Once Grace was calm enough, she softly asked if she could talk to me alone. Mom quietly left to give us a minute.
I patted the bed next to me and Grace climbed up into it. We sat in silence for a few moments before she spoke.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
With nothing but love and kindness in my voice, I looked Grace in the eye. “Sweetie, this was my idea. You need this. And honestly, my mom needs it too. You both need a way to heal, and this is it. Plus, I’ve always wanted a little sister and now I can have one.”
She laughed. After talking some more, she got up and went in search of my mom. Leaning back on the bed, I looked over to my side table and saw my phone laying there. I picked it up and sent out a text.
Me: Where are you? I need you.
Dom: Down the hall on the phone checking in on Duke. On my way.
Me: Don’t rush, just come when you can. I want to visit Leah and Storm.
Dom: Nothing is more important than you, my angel.
Tossing my phone back on the table with a sigh, I waited for Dom to come back. I was sick of this hospital room and bed and I wanted to walk, and I knew he wouldn’t let me go without him.
The doctor had said I could check out tomorrow. It was supposed to be today, and he was kind of edgy when I asked why. I thought maybe Dom had something to do with that. But the doctor did have orders for me when I got out. I had to promise to do group therapy sessions with the psychiatrist who was in here the other day. She said I didn’t seem to be processing the whole situation correctly. I mean, I hadn’t known there was a book for this. What was it, the guide to overcoming being kidnapped and held captive?
I guess I wasn’t as scared or freaked out because my situation was slightly different than the other girls. For one, I wasn’t going to be sold. I was a gift to a sick son of a bitch who was dead already, he just didn’t know it. And second, I hadn’t gone through a fraction of what they had.
“You ready, my love?” Dom’s voice broke into my thoughts.
I flashed him a huge smile. “Thank God! Yes! This hospital bed is boring me to tears.”
He put on the slippers Mom had brought me and helped me out of bed. At least I didn’t have to be wheeled around like an invalid anymore. We walked slowly down to Leah’s room.
Stepping inside, I came face to chest with her giant, Viper. Holy shit. He’s sporting a man bun! Good night, this man is sexy!
A throat cleared. Dom clamped a hand over my mouth, laughing. “Baby, you better keep those thoughts to yourself. I may have to get a little jealous and kick my brother’s ass.”
“Brother, your girl is hilarious,” Viper chuckled.
I moved past him, my face burning, and climbed in bed next to Leah. “How are you doing, sweetheart?” She was looking so much better. The black and blue bruising had now turned green and yellow.
“Better. And I get to go home soon.” Leah smiled. “Thank goodness, because this place is making me nuts!” She turned serious. “The doctor is going to do surgery on my knee tomorrow. Once that’s done, I just have to stay a couple days to recover and make sure nothing gets infected.”
Dom stepped closer to the bed. “When you girls are ready, we need to meet up with Grace, Faith, and Storm and the brothers, okay?” He looked nervous but determined. “There’s stuff we need to go over before you all get out of here.”
Both of us nodded and said okay. Leah shot me a questioning look and I shrugged. I had no idea what was going on. What could he need to talk to all of us about? I met Dom’s eyes and immediately my nerves went on edge.
Whatever he wanted to talk about wasn’t going to be good.
Dom
I hated to dredge up bad memories for the girls since they were just healing, but they needed to be aware of the situation and what was gonna go down. Having the guys come to the meeting with their girls was important because some weren’t at church and with the impending release of the girls, I needed all the brothers in the know and on watch. Especially the ones assigned to the girls.
When we’d gone back to her room after seeing Leah, I decided to let her in on what the meeting was going to be about. After getting her settled in the bed, I sat beside her and took her hand.
She looked up at me, and the shadow in her eyes told me she knew something was up. “Dom, what’s going on?” The fear in her voice gutted me.
I gave her a tight smile and looked her in the eyes. “This will be hard to hear, but I’m not going to keep anything from you. Ever.” She nodded and squeezed my hand. “The man in the house wasn’t John. He’s still out there.” She gasped, but I had to keep going. I took a deep breath. “There’s more. When we went to his place, there were photos of you all over his walls. And his computers were full of pictures of our girls and others.” I talked fast, then my heart broke as I watched the small sense of safety she’d been holding onto fade away.
She started shaking and I wrapped my
