Or offering me comfort.
Or looking at Violet like he actually gave a shit about the little girl.
Maybe a knock-down, drag-out fight with the man would get rid of all these crazy weird feelings that were zinging through me. Not a literal knock-down fight because he could undoubtedly kick my ass with one blow, but if I could just get in his head…
“Me-me,” Violet murmured drowsily in my arms. Her head had dropped to my shoulder and she had her fingers curled around the keychain I’d returned to her after I’d made sure all the water from the tub was drained and her hands were dry.
“Do you want to hear a story, sweet pea?” I asked as I carried her to the bed. I could still feel Luca’s presence in the room, but he’d at least moved out of my line of sight. I ignored him as I dressed the little girl and then tucked her into bed. I was dimly aware of the door snicking closed as I began doing some of the voices from the old Bugs Bunny cartoons. I strung together a ridiculous tale of Bugs and his friends that didn’t make a lick of sense, but Violet didn’t care… she always fixated on the voices rather than the story itself. Within five minutes, her eyes were closed. I lowered my voice and continued the story for another few minutes just to make sure she was really out, then I tucked the blanket around her. My heart hurt at how peaceful she looked. Her skin had a healthy glow to it now that it was clean, and instead of that god-awful needle fisted in her hand, she had the little soccer ball keychain instead. My eyes drifted to what I now knew to be Gio’s name on the ball.
He laminated his son’s name.
I tried not to think too hard on why he’d do such a thing, but I couldn’t help but settle on the obvious.
His child was gone.
I didn’t want to pity Luca, but the more I stared at Violet, the more I thought about what it would be like for any parent, even an asshole like Luca, to lose their child.
Yours didn’t care.
The ugly reminder knifed through me and I pulled in a deep breath to steel myself against the sharp pain. All of that was in the past. Just like the shit that had happened with Luca. I wouldn’t… couldn’t let it affect me.
I leaned down to give Violet a quick kiss on the forehead, then quickly left the room to find Luca and end this shit once and for all. No way in hell was I going to let the son of a bitch rule anything I did. I’d seek Ronan’s help first.
I didn’t have to go far to find Luca since he was standing right outside the bedroom door. Before I could open my mouth to lay into him, he said, “In here,” and opened the door across the hall. I bit back the automatic response that bubbled up in my throat and stepped into the small room that had a couple of comfy-looking couches and a huge TV.
I hadn’t even made it all the way into the room when he tugged me into it and shut the door.
The panic was instantaneous and pretty much debilitating. I opened my mouth to scream at the same time that I pushed at him with my hands.
“Remy, wait, I just want to—”
“No!” I shouted, but the sound only came out as a croak. I scrambled to try and escape him. Luca grabbed my upper arms and held me against the door. I saw him open his mouth, but the roaring in my ears prevented me from hearing anything he had to say.
Not that I needed to hear him. I knew what he wanted.
I kicked at him with my legs as I thrashed in his hold. Because of our positions, I couldn’t do much good with my feet, but I managed to get my hands free and used them to beat on his back, then his face. His body still held mine against the door as he managed to use his forearms to block some of my blows, but not all of them. I went for his hands next, because I knew he was too strong for me and Ronan was my only hope. I tried calling for the surgeon, but once again, my voice was hoarse and dry. It was like I hadn’t used the thing in years.
Luca’s hold on me was frighteningly unbreakable, even though he wasn’t doing anything more than occasionally grabbing my wrists to try and subdue me. Even though blood began to streak down his wrists from where I was scratching at him, he continued to keep me pinned against the door. I thought I heard him calling my name, but I couldn’t be sure.