Page 55 of Ruthless

“I’ll be back.”

He turned to leave, and it was then that a thought occurred to me that I knew Rebel needed to know. It might help him find Daryl, because I knew he wouldn't give up until he did. "Rebel, wait." He swung back to face me, an expectant look on his face. "What happened to Della, Daryl did that on his own. But later, after they came to my apartment, another man showed up. His name is Jack. He was involved in taking me."

I watched a tic appear in Rebel’s tight jaw. "Can you think of anything else?"

I shook my head.

By the time he disappeared around a corner, Stevie had opened the door to Della’s room. I sucked in a deep breath and walked inside with her. Della was asleep, or at least I thought she was, until we got nearer to her bed, and then her eyes fluttered open and the glimmer of a tiny smile spread across her bruised and swollen face. I reached up and grasped her hand.

"Oh, honey." Seeing her in that condition made me hurt for her. Fresh tears swelled in my eyes.

“How… do… you… like… the… new… me?” she asked in a broken, hoarse voice, trying to make light of her ordeal.

I smiled, because she was. “Well, I like the colors.” The bruises had left her in a rainbow of colors--yellows, blues, reds, and purples. “Not so sure I like you with one eye, though.” Her right eye was completely swollen shut. “I guess I don’t need to ask how you feel.”

“I’ve… felt… better,” she admitted in a low voice.

I had to strain to hear. “God, honey, I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

She shook her head, closing her eyes. I could tell that she was fighting to stay awake. “Not your fault. Mine . . . for not breaking it off with him . . . a long time ago.” She had to stop every few words and take a breath. “I knew he’d gotten hooked . . . on drugs, I didn’t know how badly.” She squeezed my hand. “I was terrified . . . when he dragged you off.”

“I’m okay, honey. Now we just need to get you healed up and back on your feet.”

Her gaze darted to Stevie. “Yeah,” she said quietly, and I knew that she was thinking about the miscarriage she’d suffered and the damage to her body. There was a moment of awkward silence.

“I told her everything, honey,” Stevie said to Della after a while.

The relief was evident by the sound of Della’s tired sigh. Her broken face revealed nothing. I didn’t want to talk about it unless Della wanted to, but something told me that she needed time to come to terms with what had happened. She was still young and had many child-bearing years left. To know that there would never be children had to be weighing on her mind. She was so quiet that I thought that she was about to nod off, but then she continued.

“I didn’t know . . . I was pregnant,” Della said, ending her sentence in tears. “Lately Daryl hadn’t been interested . . . in sex.” She looked away, making a noticeable effort to pull herself together. “I would have wanted my baby, Ginger. But he took that away from me.”

“He’ll pay for hurting you, honey, I promise.” I reached down and hugged her carefully. “Vinny and Rebel will see to that.”

She nodded slowly, holding me tightly. We stayed like that for a couple of minutes before I realized that she’d finally dozed off. Carefully, I disentangled myself from her and straightened up, eyeing Stevie.

“Good. The sleep will do her good. Have they said how long she’ll be in the hospital? She’ll need help when she gets home.”

“At least a week. Vinny and I have already discussed her situation. She’ll have a live-in aide until she’s on her feet again. The hospital recommended someone. We’ll cover the cost.”

I was so glad to hear that they’d arranged for someone to stay with Della. The fact they were covering the cost was huge, considering that Vinny did not like to part with his money. The gesture showed what a big ol’ teddy bear he was. I teared up at the news, unable to talk, I was so overwhelmed. I’d been prepared to quit work to take care of her, and now I wouldn’t need to.

“Thank you, you two are so sweet to do that for her.”

Stevie brushed my comment aside and joked, “You know Vinny. He figured you’d quit to take care of her, and he didn’t want to lose two of his best girls at the same time.”

Her comment made me chuckle. “Yeah, that sounds like Vinny.” We both glanced down at Della. She looked peaceful. “I’m going to stay here until Rebel comes back for me. If you want to take off, go ahead, you’ve been here for a while.”

She nodded. “I think I will, honey. Vinny will need me at the restaurant. If you need anything don’t hesitate to call. And take the next few days off. You need to recoup from your ordeal, too.”

I opened my mouth to tell her that I was okay to return to work, but then thought better of it. I could use the extra time off to visit with Della, and there was my apartment to consider. I needed to clean up the blood that was splattered everywhere. I hadn’t been inside Della’s apartment, but I was sure it would need cleaning, too. There was no way I would let her return home to a visual reminder of what she’d gone through.

Once Stevie was gone, I settled into the chair next to Della’s bed. I stared at her for a while, thinking about all that she’d gone through. Losing a baby was huge. Some women didn’t get over something like that. She had a long road of healing ahead of her, both mentally and physically. She could even need therapy to get over the trauma.

I prayed that making Daryl pay for what he’d done would be a good start. Sometimes it took destroying the monster that had changed your life forever to be able to move forward. I should know. I’d run from Wildman long enough, but it had taken learning from Rebel that Wildman and the Red Devils were no more for me to relax and finally feel at peace with my life. Having Rebel back in my life was an added bonus, because I’d never really blamed him for what had happened.

The question was how long was he going to remain in my life now?

---