They’re supposed to rescue me before reminding me of who I belong to, reminding me that they’re the only ones on this earth who can beat me down and tear me apart.
Giovanni should have already wrapped his hand around my throat and nearly choked the life out of me as he says harsh things to me.
My gaze flickers to Vito and I’m unsure of what I want from him, but I can’t help but to stare at him. His face is impassive.
He’s supposed to be the fixer, so I need him to fix this, need him to remind Giovanni and Maximo of their roles.
Because the way they’re currently acting is doing something to me that makes it feel as if little elves are doing a happy dance in my stomach.
And it’s not what I need.
Because then I’ll forget.
Forget every little evil thing they did to me, even before I became aware of them.
I pull my knees to my chest as my heart rate picks up, my skin growing hot. And there goes the panic again. But I don’t know where it’s coming from as I’m bombarded with everything that’s worried me in the last couple of months.
Being brought here.
Being shot at.
My conversation with Diamond.
Sheffield’s hands on me.
And then, suddenly the panic is being pushed away by the feeling of being dirty. Sheffield’s hands moving up my thigh and touching me moves through my head and that same wave of nausea hits me but I know that there can’t possibly be anything left in my stomach.
“Winter.” This time it’s Vito speaking. He doesn’t move from his position across the room but the expression on his face has completely changed, morphing into the same look he gave me after the first time I was kidnapped. He’d gently run his hands over my body, checking for any injuries.
He’s giving me the same look now, but there’s something deeper in his gaze.
He looks over to Giovanni who’s already watching him and some kind of unspoken conversation seems to go on. Giovanni takes a step away from my bed and inclines his head to the doctor. “There’s some matters we need to discuss,” he tells her.
Giovanni turns away from the bed, moving to the door, and it’s clear he expects the doctor to follow. She shoots me one more forced smile before following behind him.
The door closes behind her with a resounding thump.
For a moment, there’s only silence.
I keep my knees pulled up, my arms clutching them tightly.
Vito eases away from the wall, stopping a few feet from my bed. He seems to think something over for a moment before he finally sits down on the bed. He leaves space between us, but he’s close enough that I can feel the warmth coming off of his body. I find myself leaning toward it.
He tangles his fingers in the sheets of the bed, pulling just enough that it rises off of the mattress before he releases it. “You know we were all worried about you,” he says after a moment. “We weren’t sure where you’d gotten off to and then we found the blood in the bathroom.”
I almost tell him that I did tell Giovanni I needed to go to the bathroom, but I remain silent, watching his side profile. Every few seconds, his jaw tenses before he relaxes. Finally, his gaze focuses in directly on me and the force of it is enough to have me sucking in a breath. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”
I can’t, you’re not really on my side.
I shrug my shoulders instead of answering him. I don’t want to lie.
His lips press together before he blows out a breath. “Winter, did anyone rape you before we got there?”
The bluntness of the question throws me off and the answer flies from my lips. “No.” I take a swallow. “He just… he touched me. Sheffield.”
Vito’s body goes rock still.
“Over my panties,” I rush out to say and I’m not sure which one of us I’m trying to reassure, and I hate myself for it.