Foul Play 🩷

Sixteen

Henry ascended the trellis toward Millicent's second-story window, his heart racing with a mix of urgency and concern. Her desperate tone on the phone had left him both scared for her and angered at the situation. As he reached her window, he pushed it open wider, then slipped inside, his entrance accompanied by an unintentional thump and a strained grunt.

"Mill..." He managed to get to his feet, turning to find Millicent in distress, her tear-stained face buried under a blanket on her bed. "Shortcake, wha—"

His words caught in his throat as he noticed the handprint around her neck. Swallowing down his anger, he gently lowered the blanket, his fingers grazing over her injuries from bruises on her arms and down to her stomach, and thighs. He wanted to wrap her up, protect her from whatever had caused this pain. Grief and rage coiled in his chest.

"Henry..." she whimpered softly, drawing the blanket tighter around her naked form.

He brushed her cheek with his fingertips, her vulnerability breaking his heart. As she shifted back on the bed, he kicked off his shoes and carefully joined her, pulling the blanket over them both. "I'm going to kill him," he muttered through clenched teeth, the venomous threat escaping him before he could stop it.

"Shh..." Millicent hushed him, nestling against his chest, and he instinctively wrapped his arm around her, providing a shield against the world and the pain she was enduring. After listening to her cry for a few minutes, he listened to her whimper out an apology.

"What the hell are you apologizing for?" He glanced down at her in confusion and irritation.

"For not listening to you about him." She swallowed back her tears, wincing as she moved to pull away from him, then relented.

The combination of her words and touch rendered him speechless as he shook his head. He moved to cradle her face in his hands, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Stop. You have nothing to apologize for."

"Milly? Are you home?"

Darren's voice emerges from the hallway at the bottom of the stairs as she groans and Henry leaps out of her bed. "You have to tell him."

"No! Don't let him in here, Henry!" She stands up, stumbling slightly into his arms before she turns away to try and find something to put on.

He tenses when he sees the bruises on her back and ass. "Mill..." He clenches his jaw as she rushes away into her bathroom as there is a knock on the bedroom door.

"Milly?"

Henry groans, taking a deep breath before turning to open the bedroom door. "Mr. Parker..."

"Henry, what are you doing here?" Darren tries not to seem too angry at finding a boy, a man, in her daughter's room. He registers the concerned look on Henry's face as he tries to look into the room, not seeing Millicent. "Where is my daughter."

Henry sighs, stepping to the side to let him in. "Stay calm..." he whispers as Millicent comes out of the bathroom in sweat pants and a t-shirt that did nothing to cover the bruise on her neck or her arms.

"Did you do this?!" Darren immediately turns back to Henry, pinning him against the wall as Henry raises his hands up, a silent show of surrender as he shakes his head.

"No, daddy! He's never touched me!" She grabbed her father's shoulder, trying to pull him off Henry as she fell back onto her ass, eliciting a cry from her.

Darren releases Henry as both men turn back to her quickly, helping her to her feet as she begins to sob again. "We need to take her to the hospital, sir."

"No!" She begs, wrapping her arms around herself as Henry approaches her.

"What happened? Can someone tell me what happened to my daughter?"

Millicent winces slightly at the sound of her normally calm and easy-going father raising his voice. "She was raped," Henry responds softly, staring at Millicent as her chin trembles.

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to."

Darren watched Henry wrap his arm around her, pulling her to his chest as she sobbed. "It was Ben, wasn't it? I knew there was something off about that kid." He grabbed Millicent's coat from the floor and wrapped it around her gently. "Let's go."

***

Millicent dragged her tongue over her lips, pulling her knees to her chest after she was allowed to get dressed. She spent the last hour being poked and prodded at by nurses and doctors and had photos taken of her in all her most intimate areas. And now she was forced to recount the events of the night before to the male officer standing in front of her.

"Tell me what happened."

She took a deep breath as Henry sat beside her, rubbing her back gently as Darren sat stoically on her other side. "I went to my boyfriend's apartment last night for dinner. We... we made plans for dinner and then to sleep together for the first time."

Darren leaned forward in his seat, removing his glasses as he rubbed his forehead with his hand.

"We had dinner and then went to his bedroom. He had the idea to blindfold me to help me not be so nervous..."

"You were nervous? Were you drinking?"

Henry glared at the officer as Millicent nodded, continuing in a broken voice. "Yes. It wasn't just our first time, but mine..."

"So you consented to the blindfold?"

"Are you taking the piss?" Darren leapt to his feet, stepping up to the officer as Henry grabbed his arm.

"I'm just trying to gather all the information, sir."

"Daddy, why don't you wait outside," Millicent offered as he turned back to her.

"No way. I'm not leaving you alone."

"She's not alone." Henry urged, offering him a nod of reassurance as Darren sighed.

"Fine. I'll be right outside." He took another look at his daughter before heading towards the exit.

"So... he blindfolded you... and then what?"

She recalled hearing him move about the room before coming back to place a piece of chocolate on her tongue and tying her hands. "After that, I got scared and tried to tell him I didn't want to do it anymore, but he placed a gag on my mouth and tied my hands to the headboard..."

"And then what?"

She closed her eyes tightly, recalling the fear that flooded through her. "Then he said not to worry that 'we would take care of you'."

"We?!" Henry asked, no longer able to hide his anger as she turned her head to him with a small nod.

"I heard Kyle's voice too. They... took turns as I blacked in and out..." She shuddered at the memory, as she gave the officer both names and Henry seethed beside her. "I woke up this morning, naked, in front of my father's house. I called Henry, and that's it."

"Okay." The officer closed his little notebook with a sigh. "We will reach out to the boys. You're free to go."

"Reach out? That's it?" Henry stood up as the officer stood his ground and Millicent groaned.

"Henry..." she warned softly, grabbing at his hand, which he pulled away.

"No! I want to know what the police plan to do about this. Look at her!" He pointed back to Millicent without even looking at her as the officer rested his hand on his arm.

"Calm down, son. There is a process to this. We will keep in touch."

Henry scoffed as the officer just turned and walked away without another word. "I'm going to fucking kill them both," Henry raged as Millicent sobbed softly behind him.

"Please, just take me home," she begged as he groaned, scooping her into his arms to meet her father in the hallway.

Darren glanced at his daughter resting her head on Henry's chest, comfortable in his arms in her vulnerable state. "Can we go?"

"Yes. Please take me home," she repeats as he nods without another word and leads them back to his car. He watched Henry crawl into the backseat with her, holding her in his lap the entire ride.