Chapter Six
“I miss them.”
“Who, honey?”
“My grandmother and aunt.”
“Let’s talk about that. Tell me about your life.”
She sighed and relaxed against his chest.
“My mom dropped me off to live with my grandmother when I was three or four.”
“Why?”
“She found it difficult to party and have fun with a baby around.”
Fuck, he thought.
“So, she dropped me off with her mom, thank God. Her sister, Louise, my aunt, was already living there, so they raised me. Every once in a while, my mom would come around and take me for a few days, but she brought me back and told us she didn’t get enough attention when I was around. She stopped coming around when I was eleven unless she was trying to get money from her sister or mother. She’d ignore me for the most part, which was good because if she caught me, she would just call me names and say I ruined her life.”
He waited while she gathered her thoughts.
“Even as mean as she was, I still loved her and wished I could be the type of daughter she wanted until I overheard my grandmother and aunt talking one night. They had petitioned the court for custody of me when they found out my mom was trying to sell me. Thankfully, the guy she tried to sell me to was an undercover cop, so they were able to get full custody of me.”
Anger unlike any he’d ever felt raced through him. Jesus Christ. What kind of mother did that? Then he thought of Lacey and what she’d been through. Now he just felt sad there were more horrible parents out there than he thought.
“I’m so sorry, pet.”
“I didn’t really understand until years later, but I was glad I didn’t have to go with her anymore. I always wondered why some of her boyfriends creeped me out.”
“How did she end up in your grandmother’s house now?”
He felt her start to shake and held her tighter.
“When she found out my aunt wasn’t living there any longer and she knew her mother was gone, she showed up one day with some guy. She told me I had to leave and that everything was hers now. When I said I was calling the cops, she had the man…”
He felt her shudder. “Easy, baby. No one can hurt you anymore.”
“H … he pushed me down on the floor, ripped open my shirt, and tried to pull my pants down. I fought, screamed, and cried. My mom finally told him to stop and then bent down beside me as I was crying and trying to hold my shirt closed. She told me if I ever came back, her friend would finish what he started.”
Emma started crying again and pressed her face into Devon’s neck.
He held her against him and rubbed her back. She was a sweet woman, and it pissed him off that she’d been mistreated. The anger inside of him kept intensifying his feelings for her. They seemed to grow every minute he was with her.
“Why does she hate me?”
His heart broke for her. “Baby, it’s not you. Your mother is a selfish, conniving bitch. She didn’t deserve to have you as a daughter. I hope someday you’ll believe me. Did you try to tell your aunt?”
She nodded. “Yes, I went right there, and a scary-looking guy was waiting outside the building and stopped me. He handed me a phone and said to listen to the woman. It was my mother. She said if I tried to tell Louise, my mother would have men hurt her. The only way I could protect her was that I had to stay away.”
“Damn, baby. I’m so sorry. Your aunt put out a missing person report. She’s distraught and misses you.”
“I miss her, too.”
“I’ll take you to see her tomorrow. Today, we can call her, though.”
“I can’t. I just told you they’d hurt her.”
“That won’t happen. I’ll take care of everything. I’ll have a man there to protect her until we get this all resolved.”
“But that’s not it. There’s more. I worked for Lacey’s mom, and she was mean, too.”
“I know all about it, and it’s all taken care of.”
Her brows pinched together. “What do you mean?”
“Her mother and the monster are in jail. They can’t hurt you ever again.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Oh, my God. Really?”
“Yes, pet. Really.”