Page 25 of Unfulfilled Promises
I shook my head, and when he went to grab me, I tried to strike out at him, only to be met with the back of his hand as he slapped me across the face, causing my ears to ring and myjaw to throb. He gripped my hair, and I pushed to my tiptoes, trying to fight as I felt strands rip from my scalp.
“I will get the secrets from you, or I swear you will meet Sergey.” Giovanni threatened, and I closed my eyes as tears fell hot and fast.
He began to smile as he grabbed hold of my shirt and ripped it down from my neck, exposing the front of my bra. When he pushed me onto the desk, I tried to kick at him, only to be punched directly in the face, rendering me defenseless as I lay there, trying to shake off the blow.
Fighting him only made him more determined, and when he was done with me, I had blood on my nose and lip from his punches. As I collapsed onto the floor with my underwear and pants around my ankles, I looked up at him through teary eyes.
“You know how to make this all stop.”
He turned, leaving me half-naked on the floor of the library, and when I looked through the open doorway, I saw Kelly standing there with a smile on her face. She leaned into the room and remarked, “All you have to do is give up Sergey’s secrets about why he protected you and I’ll let you go back to your brother. Or you can spend some more quality time with Giovanni.” She shrugged as she added, “Choice is yours.”
Mustering whatever nerve I still had, I raised my middle finger to her and gave her a bloody smile, knowing I’d rather die than tell her anything he’d said to me. Not out of loyalty to him, but I was his confidante, and he told me where all the money was hidden, who the potential members of the Syndicate were, and who was buried where. With that kind of information, Kelly and Ricardo would be unstoppable, and I refused to give those two assholes any more power than they already had.
“Stupid girl,” Kelly muttered as she walked away from the library, leaving me disheveled and bleeding on the floor.
I didn’t realize I was fighting until I heard someone repeatedly saying my name. “Regan, darlin’, I need you to wake up. Regan . . . Regan, please, baby. You have to wake up.”
I stopped struggling and slowly blinked my eyes open, seeing I was in Seth’s house and not with any of the monsters who plagued my dreams. I sat up and brushed my sweaty hair off my forehead as I tried to slow my heart rate. Looking over at him, I felt the embarrassment rise, knowing he saw me in a state I tried not to let anyone see me in.
It usually led to questions I didn’t want to answer, and I wanted to kick myself for allowing sleep to overtake me. But being wrapped in Seth’s arms, warm and safe, gave me a false sense of peace that reminded me I should never drop my guard.
“Are you okay?” Seth asked, and I tried to push a smile onto my face, only for him to lift one eyebrow without words.
“I just have bad dreams sometimes,” I remarked, hoping he would drop it but quickly realizing he wasn’t going to let this go.
“Regan, you started fighting me, and . . . it sounded like someone was hurting you in your sleep.” He paused then added, “I wish you trusted me enough to share.”
I sat up and realized Edgar was pressed against my leg still. Reaching down, I scratched his head as I looked at Seth, trying to rationalize my actions during my sleep. “Sometimes I have dreams about the house with my mom, and it’s hard to get out of it when it happens.”
Seth turned to face me directly and shook his head. “The name you called wasn’t that bastard’s, and I need you to tell me who it was that hurt you, so I can make sure he never hurts another woman again.”
“I called a name?” I asked, fear growing from deep inside me.
“Yeah, but you mumbled and I couldn’t make it out.” He took my hands gently into his and lowered his voice as he spoke. “Regan, darlin’, I know you have no reason to tell me any of yoursecrets, but I swear to you, there isn’t anything you can say to me that will change how I feel about you. You are the strongest woman I’ve ever met, and you deserve to live in peace and not always looking over your shoulder, waiting for the boogey man to sneak up on you.”
I stood from the couch and began to pace, not wanting to say anything to anyone but quickly realizing the corridor of secrets I’d walked for years was getting smaller, and I was going to have to divulge things I never wanted to.
Deciding to tell him something without giving too much away, I began to speak. “When I was . . . kidnapped, and Elsa was already gone, I had to decide what I could live with or what I would die from. I made the decision not to fight, and it saved my life. If you want to know exactly how many people hurt me, or who they were, your guess is as good as mine.”
His eyes grew darker as he stood from his seat and walked closer to me. “How many times?”
I shrugged. “Two years, so you do the math.”
I was stretching the truth about the timeframe, but no one needed to know Sergey protected me from Kelly and Ricardo the entire first year until someone broke in and murdered him. That was one of the best and worst days of my life, and I would never tell anyone about the tears I shed for that monster.
“Why haven’t you told your brother so he can hunt them down?” Seth asked, and again, I shrugged. “How can you protect those vile assholes? They could be hurting someone else.”
I snapped my head at him, pissed that he was basically saying if someone else was hurt, it was my fault. Pointing my finger at him, I began to take steps closer to him. “Fuck you for saying that. I never asked for any of this bullshit, and I won’t be lectured by you about how I’m supposed to act or what I’m supposed to share.” He took a step back when I poked him in the chest with my extended finger. “Do you want all the gory details? Abouthow, the first time, I was gang raped by four men who decided to see if they could all fit inside me at the same time. Is that what you want to know about?”
He shook his head, but I was on a roll and couldn’t stop even if I wanted to. “How about I tell you the time I was beaten while he raped me, and how I had to have my jaw wired shut for close to a month because of the damage. Or I could give you all the details about the man who held my head under water while he sodomized me, just to see how long I could hold my breath. So, tell me, Seth,” I spat his name, “which one of my rapes do you want to know about?”
“I . . . I didn’t mean—”
“What’s the address here?” I asked as I walked to the island and grabbed my purse, pulling out my phone.
“Why?” he asked, and I cut my eyes at him.
“What is the fucking address, Seth? I need to order a rideshare.”
