Page 7 of The Mafia's Desire

“When the other guys get here, I want him taken to the basement at our place on 54thStreet.”

“It will be done,” Sharp said.

Ethan walked over to the door and tried the knob to find it locked. He knocked. “Babe, open the door. I want to take care of you.”

He cringed when she made sounds, but it sounded more like a dying animal. He needed to get to her quickly but didn’t want to do more damage. He tried a few more times to get her to open the door, then stepped back and kicked the door open. His first glance at her made him want to howl in a fury. Not even the shit that happened with his mother had made him feel this deeply.

There was blood all over her, and her eyes, although swollen from the abuse, he could see the pupils were wide and dilated. Her lip was split in a few places, and he could see a cut-up by her hairline that continued to drip blood. It needed to have some pressure on it. She started to panic when he took a step toward her, so he backed off.

“Call Dr. Benjamin Peters and get him here.” He thought about taking her to the ER, but he knew she’d freak out if he touched her or tried to carry her.

Within thirty minutes, the doctor was there. Ethan relaxed. If anyone could take care of Sara, this man could. “Hey, Doc, I’m glad you could come so quickly.”

“The way Sharp made it sound, it was urgent, and one look at her and I agree. What happened?”

“One of my men beat her up,” Ethan said.

“I can’t believe you gave him permission.”

“Oh, hell no. He’ll be taken care of,” Ethan said. He didn’t need to go into specifics with Dr. Ben because he was one of his uncle Angus’s best friends and had known him his whole life.

Since the night of the killings that happened with his mother, Angus hadn’t been the same. A few months after the incident with his mother, Ben had come over, taken a bottle of good scotch up to his uncle’s room, and closed and locked the door. They stayed in the room until the middle of the night.

From what Ethan was told, they both got drunk, and his uncle poured out his heart to his old friend. It helped. His uncle had seemed listless in the days after the shootings and never smiled. Even his cousin Alastair’s woman, Beth, couldn’t get him to smile, which made his concern for his uncle grow.

Doc sedated Sara, and Ethan lifted her up and gently laid her on the bed. He sat down by her head and pressed one of the towels against her forehead to stop the bleeding and watched as Dr. Ben went over her and cleaned her up.

He made half of his men take Perkins out, and the others stayed in the hallway. He didn’t want them in the room while he helped Ben take her clothes off. His anger grew at the contusions all over her body.

“Is anything broken?” Ethan asked.

“I don’t think so. She has a lot of bruised muscles that will take time to heal. I can fix the physical, but I’m more concerned about her mental health. The sounds she was making, and her eyes, tell me that she’s not aware of things happening around her and is kind of buried inside herself. It’s a coping mechanism. She’s protecting herself the only way she can.”

“She’ll always be like this?” He’d been afraid to ask but needed to know to make plans to take care of her.

“Not necessarily. If she’s taken care of the right way, meaning she’ll need quiet, and supportive people around her, and she gets enough food and rest, I think she’ll be fine.”

He already knew he would call Alastair and ask to have her there. He thought the girls would be great, helping her more than anyone.

“I’ll take them to my cousin’s house,” Ethan said.

Ben nodded. “I agree. The Maclean home will be perfect, and she’ll be safe.”

Ethan pulled the blanket up over her naked body. He had no idea what she would wear out of there, but he couldn’t put her back in her torn, bloody clothes. He shook Ben’s hand.

“I’ll be by tomorrow to check on her. The sedative I gave her will keep her asleep for several hours or longer. Don’t panic if six, seven, or even eight hours pass, and she still isn’t awake. She was very small, in pain, underweight, and tired. I can tell from the dark circles under her eyes. They’re swollen, but I can still see some of the fatigue. I’ll come by tomorrow, but if you see something that concerns you, call me.”

“All right. Thank you for coming so quickly.”

“Son, you’re all my family. I will always come when you need me.”

Ethan nodded because he didn’t know what to say.

Ethan stopped the doctor at the door. “I have a question before you leave, and you can tell me it’s none of my business, but what did you do to my Uncle Angus to make him feel better?”

Ben laughed. “Besides get him drunk with damn good scotch? I had to remind him that he was a lowly man like the rest of us, not God.”

“What does that mean?” Ethan asked.

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