Page 59 of Wilde In His Arms

Who reprimanded and scared their kid so badly they peed after what Stacy had been through?

Karl seemed to catch himself and released Stacy, then stood, looking nervous, sweat glistening on his brow.“She’s fine.Aren’t you, girl.”

Girl.Not honey.Sweetheart.Some other nickname that meant something special.Stacy was his daughter.She’d been missing for nearly two years, and this was how he treated her.

Stacy wrapped her scrawny arms around her middle, her whole body trembling.

The kids had all warmed up to Nick, since he found them and spent a day and half with them in the hospital.So he took a chance that he didn’t make things worse for Stacy, leaned over, so his mouth was right next to her ear, and asked, “What can I do for you?”

She turned her big, watery, green eyes on him, then whispered in his ear, “Save me again?”

His heart broke in half right before the rage hit him.He hooked his right arm around her hips, picked her up, and used the left crutch to keep the weight off his bad leg, and carried her right out of there, despite how much it hurt his injuries.Holding her was definitely not helping his stab wound or bruised ribs, but he’d muscle through the pain to protect her.

“Hey.Where are you going?”Donna called.

Stacy kept a death grip with both her arms locked around his neck as he took her out of the conference room and through the office.He ducked into the first empty room he found and slammed the door.

Stacy trembled in his arms.

He hoped she wasn’t afraid of him.“You’re okay, sweetheart.”He leaned against the desk, released the crutch, and rubbed her back, just holding her, hoping she said something more about why she needed to be saved again, so he’d know what to do.

“I-is A-Aria coming back s-soon?”

The quake in her words hurt his heart.

“Do you want to talk to her?”Maybe that’s exactly what she needed.A woman.Someone she knew.Someone who’d been kind to her.Someone she trusted.“I can call her right now and you can talk to her.”

Stacy leaned back, her bottom lip quivering.“If I tell her the secret, she can t-tell you, and you’ll s-save me.”

His heart bled even more for her.“You can tell me.Iwillsave you.”

She bit her bottom lip.“Can we still call her?”

Choked up and trying not to lose it as this little girl broke his heart with her big, sad eyes and her quaking body, her whole face telling him she had something really bad to tell him, he could only nod.

He hated to bring Aria into this, but if the kid trusted her and him, then she’d get both of them.“Let’s call her.”

Aria wouldn’t disappoint her.She’d never disappointed him.

He pulled out his phone as he held Stacy against his chest, her arm still hooked around his neck.

Nick put the call on speaker after he hit the speed dial for Aria.The phone rang once and Aria answered.“Hey, you.I miss you already.”Her cheerful voice did a lot to ease his anxiety.

“I miss you, too.And so does someone else.”He held the phone closer to Stacy.

“Aria,” Stacy called out, then used her free hand to hold the phone closer to her.

“Stacy?Is that my sweet girl?”

Not stupid girl.Not just a girl.Aria’s sweet girl.

Stacy almost smiled.“Yes.It’s me.”

“How are you doing, sweetheart?”

Nick answered for her, because he wanted to try to give Aria some kind of warning.“Stacy’s upset.The families are here.Stacy got a little scared and overwhelmed.She needed to hear your voice.”

“Well, I’m glad you called.I was worried about you, honey.You didn’t want to talk about your dad in the hospital.I get it.It can be hard to be away from someone for a long time.You’re not sure how they’ll be when you see them again.Is that it, honey?”

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