“I-I killed him,” she rasps.
Luke leans in closer.“No, babe, I don’t think you have.And even if you did, you will not be admitting it to anyone.He does not get to take more from you.He’s taken enough from a lot of people, but with you, he took so much more.Do not feel guilty for fighting back.Think of what he was going to do to you.Hold on to it.Find comfort in the knowledge you weren’t brutally assaulted.
“Now, when the police come and start asking you questions, you need to tell them you were heading home to get changed to go to the club with Rebecca, Eli and his brothers.You opened the front door and you were attacked.Can you do that?”
“I-I...I don’t...”she stammers.
“Ambulance is here,” Lincoln calls out from the door.
Luke runs the pads of his thumbs across her cheeks.“He doesn’t have any feelings.He doesn’t care who he hurts or what he does to people.Don’t let him take your freedom away from you.You need to tell the police you were going to the club with us.You came home to get changed and you were attacked.You don’t know anything else.You didn’t see their face.You didn’t hear them speak.The next thing you remember is Lincoln kneeling beside you, holding pressure to your chest.Lincoln is going to say he came back and found you.That when he came inside to check on you, he heard someone running down the stairs.Confirm you understand me.”
“I was coming home to get changed.Someone attacked me.I didn’t see or hear them.I don’t know who it was.I woke up to Linc helping me,” she rasps.
Lincoln quickly rushes over and presses his hands in the blood.“Needs to be real,” he declares.
I snort.“How many crime documentaries do you watch?”
“When he’s not watching reality TV, that’s all he watches,” Mina heaves out, wincing.“I was stabbed.”
“You are going to be okay,” Luke states with so much conviction, even I believe him.
She nods.“I wasn’t going to let him rape me again.I couldn’t feel dirty again.Icouldn’tfeel dirty again.I would rather be dead.”
Luke leans in again, surprising me with the heat in his tone.“You are a survivor.The world would be a darker place without people like you in it, Mina.People like Black don’t deserve to breathe the same air.And I promise you, he will get what is coming to him.He’s hurt too many innocent people.He’s going to pay.And you will be okay.I promise.We’ve got you.”
The paramedics arrive and I move back, letting them work.Luke, however, stays near, gripping her hand.I glance at Jaxon, who also notices, and raise my eyebrows.He shrugs and goes back to whispering to Lincoln.
I stay seated, leaning back against the wall next to the fireplace, and glance down at a sleeping Sienna.If anything, Black needs to be gone to save her and Rose’s future.Black isn’t just a man looking to one-up us; he’s a man who’s lost nearly everything and needs revenge.
*** *** ***
The police are gone, and Mum has taken Sienna back to the farm.Rebecca went to the hospital with Mina, leaving the rest of us behind.
Linc clears his throat.“I know you aren’t going to tell me what you are planning to do, but just so you know, I want in.”
“You don’t know what you’re dealing with,” Jaxon tells him softly.
“Funny, because I have a dad just like Black.Granted, he’s never raped anyone, but in every other way, they’re the same.I’ve also brought that girl back to life.I’ve finally got her to laugh again, to leave the house on her own.Fuck, it took me two weeks to get her to let me into her life.Now she will fall asleep with me near her.This fucker ruined her life once; he can’t live another minute to ruin it further.She can’t live in fear anymore.I won’t allow it.”
“We will protect her,” Jaxon promises.
“If she doesn’t feel safe here, you heard our mum: she can come and stay with us,” Luke offers.
“She’s not leaving here,” Linc growls.
“She means something to you,” Jaxon proclaims.
“She does.She reminds me of my sister.I couldn’t protect her from my dad.He hit her too hard one night and killed her.She was eight.But I see the same fear in Mina.So whatever you are planning, I am in.And before you think I won’t be able to handle it, I will.I won’t lose sleep either.But even if you just need me for an alibi, I’ll do it.I’ll do anything to make sure that sick piece of shit never hurts her again.”
“Okay,” Jaxon agrees.“Okay.”
Linc grabs the gym bag off the floor.“I’m going to the hospital to check on her and take her some clothes.”
“We will head over soon too,” Jaxon replies.
When he leaves, we all glance to Jaxon, but it’s Wyatt who speaks.“He can’t be involved.The police will break him.”
Jaxon subtly nods.“But he is right.Linc doesn’t need to get his hands dirty to help.”
