Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 116(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 116(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
Mateo pulled out his gun and fired a single bullet into the man’s head. It was a small act of mercy. Turning to the woman, he looked at her, and unfortunately, there was not a lot of time for what he wanted to do to her. She was going to have a quick death, but he hoped she would rot in hell, because that was the only acceptable place she was going.
****
Ella sat in the hospital room with Terry.
Mateo had brought her to the hospital and told her simply that Terry had been inside the closet for what looked like a week. The young girl was starved and dehydrated. The doctors were keeping her for observation.
Ella took one look at the girl and knew the hell she had been through. She’d experienced the same, so she didn’t leave that girl’s side. Jay and Steven remained on guard, and even when the nurses and doctors attempted to throw her out, she wouldn’t let them. Social workers attempted to visit the girl, but Mateo intervened. She didn’t know how he did it, but they stopped coming, and she was able to take care of Terry.
There were times the young girl would wake up thrashing, screaming, begging for it to stop. Ella kept the light on. She would climb onto the bed and the girl would wrap her arms around her and hold her tightly.
This was where she was when Mateo came into the hospital room. She hadn’t seen him for a couple of days.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey, yourself.” He stepped close to the bed. “How is she?”
“She’s doing much better. I know the doctors are happy to release her. She’s stable and recovered, and they need the bed.” Ella snorted and rubbed Terry’s back. “If she goes back there—”
“There is no there to go back to,” Mateo said. “The house burned down.”
Ella nodded. “With them inside?”
“Yes.”
She breathed a sigh of relief.
“Did you ever make a complaint?” Mateo asked.
She shook her head. “I know several who did. Some of them ended back in the closet, others got removed. I think there was always a fear of going someplace worse.” Ella looked over at him. “I was weak.”
“No, you’re a survivor.”
“Did others make complaints?”
“Yes, and they were ignored. Social workers went around the house, but they deemed the complaints to be false.”
Ella sighed. “It’s bad news.”
“Yeah, you don’t have to worry about those social workers causing trouble and not listening to kids anymore,” Mateo said.
She looked at him. “You took care of that as well?”
“The world is full of bad people, Ella. I’m just trying to balance it out.” He shrugged.
“You know, you’re starting to sound like a good person.”
He snorted. “No, I’m not.”
“You’re taking care of bad people. Saving kids. Sure, your methods are not exactly that of a superhero, but you’re doing it your own way.” Ella looked down at the young girl. “She will be deemed a troublemaker. Possibly even put in a worse place.”
“Or, we can take her,” Mateo said.
“Take her?”
“We can adopt her.”
“That is a lot of paperwork, and they have to dig into your background.”
“Ella, I know a lot of people. She can leave with us today,” he said.
“You’re serious?”
“Yeah, I am. You want to have her, take care of her, look after her. Just ask, and consider it done.”
Ella looked down at the young Terry. There was no way she would allow her to go back into a system like that. Ella had been in that position herself, and it was one of the single worst things she had ever experienced.
“I’m not sending her back there,” Ella said. “I want to adopt her, but only if you’re okay with that.”
“I don’t mind.” Mateo looked toward Terry. “And it appears she is already waking up.”
Terry let out a little sigh. She looked up at Ella, and she smiled down at the little girl. “Hey, Terry,” she said. “You don’t have to be afraid. Do you remember Mateo?”
The little girl turned her attention to Mateo, and she nodded her head.
“Hey, Terry,” he said.
“You rescued me.”
“I did. I’ve got a question for you, Terry. How would you like to come and live with me and my wife?” he said. “We live in a big house, lots of garden to play in. We can get your room ready for you.”
“Do you punish if I’m bad? I am a bad ... person,” Terry said.
This broke Ella’s heart.
“No, you’re not a bad person, Terry. They were bad people. Would you like to come see the house?” he asked.
Terry looked toward her.
“It’s up to you, sweetheart.”
“I don’t want to go back there.”
“You won’t,” Mateo said.
“Can I stay with Ella?”
“Yes,” Mateo said.
Ella smiled at her husband. He liked to paint himself the bad guy, but she knew the truth. He was, in fact, a very good guy.