“Let’s get this over with before he gets home,” my mother says.
With a nasty grubby hand, Don cups my breast. All I can do is close my eyes as the tears once again begin to fall. I don’t know what I’ve done in life to deserve this, I just pray that I make it through it.
“Open.” I hear his gruff voice. I force my one eye open to find him standing over my lap with his dick in his hands. “Open,” he growls. My eyes slide close, which is why I don’t see the punch to my temple coming.
I sees stars, but I fight. Clamping my jaw shut as tight as I can, I breathe through the pain. I’ll bite him if he gets any closer. I swallow back the vomit that threatens to spew from my mouth.
“Fucking make her open,” Don tells my mother.
I feel her hands on my cheeks, the pain from her squeezing is like fire, but I fight her on it. I’m woozy from the hit, and all I want to do is succumb to the darkness that’s calling me, but I don’t. I fight to keep my mouth shut.
“Get the fuck away from her!” an all too familiar voice rings out.
Owen.
So many voices and pounding feet. I hear flesh hitting flesh, and a female scream. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t me. Then I hear his voice in my ear. “I’m here, baby. I’ve got you. We’re going to get you out of here.”
“Owen.” I’m able to croak out his name through my tears.
“I’m here, Layla. I’ve got you.” His voice cracks. “Call a fucking ambulance!” I hear him shout. “Stay with me, baby.”
“I-I love you. I-I told them no.” I need to explain it to him, but the pain is so unbearable and the darkness is calling. My pain is also blanketed with relief because Owen is here. He’s here and it’s over. They can’t hurt me anymore. He won’t let them.
“I love you too. Just stay with me, Layla. Help is on the way.”
I open my mouth to tell him I love him. To tell him that the sound of his voice is the best thing I’ve ever heard. I want to tell him that I’m sorry, that I never meant to bring evil into his life. I try to reply, to tell him everything, but darkness claims me.Chapter 30OwenIt’s been two long days sitting in this chair next to her hospital bed. I refuse to leave her side. Alice, that’s Layla’s mom, she and her partner, Don, were taken into custody. Alice sang like a canary claiming Don threatened her. The police didn’t buy it, but the police did manage to learn what was going on. Alice and Don had been filming Layla. She was just a preteen when it started. They followed her to Florida and continued to film her in her apartment. When she moved here with me, they lost track of her. That is until the picture from the Gala made the news. That’s how they found her. I led them to her, and that’s something I will never forgive myself for.
The only saving grace is they never showed her face. Their video of the time at our house, which they’d plan to later upload, was evidence enough. However, the idiots had the camera rolling when they were in the car. They discussed what they had been doing, and how the plan was to extort a million dollars from my family and me and still sell the video. Their stupidity sealed their fate.
It’s a good thing.
The two of them behind bars is the only thing keeping me from killing them both. Well, and the fact I refuse to leave her side. I want to be here when she wakes up.
“How’s she doing?”
I look up to find Royce standing next to me. I didn’t even hear him come in. “No change, really. She’s woken up a few times, only to fall right back to sleep. They’re telling me it’s normal. The hits to her face were severe, as is her concussion. Sleep is what her body needs to heal.” At least that’s what the doctors and nurses tell me every time I ask about her waking up.
“Here.” He hands me the small black box I asked him to stop by my place and pick up.
“Thanks, man.”
“Anytime.”
“Knock, knock,” Sawyer whispers, pushing open the door. She glances at Layla, and her face drops. She doesn’t stop until she’s standing right in front of me. She bends and wraps her arms around me in a hug, and I have to battle with the emotion that clogs my throat. “We’re here for you. Both of you,” she whispers.
“Thanks, sis. I’m good. I just need her to wake up.”
“She will,” Sawyer says, stepping into Royce’s arms. “She needs time to heal.”