“Give her to her mama,” Rita Slutita ordered. “Come here, baby,” we heard her say over the wailing. Larry must have passed her over to her because she made a noise like she was shushing her and then said, “I think I’ll call you Tiara. You’re not as pretty as I was when I was a baby, but we can make you look a little better.”
Jose crying hysterically made me bite my fist. I’d given up looking at the screen of my phone, too scared about what I’d see if I did, and listening to it was torture. I wanted to scream at them, but it wouldn’t do any good, and the feeling of helplessness was nauseating.
Feeling Dave squeeze my hand, I looked up and saw that we were pulling up in front of Jose’s house and that Logan and Raoul were already there.
Not waiting for the truck to stop, I jumped out and started running up to the front door. “Jesus Christ, Tabby,” Dave yelled, getting out and slamming his door shut.
I could hear him running behind me but I didn’t stop, too seton getting through the door and helping my sister and niece.
Running into the room, I saw Logan and Raoul standing with their arms out like they were trying to calm the situation, while Ellis slowly made his way up behind Larry, carefully taking each step like he was walking through a minefield. My entrance distracted all of them, including Rita who swung wildly in my direction making Olivia sway in her arms, tipping over as she lost her hold on her.
I didn’t stop to think about what I was doing, I just ran forward with my arms out in front of me toward where she was standing. I caught her just as Olivia slipped out of the blanket she was wrapped in. Pulling the baby into my chest, I bent over her to protect her with my body, which was just as well because the sound of skin hitting skin followed it and someone kicked me in the side as they fell over me.
“Bitch!” Larry roared, but it was cutoff and followed by a thud.
“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,” Jose sobbed close to my head. “Is she ok? Tell me she’s ok,” she shrieked.
Carefully, I untucked my body from its tight huddle and moved Olivia so that her mother could see her. Falling to her knees, Jose took her and lay her on the floor, moving her clothes aside as she checked her for injuries. There was some bruising and redness on her arm and ribs, but aside from that she looked ok. Pissed off, but ok.
Two pairs of booted feet appeared beside us, making both of us jerk expecting it to be Larry, and relieved when we saw Ellis and Dave both staring down at us with heaving chests.
“Is she ok?” Dave asked, but it was Ellis’s face that got my attention as he saw the bruising on the baby.
Spinning around, he stormed over to where Larry was now handcuffed with a hissing and spitting Rita beside him. Bending over at the waist, he grabbed Larry’s face in his hand and yanked it so he had no choice but to look at him.
“You and your whore fucked up,” he growled loudly. Interestingly enough, both Logan and Raoul looked away from what was happening, even checking that their nails were clean. “I’m going to do everything I can to make sure you get a decent sentence. After that, you’ll have to sit wondering when I’ll spill to your fellow inmates what you did. See, a lot of those guys can murder someone, but when it comes to hurting a baby, they turn into men with morals, ones which react strongly to what a man like you has done. I’ll wait it out and take my time, maybe even a year or two, but you can be fucking certain that I’m going to send them the photos I’m about to take of the bruises, along with anything else I can get on you.” Standing up, he looked over at Rita who was glaring at him with pure hatred. “You too, bitch. Both of you brace, it’s coming.”
As both of them started yelling at him, Larry begging him not to do it while Rita screamed different names at him, he spun and walked back toward us, squatting down behind Jose who was still sobbing and pulling her and Olivia back into his arms.
“DB,” Raoul called, getting Dave’s attention. “We gotta deal with this one,” he pointed at Rita.
It looked like he was going to say something else, but Dave held his hand up to stop him. “Got it. Just get it dealt with and make sure you find out everywhere they stayed and bring the team in to search the places. I want every bit of evidence we can get.”