Atlas - Roberts Alyne - Страница 14

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His fingers forcefully pushed and dug into my skin. My throat burned as his hand started to pull at my panties. His movements were rough and clumsy. I tried kicking but his body and hands kept me still. I squeezed my eyes shut as the darkness started to take over my vision.

His brutal hands left my body suddenly and a warm liquid splattered on my face. I fell to the ground with his grip no longer holding me pinned to the wall. A familiar metallic smell filled my nose, and I opened my eyes even though everything inside me told me to keep them closed. I was once again covered in blood.

"Damn it," I heard Atlas curse a few feet away. I could barely hear him over the ringing in my ears.

I heard several sets of footsteps coming toward me, but I couldn't look at them. I couldn't look away from the eyes staring blankly at me. Part of the side of his head was a disgusting mess. Hands grabbed my arms to pull me up, but I fought them blindly. I didn't want to be touched. I swung at Tony as he tried to pick me up from the floor.

"Stella," Atlas said, kneeling down and putting the gun in the back of his pants. He cupped my cheeks to get my attention. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"I don't know," I whispered.

"What the fuck was he doing here?" Atlas asked Tony, who was still holding me.

"I don't know how he got in," he told him. "Hector had been trying to get a hold of you for a few days now. He must have decided to just come see you in person."

I watched as Sal grabbed my attacker by the feet, dragging him down the hall and out of my sight. Tony lifted me to my feet as Atlas paced the hall.

"Fuck," he growled. He pulled at his hair and I watched the muscles in his jaw clench. He was furious. When he looked back at me, he froze and let his hands fall to his sides.

"Get this cleaned up. Don't speak a word of it to anybody," he told Tony. "I'll deal with the girl."

I didn't fight as Tony passed me over to Atlas, who took my upper arm to lead me to the bedroom. It was the lesser of evils in the moment. I would do anything to get away from the bloody mess in the hallway. Atlas took me straight to the bathroom and turned on the water in the shower.

"I can't tell if you're hurt with all the blood," he mumbled as he pulled my sticky hair from my neck. "You need to clean up."

I pushed the straps of the dress off my shoulders. The fabric clung to me and wouldn't come off easily with all the sticky blood. Atlas roughly pulled on the hem, sending the ruined dress to the floor. My stomach rolled with the slick feeling on my body. I ripped off my panties and bra without caring that he was seeing me naked. I felt like I was ready to crawl out of my own skin. The smell, the sound of the gunshot, and the emptiness inside was all too familiar.

I slid open the doors and stepped under the hot water. It was almost scalding but I didn't care. I wanted to burn tonight off of my skin. Atlas closed the door and I closed my eyes. Memories flashed behind my eyelids, new and old. I pushed them down, swallowed the cries, and pretended it was all washing down the drain with the red-tinted water.

X

Atlas

I watched her silhouette in the shower without disturbing her. She was completely silent as she washed and scrubbed. The bathroom was filling with steam, and I wondered how she could stand the heat of the water. I was sure she knew I was out here, but she didn't ask me to leave. I wouldn't have anyway.

A knock sounded at the door and I opened it a crack to find Tony on the other side.

"Cleaned up?" I asked quietly, opening the door a little wider to see him. I wasn't going to leave this bathroom.

"Yeah. Sal is bleaching the floors. Might smell for the night," he told me. "She alright?"

"Not sure yet," I said with a glance back at her. I couldn't make out much with the frosted glass but I could see her leaning back against the wall, letting the spray hit her face.

"She might be in shock," he offered. "Especially if you're right and she saw her parents knocked off."

"I know she did. Being covered in blood probably isn't helping. Police found her holding her mom, covered in their blood."

"Shit," Tony hissed. "You are just determined to make that girl relive it aren't you?"

"You know I need to."

"The front door's lock was broken. That was probably how Hector got in,” he told me.

"What the fuck did he want?" I asked.

"He wanted to know what you were so busy with," Stella called from behind me. The knobs twisted and the water cut off.

"Did he tell you that?" I asked as I grabbed a towel and closed the door so Tony didn't get a show, too. A possessive feeling raged inside when I thought of him watching her get out of the shower with water dripping down her body.

"Yeah," she admitted, taking the towel and wrapping up in. "He thinks you're hiding away with a new plaything."

I grunted and tilted her head back to look at her neck covered in bruises.

"I'm sorry I shot him," I told her, looking into her confused eyes. "I should have beat him to death instead."

"I'm okay. Just sore," she told me

I clenched my fists and let her into the bedroom where the guys were waiting for us. Stella sat on the bed, keeping the towel tightly wrapped around her. My men kept their eyes off her and on me, waiting for their next orders.

"Find out what he knew," I told them. "If he talked to anyone, we are royally fucked."

"He didn't have any outgoing calls on his phone for the last hour, so I doubt he told anyone about the girl," Sal said.

"We need to be sure," I reminded.

"I watched Stella come inside just a few minutes before we found Hector with her. He couldn't have known about her before that," Tony said.

I looked over to where Stella was watching us calmly. She was too much in shock to care about how big a deal this really was.

"Stella, get dressed and I will be right back," I told her.

She nodded and I ushered the guys out into the hall. My nose stung with the smell of the bleach. I closed the door behind me and leaned against it. I doubted she would try an escape tonight, but it was not the time to take any more chances.

"If anyone hears I have the girl here, it's over. For all of us," I told them.

"You cut her loose now, all this shit will be for nothing," Tony argued. "You got nothing from her so far."

"I fucking know that," I growled at him.

"You said when the risk was greater than the outcome, we would end this," Sal reminded me. "Hector is high ranks. He probably knows her face."

"But instead of reporting it, he tried to get him a fucking piece," Tony said. He was in the girl's corner, which was clear.

"If someone comes looking for him and finds her," I started, but Tony shook his head. We all knew there was a plan for that.

"Give it a few days," Tony urged. "You just killed a man for her. You saved her ass. That may convince her to cooperate."

I looked over to Sal while I debated my options. We could kill her now and dump her with Hector. No one would know the difference. The family wanted her dead and thought I had already done the deed. We could keep her and hope no one knew she was still alive in the meantime. Once I got what I needed, it was all over anyway. One sacrifice to save many.

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