“Hello.” His commanding voice comes through on the intercom. It’s late – I’m guessing there’s nobody else in the building but him and the cleaners.
“Hi.” The word comes out as a timid squeak, and I flush. “It’s me, Willa.”
He doesn’t say a word. For a moment, I’m convinced he won’t let me in, but then the doors open for me and my heart falls into my stomach as I walk into the marble lobby. I take a deep breath and press the elevator button. Inside, I check my reflection in the mirror, but quickly turn around so I’m not facing it. I look like a freaking mess.
Once the elevator stops on the penthouse floor, I breathe out and force myself to collect my thoughts before exiting onto the floor of Raphael’s office.
He’s already waiting for me, his powerful arms crossed as his eyes meet mine across the room. He takes one look at my appearance and groans, taking several steps closer and embracing me in his arms. I take a whiff of his darkly intoxicating scent, instantly feeling calmer. But as his arms come to rest around my body, shielding me from all the ugly things in the world, I feel myself coming undone.
I start to sob. It starts with a single cry ripping itself from my lips, but I soon dissolve into tears. And Raphael holds me throughout it all.
“What happened?” he mutters in my ear, gently intertwining my fingers with his. I hiss when his skin comes in contact with my cut from the glass shard. “Fuck, Willa. What the fuck did you do?”
I don’t get a chance to answer. He picks me up in his strong arms and carries me into his office, where he sets me down to sit on a leather armchair. Next thing I know, he’s got a first-aid kit on his lap and he’s cleaning the gash on my palm.
“Does it need stitches?” I manage to get out in a choked sob. “I’m afraid of that, please don’t make me go to the hospital.”
“No, it’ll be okay.” Raphael plasters the cut after cleaning it. “Just keep it covered and then change the bandage every day. I can do it for you if you want.”
“Nox… Err, my mom and dad can do it,” I whisper. “It’s okay.”
He nods, gently placing my hands back in my lap. Now that the crisis has been averted, the tension in the air is suddenly thick as fuck.
Raphael puts away the first-aid box and comes to sit next to me. “I thought you’d never show up, trouble. Do you want to tell me what happened?”
“I met someone from the app.”
Fuck. I had every intention of lying, but something about this man makes me lower my defenses and I can’t help but tell him the truth.
“You did?” His brows shoot up and his hands tighten into fists. He looks pissed, but not at me. “He did this to you?”
“No, I...” I swallow thickly, managing a weak smile. “I got into a mess myself.”
“But what happened? How did you cut your hand?”
I can’t believe he hasn’t guilt-tripped me for meeting another man yet. I fully believed he’d be pissed off with me. That my mistake would’ve cost me his company, that he’d push me away once he found out, and I’d never be allowed to see him again.
But right now, Raphael only seems concerned about one thing – my safety.
“The man... he was someone I knew. He tricked me into meeting him by promising me money.”
“Who was it?”
Nervously, I chew my bottom lip. “I haven’t told you much about my life. But before I was adopted... I lived with my mom and stepfather. And when Mom died, my stepfather... he became even more abusive. After that I ran away, and I was living alone, on the street for a while, until... until Dove, my adoptive mom, found me and took me in. They legally adopted me.”
“So, this man, he was...”
“My stepfather,” I whisper.
“Did he hurt you in the past?”
I can tell he’s trying to keep any kind of emotion out of his voice but it’s not working well. Raphael’s tone is shaking with the weight of what I’m about to say. And now I’m no longer worried about myself. Instead, I’m afraid of what he’s going to do to Davis if he ever gets his hands on the creep.
“Yes,” I nod. “He... he touched me when I was little.”
Raphael shoots out of his seat, refusing to look at me. “Where is he now?”
“Please, Raphael.” I turn my pleading eyes to his. “Don’t do this, not right now. He’ll stay away from now on. I just... I just needed to tell someone.”
“Your parents don’t know?”
I shake my head miserably. “I can’t tell them about the app.”
Raphael doesn’t question my motives and doesn’t ask why I went against his direct orders to not meet anyone else from the app. Instead, he asks me for my stepfather’s name and types it into his phone, firing off a text.