Keep Me Safe (Slow Burn #1)(34)

“Jesus,” Caleb muttered. “I don’t want to hear the rest of this. Stop it, baby. Don’t do this to yourself. It doesn’t matter.”

“I want to hear,” Eliza softly interjected, ignoring Caleb’s look of fury.

Ramie spoke unemotionally, as though she were reciting a news story that had no personal connection.

“My foster mother made it succinctly clear that I was not her real daughter. That I was not their real sister. My foster father didn’t even bother to acknowledge the question because to him I simply didn’t exist. The only time he spoke of me, not to me, mind you, was if a check from the state was late arriving and then he’d storm around the house complaining about what a burden having another mouth to feed was when it was their own children who needed things. Not some street kid who told lies to police officers so it got her sympathy.”

“Goddamn it,” Caleb cursed savagely. He glanced at Dane and Eliza, furious that they had pushed her to this. It was like ripping off a bandage and causing a wound to bleed fresh blood.

Ramie was in her past now, digging up old hurts and disappointments. Her eyes became distant, the light flickering and dying slowly in her gaze.

“Becky disappeared on the way home from school. She walked with me sometimes, even though she wasn’t supposed to. She’d hold my hand and smile up at me. I was so many years older than her and yet she seemed determined to take care of me. It always astonished me that something so good could come from such evil. Becky was sweet. Nothing like my foster parents or her other siblings. It was cold that day so I was walking fast, even though I was in no hurry to get home. As soon as I walked through the door the dad grabbed my shoulders, bruising me with his strength. I was always small for my age.”

Caleb’s and Eliza’s expression blackened and became stormy. Dane shook his head, muttering God only knew what under his breath. He looked as pissed as the people he worked with.

“I knew he was putting up a front, but I didn’t comprehend at first just what he’d done or why. He made accusations. He told the police I had threatened Becky and they believed him. Of course they did.”

She broke off and went silent a long moment, the retelling obviously one of the many demons in her past.

“He didn’t believe in my abilities. If he did, he would have made an effort to mask his thoughts. It was repulsive. I was in shock. And then I was terrified. I knew that no matter what happened that I needed to run and get as far away from the evil inside that house as I could.”

“Did he hurt you?” Caleb asked menacingly.

Ramie’s gaze shot upward, surprise reflected all over her face. “It doesn’t matter now, Caleb. That was ten years ago. I’m not that scared teenager anymore.”

“No, you’re just a very scared adult,” Eliza said gently.

Ramie swallowed visibly, not refuting Eliza’s assertion. She looked frozen, her hands trembling violently.

“Ramie?” Caleb asked gently. “What happened next? What happened to Becky?”

“He touched me,” Ramie choked out. “Not sexually. But he grabbed my shoulders, putting on a show for the police, playing the role of the frantic parent who feared his daughter had been harmed by the freak teenage foster child. And I could see what he wanted, every sick, demented fantasy he’d conjured. He had no idea that the minute he touched me I felt every single thing he wanted to do to me in full color. It was as if it really happened. I felt as violated as if it had happened.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Caleb said with such fury that it seemed to scorch the air around them.

“What happened to Becky?” Eliza persisted, steering Ramie back forcibly.

Her voice was whipcord strong, snapping over Ramie and making her compliant. Anger bristled Caleb, his nostrils quivering. He held up his hand to stop it all but Dane shook his head.

“Wait,” Dane said quietly.

Ramie stood as still as a statue, her features frozen. Caleb reached for one of her hands, and she flinched at the contact. Her fingers were icy and goose bumps spread rapidly up her arm, every hair on end. She snatched her hand back as if he’d burned her, and she cupped the hand he’d touched with her other, rubbing absently as if he’d injured her.

“There was one police officer who at least looked as though he hadn’t already judged me and found me guilty. He kept silent, watching the father. And me. I think he knew, or suspected. He separated me from my foster parents, telling them he needed to question me. When we were alone, he told me that he’d done research on me. And that he thought I could help find Becky. He said if I’d help find her that he would make sure I was placed with another family—a good one.”

“He blackmailed you,” Eliza said in an appalled voice.

“You agreed,” Caleb said grimly.

His stomach turned over and he traded glances with Eliza and Dane, saw the same knowledge on their faces of where this was going. It sickened him. He’d do anything to protect Ramie from her past, but there was nothing he could do. The damage was already done. Maybe she’d never recover.

Ramie nodded slowly. “Yes. I agreed. Of course I agreed. I had to prove that I had nothing to do with her disappearance.”

She closed her eyes, visible pain furrowing her brow. She swayed on her feet and Caleb wrapped his fingers around her arm just above her elbow to steady her. This time she didn’t flinch away from him, but he was calmer now. He had to be more careful to control his thoughts and not hurt her with his emotions.