Lauren’s dad.
Lauren’s dad was the man who raped me. He was the one who assaulted me for hours. He was the talker, the one who was brutal. Terrifying.
“Are you okay?” Bash asked as he grabbed both of my elbows to steady me.
I shook my head for a moment, refocusing on the man in front of me. “No, uh–yeah. I’m fine. Sorry. I just need to get some air.”
“Okay. I’m going to the meeting. Are you sure you’re okay? Do you want me to walk you out?”
“N–no, I’m good. I’m going to find Gemma and Ashtyn. Good luck in there,” I said as I forced a smile. I spun around, gathering the train of my dress and sprinting to the patio.
Once outside, I tried to let out a deep breath, but nothing was happening.
I tried to breathe. I tried to count to ten. I tried to name things around me.
Nothing was fucking working.
I never knew if I would see the men who raped me again. I didn't know their names or what their faces looked like. I'd only heard their voices.
Their eyes were what I remembered. They were burned into my brain. The way they glazed over when they came inside of me. The way they crinkled when I didn’t cooperate. The depths of their darkness, pure evil–unable to show an ounce of empathy as they destroyed my innocence and shattered my soul.
I would never forget those eyes.
“Are you okay, miss?” Someone asked as they put their hand on the small of my back.
I looked up at a hulking man, broad shoulders and shaved, dirty blonde hair. His face–what little I could see of it–was a little blurry. As my eyes adjusted, the man smiled.
Right before he pulled back and punched me in the stomach.
I dropped forward in pain, holding my waist as hits rained down on my back, knocking me to the ground.
The man pulled back his foot and kicked me before I could even think to block it.
All the training I’d been through was useless because my brain was a scrambled mess. I was in a fog thanks to seeing my rapist again after all these years.
Pain coursed through my body as the giant man grabbed my arms and lifted me off the ground, carrying me away from the party.
Chapter 44
Kane
“Don’tfuckingtouchme,old man,” I growled as I shoved Arnold off my arm and away from me.
The asshole had a lot of nerve to confront me in public about his daughter partying a little too hard. Like I was the one who forced her to get drunk and fuck a pool cue on camera.
“We had a deal, you little shit. You broke your end of it.” Arnold looked around, realizing people were watching the spectacle he was putting on. He paused momentarily, smirking like a creepy fuck and turning back to us. “You’ll regret crossing me, Gio.”
“C’mon, Arnold. You know how kids can be. I’m sure everything will blow over soon if it hasn’t already,” Dad said, desperate to keep his dumb-as-fuckdealin place. “Let’s go discuss our arrangement with Bash and we can get the rest of this all hashed out. What do you say?”
Clenching my jaw, I turned back to see if Dani and Bash were still dancing. I could kill that motherfucker for having his hands all over herall the fucking time. Thankfully the jig would be up shortly, and Bash could go back to grease rags and drug dealing with his MC.
Bash was stalking toward us, a smirk on his face, so I assumed Dani was somewhere in the crowd. I told her to watch her surroundings the whole night, especially when we would be confronting Dante.
It was bound to get messy and I didn’t want her anywhere near him until we had him secured at the Sinners’ clubhouse. Since the areas surrounding the clubhouse weren’t monitored by city cameras like Ethereal was, we agreed to bring Dante to their place to do theinterrogationportion of his punishment.
My favorite part.
“Fine. Let’s get it over with,” Arnold snapped, trudging through the onlooking crowd. He wasn’t doing too well in the public appearance department, and I’d wondered if he’d lost his marbles with everything that happened with Lauren. He was frantic, his hair messy, tux wrinkled. Not the image of perfection he always tried to portray.