Page 62 of Broken Doll

“Hope’s doctor and that building.” I smile.

“You walked into the building and said it needed work, so how about you buy the building and redo the whole thing? You have the team of four and me so ask the doctor if she will join the team. Ask her to come to the meeting next week.” He stops talking as Hope walks closer to us.

I’m not trying to hide this from her; I mean I can’t wait to tell her about this as I think she would be happy we’re helping people that have been through what we all went through. But, I want to wait until I know that we are definitely going ahead with the project.

Hope stands next to me. “Would you like anything?” I place my hand on the small of her back and smile as she doesn’t flinch, not even a little. She’s so comfortable with me now that I want to jump up and down for joy.

"No, but can you sit down, please." Now it's time to sit with her and find the answers to my questions, and with Jackson here I do find it easier. Hope sits on the seat next to me, and I place my hand on her thigh. "So last night, I went there for one reason, and you know that reason. But while I was there, I asked him about the man I'm looking for." My eyes settle on Hope, as she listens to the conversation intently. She knows about him, and she knows why I started all this. "Asheuses the site, I thought he would know where I can find him, and he said something to me that I need to ask you about." She puts her head down a little making it hard to read her.

Jackson slides the picture over to me. “Joseph said that in order to findhim,all I need to do is find one person. And that one person is you." Hope tenses up, and I start rubbing her leg letting her know that I'm right here and nothing will happen. But she starts to shake which gets me worried and I'm hoping that this doesn't push her back five steps. "Can you have a look at this picture? This is the man I'm looking for." I slide the picture faced down toward her.

Hope's hands tremble as she brings her hands to the picture, slowly turning it over and she only takes a second to look at it before she turns it back around. Something's wrong. What the fuck is happening? Her breathing rate increases. I can hear the choking sound as she breathes. Her hands are shaking so much now that even Jackson can see.

I try to take her hand in mine, but she pulls it out. I look over at Jackson as he quickly moves the picture away from her.

"Hope, look at me," my voice comes out low, calm. I turn her chair to face me so that we block Jackson out, but I look at him to let him know to stay where he is. "Hey beautiful, look at me.” I keep my voice low, putting my finger under her chin and as I touch her, I can feel her body shaking. That picture has really done something to her.

Hope finally looks at me, and her eyes are filled with tears. Something that hits me a lot harder than I thought it would. This is one thing I never want to see again; I never want to see tears in her eyes. Last night when she was crying, I could tell that was because she became comfortable with me, but the salt water in her eyes right now is fear. She is scared, and I want to know why.

“Talk to me, what’s happened?” I ask her as I wipe the tears away.

"I… I know the man," she whispers as she brings her head down, but I lift it back up, so she looks at me.

“How?”

Shaking her head, this is getting hard for her to talk about. Wiping the tears away, she takes in a deep breath. “The man is Uncle Jack.”

My hands loosen around hers, as I take the information in. There's a silence around me. I'm not sure that I've heard correctly what she's just said. I can't believe that the man I'm looking for is the same man that Hope has been running from. I see her lips moving, but I don't hear a word she's saying to me. How fucked up is this man, that he groomed Hope but still had the time to come fuck up other children's lives? How?

I see Hope leave the table, letting me stare off into space at nothing. The only way that I'm going to be able to find him is if I put Hope's face out there, but that means putting her life in danger. I can't do that.

I see Jackson sit in front of me where Hope was. “Focus, come back to the room.”

I give him a nod, as he waves his hand in front of me. “Did you hear the same thing?” I ask. I think my voice is still locked away from me, but I know Jackson heard me.

"I didn't want to believe it, but her hands haven't stopped shaking since she told us. When she saw your reaction, she asked me if she could go to her room, so I said yes." Jackson hands me a cigarette.

I put it between my lips, flick the lighter on and take the longest drag that I can take. I let the smoke settle in my lungs before blowing it out.

Rubbing my forehead, I say, "She must hate me right now. I shut down on her," I tell him as I get up and make my way outside. I designed this yard to be a place that I can sit and relax for a while, a place that no matter how fucked up my day is, being outside would give me the answers.

“She doesn’t hate you. I think it’s more the shock of seeing his picture,” Jackson says as he sits on the chair next to me. Not once have I thought about how it affected her. I went into a dark place for a split second and pulled myself out fast but still didn’t think about how it would affect her.

“Should I go up?”

“Leave it for a moment; I think she needs some time to herself.” When it comes to Hope and Jackson, I know that he cares about her, maybe a little more now that he knows I want something more with her, so I do trust him.

"What are we going to do?" That's the question I want answering, the question that I need a plan for. I still want to kill him for everything he did to me, to Jackson and now what he did to Hope.

CHAPTER25

HOPE

Sittingin the corner by the window I stare outside. I didn't even have to turn the picture all the way around to know who it was. I knew he had a lot of power; I knew he had men around doing his dirty work but having a secret house where he kept others? Why am I even surprised with that? He has a lot wrong with him, and I know it will only be a matter of time before he finds me.

The moment I walked into the room I had that feeling; the bad feeling running through my body that something was about to go wrong and I'd be living the life of hell again very soon. Even though I have Leo looking after me, the fear is still there, and I don't think it will ever go away. I don't want to go back there; I want to have a life with Leo.

"Can I come in?" I hear Leo behind me. He's never asked me before which only means that he doesn't really know what to do right now either. Nodding my head, I look to the side as he sits down next to me. "I've made this promise before, and I'll make it again. I won't let anything happen to you." He takes my hand, his thumb rubs softly on my palm.

---