All of us men stood in my room, huddled around my laptop since it had the largest screen. We waited in total silence, tense. The computer in L’s room was mirrored here, the application running full screen. In the corner, the small box showed L waiting, her face blank.
Whatever emotions she was feeling, she’d shoved them down so her expression was controlled and maintained.
A dialogue box popped up on the screen, announcing a guest wanted to join the call. L’s shoulders rose as she took a deep breath, then the cursor slid over to click “Accept.”
I had expected it to be Juric. It wasn’t.
L put a hand over her mouth to stifle a cry.
I’d never had so many emotions at once. Overwhelming relief at seeing her. Concern for her wellbeing. Fury at the man who’d put her in that state.
Kara’s eyes were dark and sunken like she was exhausted, her skin pale. There was the bruise on the left side of her face. Faint scratches on her arms led down to the ugly red marks on her wrists. Chaffing from the handcuffs she was wearing. She sat on a couch, dressed in black pants and a simple gray shirt that matched her weary eyes.
Despite all this, I could see she wasn’t broken.
Farfrom it. She had fight and fire beneath her whipped facade.
“Hey,” Kara said as soon as she saw her sister’s reaction. “It’s okay. I’m okay.”
“Oh, God,” L choked out.
“What about you?” Kara asked. “Is everything okay with you?”
I knew what she was asking, that she meant the baby. They’d positioned the camera angled up on L and had her seated, so it wasn’t obvious she was pregnant.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” L’s voice went cold. “Where is he?”
“I’m here,” Juric said, coming into frame.
He sat beside Kara on the couch, right beside her, and I wanted to reach through the screen and rip out his fucking throat. For putting his hands on Kara. For everything he’d put my brother and sister-in-law through. For what had happened to my company.
His ugly blue eyes needed to shut forever.
“Motherfucker.” Jason’s posture stiffened, like his entire body had seized with rage.
“You look different than the last time I saw you.” L’s voice was emotionless, as Jason had explained was best. Her ability to keep herself controlled was impressive, given her overwhelming hatred for the man sitting beside her sister.
“Yeah. You do, too,” Juric said casually.
“Please don’t hurt her.”
“I’m not going to.”
She didn’t look like she trusted that for a fraction of a second. “What do you want? What can I do to get you to let her go?”
“Stand up.”
She hesitated. “You want me to stand up?”
“Yes.” The bastard was annoyed that he had to repeat himself. “Pick up the camera and show me there’s no one else in the room.”
She scooped up the laptop, and the camera went on a chaotic journey around the room. She did so good hiding it until she returned to her chair, and her belly was visible as she sat.
“No,” Jason gasped.
What was Juric going to do when he realized? Would he take it out on Kara?
“Satisfied?” L asked, her voice flat.
