Page 59 of Their Domme

Too late for that one.

He shoved the door open, his belt already in hand, and I scrambled back from him, but it was no use. He hit me with that fucking leather strap, over and over, until I was sobbing, begging him to stop.

The next morning, I could barely move, but my mother hauled me out of bed. There was no sympathy for my whimpers of pain, no application of medicine or even a bandage to make it the tiniest bit better. All I got was a rough grasp on my arm and an order to stop being lazy and get to school. I learned makeup early on to hide the bruises, not wanting others to know what was going on. To appear weak.

What would have happened if they had seen? If they had known?

I’ll never know now.

That had been when I was younger, maybe twelve. It only got worse the older I got, but my defiance grew with every confrontation. My hatred of my “father” knew no bounds. And then Thomas came. Their miracle child. I had loved him with everything in me, so I protected him, acting out to steal away all violent attention. I’d never given him the chance to eventhinkabout hurting Thomas.

I hated it here.

The stairs creaked behind me, and I whirled around, instinctively moving into a protective stance, but it was just Rhodes standing there. He approached me slowly, his gaze flicking down to where my hand was. “Nic?”

I shook my head, fighting back tears as he reached for me, but I didn’t turn away from the comfort he was offering.I hate it here.I never wanted to come back, and now that I had… I knew I’d be paying for it later. Trauma really was a bitch. Pulling me close to his chest, I breathed in deeply, savoring the smell of leather and cigarettes and finding comfort in the heat of him next to me. He ran his hands up and down my back, soothing me, as I buried my face in his chest, needing a minute. “Where are the others?”

“Downstairs and outside, looking around for anything useful.” I felt the rumble of his voice in my ear. “What’s wrong?”

“There are no good memories here.” I shuddered, tightening my arms around his waist, and tilted my head back to look up at him. Whatever he saw there made anger spark in his gray eyes, but his touch was gentle when he rubbed a thumb over my cheek to wipe away the tears I hadn’t realized were there. “I need to check out Thomas’ room.”

“I’ll go with you,” Rhodes promised before pressing a kiss to my forehead. “The photos on the wall confirm the boy taken was your brother, so at least we know with a hundred percent certainty that it’s him.”

Inhaling deeply, I led the way down the hall to the room at the end and pushed it open. My breath caught in my throat at how different it was. I remembered the little boy I had left behind, but Thomas had grown since then. Now, there were clothes everywhere, a messy bed, and a few different balls on the floor. Soccer. Basketball. Volleyball.

I tried to step forward, but my legs gave out. Luckily, Rhodes was right there, catching me and holding me close even as I silently berated myself for the show of weakness.

“Love…”

“See if you can find anything in here, hotshot,” I ordered, the tremble in my voice revealing just how close to the edge I was. “Please.”

Rhodes took a deep breath and carefully walked me over to sit on the bed. Once he made sure I was okay, he ran a hand over my hair then stepped away. He started digging around in the room, looking for anything of interest. I glanced around but didn’t try to stand up, afraid that my legs would give out, causing every man here to rush over with worry.No thank you.

“What room was yours?” Rhodes asked.

“The second door on the left,” I told him after clearing my throat. “It’s smaller than this room though.”

Rhodes paused and looked back at me with a confused crinkle to his brow. “There’s only one room on the left.”

“No, there isn’t,” I retorted as I forced myself up. After taking a moment to make sure I could stand, I marched out of the room only to freeze.What the fuck?!Therewasonly one door on the left. I slowly strode over to where I knew my room had been. Touching the wall, I turned to Rhodes and tapped the wall. “Here. This is where my room was.”

Rhodes studied me for a minute then called out for Vas. I was surprised he didn’t choose Maksim or Alexei, but I didn’t have time to question him. Barely a second later, I heard pounding footsteps, then Vas joined us with Sacha not far behind.

“Nic says her bedroom is supposed to be where she’s standing. I know how you like to kick down doors, Vas, so I figured you’d enjoy tearing into the wall.” I huffed in laughter as Vas gave him an incredulous look.

“I can’t just kick down a fuckingwall, Rhodes.”

“See if it’s hollow, then you can punch through it.” Rhodes shrugged, rubbing his fingers together as he came forward to stand beside me. I leaned into him, and he instantly wrapped an arm around me. “I’m too old for that shit.”

“I’m sure there are tools around here somewhere,” I told them with some amusement. “No need to hurt yourselves trying to tear into the wall. Plus, Ryan said not to damage anything.”

“The crime scene is downstairs,” Rhodes said as Vas rolled his eyes.

Sacha nodded at me as Rhodes and Vas started pounding on the walls to check if any parts were hollow. At least they were smart enough to be mindful of hitting any studs in the walls. Hurrying through the house, I went down to the porch. Ryan was over with Oli and Maksim, the three of them poking around by the garage. They seemed to be getting along. That, or Ryan was just trying to keep a close eye on Maks, which was probably for the best. Hopefully, he kept a close eye on Oli too. He was the one who would sneak off to do something; Maks would just do it right in front of your face while daring you to try to stop him.

“Nic?” Wrenn’s voice was soft, and I looked over, realizing she was on the porch as well. A breeze blew through, stirring her blonde hair around her face. Her light brown eyes were cautious as she took a step toward me. “What’s wrong?”

“My room is missing.”

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