Chapter 10
Alessandro’s POV
The chief had been fighting on the phone with the call service for over thirty minutes now. Finally, he slammed the phone down and cursed loud enough to crack the drywall in his office.
“Well?” I asked. He looked up at me through disparaging eyes and shook his head. Automatically my fist connected with the wall. He has her and she has no idea what he is. How could her dad do this to her? He and I both paced in the firehouse for hours until we heard the slamming of a car door. We both ran to the window to see Rhetta briskly walking to the door. We quickly busied ourselves to pretend we hadn’t been waiting up on her for hours. She walked into the firehouse and slammed the door shut. She apparently hadn’t noticed the two of us in the shadows pretending to be busy. She slid down the door, threw her hands over her face and began to sob uncontrollably. Both, the chief and I began walking to her but I gave him a look telling him that I would take care of her. Chief turned around and went toward his apartment leaving just Rhetta and I in the firehouse lobby. Quietly, I walked over to her bending down to her level. I reached out and touched her shoulder. She jumped and cursed but what tore my heart out of my chest was the look on her face. Her face was smeared with black from her makeup running through her tears.
“Alessandro you scared the crap out of me,” she exclaimed. Without saying any words I began to wipe her tears with my thumbs as I cradled her face. She looked incredibly beautiful even in this condition.
“What happened sweetheart?” I asked in the gentlest voice I could muster, but it came out much lower than I had anticipated.
“He-he-he…,” she tried to talk but it came out as gibberish.
“Did he hurt you?” I asked trying to quell the anger that was bubbling up in my chest. She looked me straight in the eye; her eyes showing the depth of the pain she was enduring.
“Not physically,” she said much clearer. I leaned into her and kissed her forehead then moved to kiss away a few stray tears that were still spilling from her eyes. I heard the intake of breath she had as I kissed the tears. I am going to show this woman how it is to truly be loved by a real man. Picking her up off the ground I began to carry her to her room.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I am taking you to your room and then you are going to tell me everything that happened with Lance,” I told her.
“Oh…,” was all she said. I wondered if I had crossed a line and been too forceful with her at that point because it’s not like I gave her a choice. Once we made it back into her room I laid her on the bed and removed her jacket and shoes. Sitting on the edge of the bed I placed her feet into my lap and began to rub them as I started with my interrogation.
“I want you to start with when you left this firehouse the first time and I want you to tell me everything that happened. That way maybe I can help you,” I told her hoping that it came over as sincere and caring.
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