“What were you thinking, Vi?” I whisper, tears threatening to fall again as I squeeze her hand. She knew the hell she was walking into and after everything I did to free her, why would she go back? Chance’s hand presses into my uninjured shoulder and I let out a breath as I sink back into his touch.
“She was thinking the same thing you did when you found out she was in trouble,” he whispers, his voice tortured and my heart aches. “I’m sorry for not taking better care of her.”
I shake my head. “Please stop blaming yourself, Chance. There are only three people to blame for all of this and you are not one of them.”
“Carly,” he whispers, his voice desperate and I know he wants to know what happened, but I haven’t been strong enough to talk about it yet.
A knock at the door interrupts us and we both look up as Detective Rodriguez walks in, offering us a warm smile. “Hey, guys. I need to get a statement from Carly.”
I nod. “Have a seat.”
He grabs Chance’s vacated chair and pulls it over to me before sitting down and pulling out a notepad.
“I know this is probably going to be hard, but can you just tell me what happened?”
Sucking in a breath, I nod again and start from the beginning, telling him about running to the gas station to get junk food and feeling the pain in my neck. I go over coming to tied up in the basement and the more I explain, the tenser Chance grows behind me.
“How was his mental state?” Rodriguez asks and my eyes widen.
“You mean was he competent?” I ask and he nods. “Yes, he was fully aware of what he was doing and enjoying every minute of it.”
He scribbles something down in his notebook. “How do you mean?”
“My legs were tied to the chair and the rope restraining my hands was thrown over a pipe or something and tied to a hook on the wall. He cut my legs free and pulled on the rope to make me stand. It was excruciating and when I screamed, he enjoyed it.”
Chance lets out a low growl behind me and I reach up, holding my hand out for him to grab and he takes it, kissing the side of my head.
“I’m sorry, Carly, but just to clarify, you’re saying he got off on hurting you?”
I nod. “Yes.”
Rodriguez scribbles down something else, his face unreadable but his knuckles are white.
“And what happened next?”
Squeezing Chance’s hand, I suck in a breath. “Julian told me that if Ivy didn’t come back, it would cost me my life. I told him to go ahead and kill me and he laughed, saying that they weren’t going to kill me.”
He glances down at his notes, nodding. “And by they, he meant himself and Damian Griggs?”
“Yes.”
He jots down another note before meeting my eyes again. “Go on.”
I do as instructed, telling him how Julian cut my chest before leaving and when the door opened again, Damian was there.
“Had you met Damian before a couple days ago?”
“Yeah, she runs into him all the time but now I’d say it was intentional,” Chance snaps, releasing my hand and turning away from me.
“Chance,” I whisper, my heart aching. All he’s done since I was rescued is blame himself for not paying attention to the obvious signs and no amount of consoling from me will ease his guilt. Especially not with me covered in bandages and in this sling.
“Don’t, Princess. Just finish your story,” he whispers, leaning his shoulder against the far wall as he crosses his arms over his chest.
“What happened next, Carly?” Rodriguez asks softly and I turn away from Chance with a sigh before explaining how Julian and Damian met and what they wanted to do to us.
“He said they had purchased us,” I whisper.
“What the fuck?” Chance roars, pushing off the wall and crouching down next to me. “What do you mean they bought you?”
I glance over at him and suck in a breath as tears pool in my eyes. “According to Damian, my mother is running low on money and she sold Ivy and I to them.”
“What?” Chance hisses, horror twisting his features as he stands up and paces back and forth across the room. Rodriguez scribbles furiously in his notepad before glancing up at me and nodding.
“After that, Julian came in with Ivy and started hitting her. Damian said she had to be punished for leaving and when Julian took her away, she was unconscious.”
Rodriguez nods. “And Mr. Griggs was still in the room with you?”
“Yes.”
“Did anything else happen?” he asks and as soon as the words are out of his mouth, I can feel Chance vibrating with anger even with the wheelchair separating us.
“He was going to rape me, but Julian called him upstairs and that’s when Rosie snuck downstairs and helped me leave.”
Rodriguez sighs and slaps the notepad closed, rubbing a hand over his face. “All right. I think I’ve got all I need for now, but I’ll give you a call if anything else comes up. Mr. Griggs and Mr. Henshaw are still in custody and I will be dispatching someone to go pick up your mother.”
I nod. “Thank you.”
He nods, shaking my hand as he pushes the chair back against the wall and walks out. Sighing, I drop my head back and count to ten.
“You okay, Princess?” Chance asks and I nod.
“Yes. I know I should probably be falling apart but I’m just so fucking angry and I want justice.”
He nods, turning the wheelchair so I’m facing him. “No one is telling you how to feel and I’m pretty fucking angry myself. I can’t apologize to you enough.”
“Chance,” I whisper, cupping his cheek with my hand. “This was so much bigger than any of us realized. They planned this for months and you are the very last person in the world I would blame, except for maybe Ivy.”
“It’s my goddamn job to protect you,” he says, his eyes shimmering with moisture and I lean forward, pressing a soft kiss to his lips.
“You can’t protect me from everything, but you did save me. If it weren’t for you and the club, I would still be in that basement. My mother sold me off like property and it would have taken a lot longer for Aunt Dottie to realize something was wrong.”
He shakes his head, his hands slipping up my thighs. “I can’t believe your own mother…”
“You know,” I start when he trails off. “I’m not surprised. It burns like a bitch, but I’m not surprised anymore. This is who she always has been.”
He stands up, leaning over me as he gives me another soft kiss. I know he’s worried about hurting my shoulder, but he could kiss me a little more than this. “I love you, Car. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”
There is another knock at the door and we pull away enough to glance at it.
“Yeah?” Chance calls and it opens, revealing the doctor… and my mother. Rage I was barely keeping below the surface boils over as she strides into the room like she has every right to be here. Chance’s face flushes and his jaw ticks as he levels a glare at her, his fingers twitching. If he wasn’t such a good guy, I have no doubt he’d hurt her.
“Dr. Price, thank you for giving my daughter such excellent care,” Mother says, glancing down at Ivy like she actually gives a damn and my jaw drops. Pushing on the arm of the wheelchair, I shakily stand and take a step toward her. Chance is at my side in an instant, helping me stay upright.