“Get away from her!” Peter spat.
Winters looked at him with an expression of shock, and Peter didn’t give him the chance to speak as he pried him from Caroline’s naked body and slammed him into the far wall.
“You!” Peter spat. “You could do this to your own daughter?”
Without waiting for an answer, Peter started to pound his fists into Winters’ body, his soul growing somewhat lighter when the man howled in pain and begged him to stop.
“Like you listened to her?” Peter demanded as he slugged Winters’ jaw and watched him fall. Right before he hit his feet, Peter dragged him upright and pinned his body against the wall.
“What if it hadn’t been me?” Peter challenged. “How would you have forced her to come back?”
Winters licked the blood from his lips as he sneered.
“She was always going to come back. After all, she’s my little girl.”
Peter tried to wrap his mind around this bizarre logic, but any way he spun it, there was no way to make sense of a man doing this to his daughter. Peter had killed for her before without hesitation, thinking of nothing but getting her away from the darkness. But now…
“I’m going to enjoy this,” Peter snarled.
His mind was still on Caroline, his arms longing to hold her. But she would never feel safe if he didn’t end this right now.
Winters’ eyes bulged from his face as Peter squeezed his throat, and he futilely tried to swipe Peter’s hands from his throat. No way was Peter letting go, and he watched with unblinking eyes until the life left his body. Holding him fast for good measure, Peter kneed his naked groin and thought of making like Nellie and slashing it off. If he could somehow rise again, he wouldn’t have this to hurt her with. Not on his watch. He…
“Alright now. You can leave go, he’s gone.”
Swanson limped through the open door, and Peter let Winters fall to the ground. He surveyed the scene, and together they looked to Caroline, unseeing and unspeaking atop the bed. Peter shook his head, trying to eradicate the sight of what he… of what her father had been trying to put her through when he had finally found her, and Peter wanted nothing more than to gather her into his arms when Swanson placed his hand on Peter’s shoulder.
“There she is,” he said. “Little lady’s alive.”
“But she’s not well,” Peter said. “You… you have to let me get her out of here....”
“And you can have her,” he promised. “But first I take a look around.”
“Fine, but I’ll stay with…”
“No, first you follow me,” Swanson said. “A deal’s a deal.”
Leaving her with her father, even if it was just the man’s corpse, felt like another kind of betrayal, but Peter thought he could already smell the stench of death wafting off the man, and Caroline was still breathing. Would a few more minutes really make so much…
“Where the fuck is it?” Swanson muttered.
He picked through the drawers in the den, and Peter kept looking back to the revealed panic room. Was it wrong that he wanted to hear her cry? At least it was something that he could cling to and work overtime to soothe. But there was nothing but silence, and as Peter feared the loss of her life or something far worse, Swanson squealed with delight and slammed his palm on the desk.
“Here we go,” he said. “Every lead to every supplier. Directions and all.”
Peter swallowed hard as Swanson waved the leather bound book before his eyes.
“Lots of money to be made here,” he promised. “You sure you don’t want a piece of the pie?”
Time was when Peter would have been tempted and bended at the knee to anyone if it meant profit. But as soon as Swanson made the suggestion, he swiftly shook his head and looked back to the panic room.
“I want you to honor our deal,” Peter said.
Swanson laughed as he paged through the book, and he snapped it shut with a wink.
“Fine piece of ass that one,” he said. “Care to give me a taste to seal the deal?”
“You fucking…!”
Peter went for his neck, more than ready to choke the life out of him, when Swanson revealed his gun and sent him back hurling back to the open doorframe.
“Would serve you right,” he said. “Maybe I’ll go back to Virginia and take out the little old lady as well.”
“No!” Peter pleaded. “Just… it’s all yours now. I don’t care about it. And… and that fuck is dead. Just let me leave with her like we agreed.”
Swanson scratched the back of his head with his gun, and Peter half wished that his finger would slip when he suddenly tucked the weapon away and pressed the leather book to his chest.
“Here’s how it’s gonna go down,” he started. “You got five minutes to get the girl out.”
“I…”
“Go back the way you came. Car’s waiting.”
“And then what?” Peter asked.
“Then who the fuck cares!” Swanson challenged. “Take her back to your place or to a hospital or whatever. Operation is mine now, right?”
Even as he worried for Caroline, Peter still felt a weight leave his shoulders. Swanson wanted it and he could have it, and Peter nodded quickly as he nearly fell over her Winters’ body and took Caroline into his arms.
“Gypsy?” he whispered.
Her eyes were glassy and her breath slow as Peter covered her in a blanket and folded her close to his chest.
“It’s okay now,” Peter promised her. “We’re going to get you someplace safe.”
Caroline murmured in his arms, and he thought of nothing but getting her out when Swanson stopped him in his tracks and aimed his gun at her closed eyes. Peter thought for a moment. He still had the knife in his pocket and he could easily cut Swanson’s throat with one swipe of the blade. But Swanson had to have talked. Nervous dick aside, this was a man who still made plans, and Peter kissed Caroline’s hair and looked hard into Swanson’s eyes.
“And you ain’t coming back around. Let’s be sure about that!” Swanson said. “Even if she don’t pop back into place or whatever?”
His words were cruel, but Peter hung onto them for a second as he looked down at her damaged form. There were bruises crossing her face. Peter wanted nothing more than to kiss the marks away. But what if Swanson had it right? What if she was broken beyond any hope of repair…?
Then he would come back for him. He would kill him. Every man that was part of this would have to pay if she didn’t come out the other side and…
“Stop…” he heard Caroline whimper.
Even though Peter couldn’t understand any other word trickling off her tongue, that one word burned bright, and he kissed her eyes as he turned to face Swanson.
“All I want… all I need is to get her out of here,” Peter said. “It’s all yours…”
“Even if…?”
“She is going to come back to me!” Peter said with more conviction than he felt at this point.
Swanson took a step back, and Peter held his breath when he finally waved his gun towards the door and gave him an exit.
“Wouldn’t be the first man to pick pussy over profit,” Swanson chuckled.
They were nearly in the elevator, the doors sliding open, when Peter felt Swanson’s gun in his back.
“But you ever even think about looking my way again,” he threatened, “then the deal is off.”
Peter nodded into his eyes, and sighed with relief as Swanson lowered the gun and started to back away from the elevator.
“I… I don’t want…” Caroline murmured.
“Shhh, Gypsy,” Peter soothed. “I almost have you out.”
The car was right where Swanson had promised. But Peter wondered if he dare step inside and risk being taken to another kind of hell? He was almost ready to take a chance on the open streets when he heard the honk of the horn.
“Hey! Over here!”
Brett waved him towards the car, and Peter pulled Caroline’s inert body c
loser.
“See, Gypsy?” he promised her. “Just a little bit longer. I almost got you free.”
Chapter Nine
“How is she?”
Peter shifted his head at the sound of Sabrina’s voice as she approached the sparse white room on Danny’s arm. Her face had morphed from black and blue to shades of green and yellow. He shook his head and looked across to Caroline.
Her eyes were open and barely blinking. Peter had thought… had hoped… that a change of scenery and his repeated words that her father was never going to even be able to even think about hurting her again would do the trick. He needed to pull her away from the dark thoughts that had to be pressing down on her soul. Peter had naïvely thought that one light kiss followed by his fingers running through her hair and his hand firmly planted in hers would be more than enough to make her know… to make her feel that she was safe, now and forever. But that hadn’t happened. It was clear to Peter that she had been drugged by her father, probably to make her more co-operative, but that should have worn off by now.
“Peter? How is she?” Sabrina whispered.
Shrugging Sabrina off, despite the crack in her voice and the worry lines working their way around Danny’s mouth, Peter stroked Caroline’s pale cheeks and pressed his lips to her ear. Before uttering a single word, Peter traced the soft lines of her parted lips. Buried in the blankets, she looked so small, and he had no power to banish the picture of what had happened to her from his mind as he brushed a small stand of fair hair from her cheeks and gripped her hand tighter.
“Gypsy,” Peter whispered. “We’ve got guests. Can you… can you see them?”
He folded his arm around her shoulders and eased her to his chest.
“Look, here’s Sabrina, walking straight and getting better with each passing second,” Peter whispered. “And here’s Danny. He needs to know that you’re alright. The man needs the chance to paint you again. Your skin, your hair, your smile.”
“Has she been like this the whole time?” Danny asked his face a mask of worry.
Nodding his head sadly, Peter gently lowered her back into the pillows, his lips just touching her brow as he arranged the blankets around her body and stood on weary legs.
“Just like when I found her,” Peter said. “She was… I didn’t get there in time to stop it from happening again.”
“I… I keep trying to tell her that it’s over now, really over. Sometimes I think she hears me. But… but even if she does…” Peter murmured.
He hid his face in his hands, and his shoulders shook as Sabrina pushed past him and assumed the seat at her side. She trembled as she took hold of Caroline’s hand and hung her head as she stifled a sob.
“If she had just told me,” Sabrina started. “I would have taken her in. Or taken her away. I could have done that. I could have… I could have helped her.”
Laying his hand on Sabrina’s arm, Peter shook his head and spoke slowly.
“It was too much for her to tell you,” he said. “She had buried it deep and when she did remember…”
“But you knew,” Sabrina said coldly.
An accusation laced her words, and Peter managed a nod as he stepped to the window and watched the clouds drifting across the sky. He found it strange to think that the world could keep turning without her present, and his fingers curled into a hard fist.
“I knew and I brought her back,” Peter admitted. “But it wasn’t supposed to be like this…”
This was the last thing Peter wanted for her, and he thought that if he had it to do over again on some parallel plane, he would have snatched her away from Virginia and kept heading farther south. Anything to put as much distance as possible between her sweet body and the monster that could rip into his own flesh and blood and see nothing wrong in hurting her.
“She asked me… said it was something that she needed to do. I… I should have stopped her. I…”
“But you couldn’t,” Sabrina said gently. “When Caroline has her mind set on something, she gets the job done.”
Only this time it was more than she had bargained for, Peter thought, and he wanted to kick himself for falling asleep in her arms. He should have known better, known that she would try to make things right and keep him out of any kind of danger.
“It shouldn’t have gone down like this,” Peter said as he choked on a sob. “I was the one… I’m supposed to take care of her.”
Danny stepped to his side and lightly touched his arm. As Peter met his eyes, he waited for him to blast him for his part, albeit all kinds of unknown. Because in the end, Peter’s actions had left her like this. And his Gypsy was meant to smile and sparkle, not wither and wilt.
“You look like a mess,” Danny said. “Have you like even slept, man?”
“No,” Peter confessed. “I need to be waiting when she comes back to me.”
“But what good will you be to her if you’re dead on your feet?” he asked.
“Don’t say dead, Danny,” Peter pleaded. “She’s still breathing.”
“I know. And I’m pretty sure she’ll want to see you the same way when she wakes up,” Danny assured him.
Just the fact that he didn’t say if put Peter’s mind at a kind of ease, and he was almost on the verge of giving into sleep when Caroline started to mutter as Sabrina held her hand.
“Gypsy?”
Letting Sabrina stay in the seat, Peter touched Caroline’s face, holding his breath as her eyes finally seemed to focus. She would come back now, he thought. Maybe all she needed was a few more friendly voices close to her ears. But just as quickly as her stare settled on his, she slipped back into the depths of her mind.
“No! Don’t keep staying away from me,” Peter pleaded. “Just look at me.”
Peter saw her struggling to obey his order, nearly in the place when the darkness was gone and she was ready to tell him every awful thing that had happened to her on account of her father’s cold hands. It was like she was pushing up through a choppy current, gulping unwanted water into her lungs, sputtering as she tried to speak.
“He’s here. Peter’s here,” Sabrina said as she traded her hand for Peter’s. He silently thanked her as he clutched Caroline’s fingers, nodding his head and hoping that she would find the courage to break free of this brand of captivity…
“No. Please don’t!” Caroline cried.
Again her head hit the pillow, her eyes lolling off to the side. Sabrina clutched Danny’s hand and Peter stroked Caroline’s tense cheeks as he lowered his head to hers.
“Come back. I don’t want to be alone anymore, Gypsy,” he whispered raggedly.
Even if she had heard him, Peter could see that she seemed to lack the strength to work her way out of the dark waters. He heard Sabrina cry, and Danny touched his arm again.
“Man, I… we can, like, keep watch for a while. You have to get some sleep,” he insisted.
“No!” Peter hissed. “I stay right here until she’s back with us.”
Danny started to protest, but Sabrina pulled him back.
“She said that she believed in him,” Sabrina said to him.
“Do you?” Danny asked her.
Peter’s ears strained for whatever Sabrina would say next. All she had to do was shift stances, and Peter knew that Danny would take charge and say that he was part of the problem, unwanted, as Caroline struggled to recover. But he was stunned to see her fingers on her bruises as she shot him a brief smile.
“He got her out,” she continued. “So I guess he should get the chance to hear her say thanks.”
They left then with the promise that they would hang close, and Danny told Peter that he’d come back with coffee.
“Maybe like a sandwich or something?” he added.
Food was the last thing that Peter needed, but he said that would be fine. He wanted them to feel useful because he sure as hell wasn’t. What more did he need to do to bring her back?
“We’re on it,” Sabrina said.
&nb
sp; Danny returned later and brought him two sandwiches, a Twix bar, and several bags of chips that went unopened. Peter kept sucking down the coffee, and he felt jittery as the sun started to sink in the sky.
“There’s no chance of you sleeping now,” Danny said with a grin. “You’ve drunk enough coffee to keep a thirty stone gorilla awake!”
He patted Peter’s back as Sabrina brushed Caroline’s golden hair.
“What the hell did he do to her?” Sabrina asked as she set the comb aside. “And how… how could he…?”
“It’s not what a father does,” Peter seethed. “Or any kind of a man.”
We watched without words as Caroline’s dull eyes fluttered. At least she seemed to be sleeping again. And Peter could only hope that her dreams were someplace where she could take flight and feel happy.
“What are you going to do now?” Danny asked. “You sure you don’t want us to sit with her?”
“No. Thank you for everything. But I’m good,” Peter replied.
“We’d like to stay,” Sabrina said softly.
“Amen to that,” Danny echoed. “Not like we all don’t love her.”
Of that Peter was beyond sure. And maybe she would want to see all of their smiling, hopeful faces when she raised her lids again and was truly able to see that she was out of danger. Sure it was selfish, but Peter suddenly wanted to have her to himself if… when… the moment came.
“I’m good on my own,” Peter said. “But I’ll let you know straight away if there’s any change.”
“We’re going to hold you to that,” Danny said.
Danny squeezed his shoulder, and Sabrina kissed Caroline’s sleeping face. Although Peter acknowledged that it had been sort of nice to have some company and know how much she was loved, he couldn’t help but relax when he had her to himself again. The thought that he was no better than her father crossed his mind, but he batted it back before it could nest.
“Gypsy…”
The Corrupt Billionaire COMPLETE Box Set Page 36