Page 29 of Daddies' Little Spitfire

What were they doing to her?

She didn't want to feel anything but anger. She was doing fine before they walked into her room and took her away. Why hadn't Michael done anything to help her? Why hadn't Monroe spoken up and said something?

Hurt.

That was what Hedda felt when that happened. Did they not want her there anymore? Had she overstayed her welcome?

Hedda blinked several times, trying to keep herself awake. She was starting to fall asleep.

"Noooo," she whined, kicking her legs.

She looked at the bars surrounding her, and she felt secure and like nothing could happen to her. It was giving her a false sense of peace and she knew it wasn't going to help with her nightmares.

Nothing ever did.

Hedda tugged on the restraints, trying to get out of them. She was stuck here and there was no way out of it. Her eyes started to droop more, and her body got sluggish.

"No," she whined again.

But she lost the battle and found herself falling asleep.

CHAPTER TWELVE

LEO

Leo sat down on the couch, scotch in his hand. They had just left Hedda in her room to take a nap and he didn't know how he felt about it. Part of him felt bad that they had to restrain her hands but the other part of him wanted her safe.

"Did you see the hurt on her face?" Leo asked.

"When?" Oliver asked.

"When you said we couldn't trust her because she trashed the room."

Leo didn't like seeing that look on her face. If he could go back in time, he would stop Oliver from saying that. But maybe it was necessary. Maybe it would show Hedda that they cared for her and only wanted what was best for her.

He hoped but he wouldn't know for sure.

"It was very brief," Leo said. "I recognized the look but before I could say anything, her face went blank, and she cursed at us."

Hopefully she would stop cursing at them. There wasonly so much he could take. She had never been this bad before the incident happened, whatever that was.

"I didn't," Oliver said.

"She about cried too," Leo said.

He was surprised when he saw the tears in her eyes, and he was happy for a second. Had they almost gotten through to her? Part of him wished that he hadn't said anything about her crying, but he had a feeling even if he didn't, that she wouldn't have cried.

She saw it was a sign of weakness and it wasn't. She had been strong for so long and needed to lean on someone or two people. Leo was hoping it could be them, when the time was right.

"We'll just have to remind her that crying isn't a weakness," Leo said. "Do you think we're pushing her too hard?"

There was a fine balance when pushing someone to talk about a traumatic event and they didn't want to push her too far. If they did, she could hurt herself even more or shut down completely.Thatwas something they didn't want to happen.

"It’s going to be challenging but Hedda is tough. She needs a firm hand to show her that we care about her," Oliver said. "She also needs to know that she won't get away with things like she's used to."

Leo nodded his head. He completely agreed with what Oliver had said.

"We'll meet often to talk about if we should continue or not. Talk about her health," Leo said. "Does that sound good?"

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