Page 52 of Possessive

"What the hell?" Gianni whispered, echoing my thoughts.

"It's okay, Holly, go back to bed. Everything will be okay." Frank slid a smile in her direction, trying to be reassuring while clearly scared out of his wits.

It was my turn to freeze. My mind went back to a night a bit over five years ago.

A tangle of dark curls. Huge eyes that looked back at me with no hint of understanding.

She shouldn't have been there.

She wasn't part of the plan.

I should have known.

I should have anticipated.

I should have been able to stop myself.

The blood on my hands was hers. I never meant to spill a drop, but I had. She died in my arms. I felt the life slip away from her. Bit by bit, drop by drop. There was nothing I could do or say to stop it from happening. The second our lives intersected, hers was over.

Her body went still and cold while I held her. So tiny. Small and innocent and gone. Her pale yellow pyjamas turned sickly orange with her blood. The smiley faces on the fabric grinned at me in accusation. Mocking me.

I fucked up.

I fucked up badly and she paid the price.

I stepped back from Frank and lowered the knife. "No one said anything about a kid."

"Her mother had to work late," Frank said. "She brought her in through the back so she wouldn't be seen. This wasn't about her."

"No it wasn't," I agreed. "She shouldn't be here." Like that other little girl wasn't supposed to be there that night. She was dead because of it. Like Holly would have been if Kurt set a trap for us all.

"I'll take her home," Frank said. "I don't need to be here either." He stepped backward towards the little girl. Held out his hand to her.

"Word of advice," Gianni said. "Stay away from creeps on the Internet. There's a lot of shady people out there. You got paid?"

"Yeah," I did," Frank said. Holly slipped her hand into his.

"Then take it and get out of here," Gianni said. "Don't talk about what happened here and don't look back."

Frank picked up Holly and rested her on his hip. "No one will hear about this from me. I swear that on my daughter's life." She clearly meant everything to him. He wouldn't say anything to anyone, if only because we knew she existed too. Some people wouldn't hesitate to use a child to further themselves. Especially someone like Kurt. I didn't want to think about what he might do to her if he got anywhere near her.

I put the knife away and watched while they hurried to gather Holly's things and slip out the back door.

"You okay, sweetheart?" Gianni asked. "You look like you saw a ghost when that kid appeared."

"I didn't expect to see her there," I said. That much was true. The rest was something I wasn't ready to talk about yet. What would he think of me if he knew? My own father sent me to Kurt when he found out. If someone who was supposed to love me would do that, then there was nothing I could put past anyone, no matter their feelings for me. I may find myself back in that cage, or dead.

No, that was better kept to myself.

"I'll be having words with those twins about missing that piece of vital information," Gianni said. He twirled the gun around his middle finger.

I might have a few with them myself. In the meantime, I had more questions than answers. Why had Kurt wanted Frank to lead the twins here? I remembered what Daze said about him being smart and meticulous. There was no way in hell he'd do all of this for no reason. If he wanted to distract us, then there was something he wanted us to be distracted from. What the fuck was he up to?

"Come on, Reuben and Damon will want to know you're okay." Gianni took a step towards the door.

Before he stepped outside, he stopped and turned around. "I might not be the handsomest or smartest guy around, but I know when something is up. I saw the expression on your face when you saw that kid. Something happened. I don't give a shit what it was but I'll tell you this.”

He pointed a finger in the direction of my nose. “It wasn't your fault. All of this, it might just have been some kind of set up. Some way for that prick to fuck with your head. If that's all it was, don't let him get to you. He doesn't deserve to live rent-free in your head. He deserves a fucking bullet in his."

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