating and challenging and so many other things.
She practically climbs into my lap, burying her face against my neck where soon her tears start to trickle over my skin. “She’ll be alright,” I murmur in her ear, and before I know it I’m rocking her the way I’d imagine rocking a child coming out of a nightmare.
I’m sure to her, this is a nightmare. Unfortunately, it won’t end the second she opens her eyes. I’m going to have to bring an end to it for her, that much is obvious. I can’t stand to see her in pain, physical or otherwise.
“It’s just that… I don’t know how much more I can take…” No matter how tightly hold her, she’s still shaking, sobbing. I’ve never felt so fucking useless.
And it’s clear I have to do something about it.
“I’m going to fix this. You have my word on it.”
“What can you do?”
“For one thing, her medical bills are taken care of. She won’t have to worry about that.”
Her head snaps up, her mouth hanging open. “You can’t do that. Do you know how much that could end up being? She doesn’t have insurance.”
Like that comes as a surprise. I wipe her cheeks with my thumbs. “I guessed. Like I said, it’s taken care of. That’s the last thing either of you need to worry about right now. As for the asshole who put her there, we’ll find him.”
“You already have so much going on. You don’t need this.”
“Remember, it’s not entirely for Deanna’s sake, or for yours. The man owes me money yet again, and I already gave him a way out last time. I don’t offer third chances, Delilah.”
Her brow furrows—there’s that conscience of hers, tugging against her thirst for vengeance. The thirst wins out and her forehead goes smooth. “So long as he can’t hurt her again.”
“And that’s exactly what we’re going to make sure won’t happen. You’ll never touch her again. This, I can say for certain.”
She settles in again, gusty sobs now nothing more than sniffles. While I’m glad she feels a measure of peace, there’s no peace for me. Not with Dante Bernardi looming over us, not when I know her life is in jeopardy every moment she sits here in my arms. There has to be a way I can protect her, because sending her away from me isn’t going to do it. There are too many predators out there, too much danger. If anything, the Deanna situation has reminded me of that. There’s no such thing as safety.
Especially if Bernardi knows there’s a woman in my orbit who happens to mean anything to me. And I’m sure the bastard who attacked her ran straight to his boss like a good little soldier and told him everything he learned. Even away from me, there’s no way I could guarantee her safety.
I’m between a rock and a hard place.
There’s only one thing I can do.
I have to try to settle things before they blow up in my face all over again.
