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I suck in a lungful of air and force myself to keep staring at her. I want to look away because I can’t stand to see how much this is hurting her, but I owe her more than that. If I’m asking her to bare her soul to me, I at least owe her the courtesy of looking her in the eye while I do it.
“What did they do to you?” I ask again.
“Dante, I can’t…” She closes her eyes.
I brush her tears away with the pad of my thumb. Sliding my hand to the back of her neck, I press my forehead against hers, as though somehow it might allow her to read my thoughts and let her know that she can trust me with this. “Whatever it was, it stays in here. Just me and you,” I say quietly.
The deep breath she takes ripples through her entire body. “They raped me,” she whispers. “They held me down. Over and over. Not just…” She chokes on a sob. “But e-everywhere. One of them carved that word into my back while he was inside me and the other one laughed while he did it.”
My blood burns white hot. I have to force myself not to run from this room and crush their skulls with my hands right now.
“Then they…” Her breath stutters, and her eyes fill with so much emotion that it’s killing me to keep looking at her.
“Breathe. It’s just you and me,” I say through clenched teeth, trying to keep my voice calm and soothing while my insides rattle with rage.
“They peed on me,” she mumbles, her pale cheeks flaming with heat. “But they laughed. The whole time, they laughed at me. Like what they were doing was just a big joke.”
“They won’t be laughing as soon as we go back down there,” I snarl.
Her eyes widen in horror as she tries to wrench herself free from my grip. “No.” Her lip trembles as she says the word. “I can’t go down there.”
“Yes, Kat. You can. Get yourself cleaned up and then we go back to my office.”
“I can’t, Dante. Please,” she pleads. “I promise never to run again…” She sobs now as she struggles in my grasp until I loosen it slightly. She thinks this is a punishment? “Please don’t make me face them,” she begs me as she stares into my eyes, tears flowing freely down her cheeks again.
It would be all too easy to wrap her in my arms and promise her that she’s safe. A part of me would like to tell her that she never has to see those two sick fucks ever again. But life isn’t that easy. Strength is never that easy. “You have to.”
She shakes her head.
I tuck her hair back from her face. “These are the men who haunt your dreams, Kat. You have made them into monsters — powerful monsters. But they are not. They are simply men — weak, pathetic men.”
She blinks at me, her eyes deep pools of fear and uncertainty.
“I will hold your hand every second if you need me to. Come with me and let me show you how powerful you truly are.”
She wipes the tears from her cheeks. “I’m not powerful. I just literally peed my goddamn pants. You are the one they’ll be scared of, not me. Can’t I just stay up here?”
I cup her face in both of my hands now. “You have no idea how strong you are, kitten.Youwill go in there and make those men tremble with fear, and not because I’m by your side but because you are equally powerful standing alone.”
She blinks at me, her long dark lashes fluttering against her cheeks. “I am?”
I press my forehead against hers again, pulling her closer until she wraps her arms around my waist. “You are the only woman who has the power to bring me to my knees.”
“Dante,” she whispers my name, and the way she does it makes my heart ache. Her arms tighten around me and then she’s silent, letting the enormity of what I just said hang uncomfortably between us for a moment, before she breaks the tension again. “But I peed my pants.”
“I know.”
“I feel so embarrassed.”
I kiss her forehead. “You have nothing to be embarrassed about. You need me to help you get cleaned up?”
“No. I can do it myself.”
My eyes narrow as I search her beautiful face. “I’ll wait right here. Okay?”
She swallows and then gives me the faintest nod. “Okay.”
I havea view of the study from here although I can’t see inside because the blinds are partially drawn and the sunlight bounces off the windowpane, obscuring the glass. But I knowtheyare in there. Lorenzo won’t let them leave no matter how long he has to wait for my return.
