“Umm.”
“Cosmo, please.”
I chewed on my bottom lip, my heart racing in my chest. “I don’t remember how many days ago. Daddy fed me breakfast, and we had play time, but then he had to go out to town. I begged him to take me with him, but he wouldn’t. He made me angry, so I was a brat. When he left, I did what he told me never to do. I went into his special room and played with his computer. I-I saw videos of-of me and of-of other things. Records Daddy had of people he killed. I didn’t know what to do. I got my favorite doll, and I ran. A new car was parked out front. It had the keys in it, so I got in and drove and drove. I wasn’t sure what to do when the FBI found me. They said I was under arrest for murder and that I had to go with them. I was so scared. I-I had to be a little. I was so confused, and only in little space, I could process everything.”
I wrapped my arms around myself. Hunter swore under his breath and sat on the bed beside me. He pulled me under his arm in a hug, and I buried my face in his side. He smelled of warmth and comfort. And trust.
“Before that, you didn’t know he was killing people?”
“No. Daddy wanted me to be a little all the time. I wasn’t allowed to do adult things or grown kids’ stuff.”
“I need to show you some things we found in the farmhouse. Can you tell me what these are?”
He took out his phone and typed in his security code. I memorized the numbers. He tapped open his Gallery, and a bunch of photos appeared. He tapped on the first one, which was the book of my nightmares.
“What’s this?”
“That’s Mother’s way of keeping track of what I eat, how I eat, and when I eat.”
“They starved you?”
“Not really. They fed me, but sometimes I was still hungry after.”
“And what’s this used for?”
I sucked in a deep breath at the display box Mother liked to use for my punishment. Hours spent locked inside, legs hurting from the standing.
“Cosmo?”
“It’s where Mother likes to display her doll if she’s in a great mood. She puts pretty clothes and makeup on him, and he has to stand in the box and be her perfect doll. But then, if he’s bad, she’ll lock him inside to punish him for hours.” My breath hitched. “It was scary being inside the box.”
“What?” Hunter’s frown cleared up. “Are you saying that you’re the doll?”
I nodded. “But she didn’t love me anymore when I got too big, so Daddy took care of me.”
“Where’s your mother now, Cosmo?”
I shrugged. “Gone.”
“What do you mean, gone?”
“One day she left. Then it was just Daddy and me. I preferred when it was just Daddy and me. Daddy slaps me when I’m rude, but Mother was mean to me because I wasn’t pretty enough anymore.”
“Are you kidding me?”
I pulled back from Hunter and peered into his eyes. “You think I’m pretty?” A light flutter fanned out in my stomach. I had a hundred and one problems that were critical, but all that mattered in that moment was whether Detective Hunter Neely thought I was pretty.
“I don’t think my opinion matters.” He cleared his throat and, for the second time that night, set me away from him and stood. “I shouldn’t be here at this hour.”
So why had he come?
“Yet you came because you felt compelled.” His words. What exactly was compelling him? The goodness I sensed in him? The too-trusting nature for someone who’d spent this long as a cop or the pique of interest in his eyes. He seemed as drawn to me as I was to him.
This man’s world had finally collided with mine. I had no idea how much devastation this would cause, but I knew deep down that the wreckage was unavoidable.
“I told myself I wouldn’t watch them,” he whispered. “The videos. Not after realizing what they were, and yet I went through and watched enough that told me all I needed to know. The people who should have cared for you, loved you, and protected you, abused you in so many ways. No one deserved to be treated the way you were. No one deserved to have their freedom restricted and stripped of all their rights. You’re a young adult trapped in the mindset of a child because they never allowed you to be anything else, but you don’t have to be that way anymore.”
His chest rose and fell, and his face held a determined look. What was he planning to do?