Find me

Chapter 51

Henry POV

Who the fuck is Roger? Did he hurt my little girl?

My heart was beating so fucking hard that my ribs started to hurt.

“Who is Roger, baby?” I asked as gently as I could.

She didn’t respond. She couldn’t. She was sobbing so hard that I was scared that she was going to stop breathing.

I moved closer, placing my hands around her waist and trying to take her into my arms.

“No.” she cried out, holding on to Gabriel. “Please, no.”

I let her go immediately. Gabriel looked at me angrily.

“It’s okay, baby.” I said, placing my hand on her head. “It’s your dad, baby. I won’t take you away from your brother. I just need you to tell me who Roger is. I need you to tell me what he did.”

“He is my parents’ friend.” she said through her sobs. “I saw him in school today. He said that he came to take me away.”

My heart stopped beating.

I looked at Gabriel. His eyes were wide and fearful.

“When did you see him?” he asked her, his voice trembling. “I was with you the entire time.”

“When I went to the bathroom.” Aria said quietly.

What? How the fuck did he get inside the school? I was going to kill the fucking principal. How could he let strangers inside the fucking school?!

“How did the fucker even get in?” Julian asked angrily.

I turned around to look at him.

He looked murderous. He looked fucking ready to kill.

“He is the new janitor.” Gabriel mumbled, making me look back at him.

“What?” I asked, surprised.

“He is the new janitor.” Gabriel said, pressing Aria closer to him. “Gray told me that our old janitor broke his leg and that there was a new guy replacing him. Gray even told me that his name was Roger. I didn’t connect it until now.”

Fuck! I was going to kill the fucker.

I looked back at my little girl. Her sobs quieted down a little, but she was still shaking.

“Aria, baby, can you please tell us what happened?” I asked her gently. “I need to call Owen.”

Aria lifted her head and nodded. Gabriel picked her up and turned her around so she would face us.

She grabbed his hands, panicking that he would let her go.

“I’m not letting go, okay?” Gabriel said softly, pressing her against his chest. “I’m never letting go.”

He kissed her temple and wrapped his arms around her as tightly as he could.

Aria looked up at me, and my heart broke. She looked so sad and scared.

“Did he ever hurt you, baby?” I asked her, praying to every deity I could think of that the answer would be no.

My prayers fell on deaf ears.

“He did.” she said quietly.

I could feel the anger in the air. Gabriel, Julian, Andrew, Luke, and I were radiating huge amounts of it.

“When?” Gabriel asked her.

“He would hit me whenever he came to visit my parents.” she said quietly.

My vision blackened. I was going to kill the fucker.

“I am going to kill him.” Julian gritted through his teeth.

I glanced behind me and saw Andrew pulling his dad into a hug.

I took a deep breath and shifted my focus back on my daughter.

“Aria, baby, what happened today?” I asked her, trying to keep the anger out of my voice.

I looked at my son, who had his eyes closed. His jaw was clenched tight, and he was taking deep breaths.

“I went to the bathroom when we were at lunch.” Aria said quietly as tears streamed down her cheeks. “Roger was in there. I froze when I saw him. He closed and locked the bathroom door. He told me that I had to be punished because I put my parents in jail...”

She stopped talking and took a deep breath. I could feel the anger in the air increasing.

“He told me to pretend that I was angry at you.” she continued, looking up at me. “He told me that I needed to make it look like I ran away because the police wouldn’t look for me if they thought that I ran away.”

I saw red. What?

Gabriel’s arms around her tightened so much that I was scared that she wouldn’t be able to breathe.

The room was silent, but the anger just kept growing.

“He told me that my dad gave him instructions on where to take me and how to punish me.” she said quietly as she placed her hand on her thigh.

Did he touch her? Today? In school? Did he touch my daughter?!

My heart was going to jump out of my body. I was fucking sure of it.

“He told me that he was going to kill my dad and my brother if I didn’t come to him.” she added as she started sobbing again. “I can’t let him hurt you. I can’t.”

I couldn’t hold back anymore. I grabbed her and pulled her to me. I wrapped my arms around her, trying to calm down a little. She wrapped her arms and her legs tightly around me.

“He won’t hurt us.” I said, my voice laced with anger. “He won’t hurt you. I won’t let him.”

I looked up at Julian. He was shaking and staring down at my little girl.

“Call Owen.” I told him. “Tell him to get here right the fuck now.”

Julian nodded, took the phone out of his pocket, and walked out of the kitchen.

Gabriel wrapped his arms around the both of us and kissed the top of her head repeatedly.

“He won’t hurt you, Ari.” Gabriel said, sobbing. “I won’t let him hurt you.”

“When did he tell you to leave the house?” I asked, tightening my arms around her.

“Today at 8 pm.” she said quietly.

That’s why she looked up at the clock.

Fuck! I almost fucking lost my daughter again!

“Where did he tell you to go, cutie?” Andrew asked her softly.

“He told me that he would wait for me at the end of my street.” she answered quietly.

Oh, great. I knew where the fucker was going to be today at 8 pm. I was going to kill him. I was. I didn’t give a shit. He hurt my little girl. He tried to take her away from me. He was going to die today.

I heard footsteps approaching, and I looked behind me. Julian came back into the kitchen.

“Owen will be here in 10 minutes.” Julian said as he looked down at Aria.

“Can you give her back to me, dad, please?” Gabriel asked me, his voice trembling.

I looked at my son, and my heart broke again. He looked so fucking sad and scared.

“Of course, bud.” I said softly as I unwrapped my arms from my daughter.

Gabriel pulled her to him immediately. I waited until they hugged before I leaned in and kissed them both.

“I love you so much, my babies.” I said quietly, leaning my forehead against Gabriel’s.

“We love you too, dad.” my little girl said quietly.

I sobbed, turning my head and kissing her temple.

“Will you be able to repeat all that to Owen, baby?” I asked her softly.

She nodded, burying her head in Gabriel’s neck.

I stood up and turned to look at Julian. He was ready to kill.

Just as I was.