Page 108 of Cruel Secrets

If I had stayed in Vermont with my family, Noah wouldn’t have beat us here. He wouldn’t have hurt Gia, and I wouldn’t be wondering if the woman I love is dead on the floor.

As I step into the room, I let out the breath. Gia is on the floor and though she looks like she’s taken a trip through a woodchipper, she’s alive.

She struggles against the silk pillowcase stuffed in her mouth, straining at the matching sheets wrapped tight around her body like a rope.

Her eyes widen when she sees me—or at least I think they do. It’s hard to tell with the swelling in her face and the deep purple bruises that cover it.

She trembles as I get closer to her, fighting to move back against a wall.

“It’s me, baby.” I keep my tone soft as I tuck my gun back into my waistband. “It’s just me, baby. Nobody else is here. Nobody else is going to hurt you. I love you. Nobody is going to hurt you.”

Gia rocks back and forth a little as I pull the gag from her mouth. “Royce.”

My name falls from her lips in a broken voice, tears leaking over her puffy cheeks and rolling down to her chin. Her tongue darts out to wet her cracked bottom lip and she hisses when it skates over a cut.

I crouch in front of her, loosening the knot keeping the sheet tied tight around her body. The fabric falls away as she pulls her knees to her chest, shrinking in on herself as much as she can.

Whether it’s because she’s terrified or trying to hold herself together, I don’t know. All I do know is that when we get out of here, I’m going to do everything I can to help her and figure out what a normal life looks like for us.

It sure as hell isn’t this.

“Where’s Bia?” I ask, glancing around the room, looking for another person wrapped in a sheet.

My heart breaks when I don’t see one.

Was I too late?

Did Noah get Bianca off the property before I even got here?

Gia clears her throat and nods to a bookshelf covered in blood with several broken shelves. The shattered pieces of a blue lamp lay on the floor in front of it, more blood mixed with them.

“She’s in the panic room.”

Relief floods my chest as I tug on the book that opens the keypad. I punch in the code and the door slides out of the way to reveal Bianca sleeping soundly in her crib, her hair a mess and one leg out of her onesie.

“Bia bean.” I grin as she yawns and rolls, opening her eyes and looking up at me.

She giggles and gets to her feet, bouncing on her mattress while holding on to the railing of her crib. “Dada!”

Gia stays to the side as I leave the room with Bianca in my arms. “I don’t want her to see me like this. It’s going to scare her.”

My eyebrows climb as I look over at her. “I don’t think it will. You’re still her mom and you fought to protect her.”

Gia bites her bottom lip, more tears rolling down her cheeks and mixing with the blood. “Not hard enough. He told me that I had to kill you; otherwise, he was going to take her from me.”

“Noah?”

She nods, her breathing coming in short pants. “Yes.”

“That’s not going to happen, Gia. He’s dead now. I killed him and he’s never going to be able to hurt you again. He won’t take Bianca.”

I grab the diaper bag in the corner, stuffing it with essentials while keeping Bianca balanced on one hip. When I try to pass her to Gia, she takes a step back and shakes her head, her arms wrapping around her body.

Silent sobs shake her as I sling the diaper bag over my shoulder before reaching for her. “I don’t think we’re safe, Royce.”

“We’re safe.” I kiss her temple. “We just need to get to the car, and then we’re going to get the hell out of here and have you looked over by a doctor.”

“Hell!” Bianca says the word like it’s her new favorite.

---