“Your family?” I stalk ahead and block their path. “I can assure you, they’re fine. In fact, your brother is on his way here as we speak.”
She stops, her eyes flaring, her gentle lips parted. Then the shock is hidden behind another firm squaring of her shoulders. “I don’t have a brother.”
Jesus Christ.
Not this shit again.
“Are you kidding me?”
“No, I’m not kidding you,” she grates. “The only family I have are the women living in Luther’s mansion, the ones who are fearing for my safety. The ones who are currently under more threat than I’ve ever been.”
“They’ll be okay. Cole will pull some strings and make sure they’re taken care of.”
“What strings?” Her question is flung like an accusation. “There are no strings when it comes to Luther’s operation. The police won’t help you. The locals won’t either. Dead or not, Luther is still entirely in control, which means they’re sitting ducks unless I can get to them.”
The kid lets out a big sniffle, the sound shooting into my skull like another motherfucking bullet. I’m dying here. Slowly succumbing to the mental torment.
“I said we’d handle it.” I return to massaging my temples. “You can trust me.”
“I can trust you?” She frowns with incredulity. “The man who claims I’m not a prisoner, yet refuses to let me leave?”
Maybe if my brain wasn’t currently being shoved through a grater I’d admire her tenacity, but this shit is getting old. For starters, Cole would never let her sail away from here with his half-brother. Not when she’s not the kid’s mother. She hasn’t been missing long enough to carry the same blood as the child.
“I’m going to call your brother.” I don’t want to spoil the reunion. As far as Decker is concerned, his sister is dead. But I’m clutching at straws here. I don’t know how else to get her to back down apart from pulling the cell from my jeans pocket. “You can speak to him for yourself. He can reassure you I’m trustworthy.”
“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.