Page 32 of Second Chance Christmas

She heard Leonardo moving around, the kettle boiling, his voice low and rumbling, so she presumed he was on a call to someone but didn’t know who, then another call, and a moment later, the door to the bathroom opened. He took one look at her, crouched down, and the tap began to run. A moment later, he was holding a cool, moist washer to her forehead, murmuring softly in Italian, so she closed her eyes and tried to let him pull her back to this moment, the safety of his nearness.

It worked. He guided her up, away from the toilet, out of the bathroom and into the larger part of the hotel room. It was exactly the same as it had been ten minutes ago, but it was different now too. Everything was different.

Slowly, the adrenalin dissipated, and she understood: she was safe.

But Audrey!

“Ohmygod. He’s here. Audrey. I have to go,” she scrambled to seating, looking around, panicked.

“It’s okay.”

“No, you don’t understand, you don’t know what he’s like—,”

“I’ve got a fair idea,” he said, and in that one sentence, he didn’t quite manage to keep the hatred from his voice. “I’ve called Dave. He’s on his way to your place.”

Dave Cohen had been at school with Leonardo, and gone on to become one of the local cops.

“He’s going to hang out with Audrey and Harry for a bit, as a precaution.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, lifting a hand and curling her fingers in his shirt. It was a tacit contact but more importantly, it was support. She needed that support so badly. “I can’t believe he came here.”

“Can’t you?”

She closed her eyes. Leo was right. In the back of her mind, she’d known Grant wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. She should have been prepared for this. She should have been more watchful. Damn it, she’d let her guard down.

“I need to go.”

“Wait. Have this first.” He passed her a mug of tea.

She shook her head. “I need to be with her.”

“I’ll take you to Audrey in a minute. Trust me, she can’t see you like this. Just sit, settle your nerves.”

As he spoke, Cassidy’s gaze jerked to the mirror and she made a sound of surprise. She looked whiter than white, her hair was in disarray, her eyes were huge and she was still trembling.

“Okay.” Then, “Thank you.”

He visibly clenched his jaw. “Don’t thank me.”

She sat down at the table, elbows resting on it, and lifted the tea to her lips. She didn’t have sugar and Leo knew that, but he’d nonetheless added several sachets to this drink, for her nerves, she presumed.

He stood in front of her, hands on his hips, eyes focused on her face but in a glazed over way, like he wasn’t really seeing.

“You didn’t fall down the stairs, did you?”

The question made her startle. She opened her mouth to deny it. But why should she?

“No.”

Leo’s curse tore through the room but very quickly, he composed himself. “He hit you.”

She dug her fingernails into her palm, stared at her ring. “Yes.”

“The whole time?”

“It started just after Audrey was born. He was frustrated by her crying. I was so scared he would shake her or something. He was so angry. But he didn’t hurt her. He never touched her, thank God.”

“He took it out on you.”

---