Rome already has Miranda wrapped in a blanket, and I ignore my kid, who’s yelling and throwing a fit as he’s dragged away, and immediately squat in front of Natasha.
“Hey.” I reach up to brush her hair off her cheek, but she flinches, and I have to work to keep the rage down, so I don’t scare her, curling my hands into fists. “Natasha, it’s Julian. I’m not Elliott. He’s not going to hurt you.”
“You said that before,” she whispers, still not looking at me. She’s rocking back and forth and doesn’t even try to close her ripped dress to cover herself, as if she’s forgotten the state she’s in.
Fucking fuck.
I promised her he wouldn’t touch her again, and he did it the very next day.The next motherfucking day.
“I’m getting Scarlett and Eloise,” Rome says. “Then we’ll go to the basement.”
I nod but don’t take my eyes off Natasha.
“I know, I did. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know he’d do this.” I shake my head and let myself look down at her body so I can cover her, but then I notice the bruises that run up and down her ribs. They’re fresh.
When I look back up at her face, I can see new marks on her, the lip is reopened.
She’s been worked over something awful, and I see fuckingblack.
“Natasha. Look at me.” My voice is harder than I’d like, but I’m so damn pissed that I want toroar.
“Here’s a blanket.” I glance up at Scarlett, the manager of the playroom and Eloise’s best friend, as she offers me the blanket for Natasha. “I’m right here, and Lulu’s on the way.”
“Thanks. Natasha, I’m going to cover you. Is that okay?”
Her nod is shaky, and she’s still not looking me in the eyes as I drape the warm blanket around her. She gathers it to her, nuzzling into it.
“Who bruised your ribs, sweetheart?”
She frowns at me, like she doesn’t understand what I’m saying.
“Who hurt you today, Natasha? You have new bruises that weren’t there last night.”
“My f-father,” she whispers. “Got in trouble for making Elliott mad.”
I’m going to kill them all.
“And your face?”
“Papa,” she replies.
“Did Elliott hit you today?”
Slowly, Natasha shakes her head, and her lower lip trembles. Christ, I want to scoop her against me and comfort her, but from what I’ve gathered, Natasha doesn’t like to be touched.
And who can blame her?
“He made me watch.” She swallows hard. “And he hurt her. He said I have to do that.”
Her blue eyes are wide and pleading as they finally turn to me.
“Please don’t make me.”
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. And I know that I fucked up my promise from last night, but I’m telling you right now thatno oneis going to hurt you again. Not your father, not Elliott. No one.”
“You can’t promise that,” she says softly, eyeing Lulu as she walks into the room. “Because that’s just what they do.”
“Never again,” I repeat. “You’re going to go with Scarlett and Lulu. They’re going to take care of you while I go to work.”
