Brushing his fingertips across her pale cheeks, he leaned down and touched his forehead to hers. “I won't let anything happen to me either,” he promised. Not a vow he made lightly. He had a feeling losing him would hurt Grace as badly as losing her would hurt him. They’d both been through enough. It was time for people to stop messing with their happiness and let them finally find peace.
“So, this is the new safehouse, huh?” Grace asked as she stepped out of his embrace but didn't move away from his side.
“And this time we have a whole lot more people watching over you,” Elijah informed her.
The Bennetts had gone all out calling in favors from family and friends. Elijah and his partner would be watching the house, Alayna and her partner, Allina and Jonathon. Jonathon’s brother-in-law Nick and his partner, Jonathon’s sister-in-law Naomi and her husband Sam, who were both highly trained bodyguards, and Rylla and her husband Nate, who worked with Sam and Naomi at their private security firm. That made twelve people in addition to the cops assigned to watch the place.
No one was getting in here.
No one.
Emmanuel was going to realize that when he made another play to get to Grace.
“Doesn’t mean Emmanuel won't get me,” Grace said softly. Almost acceptingly, and that made him angrier than if she’d said it with anger directed at them for almost failing her this morning.
“He can't have you, Grace,” he said firmly, infusing every bit of confidence he felt of the team’s ability to protect her into his tone so she would believe it.
The smile she gave him wasn’t quite patronizing, but it was a little indulgent as though she thought his effort was sweet but didn't necessarily agree. “Well at least we’ve done everything we can do.”
“If you want to go to a real safehouse, Gracie, we’ll make it happen,” Ali said.
“No. I want this to end. I can't rebuild my life until I know Emmanuel is no longer a threat, and I want my life back. Emmanuel has taken enough from me. He’s not going to take my future too.” Grace’s voice was firm, steady, no trace of the fear he knew she was feeling.
“Grace needs some rest,” he said, wanting to get her alone.
“We’re all right outside, you're safe, protected, not alone this time,” Jeremiah reminded her.
After hugging and reassuring her several times over, her family finally left and then it was just the two of them. Unsure how to ask her to open up to him, trust him, let him in so he knew how best to support her, instead he locked up, set the alarm, and then took her hand. “You want something to eat, or do you want to go back to bed, try to get some sleep?”
Grace shrugged, and he sensed her restlessness. If he had to guess, Matthew thought she wanted to spill all to him, but wasn’t sure how to go about it. Whatever she was keeping back was something big, and he was sure that Emmanuel had in fact molested her despite her repeated denials.
“How about we just sit, watch a movie, relax?” he suggested, guiding her into the living room where a large screen TV took up most of one wall.
No sooner had he sat them both down on the couch and switched on the TV, browsing through Netflix to find something to watch, than Grace blurted out, “I was raped.”
He stilled. Felt fury rush through him. Did his best to remain calm because the last thing Grace needed was to think the rage inside him was in any way directed at her. “I’m going to kill Emmanuel when we finally catch him.”
“Matthew, it wasn’t him. I told you he didn't touch me like that. I think in his delusional mind he truly believed he was helping me by teaching me his lessons.”
She’d been in the hospital, her family surrounding her around the clock, then at her brother’s house, again never left alone, and then with him at the safehouse, so he knew that it hadn't happened to her since she’d been rescued. “Before?”
“Yes, about two months before Emmanuel abducted me.”
She was sitting stiffly, almost like she was braced for an attack of some sort. If she expected him to be angry with her that she had been assaulted, then he was offended. He would never blame a victim for something outside of their control. Curling an arm around her shoulders, he eased her sideways so she was curled up against him. She came reluctantly at first, but then the tension seemed to drain out of her, and she sagged against him.
Keeping his voice calm, he began to stroke his fingers through her curls. “Tell me what happened, sweetheart.”
Like she’d been desperate to unload this burden but had been holding back, words began to pour out of her. “There was this guy who was in my classes, we were study partners. He’d asked me out earlier in the semester and I said no because I’d just broken up with my boyfriend who had cheated on me, and while I was over him, I wasn’t ready for a relationship. He seemed cool with it, and we were friends. At least I thought we were. One night he invited me to a party. I didn't want to go because he would be the only one there that I knew, but we’d just handed in a major assignment and I needed to blow off a little steam, so I went. It was okay at first, but then I started feeling weird, he must have slipped something in my drink. I knew something was wrong, I should have called one of my brothers, or Ali or Laynie, but I didn't. I should have called a cab or something, but I didn't do that either. My memories are a little hazy after that, but I remember being taken upstairs. I remember three men, two of them held me down while the one I thought was my friend raped me. I must have passed out at some point because the next thing I remember is waking up at home in my bed.”
It took substantial effort to not hit something.
The only reason he held back was because he was sure Grace would interpret his anger as being directed at her, he could hear the recrimination in her voice.
“Did you report it?” he asked.
Grace shuddered against him. “No. I had no proof. I knew he’d drugged me, it would all be he said, she said, and everyone on campus knew that we were friends. I didn't think anyone would believe me.”
There was shame in her voice now, and that about snapped his control. How many times had he heard victims of sexual assault say those exact same things? They didn't report it because they didn't think they would be believed. He wished with everything he was that they lived in a world where victims were always given the benefit of the doubt without that privilege being handed to their assailants.