“No.”
I dial his number anyway.
“I said no.” Her expression turns frantic. Wide eyes. Pale skin. She’s more scared now than when she was trying to jab me in the neck with a fucking syringe. “Turn it off.”
I don’t.
Instead, I switch the phone to speaker, the loud ring torture to my ears. “He thought he lost you a long time ago—”
“I said turn it off.” She snatches for the device, attempting to claw it from my hand.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I hold the phone out of reach, the ringing continuing. “I thought you’d be excited to speak to family after all this time.”
“I don’t have a family.” Her breathing becomes ragged. “Not back there. Not in the States. The only family I have is here.”
She grabs at my arms, trying to get hold of the device, but the moment the call connects she freezes, her entire body turned to stone.
“This is me.” Decker’s voice fills the room. “Leave a message.”
I bring the phone toward her as the answering service releases a high-pitched beep.
She doesn’t speak. All she does is stare at the cell framed in my blood-stained hand.
“Are you going to say something?” I inch the phone closer.
She shakes her head, still staring.
Fucking hell.
I disconnect the call and place the device back in my jeans pocket.
“He’s on his way.” I lower my voice, trying like hell to comfort her as she wages a war behind those stricken eyes. “You’re going to see him any minute now.”
“No.” She steps back, taking the kid with her. “I don’t want to see him.”
She’s in shock. Fight or flight. Or any number of fucked up mental challenges associated with the shit storm she’s been through. But she’s on the home straight now. This is where her healing begins.
“It’s okay.” I reach for her, not sure what the fuck I’m doing. “You’re safe.”
“No.” She slinks away from my touch, backtracking again and again. “No.”
Fuck.
She’s crumpling and that kid is about to go down with her if she doesn’t pull up from the nose-dive.
“Penny, you’re safe.” I follow her, getting close to make sure she can hear, see, and feel my sincerity. “Robert, Chris, and Luther are gone. All the shit you’ve been through is over. And I swear on my own brother’s life I’m going to get you home.”
She shakes her head faster and faster, her breathing fractured as she stares right through me.
“I’ve got you.” I reach out again, attempting to calm her with a touch. “It’s going to be—”
“No.” She scoots away. “I don’t want to see him. I don’t want to see any of them. I just want to leave.”
I let her place space between us, taking it as a win that she’s finally acknowledged her brother, no matter how minimal the admission.
“Penny…” Tobias tangles his fingers in her blouse, pulling the material down until he’s close to popping a button. “I’m scared.”
Her hyperventilating lessens.
Everything dilutes—the shaking of her head, the blink of fear-filled eyes. She reins in her crazy for the boy’s sake.
“I’m sorry.” She pivots to him, engulfing his shoulders in her arms to pull him tight against her. “There’s no need to be scared. I’m just a little…”
“Overwhelmed?” I offer.
She winces and follows it up with a nod. “He’s right. I’m overwhelmed.”
“Is he still a bad man?” the kid mumbles, looking at me from his shielded position against her side. “Dad said he was telling Cole bad things.”
Great. Fucking great.
I turn my attention to Penny and raise a brow. I’m not touching the kid’s question with a ten-foot pole. One, because he sure as shit won’t believe me. And two, because I have no idea what the fuck his scumbag father told him.
“We’re going to be okay.” She runs a hand through his hair, the placation timid at best. “Luca is trying to help us.”
Trying?
My fucking ass I’m trying.
I conquered that bullshit when I risked my life to run through a spray of bullets and tackle her to safety.
We both know I mastered that motherfucker like a pro, but I don’t have the focus or patience to point out the obvious.
“I’m going to leave you two alone.” I hold tight for a few seconds, waiting for her to protest. Waiting for anything.
When she doesn’t speak, I give up and back away. “I’ll be in the living room. Call out if you need me.”
Still, she doesn’t react. All she does is continue to taunt my need to win her over.
I don’t understand my obsession with earning her trust. But it’s there, clawing its way under my skin.
It isn’t until I reach the door that she breaks the silence.
“Luca.” My name is gentle on her lips. “They don’t have a lot of time.”
“They?” I pause, not turning to face her.
There’s a squeak of my mattress. She’s on my fucking bed. “The women—my sisters. They aren’t safe. Luther had plans to ensure we’re never freed.”
I remain in place, forcing myself not to imagine her sliding between my sheets. “How much time are we talkin’ about?”
“I don’t know.”
“Okay.” I nod, my back still facing her. “I’ll take care of it.”
God only knows how, but I will.
I leave them in the bedroom, my boots thudding down the hall, then into the living room where I find Cole still on his hands and knees on the bloodstained tiles.
“Have fun?” he asks.
“Yeah. A whole heap.” I snatch my cloth from the floor and return to the gore plastered on the wall. “Just so you know, she’s itching to get away from here. She says those women at your dad’s house are under threat.”
“I don’t doubt it,” he grates. “But we’ve got more important issues to deal with. Keira is already on the water. She’ll be here any minute.”
I pause my circular scrub. “Then I should also point out that Penny isn’t doing cartwheels at the thought of seeing her brother, either.”
He sits up straighter and cocks his ear toward the glass doors. “Well, that’s too bad, because I can already hear their boat.”
8
Penny
I encourage Tobias onto the bed and begin to pace.
Luca had repeatedly referred to one of my brothers, never mentioning which of the two he was in contact with. Then he’d placed the call and the answering message had kicked in.
The familiar voice had collided with my skepticism, smashing it to smithereens.
Sebastian—the youngest of my two older siblings. The one who kept the high school bullies at bay. The playful jokester.
He has ties to Luca? He’s on his way here?
“What’s wrong?” Tobias pulls his knees to his chest and cuddles his legs. “What’s happening?”