Poor Violet was curled up in a ball on the foul thing with her back to the door, her little body wrapped up in the only clean looking blanket that I could see. Her slender shoulders shook with her sobs. My hatred for her father reached an all-time high. What kind of man let his own daughter stay in a place like this and treated her like that? I stepped closer to her, eager to get her out of this shithole.
"Violet," I said in a bare whisper, not wanting to startle her.
She rolled over and stared at me with wide eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but I pressed a finger to my lips to stop her. I crouched down next to her.
"I'm getting you out of here, kid," I whispered.
Relief flooded her tear-stained face as she nodded and flung herself up into my arms.
"I'm scared, Calder," she whispered in my ear, then leaned back to meet my gaze. "Something's wrong with Daddy," she added brokenheartedly, her eyes big and fearful.
"I know, baby," I reassured her as I gently wiped a tear from her cheek with my thumb. A deep need to protect her and take care of her fell over me. "I won't let him hurt you," I added fiercely and hugged her close for a moment as she latched her arms around my neck. "And I'll get you back to your mom too." Finally, I stood. "Let's go, kid," I whispered. I turned toward the door and froze when I heard voices coming from outside the room. I couldn't catch any actual words, but one of them was definitely Ella's.
Violet's eyes widened as she recognized her mother's voice too, and she moved forward as if to go to her. I put a hand out to stop her, then peered around the door frame to see Ella and Ray in the circle of lantern light standing several feet apart. Ella looked so scared, her eyes big and her face pale even in the low lantern light. I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms as I stifled the urge to go to her, but knew I couldn't without risking Violet's safety. We needed to go now. I turned to grab Violet's hand, to get her out of here when Ray's voice rose in anger.
"Do you understand, you stupid fucking whore?!" Ray growled viciously.
I looked back toward them to see that Ray had a hold of Ella's shoulders and was shaking her violently as he continued berating her. Shit. I tensed to go after the bastard, but then caught sight of Scott moving swiftly in from the side, unseen by Ray, who was now swinging his arm back to hit Ella. I knew Scott wasn't going to get to her in time. I started to take an unconscious step forward just as a sudden loud crash came from behind me. I whirled around to find Violet standing next to the upended crate she'd just knocked over amid the broken bottles and the still functioning lantern. She stared up at me with wide-eyed terror. Well fuck.
Before I could even respond, Violet's expression turned calculating, and she snatched up the lantern by its handle and rushed past me out of the room, leaving me hidden in darkness. I went to follow her, but froze when I heard Ray's voice.
"What the fuck are you doing in there?" he barked at his daughter from just outside the room.
I stepped back further into the darkened room and pressed myself against the wall next to the door. I reached for the gun at the small of my back, and pulled it out of its holster, thinking I might need it at this point. I stilled and listened with it pointed at the floor, hoping Violet's quick thinking would keep me from having to use the weapon at all.
"I...I knocked over the light," Violet said placatingly. "I'm sorry, Daddy."
"Violet, baby," I heard Ella say in a worried tone. "Are you okay?"
"She's fine," Ray answered for his child, his voice angry and tense. "Get your ass back in that fucking room, Violet. Now."
"But I wanna stay with Mom," Violet replied.
"I told you to stop your fucking whining," he snarled out.
"Don't talk to her like that," Ella snapped out. "She's your own daughter for God's sake."
"I'll talk to her any way I fucking like!" Ray shouted to her. "Especially when she constantly whines and acts like a pussy just like her pathetic fucking excuse for a mother!"
"Don't yell at my mom!" Violet yelled angrily as the light from the lantern began to move. A moment later, I heard Violet cry out in pain and fear.
Fuck. I was done hiding at that point and surged out of the room through the door to see Ray gripping Violet's arm and shaking her. I wanted to shoot him, but couldn't for fear of hitting the kid. When he pulled back a hand to strike his own daughter, I instantly rushed forward to stop him, but before I could take two steps, Ella had launched herself at Ray with a primal scream of rage and started clawing at his face and neck.
Ray almost immediately managed to shove her off of himself with one arm, while still gripping Violet with the other. Ella stumbled and fell to the floor, and a second later Ray was pulling out a gun from his waistband and pointing it at his own wife as she got back up on her feet and stared at it in terror. Son of a bitch. I froze a few yards behind Ray, who now had his back to me and still hadn't seen me. I raised my gun, but lowered it when I realized that I didn't dare shoot him with Ella and Violet now in my line of fire.
"You stupid fat whore!" Ray yelled as he loomed over Ella, his voice burning with rage.
Then two things happened simultaneously.
Violet sank her teeth into the meaty part of her father's forearm just as Scott launched himself out of the shadows to tackle Ella to the floor. The gun went off as Ray roared in pain and flung Violet violently away, sending her sprawling across the floor in a heap as the lantern in her hand dropped and rolled across the floor. He immediately turned and pointed his gun toward Ella again, who was now a sitting duck on the floor along with Scott, but I had already dropped my own weapon and thrown myself at him by then.
I plowed into him, making him grunt from the sudden impact, and grabbed his gun hand. I swung his arm upward, sending a bullet into the ceiling above us with a loud deafening crack. I grappled with him for the weapon, but the guy was big and packed a wallop as he started punching me in the side with his free arm. It fucking hurt, but I took it, steadfastly refusing to let go of his arm. I'd be damned if I let him hurt any of the people most important to me.
Our scuffle sent us careening wildly across the floor as he continued punching me. I fended him off with my elbows and knees as best as I could while still trying to wrest the gun away from him. I wasn't a trained fighter, but I grew up in The Armpit and knew how to fight dirty. I took the first opportunity I saw and kneed the bastard hard in the crotch. He let out a loud grunt of pain, and his grip on the pistol loosened. I was too slow to grab it though, and it clattered to the floor next to me as Ray staggered back with his hands pressed to his groin.
I scrambled after the gun and snatched it up. I flew to my feet again and turned to train it on Ray, fully prepared to put a bullet in him, but froze in horror at what I found in front of me. Our struggle somehow brought us close to Violet, and while I'd been picking up the gun, Ray grabbed her. He'd done the unthinkable, and was now holding up his own child against his chest as a human shield.
"I don't know who the fuck you are," he snarled at me venomously as he began slowly backing away from me toward the center of the room. He put one of his big hands around Violet's tiny throat in a clearly threatening gesture. "But back the fuck off if you don't want her to get hurt."
"No!" Ella screamed, and I could see Scott holding her back in my peripheral vision as she fought to get to Violet, who was crying and struggling to get free from her father to no avail.
"Let her go," I growled out. "She's just a child. Your child."
"That's right," I replied in a maniacal voice, his eyes gleaming madly as he continued backing away. "She's mine to do with as I fucking please."
"Stop moving," I barked out warningly, knowing he was approaching what I knew was the weakest part of the floor.
"Or what?" he asked with a sneer as he paused. "You gonna shoot me? If you shoot me, you shoot her too." He looked at Ella with a snide and strangely triumphant expression. This guy was fucked up in the head. "This is all on you. You should have done what you were told."
>
"Please, let her go, Ray," Ella begged in a terrified voice as she fought Scott's restraining grip around her waist to get to her daughter. "Please."
"You stupid fat cow," he sneered at her. "I'm going to make sure you never fucking see her again."
He started moving again. I could hear and feel a cracking noise under our feet, but Ray seemed oblivious to it. An icy shock of fear for Violet's safety surged through my veins in a sudden rush.
"Ray!" I blurted out in a panicked voice as I lowered my gun in the hopes he'd actually listen to me. "Stop!"
He glared at me and opened his mouth to speak as he took yet another step backwards. Before he could utter a single word though, another even louder crack came from beneath his feet. Ray glanced down, his eyes going wide in sudden comprehension, and then the floor underneath him abruptly gave way.
"Violet!" I shouted, dropping the gun as I instantly flung myself forward without a thought for my own safety.
I skidded across the floor on my belly and somehow managed to grab Violet's outstretched arm just before she disappeared into the large gaping hole. I kept on sliding though, and my upper body began slipping over the edge. We were just about to tumble down into the abyss together, when I felt a pair of strong hands grip my ankles. I could hear Scott grunting with effort behind me as he yanked us to a sudden halt. Thank fuck he was here.
Suddenly, Violet began screaming and struggling in my grip. I looked up to see Ray dangling from a nearby broken pipe he'd somehow managed to grab onto. He was reaching out and clawing at Violet as he tried to get a hold of her shirt. His eyes were crazed and desperate as he tried to grab her, his other hand slipping down the pipe. He was going to take his own daughter down right along with himself.
Fuck.
I tightened my grip on her, just as he finally succeeded in clasping her shirt in his fist. I held onto Violet for dear life as he began trying to jerk her out of my hands. She was shrieking frantically, her eyes wide with terror as she began slipping out of my hold. The anguish that hit me when I realized that I was about to lose her was unbearable.
Then I heard a sudden and almost inhuman scream of rage that I realized was Ella. The next thing I knew there was a stream of liquid splattering across Ray's face, and the caustic scent of pepper spray burned my nose. An instant later, he was howling in sudden agony as his hand fell away from Violet. His grip finally slipped from the pipe he was still holding onto, and I watched him fall screaming and flailing down into the blackness below. A moment later, his howls of agony were abruptly cut off with a loud crash, followed by yet another, and then there was silence.
Immediately, Scott began hauling me backwards, and I dragged Violet up out of the hole as he pulled us to safety.
"Mommy," Violet cried out as Ella fell to her knees next to us.
"My baby," Ella sobbed in relief as she pulled her daughter into a fierce hug.
I sat up and gathered them both into my arms and held them close, sobbing right along with them. I felt Violet's little trembling hands clutching my sweatshirt in a death grip as Ella buried her face against my chest. I laid my cheek on the soft hair of Ella's head and breathed in her familiar citrus scent for several long moments.
Eventually, movement caught my eye, and I looked up to see Scott approaching the hole through the floor with a small flashlight. He leaned out carefully over the edge and shined the beam of bright light down into the darkness below for a moment. He then turned back to meet my questioning expression and shook his head grimly in reply.
A massive wave of relief hit me, and I breathed out a deep shuddering sigh. Ella and Violet were safe now, and they would never have to worry about that bastard again. They were mine, and I was keeping them. I closed my eyes as I held my entire world tightly in my arms, vowing to myself that I would always keep them safe, and I would never let them go.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-SIX
____________________
Ella
I gasped awake from my nightmare with a jolt, my heart pounding and my breathing ragged. I was left with the lingering afterimage of Ray's vile and terrifying face as he dragged a screaming Violet away from me, taking her down with him into a black void of nothingness. Tears pricked my eyes, and I let out a soft whimper as I thought of how close I'd come to that actually happening.
Calder, who was spooned behind me, instinctively sensed that I was in distress and mumbled my name in his sleep as he shifted closer. He threw a muscular arm over me, and placed his hand gently on Violet's shoulder where she was curled up against the front of my body with her head tucked under my chin. She murmured happily, sound asleep herself, and snuggled closer to me. I sighed contentedly and basked in the warm reassuring comfort of being sandwiched between the two most important people in my life.
We were all at Calder's house, where he had taken us at Violet's almost hysterical insistence, after Scott dropped us off at my brother's house. We went in just long enough to pack some clean clothes, then drove here. I think she was afraid to stay there, since that was where Ray had tricked her and taken her from.
We were all filthy when we arrived, so Calder had sent us up to his luxurious bathroom where I helped an exhausted Violet take a bath, and I took a quick shower. When we emerged, Calder was already clean himself, having used the shower in one of his guest bathrooms, and was wearing a T-shirt and lounge pants. He'd scooped up Violet, who was so tired that she was swaying on her feet in her favorite purple pajamas, and tucked her into his king-sized bed without a word. Then he did the same to me, plopping me down in the center of the mattress, before crawling into bed beside me and pulling the comforter over all of us. He told me he loved me as he pulled me close, and not long after that we all drifted off to sleep.
Now that I was awake though, my mind couldn't help but go back to the earlier events in the abandoned building. I'd known for a long time that Ray was a monster, but I never really understood the true extent of it until tonight when he threatened and tried to harm his own daughter. Seeing him unhinged like that when he grabbed her and shook her had awakened something dark and primal inside me. I'd reacted ferociously and without thinking to protect Violet when I attacked him. I'd stopped him from hurting her, but he would have killed me if it weren't for Calder and Scott. Part of me wondered if that was Ray's plan all along. I shuddered to think of Violet being taken away by that madman after watching him kill her own mother.
As it was, the bullet Ray fired at me had hit Scott when he leaped in front of me. I'd felt sick when Scott took off his Kevlar vest and lifted his shirt to look at it, and gave me an unintended glimpse of the small dark purple circle on the side of his chest where the bullet had struck him. It looked so painful, but he'd merely shrugged when he caught me watching him with a horrified expression. He'd been willing to sacrifice himself for someone he barely knew, but was important to his best friend. I'd be grateful to him forever.
Calder was the one I was grateful to the most though. He'd rushed to subdue Ray without a thought to his own safety and wrested the gun away from him. He'd risked his life when he leaped to save Violet from falling through the floor with her father, and almost fell right along with her. It was a completely selfless act that I highly doubted Ray would have ever done for his own child, let alone someone else's. Calder wasn't lying when he told me Violet was ours. His actions told me exactly how much he loved that child, and I loved him all the more for it. He would be the father figure Violet deserved and should have had all along.
When Ray tried to take Violet down with him, I'd reacted just as instinctively when I pepper sprayed his face to get him to let her go. Nobody fucked with my baby. According to Scott, Ray had fallen through two floors on his way down and died immediately. I took his word for it and didn't look. I didn't want or need that image in my head, but I couldn't manage to feel any guilt over the part I played in Ray's death. I was glad he was gone because my baby and I were safe now.
Scott had ushered us out of the building
not long after Ray fell through the floor, and took us home, assuring us that he'd go back and clean up any sign of our presence there so nothing could be traced to us. I hoped never to have to deal with anything to do with Ray again, but I knew the memories and emotional scars he'd left on me, and my daughter would linger. Only time would tell if we could heal, but I felt hopeful that with time, and with Calder there for us too, that we'd eventually be okay.
However, right now I wasn't okay. Now that the shock was wearing off, the emotional roller coaster of the day finally caught up with me and overwhelmed me. Tears started streaming from my eyes, and even though I trembled with the effort to fight it, I began sobbing quietly. I cried equally from the happy relief that we were safe, and from the guilt and despair that still lingered from my painful past.
"Ella?" Calder's sleepy voice whispered, his breath ghosting sweetly against my neck. "Are you okay, baby?" he asked gently as his arm tightened around me.
"No," I hiccuped out softly, not wanting to wake Violet and worry her. My chest hurt with the effort to keep from wailing.
"What's wrong?" he whispered worriedly.
"Nothing," I whimpered out. "Everything," I said, immediately contradicting myself. "I...I don't know," I added pathetically, then continued weeping uncontrollably.
The next thing I knew, Calder was climbing out of the bed and lifting me up into his arms. I glanced at Violet to see that she was still sound asleep, unfazed by the shifting of the mattress underneath her as Calder carried me out of his room. Halfway down the hallway, I had the presence of mind to question where we were going.
"I'm going to take care of you, my lovely," he replied in his deep sonorous voice. "I'm going to make you forget and just feel." His tone was sensual and made me shiver in eager anticipation.
Taming Rough Waters: A Blood Brothers Standalone: Book 1 Page 27
