Page 18 of Broken

I mouthed the words ‘thank you’ to Antonio.

“I’ll let you ladies catch up,” Damon said, offering me a peck on the cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow for dinner?”

“Of course.”

“See you then.”

“See ya.” I watched as he loaded into the back of an SUV.

Putting my arm around Olivia’s shoulders, I led us to my apartment. “You can stay with me as long as you like. There’s even a spare room you can sleep in.”

Inside, she shrugged off her jacket.

“You’re pregnant?”

It was more of a statement than a question.

She rubbed her belly. “I’m three months along.”

“Three months,” I repeated, trying to do some math in my head.

“The baby is Jose Macias’s.”

“What?” Surely, I didn’t hear her correctly. Surely, she wasn’t carrying a monster’s baby.

“He raped me the first night you came.”

“Olivia.” I was speechless.

“They came and got me in the middle of the night. No one else knew. And he raped me multiple times that night.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“You didn’t know. And the man that bought me, well, he wasn’t too happy I was pregnant with another man’s baby.”

That was when I noticed the bruise around her eye. “He beat you?”

She nodded in response.

I placed a hand on her knee. “Well, you are here now. You’re safe. I promise. No one is gonna hurt you.”

“Who is he?” she asked, pointing to Matteo.

“Here’s here to protect us. We aren’t in danger, so it’s just as a precaution. Damon insisted.”

She smiled. “Ah. He seemed like a real charmer.”

“You don’t even know the half of it. Do you want something to drink? Are you hungry?”

She frowned. “I’m not.”

“Okay. Well, let me show you your room. We can go shopping tomorrow after I get out of work for some clothes for you.”

“You have a job already?”

“Oh, I’m just a teacher’s aide. And it’s only Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. And I have dinner with Damon on Wednesdays, too.”

“Sometime you’re gonna have to tell me about him.”

---