K. Lynn - Reciprocity

“No lies—just the truth of a verbally and physically abusive father who encouraged his stepson to abuse her as well, to the point of almost killing her on more than one occasion. Should I go on, asshole?”

“Don’t you fucking call him that!” The stepbitch saddled up next to him, ready to fight.

My icy glare turned to her. “Don’t even get me started on you.”

He stepped forward, inches from me, and sneered. “Little bitch deserved it. She needed to be broken if anyone was ever going to take her off my hands. Just needed Adam to pop that cherry of hers, train her up a bit, and she’d be ready for the highest bidder. That’s all she was good for.”

My fist slamming into his face was pure gut reaction. It sent him sprawling on the ground. I was seething, murderous rage pumping in my veins. I wanted him dead.

I wanted to kill him.

Trash like him didn’t deserve to breathe. I dove down and grabbed on to his shirt, picking him up a bit. There was screaming around me, but my focus was on the piece of shit in front of me and how I was going to tear him apart.

His daze wore off and he lashed out, his fist glancing off my cheek. I cocked back and exploded on him. The euphoric feel of his flesh being pummeled by my fist lasted longer than the split second it was in reality. After the third punch, I was pulled back.

“Fucker! You piece of fucking trash! I will fucking beat you within an inch of your life!”

He was bleeding—I’d busted the skin on his cheek and split his lip. It wasn’t enough.

The evil bitch-mother started wailing as she knelt down next to the bastard. “You asshole, what have you done?”

I pulled against whoever was holding me, ready for round two. “Only a fraction of a taste of what he did to his own daughter. You make me sick. You’re not even human if you can do that to a little girl.”

“Come on, Nate, calm the fuck down.” Drew pulled against my arm.

Drew had my left arm, while my father had my right.

My father’s eyes were pleading. “Calm down.”

I looked back down to the man who needed to be dead as he tried to sit up.

“You are nothing but a pile of shit,” I spat down at him. “Don’t ever touch her, don’t even look at her, and don’t ever think of her again.”

A couple of police officers were rushing over, alerted to the altercation, and began asking questions. They even asked the shithead if he needed an ambulance.

Realization hit me.

Her father planned to sell her off as a slave. He was going to let Adam rape her over and over. If she survived, he was going to trade her and who the fuck knew what they’d do to her before she wound up dead.

I felt sick.

I looked over to Lila, who stood frozen, wrapped in my mother’s arms and staring at her father.

Everything lifted from me, leaving me with only the need to protect her. I opened up my arms, and she stared at me for a split second before running straight into them. I pulled her as tight to me as I could.

“It’s okay, baby. I won’t ever let him near you.”

She was shaking in my arms. No tears, but obviously just as sickened and frightened as I was. If she hadn’t gotten out… There was no doubt how horrible the outcome would have been.

“I’ve got you. You’re safe.”

One officer walked over, pulling out his notepad. “Sir, can you come over there with me?”

I nodded, keeping Lila attached to me as we walked about fifty feet from where the bastard lay.

The bitch-monster was still screeching, making my ears hurt and my anger boil again. “You monster! He’s bleeding, you psycho son of a bitch!”

The officer blinked at Lila, noticing she’d come with me. “Miss, can you give us a moment?”

Lila shook her head, her eyes filled with fear as they flickered back to her father.

“He’ll get me. Don’t let him get me.”

My chest clenched at her words. He’d reduced her back to a child almost, clinging to me for safety from the monster that hunted her.

The officer’s mouth popped open, seeming to get an understanding of the situation. He cleared his throat and began his line of questions.

“What happened here?”

I took a deep breath to calm myself—much needed since adrenaline was still pumping through me, and the beast was begging to go back and kill him.

“We were coming out of the courthouse after the verdict on an aggravated sexual battery case against that woman’s son.” I pointed to the hell-bitch leaning over the asshole, then motioned to Lila. “He began verbally attacking her, then me, before attempting to grab hold of her. He then moved to attack me and I acted in defense of us both.” Lila trembled in my arms, burying her face further into my chest. “The man was her father, who admitted to everyone within listening distance to battery of her and plans of human trafficking of his own daughter.”

The officer’s pen stopped, his hand still as he looked at us, a horrified expression on his face. I felt sick.

What if she’d been given to Via Marconi’s operation? She had a far reach for her girls. I’d seen the women there, and death would be preferable to what they went through.

I pulled out my wallet and handed him a business card. “You can reach me here for anything further, but I really need to get her out of here.”

The officer nodded as he looked over my information. “We’ll be in touch, Mr. Thorne.”

I glanced down at his name badge. “Thank you, Officer White.”

The moment he stepped away back over to his partner, I pulled out my phone and texted Noah. I sent him the officer’s name and badge number, also giving him a heads-up on what happened.

Drew was done with his statement, and we waited for my parents, slowly inching toward the parking lot.

“Well, you now have grounds for a restraining order.” Drew leaned forward for a second to take a quick look at Lila.

I nodded. “Can you file one?”

“I’ll get with Caroline this afternoon. We’ll have it drawn up and submitted ASAP.”

“Thanks, man.”

“No problem.” He clapped me on the arm.

I looked down at my phone, noticing the text message I’d been waiting on along with the time. “Want to join us for lunch?”

He shook his head. “Sorry. Dana’s meeting me back at the office.”

My parents stopped in front of us, and Drew said his goodbyes before walking off.

“Lila, honey, are you okay?” My mother dipped her head down to look at her.

She nodded against my chest, her iron grip still digging into me. It didn’t matter, as long as she felt safe.

“I just need to get away from him.”

My father patted my shoulder. “We’ll let you go and talk to you soon.”

Lila let go of me enough to walk to her side of the car, her eyes glancing back over to where the cops were still talking to her father. She sighed, mumbling something under her breath as we sped off.

It almost sounded like “I wish you’d killed him.”

I wished I had as well.

We sat at a table in Lila’s favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant a half hour later. I ordered her a margarita—a well-deserved drink after the morning we’d experienced. We were supposed to be having a celebration of our victory, but instead we sat in the booth with a somber aura, and I was icing my aching knuckles.

She was lost in thought, but not vacant or detached. I was happy with that, and the fact she didn’t need my help but only my presence to pull her from the debilitating fear that took hold of her thanks to that asshole father of hers opening his mouth.

She blew through her first drink in minutes, and I found myself shoving the chips and salsa at her before I had a drunk on my hands. After all, I had plans.

“Baby, you need to slow down.”

Her eyes flipped up, almost as if she was just noticing me, and her lips twitched. “Sorry, it’s just been a…day.”

I nodded. “Lots of highs and lows.”

She blew out a breath and dipped a chip in the queso I ordered. Her teeth bit into the edge, nibbling on it instead of stuffing it in her mouth.

“What would’ve happened to me?” She tilted her head at me.

I knew the answer, a little too well for my liking. Her inquisitive eyes bore into me. I shifted in my seat and cleared my throat.

“Nothing good, and everything bad.” I took the ice off to look at my hand, flexing my fingers as I determined nothing was broken—just inflamed and sore.

She thought on what I said for a moment. I almost didn’t know what to do with her reactions—they weren’t normal for her.

“I never would’ve gotten free, would I?”

I shook my head. “Only by death.”

She hummed in agreement. My jaw flexed. I was not comfortable with this conversation. The thought of her continuing on that path was excruciating.

“I know you called Joan, and she got you out of the house, but how? Why didn’t you call Social Services?”

She sighed. “I didn’t know at the time. I only knew I could be emancipated from him and you needed a lawyer for that.”

“There was no way a judge would have agreed, and you would have continued living with him through that process.”

She nodded. “I was only sixteen—I didn’t know anything, only that I had to get away.”

The waiter chose that moment to arrive with our food. My stomach rumbled with the wonderful sizzling smell coming from my fajitas. I dove in, waiting for her to gather her thoughts while she cut up her food.

“Joan arrived at the school not two hours after I called her. I’d found her number in a phone book in the library that morning.” She cut into her chimichanga and took a bite. “When she arrived, I was called into the principal’s office. The moment she saw me, she started yelling at him for no one noticing what was going on.” She stared down at her food for a moment, thinking as she cut off another bite and ate it. “The principal was friends with my father and told her I was just clumsy and shy. That set her off. His inaction ultimately led to him losing his job.”