Page 60 of Vendetta

Zayn ran a hand through his hair, offering me a silent nod as he exited back through the door. I adjusted Landry in my lap, gently rubbing circles over her back. The color had returned to her lips, her cheeks bright once again, and she had stopped shaking altogether.

Her eyes were hooded but open, silent tears wetting her face as she tucked it into my hoodie. Once I was confident that she had warmed back up, I lifted myself off of the ground with her still in my arms. Stepping out of the shower, I placed her in a sitting position on the counter before grabbing a hoodie, sweatpants, and socks from my bedroom dresser. Coming back into the bathroom, I gently grabbed her chin, urging her to meet my eyes.

“I’m going to dry you off and dress you, okay?” I asked. It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen her naked before, but she seemed so vulnerable in the moment.

Her gaze was distant, her eyes empty as she wordlessly nodded. Her beautiful face lacked any emotion, all the fight thatI was so accustomed to seeing from her completely drained. She looked solemn, her shoulders sagging and all energy drained from her body. What the hell had happened to make her like this? She looked… broken. And it completely shattered me.

I had once looked forward to the day I would see her break, but now that I was witnessing it, I couldn’t bear it. I wanted to put her back together, to protect her from ever feeling like this again.

Starting with her soaked camisole, I gently lifted it over her head, her arms slowly rising to help me. I grabbed her shorts next, slowly pulling them down her legs. She didn’t stop me, those eyes of hers dead, her gaze not meeting mine.

Walking over to the linen closet, I grabbed a fresh towel and began to dry her off, starting with each leg and then moving my way up her body before drying off her hair as best as I could. We didn’t have a blow-dryer in our household of guys, but I sent a quick text to Zayn to find me a hair tie from one of the girls downstairs. If I couldn’t get it all the way dry, I would at least put it up for her so that it wouldn’t soak through her fresh clothes. I almost shot a text to our cook before realizing we had let her have the evening off, so I sent a second text to Zayn, asking if he could try to find some hot food.

Pulling my hoodie over her head, I helped her get the arms through the sleeves, the fabric engulfing her. I pulled the sweatpants on next before helping with the socks, my hand moving to cup her face once I was done. I rubbed gentle circles on her cheek with my thumb.

“Hey,” I whispered, willing her eyes to meet mine. My heart physically ached with the need to see life come back to her.

“You’re okay. I got you,” I coaxed, hoping for any sort of sign that she understood me. But her gaze remained distant, completely dissociated. It was as if she had completely given up, numb to everything around her.

What the fuck had happened to make her like this? I felt this sudden urge to kill whoever had hurt her, to slaughter her demons one by one. I needed her to fight. The Landry I had come to know didn’t back down—She stood her ground even after everything that I had put her through. But right now, she was a shell of herself, and I couldn’t stand to see it. I would do anything to get her back.

Lifting her up, I carried her to my bed, gently placing her under the sheets before pulling the comforter over her frail body. Zayn entered a moment later, bringing me a hair tie and mug of warm chicken broth.

“Chicken broth in a mug?”

“That’s all I could find, man.”

Better than nothing, I guess.

Squatting down by the bed, I made quick work of pulling her damp hair into a messy top knot, then bringing the mug to her lips.

“Hey princess, I need you to drink some of this for me, okay? It will help warm you up.”

She tentatively reached out an arm, taking a small sip before handing it back to me as if she was on autopilot. I set it on the nightstand, standing up and walking over to Zayn in the doorway.

“I’m staying with her. Let me know if you hear anything from Kaptan, okay?”

“You got it,” he replied, closing the door behind him on his way out. I turned to look at Landry laying in my bed. I had never let a woman sleep in it before. Never even let a woman in my room at all, actually. But seeing Landry in it felt right for reasons I couldn’t explain.

Making my way to the dresser, I changed into a dry pair of sweatpants, leaving my shirt off. I made my way to the bed and crawled into it with her.

I wasn’t sure what she needed, but I didn’t want to leave her alone in this state. Did she need her medication? I doubted she had anything on her, considering that I hadn’t even found a cell phone on her.

Reaching over, I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her against me. She slowly lifted her head, briefly meeting my eyes before curling into my bare chest. She looked so tired, the exhaustion taking over. Her small hands curled up against my chest, the tears once again beginning to come down as they ran down her face and onto my chest.

“You’re okay. I got you,” I repeated, rubbing the back of her hoodie as my other hand held her head to my chest. A sob wracked through her, the sound causing my heart to shatter once more. She began crying harder, everything making its way out of her as I continued to hold her tight under the covers, desperately wishing that I could fix this. I needed her to be okay again. Seeing her like this was physically painful, one of the worst things I had ever felt.

We stayed like that for over an hour until Landry’s crying turned into soft snivels and whimpers, the tears having run dry. She had nothing left in her. I continued to rub her back, my other hand gently petting her hair until she finally fell asleep.I could feel her steady breathing, her heart rate evening out as the exhaustion pulled her under.

I stayed awake, lying there with her. I wouldn’t be sleeping, not until I figured out what had happened, but I wanted to make sure I was here in case she woke up at any point.

My phone buzzed on the nightstand, and I reached over to see it was from Kap.

KAPTAN:Found it. I’m in my office.

Setting the phone aside, I looked down at Landry to make sure she was fully asleep before sneaking my arm out from under her and slowly making my way out of the bed. Silently closing the door behind me, I made my way down the hallway and a few corridors before walking into Kaptan’s office, closing the door behind me to drown out the music still blaring from the party downstairs.

“What did you find?”

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