Page 54 of Saving Little Clark

"Daddy." The word escaped me. "Daddy, he..."

"I know, baby." Brody's arms tightened around me, one big palm cupping the back of my head. Holding me together as I threatened to fly to pieces. "I just saw your text."

When he pulled back to meet my gaze, his own eyes were red-rimmed.

"I'm so sorry," he rasped, and I'd never heard him sound so wrecked. "That I wasn't here, that you had to face that monster alone, had to be so scared and hurt. Christ, if I'd lost you..."

"No." Forcing rubbery limbs to cooperate, I reached up. Cupped his stubbled jaw in my palm. "No, Daddy, please don't blame yourself. You couldn't have known. Couldn't have stopped him, he was so far gone."

Daddy's brow furrowed, a muscle ticking in his clenched jaw.

"I should've seen it coming," he said, low and pained. "Should've known he wouldn't let you go that easy.”

"You do protect me, Daddy." The words burst out of me, fierce despite the way my voice wavered. I stroked my thumbover the high arch of his cheekbone, willed him to hear me. To believe. "Every single day. With your love, your patience.”

My vision blurred again. But I pushed on, desperate to make him understand. "When he had that knife to my throat, I really thought I was gonna die."

Daddy made a wounded noise, crushing me impossibly closer. Like he could take me into himself, make me a part of his own flesh and bone where nothing could ever touch me again.

"But it was you I saw." I swallowed hard. "When I closed my eyes and I knew it was the end, it was your face behind my eyelids. Your arms I felt around me, your voice in my ear telling me I was strong. Brave. That I could survive anything, because I had something to fight for.Someoneto come home to. It was always you, Daddy. My safe place, my home. The one thing in this world I knew I couldn't leave behind."

Daddy exhaled shakily. "You're never leaving me behind, my sweet boy.”

Daddy's breath stuttered out of him, hot against my temple. He dipped his head, pressed a hard, desperate kiss to the hinge of my jaw. My cheek. The thin skin of my eyelids, my brow, the tip of my nose.

"I've got you," he murmured into the crook of my neck. Pressed the words into my skin like a vow, a covenant. "You're safe now, I promise. He'll never touch you again."

"I want to report it. What he tried to do. I can't let him get away with it again. Can't risk him hurting someone else the way he hurt me. Ineedto do this. Need to take my power back, once and for all."

The days that followed were hard. Between giving my statement to the police, fielding calls from well-meaning butexhausting friends and family, and weathering the inevitable flood of nightmares and panic attacks, I felt wrung out. But through it all, Daddy was there. Steady and strong, an unshakable pillar at my side. He held me through the shaking and the tears, talked me down from the ledges of my own mind. Reminded me over and over how brave I was, how resilient, how loved.

There were nights I woke up screaming, phantom hands around my throat. The sight of our kitchen knives made me flinch, stomach turning to lead.

And then the detective called with news of additional evidence. Old police reports from Sterling's hometown, restraining orders filed by ex-partners, even a few eyewitness accounts of his violent outbursts.

It was real. Tangible, indisputable proof of what I'd always known - that it wasn't just me. That I hadn't imagined the abuse, the cruelty. That I wasn't crazy, or weak, or secretly to blame for the way he'd shattered me.

Chapter 23: Clark

The morning of Christmas eve dawned crisp and cold, a light dusting of snow blanketing the ground outside. I watched the flakes drift lazily past the window, nose pressed to the glass, letting the peaceful hush settle into my bones.

It had been a hard few days. The incident with Sterling had shaken me deeply, dredging up old hurts and insecurities I'd thought long buried.

Even with Daddy's steadfast love, I couldn't seem to shake the lingering sense of unease. The fear that I was broken, tainted. That it was only a matter of time before my baggage became too much, before Daddy realized I wasn't worth the trouble and left me behind.

Alex and Uncle Will had arrived late last night, bags in tow and matching grins on their faces. But today, even the sight of Daddy and Will camped out in the living room, whooping at the football game on the big screen, wasn't enough to chase away the shadows clinging to my thoughts.

Worrying, I bypassed the recliner where I usually curled up at Daddy's side. Instead, I shuffled into the playroom, instinctively seeking out the comfort of my safe space.

I'd barely made it two steps before a familiar figure barreled into me, nearly sending us both tumbling to the plushly carpeted floor.

"Clarkie!" Alex crowed. "There you are. I've been waiting forever. We’ve got important business to tend to."

"Oh yeah?" I asked, allowing him to tug me further into the room. "And what exactly does this entail?"

Alex puffed up importantly, putting his hands on his hips. "Why, tea and crumpets of course. Lord Hoppington has cordially invited us to a very important dippy-matic meeting. As princes of the realm, our attendance is mandatory."

I bit back a giggle, already feeling myself slipping into Little space under the force of Alex's playful insistence. "Well far be it from me to disappointment His Lordship," I declared, dropping to my knees and assuming a crawling position.

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