Page 42 of Bolted

“Riley,” a soothing voice says. “You’re safe now.”

It’s Sebastian. But why is he here? Or where am I? And where’s Nate? His hand begins to rub my back and I flinch and scoot away from him. I realize he’s sitting in a chair next to the bed. I look around and start noticing my surroundings. I’m in a huge bed, and floor to ceiling windows take up one side of the room. The lights of the city bring me comfort.

“Riley?” he says my name again. “What do you need?”

It’s weird to hear Sebastian being nice. The last time I saw him comes flooding back, The couch, the club, then trying to find him.

“I was trying to find you..” I whisper. “That night, at the club, I was looking for you and ran into Nate.”

“I know Riley,” he says. “We don’t need to talk about that right now. Listen, your sister is here, and Kaz is coming by in a bit. They don’t want to bother you, but they want to make sure you are okay. My personal physician is going to make sure you’re physically okay as well, she’ll come here to the condo.”

I start to shake my head, whispering “No,” but he continues. “Corrine will be with you the entire time. You will never be alone or vulnerable ever again.”

I look at him then. What’s happened to him?

“Riley,” he says. “Nothing and no one will ever keep me away from you again. I know right now you’re not ready, but rest assured that one day, I will fill your entire soul, and everything you do with me will be because you want to. And I will fucking kill anyone who dares to defy me. Or you.”

I realize I’m shaking, and he must see it too. He gently encourages me to lie back in the pillows. And he brings the layers of soft blankets higher up on my body. “Don’t worry little mouse. You’re forever with me now.”

Chapter 51

Sebastian

“It’s been over an hour” I growl as I pace back and forth outside my bedroom door.

“Calm down Sebastian,” Xavier replies, handing me a much needed glass of whiskey. “Doctor Flores needs to do a full checkup. You know as well as I do Riley is in good hands.”

He’s not wrong. Dr. Flores has been our personal on-call physician since we started our company. She is an excellent physician and we pay her extremely well for her visits.

The door swings open and I catch a glance of my beautiful little mouse lying peacefully on my bed before the doc closes the door behind her.

She breathes out a sigh turning to me. Fuck, this is not going to be good, I think to myself.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat it Mr. Bolt,” Dr. Flores says before continuing. “Riley is lucky to be alive. She has slight bruising of the ribs and a small laceration on her forehead likely from hitting her head during the accident. Bruising is evident on her wrists and ankles but those should heal quickly. I’m not 100 percent positive but I am fairly certain she has some sort of heavy sedation in her system. The bloodwork I ran on her should come back in the next few hours to let me know for sure. That may be why she is walking away from the accident with far less damage than one would expect.”

I breathe out a sigh of relief and go to open the door to enter the room when the doctor's voice halts me. “That’s not the worst of it Mr. Bolt. There are marks all over Riley’s body showing evidence of repeated sexual assault.”

My grip on the door handle tightens and I turn towards her.

“She will need some time to rest and recover from this ordeal. I will update you with the blood results as soon as I receive them. Let me know when she wakes up as I will need to conduct a few other physical tests on her. I’m not sure what happened before the car accident but I have a colleague who specializes in counseling for victims in this sort of matter. If Riley needs someone to talk to, I highly recommend her,” she says handing me a business card.

With that she turns, taking her usual envelope from Jamison, and leaves.

“I’m going to kill that piece of shit when I get my hands on him” I grit out. “Someone call Andre and tell him to move up his visit to the states. I’m in need of some services only his family ties can provide.“ With that I enter my room and settle into the lounge chair next to my bed to watch over my little mouse.

Chapter 52

Nate

I stumble through the doorway of my family's cabin, relief washing over me as I fling myself onto the couch. I’m fucking ruined. My body is bruised and beat up and it’s definitely going to take some time for these wounds to heal over.

My phone rings. Leaning over the side of the couch I gently use my good arm to reach back and slide it out from my back pocket.

‘Shit,’ I think to myself when I see Lockhart’s name on the screen. No way he found out what happened this quickly. The ringing stops before starting again. I answer quickly attempting to keep any strain out of my voice, “Lockhart?”

“What the fuck Nate?” He grits out over the line.

I cringe before asking him “What’s wrong sir?”

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