Lucian wasn’t sure she could even hear him. “It’s okay, sweetheart. This isn’t going to happen again. Ever. He won’t ever touch you again.”
“Jesus,” Dante muttered. “Get her down here. I’m calling Paulie.”
Lucian hung up his phone and dropped it into his pocket. Using the clean towels Jordyn had sat out, he covered her chest and back loosely, making sure not to wrap the fluffy fabric to her skin too tightly. Cradling her lower back and slipping his arm under her bent knees, he pulled her from the bathtub like she weighed nothing at all.
It was only then he noticed what must have hurt her the worst.
The tattoo on her hip he touched, the one that gave her safety for so long, was burned off.
Chapter Eight
The apartment Lucian took Jordyn to for recovering and safety was owned by his father. It was one of many residential properties their family owned. Being in realty could be a good thing, considering they had apartments ready to move in all over the city just in case something happened and they needed a safe retreat. Unlike Jordyn’s apartment building, one step away from being condemned, this one bedroom Brooklyn apartment was well maintained, safe, and would work for as long as Lucian needed it to.
Lucian’s Manhattan apartment was too far away for him to keep an eye on Jordyn and do his business all the same, so until she was well enough to travel again, they would have to stay here.
Paulie cleared his throat to get Lucian’s attention. The low hum of the television in the living room reminded him his brothers were still there, too. They refused to leave, even after Paulie assured them both Lucian and he could handle caring for Jordyn.
Antony had yet to arrive, but he was mixed up at the office handling some issue with management. The man was just as good as a crime boss as he was a normal boss. Scarily so.
“She’s clean of track marks, so she doesn’t use needles.” Paulie went from looked at the creases of Jordyn’s limp, abused arms, to examining the teeth in her mouth. Perfect, white pearls stared back at the doctor. “And she isn’t sucking on a pipe, either. Her mouth is in too good of condition for that. If you want, I can take a blood sample and have it tested to be sure she’s clean of other things.”
Lucian shook his head to decline that offer. “I think if she were addicted to something particular and using as often as an addict would, it’d be obvious, regardless of how functioning of an addict she is.”
“It would, you’re right.”
“What about …?” Lucian trailed off, leaving the question hanging as he waved towards his own groin area. It’d been a great worry of his to think about the possibility she was raped. He didn’t want to even say it.
“I’d say no,” Paulie replied, keeping his usual professionalism. “And that’s without doing an exam, which I’m not comfortable with unless she was awake. Frankly, I’m okay with saying she wasn’t just from when we removed her shorts alone. There were no bruises on her thighs to suggest someone had forced them open, and trust me, there would be as she fought hard. The marks would be very obvious as to what they were. Similar to the handprint bruises on her arms. There were no fluids, and no blood in her shorts. She isn’t swollen or irritated on the surface in that area. No, definitely not.”
Lucian breathed a silent sigh of relief. It was one small victory.
“She took one hell of an awful beating,” the doctor noted. “She was hit hard, repeatedly. Whatever was used, it left imprints all over her body.”
“A belt. There was one on the floor. The studs match the welts. A man’s, certainly not hers.”
“I can hear the anger in your voice. You need to calm down and think about all of this, Lucian. You can’t go off half-cocked because of whoever doing what they did to her.”
“It’s not whoever, Paulie. I know who did this.”
“You look like a guilty man,” Paulie said
“Jesus,” Dante muttered. “Get her down here. I’m calling Paulie.”
Lucian hung up his phone and dropped it into his pocket. Using the clean towels Jordyn had sat out, he covered her chest and back loosely, making sure not to wrap the fluffy fabric to her skin too tightly. Cradling her lower back and slipping his arm under her bent knees, he pulled her from the bathtub like she weighed nothing at all.
It was only then he noticed what must have hurt her the worst.
The tattoo on her hip he touched, the one that gave her safety for so long, was burned off.
Chapter Eight
The apartment Lucian took Jordyn to for recovering and safety was owned by his father. It was one of many residential properties their family owned. Being in realty could be a good thing, considering they had apartments ready to move in all over the city just in case something happened and they needed a safe retreat. Unlike Jordyn’s apartment building, one step away from being condemned, this one bedroom Brooklyn apartment was well maintained, safe, and would work for as long as Lucian needed it to.
Lucian’s Manhattan apartment was too far away for him to keep an eye on Jordyn and do his business all the same, so until she was well enough to travel again, they would have to stay here.
Paulie cleared his throat to get Lucian’s attention. The low hum of the television in the living room reminded him his brothers were still there, too. They refused to leave, even after Paulie assured them both Lucian and he could handle caring for Jordyn.
Antony had yet to arrive, but he was mixed up at the office handling some issue with management. The man was just as good as a crime boss as he was a normal boss. Scarily so.
“She’s clean of track marks, so she doesn’t use needles.” Paulie went from looked at the creases of Jordyn’s limp, abused arms, to examining the teeth in her mouth. Perfect, white pearls stared back at the doctor. “And she isn’t sucking on a pipe, either. Her mouth is in too good of condition for that. If you want, I can take a blood sample and have it tested to be sure she’s clean of other things.”
Lucian shook his head to decline that offer. “I think if she were addicted to something particular and using as often as an addict would, it’d be obvious, regardless of how functioning of an addict she is.”
“It would, you’re right.”
“What about …?” Lucian trailed off, leaving the question hanging as he waved towards his own groin area. It’d been a great worry of his to think about the possibility she was raped. He didn’t want to even say it.
“I’d say no,” Paulie replied, keeping his usual professionalism. “And that’s without doing an exam, which I’m not comfortable with unless she was awake. Frankly, I’m okay with saying she wasn’t just from when we removed her shorts alone. There were no bruises on her thighs to suggest someone had forced them open, and trust me, there would be as she fought hard. The marks would be very obvious as to what they were. Similar to the handprint bruises on her arms. There were no fluids, and no blood in her shorts. She isn’t swollen or irritated on the surface in that area. No, definitely not.”
Lucian breathed a silent sigh of relief. It was one small victory.
“She took one hell of an awful beating,” the doctor noted. “She was hit hard, repeatedly. Whatever was used, it left imprints all over her body.”
“A belt. There was one on the floor. The studs match the welts. A man’s, certainly not hers.”
“I can hear the anger in your voice. You need to calm down and think about all of this, Lucian. You can’t go off half-cocked because of whoever doing what they did to her.”
“It’s not whoever, Paulie. I know who did this.”
“You look like a guilty man,” Paulie said
Similar Books
