Second I saw hers, we moved that way, my heart beating a storm of chaos.
I pushed the drape aside, holding my breath, and I peered in to find Violet propped up on the bed.
Eyes open.
Heart beating.
Brutalized but whole.
Relief rocked me. Body and soul and mind. It butted with the rage that curled and twisted and glowed like a hot iron searing a brand on my spirit.
A crush of protectiveness rose so fast that I couldn’t see.
Couldn’t feel anything but the need to hold this girl.
Care for her.
Love her the way she’d always deserved to be.
My eyes swept her. From her head to her feet and back to that gorgeous face again.
That fury flashed. Hatred boiling my blood when I saw the way her jaw was swollen, clearly taking the brunt impact of a fist.
But it was the fear and shock in those violet eyes that was going to destroy me.
“Oh, mi amor,” her father wheezed in pain from my side when he caught sight of his daughter.
“Daddy,” she whispered.
He rushed to her side while I hung back at the far side of the enclosure.
He flitted around her, uncertain, desperate to make it better but having no idea how to make it right.
I did.
Hunting the fucker down and ending him sounded about right.
Thunderbolt eyes found mine from across the space.
Energy lashed. Surges of intensity. Of possession. Of greed.
I eased that way, going around to the opposite side of the bed from where her father was.
I was struck with her aura.
Violets and dreams and the girl.
The one real thing in my life.
Light. Light. Light.
Compelled, I leaned in, unable to stop myself. I brushed back the hair matted to her cheek, my gaze adoring as I stared down at this girl who’d been battered. And for the sake of what?
“Are you okay?” It raked from my throat. Barbs and thorns. “Tell me who did this to you.”
“Why are you here?” she asked instead of answering.
I kept brushing my fingers tenderly through her hair. “Because I don’t know how to be where you are not.”
“Richard—”
My head shook to cut off the defense I knew she was going to give. “Not going anywhere, Violet. This? This just fortifies that. I never should have left you. Never.”
Those eyes softened, but in them swam the turmoil. Confusion and pain and fear.
“Tell me you’re okay.” Didn’t mean for it to come out a demand, but that was honestly the only answer I could handle.
She heaved out a mirthless laugh. “Physically? Yes. Or at least I’m gonna be. The rest of me, I’m not so sure.”
I attempted to rein in the fury, but it was getting loose. Seeping from its confines and igniting in my bloodstream. “Did you see the attacker?”
Violet winced when she barely moved. That made me want to end someone, too. “No. I didn’t see anyone. Didn’t get a chance to before a bag was pulled over my head to keep me from seeing.” She blinked rapidly. “I don’t understand…why would anyone attack me that way?”
Anger grabbed me, claws sinking into my flesh.
Terrified that I’d brought this to her doorstep.
My mind immediately moved to that prick who’d shown on our property, prying for something.
I forced the words around the tight clamp in my throat, “Did he say anything? Say what he wanted?”
Fear blanched her face, and Violet’s throat trembled when she swallowed. “Can we talk about this later? I’m tired.”
Her eyes told me there was more. That she couldn’t burden her father with more than he was already shouldering.
She turned to him, trying to force a smile, but there was no hiding her worry. “Where’s Daisy?”
“Emily came,” he assured her. “She is going to watch over her so I can be with you.”
Relief flashed across her face before she flinched. “Did she witness anything? Did she see me like this?”
“No,” he said. “She was in the house when I went down to check on you when you didn’t answer my texts or calls. I made sure she stayed inside while the paramedics attended to you.”
His words were a balm, the girl slumping down lower, her shoulders sinking into the bed. “Thank God. I can’t…if something would have happened to her—”
I was back to holding her face.
Not with force.
With care.
With the love that was never going to stop. “It won’t. Won’t let anyone get near her. Just like I won’t let anyone get near you again.”
The promise echoed through the tiny space, and her dried lips parted, those eyes watching me like they were desperate for a way to believe.
Mr. Marin edged forward and captured her attention. “I’m so sorry, mija. I am so sorry.”
A frown dented between her eyes. “It’s not your fault.”
“How could I not have known someone was on my land? How was I not there to protect you?”
Grief churned through his eyes.
I touched his shoulder. “It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known. I won’t let anything happen to her again.”
I was going to end this.
Ensure she was safe.
My attention drifted back to her. She was fighting tears. Wisps of that black hair was spread out on the pillow, girl so pretty it hurt.
My dream.
My fantasy.
Battered and bruised.
“You need to rest,” I murmured, “I’m sure the doctor will be in soon enough to poke and prod you.”
She almost smiled at that, and I wound her hand in mine, brought her knuckles to my lips, whispered, “Why don’t you sleep a bit until then? We’ll be right here. Watching over you. You don’t have to be afraid.”
She nodded again, and her eyes dropped closed.
I sat down on the hard-plastic chair next to her while she slept. Her father was on the other side. Both of us refusing to budge.
Two of us just…watching over her.
An hour must have passed before he spoke. “Please, don’t hurt her again. You already wrecked her spirit. I can’t stand to watch you return to ruin her life again.”
A knife of shame sliced through me.
“Ruining her is the last thing I want to do,” I told
