“She’s not important,” Roman says, rushing toward her and grabbing her shoulders, squeezing them hard as I notice the trail of blood leading through the living room, down the hall, and pooling at the bathroom door. “Where’s Shayne?”
“B … bathtub.”
I take off, my stomach dropping like a lead weight as the haunting memories of Lucas Miller rushes through my head like a sickening carousel stuck on repeat. Shayne and bathtubs have a love-hate relationship, one that makes me want to tear the spine out of every fucker who’s ever looked at her wrong in her life, and if tonight is a repeat of that one horrendous night, I’ll be fucking livid.
I storm down the hallway, determined to get to her. If that’s her fucking blood staining the floor, I’ll have no fucking choice but to put this motherfucker to rest. Nobody hurts my girl.
It takes three wide strides to reach the bathroom with my brothers barreling behind me. My hand grips onto the door frame as I propel myself into the tiny bathroom and come to a screeching halt.
Shayne stands before me, her arms crossed over her chest as she stares at me with crippling fury. “Where the fuck have you been?” she screeches as her father lies in a pool of blood in her cramped bathtub, his eyes glossy and lost. “I was expecting you hours ago.”
I gape at her, needing a second to catch up as my brothers spill into the bathroom, taking up every available space as they look down at the almost dead body, rotting in the bath. “What the fuck is going on in here?”
“You assholes were supposed to deal with him,” she seethes, hot, angry tears in her eyes. “How is he still alive? The wolves were supposed to kill him.”
Roman shakes his head. “This ain’t on us. Blame the mutts,” he tells her. “Those wolves are temperamental assholes at the best of times, and you know that. It’s not our fault that he was no fun to play with.”
Shayne lets out a huff and I step toward her, reaching out and gripping her arms. “What happened?” I murmur, meeting her wide, haunted eyes. “And why is there a stray in your kitchen?”
She shakes her head. “I couldn’t just leave her there,” she tells me. “She has a family at home, a newborn baby and a husband, and that asshole took her right out of her home and has been abusing her ever since. He rapes her all the time. Just take a look at her. Her body is like a fucking map of the abuse she’s endured from him. If I just left her … what if he came back for her?”
“Babe,” I say slowly, shaking my head. “She’s not our problem. We can’t take her. She belongs to someone else. We can’t risk bringing that kind of heat down over us, not now.”
Shayne pulls out of my grip and in the same moment, slams her hands against my chest, pushing me back a step and narrowly avoiding the stitches below my pec. I can’t lie, I wish she’d hit it and make me bleed. There’s something so satisfying about her hurting me, just like the steak knife through my hand. That was my turning point when I realized that I was going to keep her.
“YOU LISTEN TO ME, MARCUS DEANGELIS. I SAID WE’RE TAKING HER, AND THAT’S WHAT WE’RE GOING TO DO,” she roars, anger turning her creamy skin a warm shade of red. “If you don’t like it, you can fuck right off and shove a goddamn baseball bat up your ass while you’re at it because that’s what life is like for her. Have you ever had someone force themselves on you? Do you know what it’s like to be terrified every moment of your life? To have a man take advantage of your body in the most brutal way? No, you don’t, so you’re going to shut the fuck up, help me get rid of my father for good, and then you’re going to be a fucking gentleman and help her down to the car so we can get the fuck out of here. I promised her she was safe with us and that she would never have to fear him again and I swear, Marcus, if you make me a fucking liar, I’m going to tear your testicles out through your throat.”
I stare at her unblinking as my brothers fall quiet around me. “Okay,” I finally say as Roman lets out a frustrated sigh behind me. “We’ll take the girl, but she stays one night and one night only. After that, she’s on her own.”
Shayne nods and takes a breath, my words seeming to ease something inside of her soul as she relaxes back against the bathroom wall, the cool tiles pressing up against her heated skin. “Okay,” she breathes before shooting her glare toward the gasping man in the tub. “Now what am I supposed to do about that?”