Chapter 53

Chapter 53
VICKY’S POV

Watching Enzo saunter away gave me a wicked bad feelin’ straight in my gut.

My body literally went on high alert, that old street-smart instinct pricklin’ at the back of my neck. But try as I might, I couldn’t see anything explicitly wrong with him.

Maybe you’re just overthinkin’ it, Vick, I told myself, rollin’ my shoulders to shake off the tension.

It was easy to get paranoid when everyone around me had kept drillin’ it into my head about how these Italians were dangerous and that I needed to be watchful of every single breath they took.

I shook it off, brushin’ the suspicion away for the time bein’, and marched back into the dark cargo staging area to check if everything was still intact the way I had left it.

The second I stepped inside, my heart dropped straight into my stomach.

Freya was leanin’ against a crate, and she was tremblin’ so bad she looked like a leaf caught in a nor’easter. Her face had turned paper-white, and her eyes were swimmin’ in tears behind her crooked glasses.

Right at her feet, the company tablet was completely shattered on the floor, its screen spiderwebbin’ into a million pieces.

“Oh my God, Freya!” I barked, sprintin’ over to her.

I grabbed her by the shoulders, my eyes scannin’ her from top to bottom for any signs of assault.

“What the hell happened? Did that bastard touch you? Did he fucking touch you, Fre? Did he do anything to you? Did he try to harass you?”

“No! No, no, no, he did not!” Freya gasped out quickly, her voice crackin’ as she frantically pulled her face away from my grip, avoidin’ my eyes entirely.

She yanked a kerchief out of her pocket and began to scrub the tear stains off her cheeks quickly.

“I’m so sorry, Ms. Vicky. He didn’t do anything, I swear. I… I mistakenly dropped the tab.”

I frowned hard, my grip stayin’ firm on her arms.

“Why? How? You were in here with him alone for less than ten minutes, Fre. Did he say somethin’ creepy to you? Did he try to do somethin’ crazy with you? Look at me.”

“No, he did not, I swear,” she stammered, her chin quiverin’ as she stared hard at the broken glass on the floor.

She didn’t dare look me in the eyes, which I found very strange.

Freya is timid, I know. But she has never had any issue lookin’ me in the eye since she’s been workin’ with me.

“I just… I got a shocking phone call from home just now,” Freya began, fiddlin’ with the kerchief in her hands.

“When I got the news over the phone, I was so scared that I mistakenly dropped the tablet. I’m so, so sorry.”

“Oh my God, is everything okay?” I asked, my voice softenin’ immediately.

“Don’t worry about the stupid tablet. I’ll get it fixed up,” I said, bendin’ down quickly to pick up the remains of the shattered device.

I might have a sharp mouth and a reputation for actin’ like a thug, but I’m not a monster. Freya is my girl now, and seein’ her lookin’ so troubled made the protective side of me flare up instantly.

“My… my brother just called me from the house,” she whispered, her hands shakin’ so badly she could barely hold her kerchief. “He said that my mom collapsed.”

I blinked, totally thrown off.

“Your mom?”

Freya had never told me anything about her family before. She was always so quiet and secretive when it came to her family life. I didn’t know if she had a brother, a sister, or a hamster, let alone what was happenin’ in her home.

“What happened to your mom, Fre?”

“She… she had a terrible accident some months ago,” Freya explained, her words spillin’ out in a rushed, panicked jumble that made my internal radar twitch just a little.

“It really hurt her leg, and it’s been affectin’ her ability to walk and do normal things. She tried to get up and move around the kitchen today without her crutches and…”

Her voice broke, and she quickly covered her mouth with her right hand to stop the cry threatenin’ to tear out of her throat.

My heart sank with pity for her, and I rubbed her shoulder in consolation.

“It’s okay, baby. It’s okay.”

“They just rushed her to the hospital, and the hospital is demandin’ some upfront money for the admission fees, and I… I just sent them the last bit of money in my savings account.”

“How is she right now?”

“She will be fine now, I think,” she said, her voice growin’ more tense and defensive. “My little brother is stayin’ with her at the clinic. She’s in good hands.”

“Listen to me, you need to go home,” I said, straightenin’ up and lookin’ her dead in the eye.

“Do you need me to send you some money f—”

“No, no, no!” Freya interrupted, the words flyin’ out of her mouth so fast it made me flinch.

I narrowed my eyes at her. The way she said no was totally off. It didn’t sound like her usual timid refusal; it sounded like she was afraid of something, like she was afraid of me.

A cold wave of suspicion washed over me again, but lookin’ at how red her eyes were, I shrugged it off for the second time. Maybe she was just bein’ professional and didn’t want to bother me with her family problems.

“I need to be here. I need to work,” she insisted, tryin’ to smooth down her skirt with her trembling palms.

“My brothers are with her, Ms. Vicky. She will be fine. The doctor says it’s nothing much, just that they need to run some minor scans and look at the alignment. She will be back home by tomorrow morning, I’m sure of it.”

“Jesus, Fre, I’m so sorry about that,” I murmured, genuinely feelin’ awful for her.

“I’m so sorry. I never knew you were goin’ through such heavy difficulties at home. Listen, I’m goin’ to refund all that money right back to your account today. Don’t even sweat the hospital bill.”

“No!” Freya snapped again, her voice raisin’ even higher this time.