At those words, I burst into tears, my knees collapsing beneath me so that he had to take my full weight because it was safe to fall apart now.
Chapter Nineteen
Flynn
My knee bounced again and again as I waited outside the hospital room, my body aching from remaining so stiff these last few hours. My knuckles were busted, and they’d likely bruise, but I couldn’t give a fucking shit at this point.
I kept replaying the last few hours, over and over, my mind stuck on a loop.
I’d been on the beach, too far away to move quickly.
The moment I saw her name on my phone, I’d been filled with a strange elation rather than unease. I’d wanted her to call. I wanted to talk to her despite knowing we had no future.
But hearing the fear in her voice, the caution, and then hearing Ellis’s voice had been a shock to the system. The minute I realized she’d called me so I could help, I started running full out on the beach, my phone clenched in my hand as I listened to what was going on.
I’d intended to go to the airport like I told her I would, but it was still early, and I wanted to clear my head. So, I’d left my bags at reception and taken a walk on the beach in front of the hotel. I hadn’t realized how far I’d walked and was now cursing myself for going so far.
I sent up a prayer of thanks when she managed to tell me where she was and what was happening, and I kept my eyes peeled for anyone nearby who had a car or another phone. I wanted to call for help, but like hell I was hanging up this phone and leaving Chiara alone with that fucker any more than she already was.
I made it to the parking lot when I heard him hit her and her cryout. I made it to one of the many parking lots that lined the beach in time to see Trev and Carol pull in. One look at my face had Trevor on alert.
“Get in the car,” I growled.
Neither of them hesitated in doing as I ordered. “What’s wrong?” Carol asked, her voice shaking as she turned in the passenger’s seat to look at me.
“Trev, head for the resort and break every law getting there. Carol, call the police, tell them a woman is being attacked in the hotel,” I ground out, adding Chiara’s room number. Trev’s blue eyes met mine in the rearview mirror. I winced and ground my teeth so hard they could have cracked when I heard Chiara scream and Ellis punch her.
“Fuck,” I snarled, shoving my fingers through my hair, desperate to do something.
“Flynn?”
“It’s Ellis,” I forced out, breathing hard. “He’s got Chiara.”
He was silent a moment, and I knew he was trying to wrap his head around what I meant. “How bad?”
Chiara whimpered on the other end of the phone, and I closed my eyes, struggling to breathe as Carol made the phone call.
“Flynn, how bad?” Trev asked again, his voice louder this time.
I opened my eyes to meet his gaze in the mirror and forced myself to answer.
“Really fucking bad.”
“She on the phone?” he asked, his fingers gripping the steering wheel so hard his tattooed knuckles turned white.
“Yeah,” I answered, my voice raw. “She called me when he showed up at her room.”
“Put it on speakerphone,” Trev ordered, and I shook my head when I heard Ellis continue his ramblings. “Flynn!”
“You don’t want to hear this, trust me,” I snarled.
“Put. It. On. Speakerphone,” Trev ground out, the energy rollingoff him telling me not to fuck with him.
Flicking a glance at Carol’s pale face as she stayed on the phone with the police, I sighed and did as ordered just as Chiara screamed. The sound was something that would haunt me for the rest of my life.
Carol pressed a shaky hand to her mouth, her eyes filling instantly with tears and Trev swore and seemed to lose his breath.
The sound of a struggle continued on the other end, flesh hitting flesh, Ellis’s growls of anger and curses. Chiara’s whimpers and cries of pain as she struggled injected a kind of poison into my veins I worried I’d never be able to work out. The old me was bleeding in through the cracks, the violent one that wanted nothing else but to cause pain.
