Eros
I hear the scream as I come up the steps, a bag of breakfast sandwiches in one hand and a carrier with two coffees in the other. I’m humming to myself, floating on a cloud. I figured I’d treat Cara to breakfast from my favorite local spot not too far away and wanted to take the drive myself to clear my head.
Last night’s debauchery still lingers like a comforting blanket.
But that scream has my body pounding with adrenaline.
I know that sound. I know that tone. It’s a scream of pure, utter horror, of an animal trapped in a life-or-death struggle.
And it’s coming from my room.
I drop the coffee and sandwiches as I sprint down the hall. My heart’s racing, my brain working. I released Alonzo early this morning, told the kid to get some rest-which means Cara is alone.
Nobody else would go near my wing of the house, not this early in the morning.
She’s alone, all alone, with no weapons, no protection, nothing.
Fuck, I shouldn’t have left her, but I thought my enemies were busy fighting each other-
Except I forgot about the enemies in my own house.
The scream rips into my chest one last time before it’s abruptly cut off.
A strangled, desperate roar releases from my throat as I reach my door and try to yank it open, but the fucking thing is locked. I slam my foot once, twice, three times next to the handle until the frame buckles. I keep kicking, desperation ringing in my ears, and finally the door slams free. I’m barrel into my sitting room, looking around wildly.
But it’s empty.
And the door to the bedroom is closed.
I ram my shoulder into it. The door flexes. It bends but doesn’t snap. I hear someone talking inside, but it’s muffled and distant. I kick again, slamming over and over, roaring like a lion now. I feel one of my toes crack, but it happens at a distance, like somebody else is controlling my body.
Cara is in there, my Cara, and someone is trying to hurt her. That was her scream, her pain, her terror.
Someone is in my room, hurting my wife, and I can’t get to her.
I can’t get to her fast enough.
Fuck, I have to get in there, I have to help her, but this fucking door won’t break.
A thousand thoughts run past me in a flash. If she dies, if I lose her, if I never tell her how I feel, if I fail to keep her safe, if I’m worthless, if I can’t even hold on to one decent thing-
The door rips open in a spray of splintered wood after one last desperate heave of all my strength and I stagger inside, knocked off balance by the sudden buckling.
It takes a half second to take in the scene.
A person kneels on the bed, leaning over someone else, a pillow shoved down hard over the prone figure’s face. The attacker’s wearing a hat, running shoes, yoga pants. I sprint over, covering the distance in a breath, and understanding hits me like a monsoon.
Sophia. Fucking Sophia.
“Get the fuck off her,” I roar as I grab Sophia by the arm and throw her onto the floor. She hits hard and rolls. I yank the pillow away to reveal Cara lying on her back, her eyes shut, not moving.
“Guards! Ambulance! Guards!” I bend down, terror lancing through my body as I try to listen for her breathing, as I look for her chest rising and falling, as I feel for a pulse-
If she’s dead, I’m dead. If she’s gone, I’ll burn this city down, and I’ll be gone with her.
But it’s there. Her heart’s beating, fucking hell, her heat’s beating. I lift her into my arms, saying her name again and again, and she takes a massive breath, choking and gagging, but she’s breathing again.
I hold her tight to my chest. “It’s okay, I have you,” I whisper. “I have you, I have you, you’re safe, I have you.”
“Eros?” she whispers, coughing as she struggles to get more air. “Eros? You’re here? How are you here?” She touches my face, blinking rapidly, color returning to her lips.
“I was bringing you breakfast. I came in and found her-” I look around for Sophia, but she’s gone. “Sophia. Fucking Sophia.” I want to get up and chase after her, catch my cousin, chain her in the basement and cut her to tiny pieces, make her suffer-but the look on Cara’s face stops me.
I can’t leave her, not right now.
“I have you,” I whisper, holding her tight. At the same time, I take my phone from my pocket and call Lycus. He answers on the second ring. “Find Sophia and my Aunt Anissa. Find them and take them into custody.”
“Eros? Are you joking?”
“Sophia tried to kill Cara. Do it now, Lycus. Everyone’s on high alert. Don’t let them get away.”
“Holy fuck, okay, yeah, I’ll catch them.”
I hang up, toss the phone away, and hold Cara tighter.
“I thought I was going to die,” she whispers, crying now. “I thought she was going to kill me.”
“It’s okay. I’m here. I’m here, and she won’t ever hurt you again. I swear it, she won’t ever come near you again.”
“After everything, I thought this was it.”
That breaks my fucking heart.
The girl has been through so much, and now my scum family decides to put her through more.
Cara doesn’t deserve this, and yet here I am, holding her tightly, wondering what I would’ve done if I had lost her.
Burn the house. Burn the world.
But she’s here in my arms, and I won’t let her go.