Daddy's arms couldn't stop shaking as he threw them around me and threatened to squeeze the life out of me. He held me tight, a familiar, happy hold I hadn't experienced since I graduated High School, back when I was his perfect princess.
Too bad the only embrace I could feel was Skin's. His were the only lips I thought about when I watched my dad's moving, praising God for my return, blasting me with a thousand and one questions.
I already missed him, and he'd barely been gone for five minutes. How fucked up was that?
I didn't have time to think long about the past. Somewhere in Dad's embrace, Mom's kisses began to hit me, the last straw I needed before I officially broke down.
We stood in the rain for a long time, a family reunion bittersweet to the core. By the time they finally let up long enough to let me walk toward the house with them, I wondered where I truly belonged.
The huge family estate loomed over me like something from a dream. It didn't feel like home anymore, and it didn't feel safe either.
The only place I'd ever found that was in his arms, and now he was gone from my life forever.
“Start over, Miss Wilder. Tell us everything again, this time from the top.” Investigator Harlow shot me an easy look and put his finger on the camera's red on button.
It was the third fucking time that day I'd been asked to give a statement. So much for rest, much less easing back into my old life.
They'd been waiting for me when Mom brought me back from the clinic that morning. The doctors were thorough – what else when they were the best money could buy?
I'd gotten a clean bill of health. No STDs, no broken bones, no bleeding ulcers.
No surprise, my parents were already pushing me to take a therapy retreat to clear my mind. Really, I think they just wanted to stamp out the bruises left by my trauma as soon as possible so they could have their bratty, carefree daughter back.
“It's okay, honey. Just do what the nice man says, and you'll be off to Georgia before you know it.” Dad reached over and squeezed my hand.
His smile seemed so brittle. Mom left the room after the first statement, unable to hide her horror when she heard about everything that happened to me.
They didn't know what to do except send me away to a spa in Georgia with orchards a plenty and world class psychologists. Hearing about the savage abuse I'd suffered brought tears and anger at first, but then it brought total paralysis, weak little looks from my mom and dad like I'd been tarnished forever.
They didn't know how to bring me back to life. Hell, neither did I, but this endless interrogation wasn't helping.
“You heard it all the first two times,” I snapped. “What else is there to say? Here, let me break it down for you – I was kidnapped, pimped out for six months of my life, and sold to a man on the black market one state over. I never found out his name. I don't know anything except what Ricky said, and it wasn't much. He couldn't even bother driving me down there himself.”
“Yes, yes, you told us all about the trucker spa. We're well aware it's been a seedy prostitution racket for years.”
Really? Then why the fuck didn't you raid it and close it down? I thought, chewing my bottom lip.
I swore I could still taste traces of Skin there, the only thing that comforted me. He'd want me to be strong right now. No, he was counting on it so I didn't spill the truth about his club and land them all in a world of hurt.
I had to take a few more of this asshole's questions without standing up and running off to my room.
Harlow looked down at his notepad and frowned. “What doesn't add up, Miss Wilder, is why the place is totally closed down. Abandoned. Patrol says it's always been a twenty-four hour operation until now, but when my men showed up last night, there was nobody home. Not a single girl to corroborate your story. And no sign of Richard Proby to boot. It's like he's dropped off the face of the earth.”
“Oh.” I swallowed, putting on my best face to hide the fact that I'd watched the pimp die. “Well, somebody obviously tipped him off. He must've found out about my escape, and knew I'd talk. I don't know where he is, honestly. I've been on the run for weeks, hiding out in the woods.”
“Honey...” Dad's hand tightened on mine, begging me to keep composure.
I ripped my arm away from his and looked at the detective. I didn't need his damned sympathy. I didn't need anything right now except to be left the hell alone to recuperate.
“And that's the part of the story I'd like you to repeat. It seems a lot of details are being glossed over, darling. You told me all about how the pimp beat you, sold you to other men, tried to break you. I believe that part, and I'm very sympathetic.” What bullshit. The look on his face was nothing but a frustrated man doing his job. “What doesn't add up is how you got away from his underlings...”