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“Are you okay?” he murmured, low enough so only he and I could hear. I nodded, not wanting to admit how utterly broken I was right then. I couldn’t tell him what had happened there. I couldn’t tell him what Mr. Pozzi had done to me.
I shivered, holding on to Uncle Caden tighter. He was the only other person that I didn’t mind touching me—him and Romeo.
Romeo.I stuttered a breath, sensing his eyes on me. They warmed me in a way that they shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t deny it.
Uncle Caden pulled back, staring down at me, a huge frown marring his face. “You have a bruise.” He trailed his finger over the dark spot on my face and I winced, remembering how one of the men had given it to me while I was tied to the metal X.
Closing my eyes, I tried to keep the tears at bay. I had to stay strong. I had to see this through, just until I was alone.
“Hey.” Uncle Caden’s soft voice calmed me. “Open those eyes up for me.” I did as he said, smiling at him saying the same words he had since I was a little girl. “Let those tears fall if you have to, Bay, let it all out.” He winked, and there was no doubt that he was thinking about all of the other times I’d cried over the years. He’dalwaysbeen there for me. Yeah, we may have had to move around all the time, but he was the constant in my life that I never wanted to be away from.
But now…now there were so many things that had happened; I wasn’t sure I was the same Bailey I’d been the last time I saw my uncle.
“Come on,” Uncle Caden said, a smile lifting his lips as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “Let’s get you home.”
I nodded, not thinking too much into it. I truly was safe now. Once I was home, I could process everything, I could try and sort through all of the darkness invading my brain and taking it over.
“I can’t let you do that,” a deep voice growled from behind us.
Uncle Caden stiffened, a muscle in his jaw ticcing, a sure sign that he was pissed. “What?” He turned us around so that we were facing away from the door—away from my escape. But now we were looking directly at Romeo, his dad, and two more men, the men who had been talking the entire time I’d been sitting outside of that office.
Maybe they thought I hadn’t heard what they’d been saying, but I had. Every word reverberated around in my mind as I stared at them one by one, but it was Romeo who I stopped on last. I hated him. I hated everything he’d done to me. But I couldn’t help but like him. I couldn’t help but want to be close to him.
It didn’t make any sense. None of this made sense.
“I can’t let you take her,” Romeo said, stepping forward. His gaze was settled on Uncle Caden, not acknowledging me one bit. “I bought her from Gio.”
“The fuck did you just say?” Uncle Caden’s arm held me tighter, pulling me closer to him. It was a protective thing, one that he’d always done, but I couldn’t help not wanting to be held like that. It was too much, it was all too damn much.
Images flashed through my mind: the way Mr. Pozzi held me in front of the room full of men as he threatened to fuck me with a knife, the way he’d held me down as he took from me over and over again, the threats he’d made and then followed through with. My breaths came faster, my chest lifting higher and higher as I tried to catch my breath but nothing I was doing was working.
I couldn’t breathe.I couldn’t breathe.
“Let her go,” a voice thundered, this time closer. “Let her fuckin’ go.”
“Don’t tell me what to do. She’s my goddamn niece—”
“Bailey.” Hands landed on either side of my face, so big they covered it almost entirely, but the soft movement of a thumb rubbing my cheek calmed me, just a little. “Breathe, Bailey.” His breath fanned across my face, and as my eyes focused, I could see Romeo mere inches from me, his eyes focused solely on me. “That’s it, Bailey. Breathe. No one is going to hurt you here. I promise you that.”
He’d made a promise to me before, and he’d kept it too. So I had no reason to not believe Romeo, but still…
“Why?” I asked. I didn’t know exactly what I was asking him. Why did he do it to me? Why did my body react the way it did to him? Why did he calm me? Why did I want to be close to him?
His eyes searched mine, probably trying to decipher what I meant by my one-word question, but he’d never find an answer because I didn’t fully know what I was asking either.
“He’ll be watching us.” He slowly stood, letting his hands drift from my face, leaving behind a coldness that he’d taken away by touching me. I wanted his hands back. I wanted his skin against mine so that all of the dark thoughts would drift away, because as soon as he took a step back from me, they were back, invading my mind and senses.
“To get her out of there,” Romeo continued, only now he wasn’t looking at me, he was staring right at Uncle Caden, whose arm was by his side instead of around my shoulders. “I had to buy her.”
“How much?” Uncle Caden asked. “I’ll wire transfer it to you right now.”
Romeo sighed, his gaze slipping to his father, then back to us. “That’s not what I’m saying. He was already having me followed and…” He paused, clearing his throat, his eyes drifting down to me, then back to Uncle Caden. “Let’s just say that Gio seemed to take a liking to Bailey. A liking that will have him keeping tabs on her.”
The atmosphere was so thick I felt like I was choking, or maybe it was the final words that Mr. Pozzi had said to me. “You’ll always belong to me.” I held the bottom of my neck, tapping my fingers against the dip in my skin as all eyes focused on me. “That was the last thing he said to me.”
“Motherfucker,” Romeo cursed, clenching his fists at his sides. He started to pace back and forth in front of us, mumbling something to himself, then suddenly he stopped, his face back to that angry mask that I’d been so used to. “She’s coming home with me.”
“Like hell she is,” Uncle Caden growled, stepping in front of me.
