Page 31 of The Dark Obsession

I drop my gaze not wanting to see his disappointed eyes. He watches me and turns around to bang his fists against the wall in frustration. He puts his hands on the wall and leans into it with his head bowed, his previous attempt to hide his anger evaporates. His large, rugged shape moves shockingly fast and he stands staring out the large office window into the dark morning. His husky appearance is more vibrant as his emotions strengthen—rugged but safe. I sit there, surveying Rafael from afar, I don’t fear his anger; I can’t fear this man who seems to be trying so hard to protect me. His light-green shirt is unusually messy and untucked from his suit trousers.

“Rafael,” I croak. My endless crying has tortured my throat.

He turns, pushing his brown curls off his face, and approaches me. His shirt has several buttons undone; brown and red colouring circle his eyes. “Miss Lockwood… Rosalie, please.” He sits opposite from me and takes a drink from a cup on the table then leans his elbows on his knees. “I feel like we’re missing something huge.”

My eyes linger much too obviously on the glinting white scar on his exposed chest.

“We’ve had the top men working your mother’s case. No fingerprints, not one bloody clue as to who has done this,” he says, his voice getting louder.

I shuffle nervously, wrapping my arms around myself, holding together what little I have left. “I just don’t understand who could …” My voice breaks as my mother’s eyeless, tortured face flashes through my mind.

“Does your family have any enemies?”

“My father was a lawyer. Of course, he has enemies,” I whisper.

“Listen, Rosa. She was found very close to your house. No more than two hundred feet from your front door.” He rushes towards me, and his arms wrap around me as I break into terrified sobs.

My hairs stand on end as I remember the shadow, the outline of a man watching me the night my mother died. My skin prickles painfully, and my throat fills with blood from the inside of my cheek, which I continue to bite to stifle my cries.

“Your mother passed. She died at about ten o’clock that evening. Your brother has told me you saw someone …” Rafael’s voice becomes unsteady. “Benjamin said you were terrified that someone was there.”

“I saw a man by the streetlamp at the end of the street. Then someone was very close. I heard them walk. I saw the shadow. I ran. I locked the door. I was too scared to look back.”

“Your brother told me this was at, like, two a.m., correct?”

“Yes, minutes before you called.” I shudder violently against his solid arms.

“I wonder if whoever was outside so late at night has anything to do with it?” Rafael asks himself out loud.

I raise my eyebrows. “That makes no sense.”

“It makes sense if it isn’t just your mother they are after. Because your mother, from what can be gathered, was coming to see you.”

Chapter 14

Ilie on the cold, wet grass, unable to move an inch, as the outline of a man, tall and broad, bludgeons my mother to death under the eerie white streetlamp across from my house. Her screams turn into muffled gargles as she chokes on her own blood.

???

“Rosa!”

My hands fly to protect my face from the monster who killed my mother. I can still hear her screams as my eyes open, and Rafael holds my face close to his own. He breathes a shaky sigh of relief as I stare into his vivid green eyes.

He makes me drink a cup of sugary tea before he agrees to talk to me again. It’s not until he offers me a biscuit that I realise how hungry I am. I eat as he talks again; my other hand is wrapped in his insanely chilly hands. I let him hold my hand tight, as if that will protect me from his words.

“The detective, he’s asking whether you or your brother have any enemies. This is a small town; they feel this is personal, someone trying to get to you or your brother.” He watches me swallow the cookie, my throat suddenly dry.

I shrug slowly, concentrating, recounting the years, but nothing comes to mind. “No-one. We are friendly people.”

“I want to take you home with me, Rosa. I’m concerned.”

I laugh. It sounds strange in my humourless mind. “No. No, I have Ben.”

“Will Dale be with you?”

My hand raises to my collarbone. It stings as my fingers run over the blood-red teeth marks which have coloured purple and blue after all these hours.

“No,” I whisper. My hand trembles in his.

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