Knife's Property

T W E N T Y - T H R E E

Strawberry is safe.

The fuckers before me, are not.

I held her to my chest, she was bundled up nice and tight in the blanket I brought for her. Her soft hair was in knots and she kept her head away from me, wincing when it landed against my chest.

I made sure to keep my grip on her light, trying to supress the anger surging within me as I took stock of the injuries on her face. Bruises and small cuts covered her cheeks in what looked like multiple handprints. Someone had slapped my Property with the intent to cause great harm to her.

I clenched my jaw, I would get my answers later. The men I would question were being loaded into my truck by John, where they would then be delivered to one of my properties for me later.

Strawberry shivered in my arms, I could feel her eyes watching me but I avoided looking at her. If I looked at her, at the marks covering her face then I would leave her with her father and go right back to the men who were involved in taking her and I wouldn't stop until they were dead.

"Knife?" Her voice floated up to me, soft and unsure. I couldn't resist looking down at her now, at her beautiful face and pale skin. I focused on these, on my Strawberry, and not on the marks.

"Yes, Sugar?" Even now, a soft pink tint coated her cheeks at my nickname. She was pale, so pale that the colour stood out even more.

"Is Evelyn okay?"

Fucking Evelyn.

"She's fine, Sugar. All a misunderstanding that I'm handling." I assured her, I kept my tone soothing and gently stroked her arm where my hand touched.

Her worry didn't ease, in fact it seemed to increase. "Please don't do anything to her or Elliot. I'll talk to her when I'm back."

"Don't worry, neither of them have been harmed." She didn't look like she believed me but she dropped the case anyways as we came up to the doctor I had called.

She was tiny, so small that I had to crane my neck downwards more than the average person to make eye contact.

She paled as I stopped before her, a bag clutched to her chest and a stethoscope hanging from her neck. When I stepped forward with Strawberry, she stumbled back a step and glanced around her at the men surrounding us.

Fucking Kyle.

He had told me knew someone who could help but she looked like she was going to shit her pants.

"Stop fucking moving." I snapped when she took another step back. She halted suddenly, her eyes widened even more and sweat began to coat her brows.

"S-s-sorry." She stuttered out.

"It's okay, we won't do anything to you." Strawberry murmured to the girl. I frowned at her.

She was still awake but she was very close to crashing and falling asleep and she couldn't do that until she was checked.

I turned my attention to the doctor who looked even closer to shitting herself.

"You listening?" I waited until she nodded at me before continuing. "This here, is my Property. She's not doing too good right now and she needs to be looked after. If you so much as hurt a hair on her head or cause her even the slightest bit of distress, I will personally make sure that you wished you were never born. Are we clear?"

The woman opened and closed her mouth like a fucking fish, her wide brown eyes looking at me as if I was the antichrist.

I crouched down to her eye level until we were almost nose to nose. Strawberry grunted her protest, but I ignored her.