Page 40 of In My Blood
Now Rafe and Dario were holed up in Rafe’s office going over the many emails they had received regarding the numerous legitimate concerns the De Santis group now owned and ran, and I worried it had been too long since Rafe had checked in on Cara.
Conscious that it was now late into the evening, and that Gia was also likely sleeping, I opened Cara’s bedroom door slowly and silently, peering through the small gap that it opened. I had only wanted to peek in and see Cara was sleeping soundly, just to settle the unease I felt. But when I looked to the bed, dimly litby the lamp on the right hand side, I could only see Gia tucked up under the covers. She was laid on her side, fast asleep and snoring just enough to assure me that she was out, but the other side was empty and the covers were pushed back. I opened the door just a little more so I could glance around it to the en-suite bathroom. If Cara were locked in there, it would still worry me, but at least I would know where she was. Only the bathroom door was wide open, the bright lights inside on, and showing no shadows on the walls to indicate Cara was inside.
I stepped silently into the room and moved closer to the bed, looking it over fully in case Cara was hidden somewhere under the heavy duvet, but Gia was the only one in there. I checked the bathroom, but I had been right about that at first glance – it was empty.
My fears surged as I looked with horror towards the windows, but the curtains were open, the slatted blinds behind them perfectly in place and the windows still locked closed as they had been when I inspected the room before we brought Cara home.
“Gia?” I walked around the bed and clamped my hand on her shoulder, shaking her gently. I hated waking her when she looked so peaceful, but we had to find Cara,
Gia startled awake violently and looked up to me with a moment of utter fear.
“Arran?” she groaned as her fear faded and she registered me.
“Sorry, lass, but Cara’s no’ here. Where is she?”
“Cara?” Gia sat up and looked to the side where Cara likely was when she dropped off to sleep. She looked around the room andinto the bathroom, then to me. “She was right there, fast asleep. Where is she?” she panicked.
“We need to find her. Go downstairs and tell Rafe. He’s in his office, then start looking around everywhere. Tell Dario to check the exit doors are still locked too. I’ll start up here and work my way down.”
“Yeah,” Gia nodded as she slid from the bed and grabbed a fluffy jumper from the foot of it to pull on. “Okay. We have to find her.”
I watched her leave the room, then I started looking around for clues. Cara’s meagre bag of belongings that she had brought from Chicago was sitting in the corner of the room, so she hadn’t grabbed that if she was running. I went to the walk in wardrobe to check if there were things missing from there, but stopped before I even fully opened the door.
At the slight squeak the handle on the double doors made, I heard a small whimper from inside. Realizing Cara had to be inside I froze in place and took a steadying breath, reining in the worry that had coursed through me that she was missing. I needed to be calm and steady if I wasn’t going to scare her, and she already sounded scared enough.
“Cara?” I said as I softly knocked on the door. “It’s just Arran. We met earlier. I’m comin’ in, alright?”
When I didn’t hear any panic or protest from inside I slowly opened the door just enough that I could slip in. It was pretty dark inside, the only light coming from the room outside through the slight gap in the door. It was enough though for me to see Cara. She was curled so tightly into herself, looking even tinier than I already knew she was. Her dark hair was wild around her face, which she had pressed against her knees, herarms tightly gripping them against her body. She was shaking hard and I could hear her fight to breathe.
“Cara?” I tried again. “Can ya hear me, lass?”
Again my words got no response and my worry for the tiny wee thing had me moving closer and dropping to my knees before her. I didn’t know if I should touch her, but I desperately wanted her to respond to me so I knew she was with me, and not drowning in whatever terror had her ensnared.
“I’m gonna wrap my arm around ye now. I willna hurt ye, okay? No one will ever hurt ye when I’m with ye,” I told her gently. Again she didn’t move or respond, so I did as I warned her and slid my arm around her back, wrapping my hand around her hip and holding her as tightly as I dare, pressing my side to hers, hoping it made her realise that she was safe.
She didn’t jerk at my touch or move away. For a moment she just sat tense and stiff, her body shaking against mine even harder than I had thought it would from appearances alone.
“Christ, Cara. You’re bloody frozen through. How long have ye been in here?” I cursed as the cold of her seeped through the t-shirt I was wearing.
“I…It’s safer….smaller,” she finally whispered so weakly I barely heard her, but I did. She leaned into me a little, then seemed to slump like she was completely exhausted.
“Yer safe in this house. I can promise ye that,” I told her as I used the arm around her to pull her closer to my side. She released the grip she had with both of her hands on her legs and let them fall sideways so they sat against my thigh, then she reached a shakyhand over to my stomach and grabbed a handful of my t-shirt fabric.
“Too big,” she whispered with a shake of her head. Finally she seemed to collapse against me completely, her head landing on my chest. It was as though she hadn’t the strength to keep herself sat up any longer, and clearly she felt safe enough to give in to her exhaustion with me close. It made me feel some strange, and wholly inappropriate, sense of pride that she was giving me that, when she barely even knew me.
“Aye. I suppose the rooms are a little cavernous in this place, right enough,” I agreed. “Yer no’ used to that, I’m guessin’?”
“No,” she shook her head a little. “Small spaces are safer…easier to hide.” She sounded almost drugged, her words slurred, but I knew part of that could be from the fact she was fighting for her breaths. If she’d been hyperventilating like that for some time, she’d be exhausted.
“You dinnae need to hide now. Yer home and ye’ve people here who will protect ye, no matter what, including me.”
“N-not from what’s up here. No one can pr-protect me from that….from m-my Mum and that…that fucker who h-hurt me. They’re there…just waiting for me. She won’t st-stop staring at me and I….I can’t…” She started to gasp even more frantically as her panic rose and I pulled her closer against me and wrapped my other arm around her, cradling her close.
“Hush now. We’ll find a way to make yer nightmares stop too. I just said I’d protect ye, didn’ I? That means from anyone trying to hurt ye, no matter what form they may take, real or conjured by your mind, I’ll no’ let them take anything else from ye now.”
“I like your accent,” she tiredly sighed as her breathing started to slow some and she turned her face so it was pressed against the fabric of my shirt.
“Really? I wasnae sure ye’d be able to understand me after a decade in the States. My Glaswegian accent hasnae really faded much over the years. I ken it can sound odd to some.”
