Page 76 of Virtue & Vengeance

I nodded. “I’m here, angel.” Her eyes slid shut again, but I nudged her softly. “Don’t fall asleep on me again.” When her eyes opened again, I asked. “Who did this to you, Eden? Tell me, and I’ll take care of them. I swear it.”

She stared at me, a mix of confusion and sorrow moved across her expression before she whispered. “It was Allen.”

“The man who was looking for you?”

She nodded. “He was my mother’s boyfriend. I ran away from them, taking his car and all the cash he had in his wallet. I ran here, to Kennedy, but he came looking for me because…” she swallowed hard. “He wanted his car back and the money I stole from him. He’s gone now.”

I frowned.

That’s wasn’t the full story.

I could sense that there was so much more she wanted to tell me.

Also, she was lying to me again. I’d found Allen’s body in the shitty motel he was squatting in, which meant I knew for sure she was being dishonest.

What I didn’t know, was why she was lying.

Someone else was involved, that much was evident since I was positive by the look of things that Allen hadn’t shot himself.

Something else was going on.

“He just left?” I asked, already knowing the answer to my question.

Her eyes shifted away from mine, her poker face still as bad as ever. “Yes.”

Lie.

She moved to sit up and winced slightly. “What happened?” I asked, touching the side of her face.

She sighed. “He hit me.”

“With what?”

It looked like he used something more than his fists.

The fucking coward.

She shook her head. “I don’t want to talk anymore. I just want to be with you, Zander.”

She moved to shift closer to me, and I couldn’t deny her soft plea. My arms went around her, and I turned, lifting her up into my arms. She didn’t protest. Just wrapped her arms around my neck and rested her head on my chest.

Just then her stomach growled.

“When was the last time you ate?” I asked.

“Honestly, I don’t remember.”

Leaving her side, I ordered from the restaurant downstairs and had them bring it up. Then I watched as Eden inhaled her food like a woman who hadn’t eaten in days.

Afterward, once she was settled and feeling much better with a full stomach, I took her into the bathroom, setting her down on her feet so I could turn the water on. When I moved back to her, I started to undress her, and again, she didn’t protest.

When she was completely naked, I left her briefly so I could undress. Once I was also naked, I led her into the shower. She followed easily, and for once I missed her spark. All of her fight seemed to be gone, and that scared me worse than the cuts and bruises.

Once the warm water coated her body, she trembled and sighed as if she was finding comfort and warmth for the first time in days.

Again, anger ripped through me, but I pushed it away so I could focus on her and only her.

“I’m going to wash your hair,” I told her as I poured shampoo into my palm. She nodded, watching me the entire time.

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