She heard Sadie moaning behind her and turned to see her eyes flutter open. Grabbing Ham’s discarded jacket, she lay it over her torso and kissed her forehead again.
“Wh-what did I do?” she said with tears in her eyes. She looked up at her brothers, seeing the red marks on their faces. “Oh, God, what did I do?”
“It’s okay, Sadie,” smiled Patrick. “I’m sure I did something that I needed to be slapped for.”
“Did I hurt you? Did I hurt anyone?” she cried.
“Why would you think such a thing?” asked Ham. “You couldn’t hurt anyone here.”
“But I did,” she nodded. “I hurt someone, and I didn’t mean to.” She started to sob uncontrollably and buried her head into Ham’s chest. He looked up, pleading with the others for advice.
“Get her back to the mansion, baby. She needs rest and quiet. She’ll be fine now, but you just call if you need me. Matthew can get me over there, lickety-split.”
“We’ll help you,” said Christopher. Ham nodded, lifting the young woman as she continued to cry uncontrollably. Dylan came back in with a blanket, laying it over her body as they left.
“Hey, Ham?” said Patrick, walking beside him. “Thanks for what you did for my sister.”
It was like a horror scene from a fucking movie, and Ham and Sadie were the stars.
CHAPTER FIVE
Sadie seemed to shift a bit with the death of Matilda, but she still wasn’t quite herself. The nightmares were still present, and hearing them was torture for Ham. He tried lying awake in his own bed, just listening, but it didn’t help. She sounded so tortured, so terrified, that he felt as if someone were literally in the other room torturing her.
Her cries were tearing him apart. The pain and desperation, the anger and guilt, was overwhelming. Sometimes he could hear her pleas for forgiveness. And other times, it just sounded like pain. He didn’t even know what it was about, but she cried like this every night in her sleep.
He was in his usual spot outside her bedroom door, lying on a blow-up mattress with a quilt and a pillow. But tonight, her cries lasted longer and were worse than other nights. Ham couldn’t stand it any longer. He tossed the mattress to the floor with the blanket right beside her bed.
“Sadie,” he whispered, taking her hand. “Sadie, it’s okay, honey. I’m right here.” Her cries quieted, and she opened her eyes, staring down at Ham on the floor.
“Ham?”
“It’s okay, honey. I’m right here. Nothing is going to touch you. Nothing is going to get to you. I’m gonna lay beside you and hold your hand, okay?”
“Lay on the bed with me. Please. I won’t do anything, Ham, I promise. I just need to feel someone beside me.”
“Sadie, I’m not worried about you touching me. I just didn’t want to scare you.” She scooted over, and he lay on top of the quilts, grabbing the one from the floor and covering himself. She curled into his side like a child as he held her tightly.
“Make them stop, Ham.”
“I’m trying, honey. I swear to God, I’m trying.” He held her as tightly as he dared, kissing her forehead and praying that the nightmares would cease. Praying to give her one night of peaceful sleep, he closed his eyes. One night.
It was only a matter of minutes, and she was sound asleep again. Ham wondered if he should move or remain as is. He didn’t want her to wake and risk her becoming frightened again, so he decided to stay put.
When he woke in the morning, they were both lying exactly as they’d been the night before. She didn’t have any more nightmares, which was a first since he’d been with her. As her eyes fluttered open, she turned and stared at him.
“You did it,” she said flatly.
“Did what, honey?”
“You chased them away. You made them leave me alone.”
“Who did I make leave you alone?” he asked, brushing back a lock of blonde hair.
“The children. I killed the children,” she sniffed. Ham stared at her, wondering if she was having a breakdown.
“Sadie, baby, you didn’t kill any children,” he said calmly.
“But I did. My children. I was pregnant,” she said quietly. Ham stiffened, staring at her. “No one knew. Even the father until I told him that morning. The same morning Matilda was in the hotel and touched me. He was part of my security team, and we’d been seeing one another for months. I didn’t know.”
