Page 142 of Fall into Savagery

She jumped and looked over to see Nikolay and Damien coming onto the balcony. They took the seats on either side of me.

Damien grabbed her hand.

“You can do anything, princess. We believe in you. However, if you can’t do it, then you can’t do it. There’s no pressure.”

“Do you still want to come with us back to Arizona, pet? I know this might be hard for you, returning to the house where you had to endure all that abuse. You don’t have to, and no one would blame you for not wanting to go back.”

She shook her head and looked down at her lap. We didn’t say anything, waiting for her to gather her thoughts.

When she looked back up at us, I could see the determination shine in her eyes. “No, I want to. I want to put it to rest. I want that part of my life to no longer have any hold on me. I don’t want to be the Mute Princess anymore.”

She said the last part quietly.

I knew she always hated her mutism. It emerged from her trauma, and the years of abuse didn’t help.

Of course she wanted to move on with her life.

“Then that’s what we’ll do,” I said, cupping the back of her head and bringing her down to rest against me.

She sank into me as if she didn’t have any more energy to do anything else, wrapping her arms around my waist.

I looked over at Damien before turning to Nikolay.

I didn’t know what they were thinking, but I guess it was somewhere along the lines of my own thoughts.

We were going to fucking kill Angelo Agnello, not just because of our past, or for the land in the South, or even the profitability of the South American drug trade.

We were going to fucking kill Agnello for putting that sadness in Catalina’s eyes.

28

DAMIEN

I setmy bag on the floor by my bed, reviewing my mental checklist to ensure we had everything ready for our trip to Arizona.

The sight of Catalina heartbroken as she told us she didn’t want to be the Mute Princess anymore last night haunted my thoughts.

I didn't know what I could do or say to make everything okay for her. I didn’t know how to erase her trauma, but how badly I wanted to.

Movement caught my attention by the door, and I smiled. Judging from the sound, she was trying to sneak up on me.

I could laugh over that.

She still had a lot to learn if she was trying to get one up on me.

Like not making so much noise when she walks.

I turned around just as she jumped. The last thing I saw before hugging her close to my body was her surprised wide eyes.

I laughed.

She said something into my chest.

I wrapped my hand around the back of her neck. “What?”

Pulling away, she looked up at me with a disgruntled look on her face. “How did you know?”

I grinned. “Magic.”

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