Possessive: Her Protectors (Kingswood Saga Book 4) Completed

14. Amalie

"Ama, can you come to the study please" Mom calls up the stairs and I groan, I had heard the triplets arrive a little while ago and knew they had disappeared into the study with the parents and now they wanted me there.

I made my way slowly down the stairs, hovering at the doorway, until Noah spotted me and called me in. I straightened my shoulders as the weight of all of their gazes hit me.

"Ama, we have some news for you, about your attack" Dad Knox tells me, watching me closely.
"Are you sure you want to know" Mom asks softly and I nod, relieved when Elijah and Talon each hold one of my hands.

"We know who attacked you, and we know who helped, what we want to know from you, is how you would like us to handle it" Dad Knox tells me carefully.

"Who" I ask my voice cracking.
"Lars Petterson and James Lester, carried out the attack, they were helped by their coach Frederick James to cover it up afterwards"
"They both..." I trailed off unable to voice the words.
I stare at the carpet, my eyes tracing the patterns even as my mind refuses to grasp what he's told me. I know both of them, have competed alongside them on the team for years, why would they do this to me, they hadn't shown me any interest before the event or even at the bar when they had turned up.

"Ama?" Talon asks softly.
"Yes, I heard but I don't understand why, they never showed any interest in me before, why would they do that" I question.

I feel my brothers squeeze my hands "It was a bet, a bet that got out of hand, apparently the girl who you beat, was calling you, well names I'm not going to repeat and they overhead that you were a virgin and that was the basis of it. Who could bag the virgin first, then after a few drinks it changed into, the attack that happened." Noah explained.

"And Fred?" I ask, wondering why he was involved.
"Frederick went looking for them when he found they were not in their room, he rang them and came and got them from your room, making sure there was no evidence of them left in the room, he then checked them out early and sent them home and bribed the security man to erase the hallway CCTV" Dad Knox answers.

"How could he do that?" I ask my emotions surfacing.
"He says the boys say it was consensual and when there was no accusations, he just let it go" Noah adds.
"He's lying, if he believed it was consensual, then why would he remove any trace of them, why would he need to bribe the guard, has he done this before, have they done this before?" I question my voice getting higher as I speak.

"That is why the choice is now yours Ama, do you want to file charges against them and go down the legal route, or do you want us to deal with them" Dada Kier asks and I can feel the promise in the air that if they deal with them it will be painfully.

"Can I think about it, just 24 hours?" I ask wanting to be alone and think, a part of me wanting to drag them to court but I know with the length of time that's passed and how it happened, it would be difficult to prove beyond any doubt what happened. I know the information they had collected would have warned the trio that payback was coming but how.

"Of course you can baby, take all the time you need, I know this is a big step, whichever you choose" Dad Knox said.

I stand up and turn "Thank you, all of you, for believing in and supporting me" I tell them tearfully before running from the room.

The faces of the three involved go round and round in my mind, how could they, how could they and I felt it building up till I wanted to scream, in anger, in frustration, in denial and in need. I needed to make them pay, they had turned my life upside down and made me hide from the world, I knew that it would take time for me to get back the confidence that I had lost because of them, but I was a Masters and we were fierce.

Knock, Knock, my door opened to reveal Mom carrying a tray of food. "I didn't think you would want to eat with us, so I've brought it to you. How are you doing?" she asks, shutting the door behind her with her foot.

"Thanks Mom, you're right" I take the tray from her before continuing "I want to take my life back but I'm torn, I know I should report them but what if they get off, it would just rip me apart again, so I'm leaning towards the family dealing with it, with all of them, but I want some boundaries put in, to protect the family more than them"

"Sound like a good idea, but as Knox said, it's your choice, we will support you either way" she agrees. "Now eat and rest, tomorrow is soon enough for giving us your decision" she smiles and leans in kissing my head.
"Love you Mom" I call as she leaves the room.

xx
After a restless night filled with broken memories and pain, I knew what I wanted to do, the more I had thought about Fred's actions the more I was convinced the boys had done it before, or something equally bad, he was too used to covering up after them, they needed to be held to account for what happened.

The whole family was sat around the table when I got downstairs, and I smiled at them, feeling a little more at rest with my decision.

"Ama?" Noah prompted, pulling out my chair for me.
"Thank you" I say slipping into it as Mom passed me a plate of breakfast before sitting down.
I take a deep breath, I need to get this out now so we can get on "I want the family to deal with all of them." I say into the silence.

"Good, after breakfast we will make some plans" Papa Kade says and I see the dark smiles on the face of my brothers.

I ate as much as I could with my stomach churning and then followed the dads and my older brothers into the study, Elijah pulling me down to sit next to me, the contact helping me keep calm.

"I understand you have some boundaries for us?" Dad Kier asks and I nod but then shake my head.
"I just want you to stay safe, don't let anything you do, come back on you" I tell them, biting my lip. "I want them to pay, I want them to confess to what they did and I want to make sure they never do it again" I ask, looking round at them.

"Do you want to know the details?" Noah asks and I shake my head.  I know what my family does, I know what they are capable of, if I wanted these people gone it would have happened and no-one would be any the wiser.
"No, just let me know when its done" I reply.

"Ama, we will make them pay for what they did, you're safe now" Elijah promised hugging me against him and I felt the tears build in my eyes as I hug him back tightly. Clinging to the safety he promises.

"Ama, I'm going to call Lucy and arrange another week off for you, I would rather you were safe at home while we deal with this" Dad Knox suggests and I nod.
"Yes daddy"