I decided there was too much space between us and approached her. No, I didn’t just approach, I rushed toward my daughter and caught her right at the moment she broke down. I found I had more than enough strength to hold on to her as she grieved for the father that she’d loved. The father she’d never have again.
I brushed the hair from my sleeping daughter’s face, watching her sleep for a few more minutes before I quietly left the room, shutting the door behind me.
She had cried herself into unconsciousness, laying on the sofa with her head in my lap.
Swiss had sat on the armchair, watchful, protective, a calming presence. He was pissed. Seeing my daughter in pain. It affected him. Visibly.
I knew he was likely thinking of all the ways he would like to torture and kill Preston.
But he didn’t do that.
Instead, when Violet fell asleep, he lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bedroom.
I followed him, fighting tears. Then he’d left me to put her under the covers myself with a kiss on the side of my head.
He was waiting for me in our bedroom, two mugs of tea on the table between the armchairs.
Instead of choosing the one beside him, I crawled onto his lap, desperate for the closeness.
His arms circled around me without hesitation.
“Very hard not to get on my bike, drive to New Hampshire and put a bullet in that fuck’s brain,” he murmured into my hair.
Ah, how correct I’d been.
“It’s very hard not to do it myself,” I whispered into the leather of his cut.
“But my place is here,” Swiss decided. “With the two girls he was stupid enough to fuck with. The two girls he will never fuck with again.”
“Do you think she’s going to be okay?” I asked in a defeated voice, positioning myself so I could look into Swiss’s eyes.
He gently gripped my face as we stared intently at one another. “Countess, not only is she the spittin’ image of you, she has your strength. She’s gonna be great. It’ll take a while, I’m sure. But she has you. Has us. Has a whole new family who’s got her back. For good.”
Tears filled my eyes at that realization. And then it was my turn to break down in tears. Swiss eventually carried me to bed too.