Page 27 of In My Blood
Then I had seen her fiery side that day too, and I loved that just as much. She was brave, and she could defend herself. She was strong and so tough. We’d been with her less than twenty-four hours and I knew I was falling for her already. It was insane. I’d never even had a real relationship. I had one night stands. Never more than that. That was the way I liked things, and there I stood, having lost my mind with rage because that bastard had touchedmy Cara!
“I need to check on Cara,” I growled at Brax. “Get cleaned up and then back to the suite. Stay close. I have a feeling those three were there looking for Cara tonight, She’s not safe here.”
“Don’s already there and Sil is doing a sweep of the building. We’ll make sure she’s protected,” Brax assured me. I just gave him a nod, then left the room. I trusted the three of them. They had worked with us for years and I knew they would willingly lay their lives on the line protecting Rafe and his sisters, just as any of us would, if it ever came to it.
I took a deep breath before I used the keycard to let myself into Rafe’s suite. I needed to get rid of the rage that was riding me hard. The last thing I wanted was to scare Cara more after what she’d been through.
I walked in and looked around. I didn’t call out – again not wanting to scare Cara. I found Rafe sat on the floor against the en-suite door in Cara’s room. He had his back against the door and his legs stretched out before him. His stubble was thick, as were the smudges under his eyes. He hadn’t slept in almost forty-eight hours, and I knew he was exhausted. I was too.
“How is she?” I asked as I sat beside him.
“Trying to be brave,” he whispered back with a strained smile. “I don’t know what to do. I think she needs a doctor.”
“I’ll arrange one. I’ll see if we can get a woman too,” I said. It tore me up to even think it, but Cara had been raped, possibly twice in almost as many days. She was going to need a doctor to check her properly this time.
“Yeah. She needs food too, and water. I can’t let her get hurt again, Dario. How did I allow that to happen?”
“We got to her as fast as we could. We can’t change what’s already done, brother.”
“I want to know who those fucker’s were! I want to know who’s doing this and then I’m going to kill every last one of them,” he seethed.
“You won’t be doing it alone. We’ll deal with them, Rafe. Every fucking one of them,” I agreed.
“She told me everything would be okay. I have to make sure it is.”
“You will. You have all of us to help you. We’ll get her through this, as a family. Everything will be okay in the end.”
“I hope so.”
“How long has she been in there?” I asked as I nodded back towards the bathroom.
“A while. She always liked to sit in the bath for too long,” he sighed.
“Have you checked on her? Her head was bleeding? She could have a head injury?” I worried.
“CARA?” Rafe shouted instantly. He got to his feet and knocked on the door urgently, but no answer came.
“Carr? Can you hear us?” I called again, but still no answer came.
“Stand back!” Rafe ordered, then barely gave me time to jump aside before he slammed his booted foot right through the locked door handle. The door gave instantly and I rushed in.
“FUCK! CARA?” I ran to the bath and grabbed Cara under the arms, pulling her up from where she had been submerged under the water.
“She’s not opening her eyes!” Rafe panicked.
“Get her on the floor,” I said, much calmer than I felt on the inside. As soon as she was laid flat on the ground I felt for her pulse, but felt nothing, so I started trying to resuscitate her.
Dante, Rafe, and I had all taken a first aid course together when Gia was seven. She’d almost choked on a fucking grape and if my Mum hadn’t been there to save her, I don’t know what would have happened. After that we all wanted to know the basics, just in case. Thankfully, we’d never needed to use our skills, until that moment.
“Cara? Wake up for me,” Rafe pleaded as he held her head between his hands and leaned in close to her.
“Come on!” I gasped as I thrust my interlocked hands against her heart over and over again, trying to recall the stupid rhythm I was supposed to be using.
Just when I was starting to lose hope and my God-damn mind, she finally took in a small breath, then swung to the side and spit up a few mouthfuls of water. Rafe lifted her so she was leaning against him and held her close as she fought to get the water up and breathe.
“Thank fuck! Oh thank fuck! Cara?” Rafe cried. I got to my feet and grabbed one of the large white towels, leaning in to cover her body with it.
Rafe tried to pull her wet hair from her face, but he was struggling with only one hand free, the other holding onto her. I knelt beside her and took over, gathering it all up and pushing it behind her shoulder. She was fighting to breathe and I’d never been so grateful to hear anything in my whole life. Not her struggling, but her breathing – knowing she was back with us.
