Page 26 of The Hunt
“Daphne,” he murmured. “Say something. Did he touch you?”
Tears filled my eyes. “I don’t know.”
When we reached the top of the stairs, Apollo headed out the door and toward his car parked beside Mark’s. João, the leader of Poison, stood in front of his car parked beside Apollo’s.
My eyes widened as Kai and Landon, two other members, stepped out of the car with tools and equipment that could chop a man up and make sure that he was never found. No matter what.
Had Apollo asked Poison to help find me? To help save me?
Making a deal with Poison was almost like death itself…
Apollo wrapped his arms around me tighter and pulled me closer to his chest. I didn’t fight him, not because I couldn’t, but because I didn’t want to. For the first time since I had woken up in that car, I felt safe.
In his arms.
Which terrified me more than anything.
CHAPTER 18
APOLLO
I clutched the steering wheel with bloody hands while Daphne cried beside me.
When the traffic light ahead of me turned red, I slowed down to a stop and placed one of my hands on Daphne’s trembling thighs. The snowstorm still raged, the outside world a blur of white around us.
João’s car blew past us through the red light, and I didn’t know what to say to Daphne.
How the hell do you comfort someone after something like that? What was he going to do to her? What had he done to her? Did I want to know? Did she want to tell me? Did she even want to see me?
Once the light changed, I continued through the streets of Redwood until I made it home.
After pulling into my driveway, because I wasn’t really sure where she lived, I parked the car and left it running, so the heat would warm her cold body. I turned in her direction, leaning my head against the headrest and brushing some hair off her face.
Mascara streaks ran down her cheeks, her eyes bloodshot.
“Daphne,” I murmured.
She stared down at her lap, trying to stop crying but hiccuping instead. After a couple moments, just when I thought she was about to stop, she wrapped her arms around her body, curled into a ball, and burst out into a loud sob.
“Daph,” I whispered, pulling her into my arms. “It’s okay, now. I got you.”
While I didn’t think she wanted anything to do with me, she wrapped her arms around my shoulders and clutched onto me harder than anyone ever had. She sobbed for fifteen, twenty, maybe even thirty minutes.
And I didn’t say a word.
I couldn’t.
“Can I bring you inside?” I asked her, careful to not overstep. She was so fragile right now, and I didn’t want to hurt her. I had never been in this situation before with a girl who I… who I loved. “Please, we need to get you out of these wet clothes.”
Sniffling and hiccuping, she nodded.
Once I turned off the car, I picked her up and headed to the side door.
One of Dad’s staff members, Lisa, opened it up. “Mr DeLuca, where have you been?”
“I need a change of clothes for her and blankets. Bring them to the guest room.”
“No,” Daphne whimpered. “No, I don’t want you to leave me.”
