Page 16 of In My Blood
“Yeah,” I nodded to Dario, but I only took a step back and leant against the wall just around the side of the door frame. I couldn’t be any further than that from Cara right then. I was worried she’d be terrified when she awoke.
“I managed to get a hold of a cleaner. I had to go through Kean though,” He told me in little more than a whisper. He had moved to stand right beside me, so that we wouldn’t be overheard. Kyle was somewhere in the living area of the suite, and though he seemed to be a decent and trustworthy sort, I didn’t want him hearing about our business.
“It’s fine. I can handle Kean,” I agreed. Kean was the head of the Irish family that we had dealings with in London. He was a wealthy and powerful man, and probably one of the closest things to an ally that I had in the dangerous world I found myself and my family still trapped in. He had contacts across the globe, but especially in the USA, so I understood why Dario had needed to use him to get a cleaner to take care of the bloodbath and my mother’s body back at that apartment. “He’ll cremate the remains. Do you want the ashes sent to you?”
“Yes. I don’t care what happens to the bitch, but Cara might, and I don’t want to take that from her. Have them brought to us and we’ll go from there. Did you speak to Kyle?”
“He agreed to allow us to deal with the scene and keep what happened under wraps. His team too. He wasn’t happy about it, but he understands the need to protect Cara,” Dario told me, and I nodded. I had suspected Kyle was the honest type who would automatically want to report a scene such as the one he walked into, directly to the police. “I’ll fix the lease and deal with the landlord once it’s been cleaned.”
“Good. I don’t want anyone hassling Cara for any reason.”
“I have to tell you something else,” he hesitated and the concern in his voice had me turning to stand and face him. He looked worried and it instantly had me on alert. It took a lot for Dario to become stressed out.
“What? Tell me,” I ordered.
“I grabbed what I could of Cara’s. There wasn’t much. Just some clothes and toiletries in a sideboard in the living room. I packed what I could into a rucksack that I found, but I also found this,” he said as he held out a folded piece of paper. I took it from him and unfolded it without letting myself think too much. Whatever it was, I would face it because I had to. Because Cara needed me to handle everything right now, just as I should have been doing for the last eleven years.
The piece of paper was some kind of hand written wage slip. There was a scrawled down list of hours that must have been worked and a total amount of money at the bottom. For the hours listed on the page - a lot of very late nights and weekends – the amount paid was insanely low, but that wasn’t whathad Dario looking so concerned, I realised, when I noticed the printed logo at the top of the note sized page.
“A strip club?” I questioned, glancing up to him, then back down to the page to read the words again. “Cara was working here?”
“Looks like it. From what I saw in that place, your Mum didn’t work. There were empty booze bottles all over.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” I growled angrily. I don’t know why I ever expected anything good of my mother, but I had hoped that having Cara with her would force her to one day face her responsibilities. Obviously, I was an idiot, and it looked like Cara had been the one to have responsibility piled on her too young shoulders instead. The fact she had needed to resort to stripping for a pitiful wage made me feel physically sick.
“There’s something else,” Dario said, and I looked to him with apprehension. I didn’t think I wanted to know anything else, but I had to, so I nodded once. “These were in Cara’s coat pocket.” He opened his hand discreetly between us and I saw a clear zip seal bag, filled with pills that clearly weren’t prescription.
“Fuck!” I hissed as I threw myself back against the wall and dropped to a crouch. I pushed my hands angrily into my hair and tried to keep breathing. “Do you know what they are?” I asked quietly.
“No.” Dario dropped down to a crouch beside me and pressed a hand on my shoulder. “Opioids I would guess. Maybe oxy, or fentanyl. Something like that. Might explain why she’s so thin and pale?”
“I did this, Dar,” I gasped as my breath seemed to rush from me. I lifted my head and ripped at my hair as I pulled my hands free of it. “I fucking failed her. I did all of this to her.”
“You never stopped searching for her, Rafe. You did every-fucking-thing that you could to get her back. We all did. It’s not your fault. If anyone is to blame it’s your fucking parents.”
“I don’t even know what to do. How do I help her when she doesn’t even trust me?”
“You show her that you are the guy you always were, and you earn her trust back. We can get her into rehab if we need to, counselling, therapy, whatever the fuck she needs…you can give it to her. You can take her home and prove that she does belong there, and always will. She’s going to need you now, Rafe. Don’t let the guilt take you from her all over again.”
“Mr, De Santis?” I looked up and saw the doctor stood in the doorway above me. I jumped to my feet instantly and moved so I was opposite him. My legs felt shaky as I forced them to hold me upright, and it was an unusual feeling. I had been trained my entire childhood to never look weak, or to show it, at least, and I was really fucking good at it. But Cara, seeing her so broken and hurt, and seeing what had happened to our mother, even though I had no love for the woman, it had knocked me and I was struggling to get it together. I was relieved when Dario stood too and was at my side, where he’d always been. He, Dante, and Arran were the only ones I trusted to see who I truly was behind the façade I wore outside of our home, but Dario was the only one who knew me well enough to see how badly I was struggling right then.
“Call me Rafe,” I said. “How is she?”
“Sleeping. She’s suffering from exhaustion and dehydration. I expect her to sleep for some time, and I’ve hooked her up to some intravenous fluids for now too.”
“Was she injured?” Dario asked.
“There are some bruises on her body, of varying ages. Her right shoulder is very badly bruised and there’s some swelling too. You said you didn’t think she was present when the attack at her place happened?”
“We don’t think so, but we don’t know for sure. Cara was very upset when she managed to call me. She wasn’t making much sense, then the call ended and we couldn’t get her to answer again. You think she was there?” I asked anxiously.
“I can’t say for sure, but some of the bruises look pretty fresh, and there are handprint bruises on her hips. I obviously can’t do any further assessment without her consent, but there was some blood, just a small amount on her inner thighs.”
“Jesus Christ!” Dario hissed as I took in the doctors words and tried to make sense of them.Why couldn’t I think straight?
“You…you think she was…was r-raped?” I asked through my tight throat. I glanced past the doctor and into the room where Cara was now curled up under a thick duvet, so small she barely took up any of the enormous bed.
“I think it’s a possibility,” the doctor nodded.
