Page 12 of Damaged

I nodded because Maggie had used a lot of the same words when she’d told me her baby would be taken from her and she’d never see the infant again… never know what had happened to her. Maggie had survived the time she’d spent in captivity after she’d been kidnapped and her boyfriend had been killed while they’d been touring Europe, but she’d never have survived losing the baby she’d come to love as it’d grown inside of her. She hadn’t cared that Willa was the result of a stranger forcing himself on her. Maggie’s only goal had been to make sure Willa would never end up in the hands of some stranger who could be even worse than the monstrous Ivan.

“She made me promise to save Willa no matter what happened to her. She fell as we were trying to escape. I tried to help her up, but I think her ankle was broken. She begged me to keep my promise,” I whispered.

I felt fingers tighten around mine. I focused on Dalton’s big rough, tanned hand enfolding mine. I didn’t even remember Dalton linking our fingers. “You had no other choice, Silver. You kept your promise and because of that, Willa will have an amazing life with Jace and Caleb. And she will be well protected by the rest of her family.”

His words caught me by surprise. “Maggie said she didn’t have any family besides Jace.”

“I can’t say I really get it myself, but the second you placed her in the safety of her uncle’s care, she became a part of that group of men and women at the funeral. Most of them aren’t related by blood as I understand it, but once you’re in, you’re in, whether you want to be or not.”

Dalton let out a little laugh.

“I don’t want to be,” I quickly said. “I just want to be left alone.”

“That, my friend, is something we have in common.” Dalton’s words were firm, but I could sense a hint of sadness in them.

“Aren’t you part of their fam?—?”

“No,” Dalton quickly interrupted. He released my hand, and I immediately missed its warmth, its strength. He reached for a lever on the console and pushed it forward. As soon as he did that, door locks clicked.

“I called Jace so he wouldn’t be worried, but I told him that you didn’t want to see any of them. He’ll respect that,” Dalton said. “You’re a free man, Silver. You’re safe with me, but if you want to take your chances hitching rides with strangers or just hoofing it, that’s your right.”

I didn’t understand most of the words Dalton was saying but got the gist.

He was letting me go.

Just as he was welcoming me to continue with him on wherever our journey would take us. My mind spun with all the different possibilities if what he said was really true… that I was free.

“And for future reference, in case you get in a car with somebody else, most cars don’t have child locks on the front doors, just on the back ones. Some cars like this one won’t unlock the doors until the car is put into park. If the car is parked and someone presses the lock button as you’re trying to get out, just pull the handle again and the door should open.”

“What?” I asked in confusion. Dalton was out of the vehicle already. He turned to face me, then pointed to a spot on the inside door frame on his side of the car.

“The child lock would be here but usually only on the back doors. They’re meant to keep kids from accidentally opening the door while the car is in motion. Take a look at the door behind you so you know what it looks like. If you ever see something like that on the front passenger door, don’t, for any reason, get into the car.” Dalton’s explanation was firm but indifferent. The fact that he knew how naïve I was when it came to stuff like how different things on a car worked stung.

I tested my door and sure enough, it opened. I held it so it was more closed than open and waited for the same men who’d killed Ivan and his bodyguards to appear and grab me, but all I saw was normal people going about their business. People were coming in and out of the gas station side of the building as well as the restaurant side.

I opened the door wider but still nothing.

Well, not nothing.

A delicious smell hit me, and my stomach instantly began rumbling. It was a foreign sensation. Or rather, a distant one. I remembered that in my early days with Ivan, my stomach had growled loudly as I’d sat at the table next to the robust man and watched him feast on various meats and sides, the grease often escaping his wide mouth and streaking down his chin. The very first night after my parents had sold me to him, I’d sat at that same table but had made the mistake of reaching for some kind of drumstick from a gleaming silver platter in front of me. I’d been rewarded with a smack across the face that had literally knocked me to the floor. I’d started crying but there’d been no apologies or explanation, just a curt order from Ivan to crawl across the fancy carpet beneath me and kneel at his side.

I’d been so shocked I’d done it without thinking. When Ivan had finished his meal, he’d ordered one of his men to take me to the kitchen where I’d been fed a stale piece of bread with a thin slice of dark meat on it. I’d gagged as soon as I’d taken my first bite, but my rebellious stomach hadn’t cared about the smell or taste. I’d swallowed the food down in a few large bites and then I’d been promptly escorted to Ivan’s bedroom to await a fate I’d been too young to understand.

None of the food at Ivan’s table smelled as good as whatever I was smelling now. I actually forgot about the prospect of men appearing from all corners and got all the way out of the SUV. From the moment Ivan had been shot as he’d been fucking me at the foot of the bed, I couldn’t remember if I’d eaten anything or not.

I’d been offered food at the lodge that we’d stayed at in a place called Vermont, which had apparently been where Jace and Maggie had grown up with their grandmother, but I’d sent it all away. I’d been too afraid that it’d been drugged or that someone was waiting in the shadows to punish me for daring to take a bite without Ivan’s permission. It didn’t matter that I’d known the man was dead. My body continued to react like he was very much alive and would appear at any moment, his mind clear and astute like it’d been when he’d been younger, laughing that cruel, ugly laugh before taunting me with what kind of punishment I should face for my disobedience.

I jumped when there was a soft thud that came from the other side of the car. Dalton appeared a moment later. “I’m gonna get something to eat,” he casually said as he pointed at the restaurant. “You coming?” His voice sounded distant, disinterested.

I didn’t answer him. I couldn’t. My mind had gone blank. It managed to hear something about Dalton needing to move the car but not even that made sense to me. But the sight of his vehicle driving off made my heart sink to my knees. I was in the process of beginning to run after him and beg him not to leave me in this strange place before I realized he’d only driven a short distance so he could park in front of the restaurant. I watched him get out and walk into the building without even looking back.

I was being abandoned.

Again.

No, Mama, Papa, I don’t want to stay here. Please!

A flash of the alley with my parents standing there impatiently as a big dark car approached went through my mind. I could still feel the strong fingers wrapping painfully around my wrist as I struggled to run after my parents who’d rushed back into the alley, their greedy fingers holding the small plastic bag that was filled with nothing more than some little white rocks.

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