Chapter 116: Emma’s Trauma
Sierra's POV
The line went dead. Ben looked at me, ready for attack. "What did he say?" I stood up, my legs shaky beneath me. "He told me to lock the doors. Something's happened." We moved to the office door, turning the lock just as someone knocked. Soft and gentle. After everything that had happened, every sound felt dangerous.
"Luna Sierra?" A woman's voice called through the door. Young and scared. "Please, I need help. It's about my daughter." I looked at Ben.
He moved to the window, peeping through the blinds. "It's Rachel," he whispered. "Thomas's wife." My heart pounded. This could be a trap.
I unlocked the door. Rachel stood in the hallway holding a little girl's hand. Emma. I recognized her immediately from the rescue. But those eyes that had been so relieved when we found her were now empty, staring at nothing. Rachel's face was streaked with tears.
"I'm sorry," Rachel whispered. "I didn't know where else to go. Emma hasn't been the same since the kidnapping. She has nightmares every night. And today..." She broke down, her whole body shaking with sobs. Emma stood there, her small hand limp in her mother's grip, her eyes distant.
I pulled them both inside quickly, locking the door behind them. Ben brought Rachel a chair while I knelt in front of Emma. "Hi, Emma," I said softly. "Do you remember me? I helped find you." The little girl's eyes focused on me for just a moment before going distant again.
Rachel wiped her eyes, trying to compose herself. "The doctors say she has severe trauma. She barely speaks anymore. Won't eat much, wakes up screaming but this morning she kept saying your name over and over. Luna Sierra. So I brought her here."
I touched Emma's hand gently. It was ice cold despite the warm office. "What happened this morning, Rachel?" Rachel's face crumpled. "She had another nightmare but this time when she woke up, she was trying to tell me something.
But she's so scared, she can barely get the words out." She looked at her daughter with such pain it made my chest ache. "I thought maybe if she saw you, someone she trusts from the rescue, she might be able to tell you what she's trying to say."
Ben and I exchanged looks. Emma had been kidnapped by Dominic as part of his scheme with Marcus. We had rescued her two weeks ago but clearly something she had overheard during that terrible time was still haunting her.
I sat down on the floor, bringing myself to Emma's eye level. "Emma, sweetheart, you're safe now. Nobody's going to hurt you. Not Dominic, not anyone."
At Dominic's name, Emma flinched. Her lips parted slightly. I placed my hand on my belly. "This is my baby. Would you like to feel them move?"
She had been drawn to my pregnancy then, asking innocent questions about babies that had helped calm her fear.
Now, for the first time since she had arrived, Emma reacted. She nodded. Just once but it was something. I guided her tiny hand to my stomach. The baby kicked, as if knowing we needed this moment. Emma's eyes widened. A single tear rolled down her cheek.
"The pretty lady," Emma whispered. Her voice was so quiet I had to lean closer to hear. Rachel gasped, covering her mouth. Ben moved closer, his expression grave. "What pretty lady, Emma?" I asked gently.
Emma's hand stayed on my belly, feeling the baby move beneath her palm. "The pretty lady who came to see the bad man. She had yellow hair like princess hair and a green ring that sparkled." My heart stopped. Yellow hair. Green ring. Evelyn. She had been there during Emma's kidnapping, she had been there with Dominic.
Emma continued, her words coming faster now like a dam had broken. "I was in the dark room. They didn't know I could hear them through the wall. The pretty lady was angry. She was yelling at the bad man."
Rachel sobbed, pulling her daughter close, but Emma kept talking, her eyes locked on mine. "What did the pretty lady say in the dark place?" Emma's bottom lip trembled. "She said mean things about you. She said you stole everything from her and that you didn't deserve to be Luna."
Fresh tears spilled down the child's face. "She told the bad man that hurting Daddy wasn't enough. She said she had to stop you from having the baby and she said the baby can't be born." The room went silent except for Rachel's crying and the sound of my own heartbeat thundering in my ears.
Evelyn hadn't just been working with Dominic on the blackmail. She was physically planning to harm my baby this time. Emma wasn't finished. "She said once the baby is gone, everyone will see you're weak. They'll make her Luna instead."
Ben stood frozen, his face pale. Rachel held Emma tighter, her whole body shaking. "That monster was plotting this while my daughter was terrified in that warehouse?" Her voice cracked with rage and grief.
"She used my baby's kidnapping as a planning meeting?" I wrapped my arms around both of them, fighting to keep my own terror under control. Emma had been just feet away from Evelyn, hearing her plot to kill my unborn child.
This innocent little girl had carried this horrible secret for two weeks, too traumatized and scared to tell anyone until now.
The door burst open. Adrian stood there with two security guards, his face wild with panic. He saw me holding Emma and Rachel and saw the tears streaming down my cheeks. "What happened?" he demanded.
I looked up at him, my voice barely steady. "Emma overheard Evelyn during the kidnapping. She was there with Dominic, planning everything.
And Adrian..." I had to force the words out. "She told Dominic that our baby can't be born. She's planning to kill our child." Adrian went very still. The kind of still that comes before violence. His hands clenched into fists at his sides, his jaw tight. "Where is Evelyn now?" Ben pulled up something on his phone.
"According to her credit cards, she checked into the Riverside Hotel this morning. Room 412." Adrian turned to his security guards, his voice deadly calm. "Find her. Bring her to the pack house. Now."