Free Scarred by C. M. Steele Page A

on trying to leave me.
    "Listen. Can't we work something out? I have more money than my uncle could ever dream of. I could give you more than he's offering you."
    "You'd pay to get out of trouble just like all of your family." His disdain for my family, me included, had been clear.
    "What makes you hate them so much?" Elena asked him, trying to keep him talking. Good girl. He lowered his gun slightly, giving me the opening I needed.
    I made a slow movement in hopes he would think I was trying to get closer to her, which he bought. Then I lunged at him, gripping him from around the waist. He still got off a round but underestimated my strength and the power of kickback. He dropped the gun as he crashed to the ground hitting his head on the corner trim of the wall.
    Just then, the police busted through the door. I was sinking my fist into the bastard’s face for the third time when three officers pulled me off of him.
    “Dexter, calm down. He’s out cold.”
    “He should be dead,” I gritted through my teeth, fear and adrenaline still running wild.
    “Then we should have come in a minute later,” one officer remarked.
    “Yes. But if you don’t get a hold of my uncle before I do, he will be dead.”
    “We’ve already sent someone to pick him up. We’re pretty sure we can get this piece of shit to testify against him.”
    “Thanks,” I said taking Elena in my arms.
    “Oh no, where’s Bruno?”
    “I don’t know. You sit here and I’ll go look for him.” I went into her room and heard some scratching. I thought he was in the bathroom so I opened the door, but he wasn’t in there. I was about to walk out when something on the sink caught my eye. I picked it up and smiled like a madman.
    The scratching continued—he was in the closet. Opening it, Bruno ran out of the room. I walked back into the living room and there he was in Elena’s arms.
     

Chapter 7
    We were back where we belonged—our home. It was late, and I knew that nothing was going to be resolved tonight. Sleep was more important. I carried her back to bed and we laid there all night. Her body wrapped around mine, tense and shaking.
    “I’m sorry, Elena. I’m right here. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
    “You could have died,” she sobbed out, crying against my chest. I knew then that I hadn’t lost her completely. If she were angry with me, I could handle that, but leaving me would be crushing. I just laid there in bed through the night, unable to fall asleep. My mind had been wandering to life with my uncle. In the several years that I’d lived with him, I never felt any true affection from him. If my father hadn’t been to blame for the accident, I might have thought my uncle had a hand in it. 
    He received some of my inheritance to look after me all those years and that I couldn’t complain about, or I would have been shuffled off somewhere else and my father’s company disbanded and sold. My mind swirled around with possible reasons for his need to have me killed. Besides claiming my inheritance, there was nothing else. Although, he had no idea that my money went to Kim and her family as well as several charitable organizations unless I had a wife and or child. Both of which would be happening in the very near future. I could have lost both of them today. Damn.
    Fuck! I jumped out of bed and stared out the window looking for answers. Rage and pain struck me hard. Since she and I got together, I hadn’t had a sleepless night. That all changed now. I didn’t know how long I’d been staring out the window before I felt her slender arms around my waist, her hands on my chest with her head against my spine.
    “Do you want to talk about it right now?” she murmured against my back.
    I turned around to face her. “Which it?” We had so much to talk about, so much I needed to make up for.
    Elena pressed her hands against my cheeks making me look her in the eyes. “We can’t change what happened that night of the accident. It