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“He might have a permanent limp,” he said after a pause, his tone reluctant and maybe a little petulant. “But he completely deserved it. I also got your rent lowered back to its original price. The owner saw the error of his ways and was generous enough to reduce it.”
“Oh fuck.” I sucked in a deep breath. “I won’t have to wait for Kim to throw a tantrum over this. They’re going to evict me. I’m…going to…to be homeless.”
“Goddamn it, Lis!” he exploded, and I couldn’t control the flinch at the harshness of his tone. “I will be there in fifteen minutes. Until then, you stay right where you are and put your head between your knees. If I get there and you’ve passed out because of this fucking panic attack, I’m going to—”
The phone went silent before he could finish the threat. I gaped down at the phone in my hand. Oddly, my panic attack had started to ease, but I was still shaken from the fear of what was most likely to happen after he’d gone all gangster, threatening my super and the owner of the building.
Manuel had done shit like that all the time when I lived in Colombia. He’d throw his weight around, thinking he was just as powerful as Matias, and piss off the wrong people. Then things would go straight to hell, and afterward, once Matias was done chewing his ass out and embarrassing him in front of all their men, I’d pay for it with another beating.
Shivering, I wrapped my arms around my middle, trying and failing not to remember the beatings…and other things my stepbrother used to do to my body. I had scars, all of them hidden in places Matias never would have seen, but every time I saw my naked reflection in a mirror, I was transported back to the moment I’d gotten each one.
Closing my eyes, I reminded myself that Manuel wasn’t a part of my life any longer. I didn’t have to see him—not until I was ready to shell out the vengeance I deserved. He couldn’t hurt me.
I was safe from his tyranny, the terror of his abuse.
Taking slow, deep breaths, just like I was taught in therapy at Sanctuary, I felt my heart rate calm down. The sweat that had started to bead on my skin began to cool, and the weak, sick feeling I’d been fighting only moments before eased.
When I opened my eyes, I jerked, my shoulders straightening as I found Garret dropping to his knees in front of me.
“How did you get in here?” I demanded, shifting my head back when he tried to cup my face in his hands.
“I’d tell you, but you won’t like the answer, so I’m going to keep that to myself for the moment.” He pushed my hair back from my face, and I couldn’t help flinching, even though his touch was gentle.
His green eyes darkened, and he dropped his hands to his thighs. “I need you to listen to me. Visiting the super and the apartment building owner, that was only to protect you. I won’t ever do anything that could potentially harm you.”
As tall as he was, even on his knees, he was basically at eye level with me. I frowned at him and, after a few moments, realized that he believed what he was saying. Then again, he worked for the most powerful crime family in the country. Anything he said or did, his family and future brother-in-law would back him up, so there was nothing for him to fear.
It was why he’d never been worried about the possible backlash for all the horrible things he’d said to me over social media when we were teenagers. But he had no idea that with each threat he’d made to harm me, my stepbrother had carried it out. Every single one.
Logic told me to hate this man, but in my heart, I knew who the true villain was. Words were just that, but actions were a different story. Garret had only been taking his anger and frustration out on me after what Manuel had done to Nova in Matias’s name. What Manuel did to me, he didn’t really need a reason for.
I could have breathed wrong on any given day, and it would have set my stepbrother off. My brain told me I shouldn’t blame Garret for what my personal monster did to me.
And damn it, I was tired of being all alone.
Swallowing with difficulty, I forced my muscles to unclench and surprised us both when I threw my arms around Garret’s neck. I pressed my face into his shoulder, hiding the emotions swirling around inside me. “Thank you,” I whispered. “For trying to help me. I…I don’t know if you did, or if you made it worse, but either way, thank you.”
He slowly folded his arms around my back, and I felt him turn his head. The graze of his lips on my temple caused my arms to squeeze around him subconsciously. “You’re going to learn that I’m here to make everything better, blue eyes. I won’t allow anything or anyone to hurt you ever again.”
I wanted to laugh at how stupid it was to believe him, but instead, I buried my face deeper into the material of his suit jacket and held on for dear life.
This would most likely end in disaster, but right then, all I cared about was that, for the first time in forever, I wasn’t alone. I had someone to hold me, who wanted to protect me.
Not hurt me.
Not make me cry.
And I ached for that so damn bad.
Garret
Once the TV was mounted to Lis’s bedroom wall and I had all the streaming apps set up, I tucked her back into bed. She insisted she was going to work later, even though I’d asked her to quit. If she wanted a job so damn badly, I would find her one. But she was stubborn as hell—just like every other female in my life.
When she told me I could either accept her job and stick around, or keep harping on it and get the fuck out of her life, I shut my mouth. There was no fucking way I was letting her go, and I could wait until I was able to talk her into quitting that fucking job. Until then, I’d just have to spend every night she was at work watching out for her.
Instead of letting my possessiveness get the better of me and ruining what we could have before we even got started, I kissed her brow and let myself out of her apartment. As I walked down the hall to the elevator, I noted the lettering and numbers over each door, as well as the two cameras over each stairwell door.
Ryan’s tech guy had taken care of everything; he’d even sent me a link to the feed for the entire building so I could keep an eye on my girl. And then I’d told him to send the bill to the building’s owner. Something he was all too happy to pay after the visit I’d paid him and that fucking super earlier in the day.
