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He touched her knees. "It's the truth. Why would I lie?"
She pushed his hands off, and he felt a stab of pain in his chest at the rejection. "You wanted to catch him in some horrible act and put him away. He's going away, isn't he?"
He nodded, "For a very long time."
Lucy nodded and wiped her nose. "Good, that's good. Maybe he'll finally get clean in there."
Her shoulders slumped, and he wanted to gather her in his arms and hold her. She suddenly looked even younger than twenty-three. She looked like a sad little kid with big watery eyes, like a bully had just destroyed her favorite toy.
His hands itched to punch the son of a bitch into a bloody pulp. He fisted them hard.
"Lucy, we lost audio feed when he took you out the back door. What did he say? What happened?"
She sighed and closed her eyes, causing another tear to fall down her cheek. He brushed it away, and she flinched. His stomach knotted, and he dropped his hands and took out his phone.
He set it to record audio as she explained what her dad said.
"He threatened Taylor, said someone was going to drug her and kill her inside if I didn't go with him. He—he wanted me to go to Mexico where he was going to teach me some manners. I—I think he wanted me to apologize for breaking his nose at Billy Bob's back in May."
"But you didn't apologize, did you, little bird?" he asked softly, his stomach clenching.
She shook her head and closed her eyes. "Never. He left my mom to die, Mason, and left me to pick up all the pieces. He's lucky I only broke his nose."
He smiled, pride welling in him. "I'm so proud of you for standing up for yourself."
She sighed, and opened her eyes, staring over his shoulder blankly. "Me too."
"What happened after he said he was going to teach you some manners?"
Tears welled in her eyes and she finally met his gaze. Her big, brown eyes shone with pain in the harsh light of the ambulance.
"He said he was going to give me to a guy in...um, somewhere, who was looking for a new play thing."
"Was it Mexico? Florida? Colombia? Guatemala?"
"Colombia. He said he had a friend in Colombia," she frowned, then her face collapsed with a sob. "Why did he want to do that? To his own daughter? Didn't he ever love me?"
Sobs racked her body, and Mason sat up on his knees and pulled her into a hug. Her body shook with tears, and he rubbed her back.
"If he loved me, he wouldn't have put me in this situation. He wouldn't have wanted to sell-sell me to some pervert. That's not love. I could see it in his eyes. He wanted to hurt me like he hurt mama."
She choked on a sob, her breathing short and racking her body.
"Sh, it's ok. No one's going to hurt you ever again," he said.
She jerked her head back, and he dropped his hands. She wiped furiously at her eyes with the edge of the blanket. "That's right because I'm tough. I'm strong. I can handle it."
He smiled at her determined, fierce look. Then she turned her eyes on him, anger shining through. "And I can handle it all on my own. But what I can't do alone is find out the truth of tonight."
He frowned. "What do you mean?"
She glared at him. "Think, Mason. There's no way it's a coincidence that my dad called me up out of the blue. There has to be an explanation, and I'm holding you personally responsible for finding out why. Are we done here? Is that enough of a statement?"
He sighed and shook his head. "What happened after he mentioned the Colombian?"
She scowled and tightened the blanket around her. "What do you think? They tried to force me into the car, and I panicked. I heard gunshots and passed out. Next thing I know, you're hovering over me like some kind of avenging angel."
He narrowed his eyes and frowned. "Why do you sound so angry about that?"
