Page 10 of Cardinal

Leah smiled at me sadly as she helped dress me back up into the oversized shirt and boxers. "We'll make sure you make it through this. I will leave you to rest. You seem like you need it. I'm going to make some phone calls to get a therapist set up for you as well. Unfortunately, mental health isn't my forte." Leah softly chuckled with a warm smile.

"What do I do now?" I shrunk into the bed, bundling myself tightly in the soft sheets.

"I'll let you and Luciano talk that one out. Technically, you can do whatever you want, but I feel like that's a conversation for you and Luciano to have." Leah flashed me another smile before packing her stuff up. "I'll have the test results over the span of the next few days, and I'll call you, err well, I guess I'll call Luciano and have him give the phone to you since you don't have a phone right now. Either way, I'll get the results to you as soon as possible. I'll be back around a few times over the next week or so just to check on you and make sure you're okay with everything. Of course, to be sure, I'll come around in about a month for that repeat pregnancy test." Placing a hand on my shoulder, she gave it a comforting rub and squeeze. "Well, I'll leave you alone for now and let Luciano know to come in later after his meeting."

All I could do was meekly nod my head in return and bury myself deeper into the bed until I was nearly obscured. The thought of being alone in the room with Luciano made my nerves go haywire with panic. I didn't want to be alone anywhere with any man, let alone be in a room with a brutal mafia boss.

My breath caught in my throat when a knock came from the door. I nearly damn well shot out of bed to go hide when it opened, and I saw Luciano appear. "Hey, it's just me, just here to talk." I didn't think his deep voice would soothe me, but it was soft enough that I didn't want to run.

Honestly, he would be less daunting if I didn't know about his mafia background and moniker. "T-thank you… For last night. For helping me." I kept the sheets tightly wrapped around me, a barrier almost between him and me. "Leave the door open! ...Please…" I grimaced at the stinging pain from my sudden panic when I noticed him pushing the door closed.

Removing his hand from the door, he held them up in the air while slowly approaching me. "Is it alright if I sit on the bed? Or would you rather me keep my distance?" He asked after stopping between the bed and the door in the middle of the room.

"B-bed's fine… But not too close…!" It felt weird to think about having him at a distance, but the thought of him close threw me off kilter, too. I didn't know what I wanted.

Warily, I followed his cautious figure as he sat at the foot of the bed. "Leah might have told you already, but I'm Luciano." Don't know if it was purposeful, but I was thankful for him keeping his deep voice smooth and low.

"Luciano Agosti, right? The Devil of The East Coast Syndicate?" I felt stupid for asking, but I needed to hear it from him.

Chortling, he gave me a grim smile with a nod of his head. "Yeah, and I'm not going to lie or sugarcoat any of it for you. I know of my reputation and what they say about me on the streets. I will not deny any of it because it's all true to some extent. I'm not a good person in terms of what I do. I'm a ruthless and violent man, but only towards my enemies. I would like to say that I am a fair and honorable man, though. You have nothing to worry about from me. I don't hurt children or women unless it's really an exception, which has only happened a very small handful of times. But you have nothing to fear of me, Juliet. You are safe here in my home and with me."

It should be illegal for him to say my name with how smooth it rolled off his tongue, and I should be locked up in a mental ward for thinking anything of it after what I've been through and the fact he's at least twice my age. "I don't know what to do now… I don't want to bother you more than I have, but—"

His hand immediately cut me off, and he shook his head. "You are not a bother, so stop thinking that and get it out of your head. I wouldn't have brought you to my home if I didn't want to bother with you. As far as what's going to happen next and what you're going to do, you're going to get comfortable here, make this place your home because it is now. I've spoken with Caroline—"

Hearing her name made me go frozen with fear. "No! Please don't send me back to her, please! I don't want anything to do with her anymore, please." My wheezing became distant as the room closed in on me with my tightening chest. I couldn't focus on anything else but the heavy dread dragging me under.

A tight warmth constricts around my rocking body, smushing me into something fleshy but solid. Incomprehensible words slowly penetrated my panic as my breathing became more paced, but I wasn't sure how or why because it felt out of my control. "…In…t…slo…got…" Slowly, the words came out clearer. "In and out, slowly, you got this, you can do it, you're not alone, I've got you, I'm here, I got you. You're safe here."

A part of me wanted to scramble away and put as much distance between us as possible because it felt so dirty to have a man touch me right now, but the comfort and safety anchor Luciano brought me right now was too good to let go. "I'm sorry," I muttered against his chest, peeling my head away and frowning out of embarrassment at the tears and snot on his shirt.

Reaching over the nightstand, he snagged some tissues and wiped at my face. "Don't apologize. It's not your fault. You didn't ask or want any of this to happen. So, don't ever apologize for your reactions to your trauma, understood?" Grasping my chin, he locked his stern but soft eyes with mine.

After I nodded my head in response, he nodded over to the bottles of pills on the nightstand. "Do you want some of your medication?"

"No, don't like meds." And after hearing the whole spiel of side effects from Leah, I wasn't too keen on wanting to take them. "I'm sorry about your shirt. That was so nasty of me." God, the first decent man in my life, and I slobber all over him.

"Juliet, it's just a shirt, I don't care. Besides, this isn't the worst I've been covered with." I sensed a story there, but he didn't elaborate any further.

Pulling back, Luciano pulled the sheets back up because he'd pushed them off me to hold me and bundled me back up before moving away to the end of the bed again. "I'm not handing you over to that bitch, nor am I handing you back over to your parents after hearing the story. So, you're staying here until further notice."

I opened my mouth to say something, but he held out a hand to stop me again. "I won't hear any arguments. You're staying here with me. I will provide for you and protect you." Luciano let out a heavy sigh, "And right now, staying with me is your best and possibly only option. The moment you go out there, I can only do so much to prevent Lady Heral from getting her claws into you, but while you remain fully under my care and protection, she and everyone else won't dare look your way."

His pitiful expression gazed down at me. "You've no one else to turn to. Sad to say it to you, but it's true. As I see it, you only have two options: stay with me or leave and risk the lounge again. And this time, you won't be able to escape, nor will anyone save you. You used your one miracle of a lifetime, so I suggest you don't push your nonexistent luck now. If you leave, I can guarantee you that it will only be a matter of time before Lady Heral snatches you up again to work off your parents' debt."

Screw him.

Unfortunately, I couldn't argue with him because I was on the losing side. His points were valid, sadly. If I left his place, his protection, I'd be a lost rabbit in a sea of wolves. As strange as it was, staying really was my best and only option if I wanted to go back to a somewhat normal life—if I survived that long. I hated that I even thought about ending my own life when I was being tossed a saving line, but the fact Luciano was willing to help me wouldn't stop the trauma from rearing its ugly head, nor would it change the fact that my body had been defiled.

No matter how raw I scrubbed at my body, no matter how hot I turned the water up, and no amount of soap could rid the phantom feeling of their disgusting hands. It made me feel gross and disgusted in my own skin.

Then the fact that the men—no, bastards—who did this to me were roaming around out there as if nothing happened. I didn't feel normal anymore, and I hated it. Thinking about returning to school after all of this, I don't know if I could. What if someone found out? I'd be the outcast and lose everything completely regarding friends and social standing.

"I don't know what to do…" I felt stupid for uttering those words, but it was the truth.

With a sigh, Luciano slowly moved back over and unwrapped me before hugging me tightly. "That's fine. That's what I am here for. What you're going to do is recover. You'll stay here with me, let me take care of you, and obey my rules for you. Alright?" All I could manage was a small nod in response because I had no other choice, really. "Once you and Leah find a therapist, I'll have home visits set up twice a week until you are ready to move it to once a week and so on. You are going to attend therapy because that's the first step to working out your inner turmoil. The second thing that is going to happen is a visit to your parents."

Mentioning my parents made me flinch involuntarily as my anxiety rushed me again. "I don't… No…" Their betrayal stung me like a poisonous knife to the chest, and I didn't want to see them ever again. I mean, how could they disregard me so easily like that? Like I meant nothing to them.

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