Page 10 of Fierce Secrets

"She still doesn't remember, thankfully. I checked her therapist files again, but she hasn't seen her in a while."

"Some ghosts should stay buried."

"And some secrets should stay secret," he agreed. "Keep her safe, Leo."

"Always."

The call ended, and I was left alone with my thoughts again. With memories of blood and screams and a teenage girl who'd needed saving.

A girl who'd grown into a woman I could never have.

CHAPTER 4

MEREDITH

"Please, I'm sorry," I begged, tears streaming down my cheeks.

"Sorry? If it weren't for you, your mother would still be here!" my father shouted, spittle flying from his alcohol tinged lips.

Why wasn't Gray here? Why'd he leave me alone with him?

"I didn't?—"

The air was knocked out of me as his open palm struck me, my cheek stinging as my head snapped to the side.

I slid down the kitchen cabinet, the shakes setting in as he towered over me with all the wrath of an unhinged, drunken man.

This man was the dark side of my father, the side hidden behind closed doors.

"Worthless," he spat as he reached down.

I whimpered as he yanked me to my feet, raising his hand yet again.

This time, his hand closed into a fist, and fear sliced through me.

He'd never punched me before. Slapped, pushed around, verbally berated.

I sobbed, which only seemed to anger him more as his fist came down, crunching into my cheek and sending me sprawling across the floor.

A harsh kick followed, winding me even more as my world swam, pain coursing through me as I curled in on myself.

"Daddy, please…"

"You're a waste of space!"

I squeezed my eyes shut, awaiting another blow, only to hear the kitchen door fly open.

"What the?—"

Gray's voice cut through the panic and fear gripping me, and I dared to look, in time to see Leo appearing beside my father, his hand wrapping around my father's wrist like a vice.

The rage in Leo's eyes was unlike anything I'd ever witnessed from him, and his lip was pulled back into a snarl as Grayson was beside me in an instant.

I jolted awake, my father's furious, twisted face still vivid in my mind. The memory had been so clear – his alcohol-fueled rage, the pain of his blows, the terror. Then Leo and Grayson bursting in, Leo's face transforming into something terrifying as he saw what was happening.

My chest constricted as my eyes shot around, each breath becoming harder than the last. The room was too dark, too unfamiliar. Where was I? What was going on? The sheet was tangled around me, holding me prisoner in this foreign bed. I couldn't?—

"Meredith." Leo's voice cut through the panic, and suddenly he was there, pulling me into his lap. "Focus on my voice. Tell me what you can smell."

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