“You’ll tell me when you’re ready. Until then, I’ll respect your boundaries the way you always respected mine.”
His words hit me square in the chest and are exactly what I need. My men. My safe place. For now. I’m not delusional enough to believe I’ll never be violated again. This is my life.
“You were created for our pleasure. God sent you as a gift, a reward for our godly behavior. Spread your legs and give your Prophet what the Lord demands.The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband.”
I cover my face with my hands and sob as my men look on helplessly. They can’t help me. No one can.
Chapter Ten
CARTER
We get out of the vehicle and give Heather a minute to wrap herself in the blanket. She doesn’t want to be touched, so we have to let her walk on her own even though we know she’s in pain. Right now, her emotional state is worse than her physical one, so that takes precedence.
She holds the blanket up off the ground so she doesn’t trip, and I walk on one side of her with Killian on the other. Knox follows behind us as we enter the hotel and move quickly to the elevator.
Killian nods to a man in a business suit staring at Heather, and I snap.
“Remove your eyes from our girl before I remove them for you.” I pull the knife out of my pocket to show him in case he has any doubts.
“Psychotic asshole.” He complains, but does as he’s told. This time she doesn’t complain about having guards, and I hate it because the fucker, Noah dimmed her light and deserved to suffer. I didn’t want to kill him with a single gunshot to the head. I wanted her to watch him suffer as she had, but I had no choice.
We step into the elevator, and she sighs audibly as the doors close.
“I’m going to take a shower as soon as we get into the room. Is that okay?”
I glance at Knox, and he nods.
“That’s fine. The doctor will be here soon, though.”
He smiles at her, trying to lighten the mood.
“So maybe not one of your hour-long showers.”
Normally, women are not supposed to shower after rape for evidentiary reasons, but those don’t apply here.
“Knox, can you stand in front of me? I don’t want to see people. I can’t explain it, so please don’t ask.”
He moves from behind her to the front.
“No explanation needed, Tesoro. If you need it, that's all we need to know.”
The doors slide open, and we walk into the room.
The mood is somber, and I think all of us are dealing with the unknown. We don’t know what the future holds. All I know right now is that our girl wants to die, and I’m far too selfish a man to allow that to happen.
Heather goes to the bathroom for her shower, and we sit in the living room decompressing. Kill grabs three glasses and a bottle of whiskey and pours us all two fingers full.
“Fuck this day.”
It has been brutal, and I don’t see it getting much better. I’m relieved we found her before it was too late but hate that she’s hurting.
“What are we doing with the chop shop after all this is dealt with?” Knox asks.
Killian surprises me because he has always loved it and been unwilling to let go of it.
“Torch it. I don’t fucking care. After Heather’s family is dead, I want to take her away from here. Somewhere she has never been. A place with no bad memories. She deserves that. Kansas will always represent the past for her.”
“Where?” Knox asks, and Kill shrugs his shoulders.