Beautifully Broken

She darts forward again, and for a moment, my heart stutters with pain.

Christ, seeing her like this is killing me.

We reach the slight hill that leads to the beach, and in horror, I watch her take the leap. Her body slams hard into the sand, and then she struggles back to her feet.

Fuck, my heart.

I take the leap, and my legs shudder with pain as I hit the sand, so I can only imagine how much it must’ve hurt Cara.

I get up and go after her again as she starts to wade into the ocean. Her shorter legs make it hard for her to run in the water, and it slows her down enough for me to catch up. I slam into her, and wrapping my arms around her, I lock her arms to her sides.

As I yank her out of the water, she starts to scream and struggle against my hold.

Once I have us back on the stretch of sand, I take her down. I lock my legs around hers and move a hand up to her forehead, securing her against my chest so she can’t hurt herself any further.

“You’re safe,” I rasp the words out, but it doesn’t do anything to calm her.

I take a couple of deep breaths before I say in a neutral tone, “Cara, you’re safe. It’s me, Damian.” She growls at me, thrashing like she’s possessed.

Panic flares through me, and I gasp, “It’s Sam. You’re safe. It’s Sam.” I say the words until my voice cracks with the heartache I’m feeling for her. “It’s Sam, baby. It’s Sam.”

Finally, Cara stops her wild thrashing, and for a moment, all I can hear is the ocean and her feral breaths racing over her lips.

She starts to tremble in my arms, and then her body jerks to the side. She heaves, and I quickly roll her over, so she’s on her hands and knees. It’s just in time as she vomits.

I quickly gather her hair behind her neck, and I wish there was more I could do right now.

“I’m so sorry,” the words tear from my chest.

I sit on my knees next to her until she starts to jerk with dry heaves and sobs. I can’t hold back my own tears. Seeing her broken like this shreds my heart to pieces. I hated it the first time, and I hate it now.

I sit flat on my ass and pull her into my arms. The emotions swarming inside of me are just too much.

I feel rage toward Tom Smith for fucking up Cara’s life. All for fucking money he stole from the mafia. I feel a deep craving to kill every single person who’s ever hurt her.

My heart breaks for her, and my soul screams for revenge for what’s been done to her.

Cara’s gasping for air through her panic, and I know I have to do something to calm us both.

Before I can think of anything, she starts to pound her fists against her chest. “I feel them all the time,” she rasps between heartbreaking sobs. “It never stops.”

“Tell me, baby,” I whisper hoarsely. It will haunt me forever, but I need to know what happened so I won’t trigger a panic attack like this ever again. “Tell me what they did, Cara. Let me share it.”

She shakes her head, and for a minute, I think she’s not going to open up, but then the words start to spill over her lips. I’m bombarded with image after gruesome fucking image.

There’s so much that the memory cards didn’t show, and it guts me open until my heart is nothing but pulverized meat.

Certain words hit harder, embedding themselves into my soul.

‘They shoved me face down every time.’

‘I was breathing in chunks of vomit, and still, they wouldn’t stop.’

‘It felt like I was being stabbed, over and over and over.’

‘It hurt so much.’

‘I feel defiled … just ruined beyond repair.’

Sitting on the beach in the middle of the night, Cara’s trauma becomes mine. She gives me all her pain and sorrow, and it takes all my strength to bear her burden.

When she slumps against my chest, I press a kiss to her hair. “Never again, baby. I’ll kill anyone who tries to hurt you. I promise. I’ll kill every last person on this fucking planet to keep you safe.”

All of the pain for one man’s greed. I channel all my rage into one thought – I’m going to fucking kill Tom Smith.

He’s a dead man walking for fucking with the woman I love.

CARA

It feels as if it just happened again, every single revolting second.

I can’t remember much of what actually happened the past few hours – only the horror I suffered in the container.

Damian says I took off running through the trees and into the ocean.

I’m sitting in the bath, staring down at all the scrapes over my chest and arms. My feet sting, but I grit my teeth as Damian pulls thorn after thorn out of my soles.