“And you’re just going to stay… down there?” she asked, eyeing my precarious position.
“Hey, you gave me the invitation. Don’t take all my fun away now. I quite like it down here.” I couldn’t help myself so I kissed her lazily through her cotton panties and she arched her back with a groan. I pulled back and laid my head down on her legs again. That wasn’t going to get her to talk—not what she needed to talk about right then, at least.
“Tease,” she grumbled. With a deep breath, she situated herself underneath me so she could talk while looking at me. “I used to take Kate and Braden down to the park, just so we could get some fresh air and I swear they liked hearing the kids play. I know they were just babies and couldn’t have actually understood what was going on, but they would always perk up when they listened to the sounds. It was a really peaceful time of the day.”
Her pause let me know that it was a peaceful time that was stolen from her. Now it would always be tarnished. I hated the Flores family even more for putting that look on her face. I nuzzled her leg and she gave me a half-smile.
“One day, I was holding Braden in my arms and Kate was asleep in the stroller. An older lady joined me on the park bench and she started asking me about the babies. I didn’t see the harm. She began the conversation in Spanish and then she was intrigued that I knew it so fluently. I told her about my family in Colombia. I remember she rolled her eyes and told me that’s where I had gotten my ugly accent. I didn’t even think much of it because I remembered my mom saying the same thing about people from other Spanish-speaking countries. She asked if I planned on teaching the babies and I told her I would try. Definitely Braden would learn, but I didn’t really know how long I would get with Kate.”
“She seemed nice, just a little nosy. She told me how she never could have children and she was envious of the two pretty babies. I didn’t know if she understood that I was just Kate’s nanny, but I didn’t bother to explain myself. Braden started getting hungry and fussy at that point and she asked me if I breastfed. Then she went on this huge lecture about how it was best for them. I nodded my head and politely excused myself so I could feed him back at your apartment without her advice. That…” Her voice cracked and I tensed. My hands gripped her legs, and I lifted up and lightly kissed her stomach.
“She must have followed me. That’s the only way she could have known where to find us that night. I was an idiot, Lane.”
I finally climbed back up her body and positioned myself above her. “No babe, you weren’t. Even I would have fallen for that. She was a con-artist.”
“If I would have just kept my big mouth shut, she never would have been so interested. Then we would have never…”
“Shhh…” I consoled.
“She liked that I spoke Spanish,” she continued.
“Do you know how many people speak Spanish in New York City, Rae?” When she didn’t answer, I did. “Millions, Rae. Millions. This lady picked you out because she liked you. She wanted what you had and she just so happened to have an evil bastard of husband to help her.”
“I had nothing! My aunt died so I was on the streets. Braden and I bounced between friends’ houses and your house. I don’t know why she chose me, but I had nothing.”
“You had two of the prettiest babies known to mankind.”
“She was sick,” she said quietly.
“That she was.”
“No, like terminally ill. It wasn’t long after we got to Mexico that she passed away. I guess Flores had… taken us… for his wife. To give her the babies she could never have. I was just the convenient caretaker. They probably planned on killing me once Braden and Kate didn’t need me anymore.”
“He stole you guys so his wife could have kids?” My temper spiked. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! What about adoption?! Legal fucking adoption! What about the fact that one of the babies was mine!?”
I rolled off of her and she followed to face me. I had spent many sleepless nights trying to determine a possible motive. Now that I knew, I felt deflated. How the fuck does someone take someone else’s child just because they couldn’t have their own?
“I heard one of the guys say that she had been obsessed with me for a long time. I guess… she had been watching me.” I felt a violent shiver run through her body and I grabbed her to hold her close—to comfort both of us. “Well, turns out it had all been for nothing. The bitch died and then Flores had no idea what to do with us. So he kept us locked in a room. I guess he hoped that Braden would grow up and work for him.”
I took a deep breath, preparing myself to ask a question I needed to ask, even if I wasn’t sure I could handle the answer. “You said they tried to get rid of… Kate?” I was surprised to hear the weakness that bled from my own voice.
She cleared her throat uncomfortably. “Flores came to me one day, which was rare. He said he had no need for a daughter.” I clenched my fist at those words. If I could get a hold of that bastard again, he would die a slow death. He had no right to even use the word ‘daughter.’ Raegan waited for my inner turmoil to cool down.
“He said that only Braden would really be of any benefit to him one day. I clutched Kate to my chest so tightly they would have to take me before they would only her. So that’s what they did… they took us both. Away from Braden and I about died right there.”
“What? I don’t understand… you never said you were separated from him…” I felt immensely guilty and pulled in a thousand different directions. I was thankful she had held on to Kate, but how could I expect any mother to have to leave her own child?
“They couldn’t console Braden… no matter what they tried. He was only breastfed so they couldn’t even get him to eat. After what felt like a lifetime, they let Kate and I go back to him. I still hadn’t let her go. Then they just kept us there, locked away from everything, hoping that their version of solitary confinement would eventually break me. They came back every couple of months to collect Kate, but I wouldn’t let them. So they took to… marking me. Each time I refused to give them Kate… another mark. I think it was just a fun game to them; they didn’t really care about Kate anymore. They just liked fucking with me.”
“What do you mean they marked you, Rae?” I managed to get through my clenched teeth.
“Like cuts. On my skin,” she whispered.
“What the hell?” I asked a bit louder. I hadn’t seen any cuts on her.
She slowly rolled away from me onto her stomach. I sat up on my knees and looked down at her lying there below me. She didn’t move, didn’t even point to where I should be looking so I took her in her whole body. It didn’t take me long to see what she was talking about, although I wished it had.
There, from mid-calf to her upper thigh, all along the backside of her left leg were slices in her skin, each about four inches in length. They were all healed but in different phases of scarring and looked like stripes down her leg. Only her left leg, which was strange to me.
“Babe…” I stated, at a loss for words.
“It didn’t really hurt,” she lied.
“Is this why you only wear pants?”
“It didn’t seem polite to scare anyone. I know it’s not pretty.” She turned back over, taking the view of her leg away from me but not the memory.
I pushed between her legs again and raised her left in the air. Her breath hitched as I began kissing the skin at the site of the first terrible slash, all the way up to what looked like the newest one, closest to her ass. I hated that one the most. She must have been so scared and humiliated.
“The last one was over a year ago. I think they got bored with that tactic.”
Or they were biding their time for something else.