Authors note: Hello, everyone. For those that dare to read my rambling words, I hope you enjoy the Final instalment of the Patchwork Princess. As always, if you enjoy it, please comment and vote. If you hate it, please do neither, ~ellie.
Patchwork Princess 4.
The devastation Holly had felt in watching her business be destroyed, albeit at the rear of the building they had cleaned out of anything important earlier, was just as heart-rending as if she had truly lost everything. The news the following morning showed the fire service and police bathed in the red and blue lights from their vehicles as they sorted through the charred wreckage after the explosion and fire. She'd fought so hard to make a new life for herself, and now these women were trying to take it away because of the revenge Teddy had taken on her behalf.
Over a week later, it was still difficult to say how she felt. She was angry at the situation and unable to do anything but sit and wait. It was hard to be mad at Teddy, who had reacted out of grief. She could even see that grief drove the woman making her life hell. The difference was that Teddy acted when his grief was raw and clouding his judgement. These women had planned their revenge and were calculating and manipulative in their attempts to threaten and scare her. Still, she felt sorry for them rather than angry because she knew now that threatening one of the Steel Heart Brotherhood meant a world of pain for whoever was stupid enough to do it, not that the women would have known that was where their plans would have taken them.
"What the hell?" she asked the empty room as there was a loud banging on her door before it was pushed open from the corridor.
"Seems you had a visitor who didn't want to be announced and made their way up the fire escape," Declan, one of the men assigned to watch her apartment, announced as he pushed the middle-aged woman into the room.
"Magda?" she asked, not truly surprised by the woman's appearance but by the anger she saw in Declan's face and the two men who followed him inside.
"Teddy is on his way back now with Beau and Saxon. The exterior is on lockdown, and the rest of the crew are on alert for anyone who may have been watching her back," Aggro, another of the men with Declan, reported.
"Magda, come on in and sit down. I'm sure this has just been a misunderstanding. People are a bit on edge since the accident at the shop, so finding someone not checking in at the front desk can make my guard dogs worried," Holly soothed gently, leading the older woman to a couch. "Their bark is much worse than their bite, honestly. Would you like a glass of water? You look a bit pale," she offered.
"Thank you, Holly. I was so worried when I saw what happened to your shop, and then I couldn't get hold of you or Carter, so I came to see if you were alright and not working late that night. I would never forgive myself if you got hurt so badly again," Magda rambled. Her eyes darted worried looks at the men who had spread out around the room, leaving only one to guard the door and prevent her escape.
"Again?" Holly asked, her hackles raising as she realised once and for all that Teddy and his brothers were right and she was part of a group trying to scare her or worse.
"You were hurt a long time ago. I think Carter mentioned something about terrible scars when you refused to try something I had brought especially for you to wear," she waved her hand as if dismissing the idea.
"You need to try again because my best friends don't even know about that," Holly said in almost a whisper. She stood and moved away from the woman, a look of horror on her face.
"No, you don't understand," Magda started to get up and follow Holly, but a large hand landed on her shoulder, frightening her enough to scream and make Holly flee to the kitchen to catch her breath.
"Here," Declan said, handing her his phone.
"Holly? Talk to me, baby, please," Teddy said in an anguished tone. "You are safe, and you are loved. That witch is the one who is not safe there, so fuck her and the broom she rode in on!"
"I'm okay," Holly said with a soft laugh. "She just ...." She paused, considering the conversation. "She seemed upset that I might have been hurt again. Again! That was what she said like she was there the first time."
"Fuck! We are about five minutes from your building. Let the guys handle her until we get there. Please don't talk to her again. I'll get them to take her across the hall," Teddy said, sounding frustrated.
"Gotta keep them apart," Beau's deep voice sounded from near Teddy.
"No, don't. I'm fine now," Holly breathed. "Besides, she might let something slip if I feed into her concern. I'm okay now that I have heard your voice, and know that you'll be here in a few minutes anyway."
"Okay, give Declan back the phone," he said with a large breath, half sighing and half frustrated.
"I love you," Holly whispered to reassure him. Then she handed back the phone and poured a glass of water for Magda and one for herself.
"I'm sorry about that," she announced as she walked back into the living room, placing the glass of water in front of the woman and taking a seat a little further away so there would be no chance for low-voiced conversations that the men in the room wouldn't hear.
"Thank you," she said, leaning forward slightly to take the glass and sip at it.
"The torture and subsequent medical procedures that were almost as bad still affect every moment of my life. The scars pull and twist when I move; while the pain is bad, it's not as bad as it used to be," she said, exaggerating her suffering a little. "Still, I'm lucky to be alive, so I shouldn't be so sensitive about it when it happened so long ago, and so many weren't as lucky as me."
"Torture? Come now, you expect me to believe a sweet girl like you was tortured?" she gave a brittle half-laugh.
"Oh, so you don't know the whole story?" Holly tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. "It's too late now to play innocent. That bomb was delivered with your order. You had my number to send me those threats, I don't know that I can prove the package containing the doll was you, but you're about the right build for the person we got on the camera feed."
"Ah, not so sweet after all," she shrugged. "None of those things was my doing, but I will admit that I knew about them and did not lift a hand to stop them. However, I was concerned when I thought you had been injured in the blast. Not that you believe that, and I expect my life is forfeit now anyway."
"Then why come here, now? Just to taunt me one last time?" Holly accused.
"It seems our surveillance is not what it was, and once your boyfriend left and we had seen no others entering the building this morning, we believed it worth the risk to attempt another prank. No harm would have come to you," she admitted.
"A prank?" Holly gasped and stood but was blocked from moving toward the woman by Declan, who held his phone out to her again. "No!" she pushed his hand away. "Get out of my way," she went to step around him, but he picked her up by the waist, put her over his shoulder in a fireman's hold, and walked her to the bedroom."
"She's goading you into doing something you will regret. So now we stay here until Teddy arrives, understand?" He looked into her eyes to show his resolve, and she nodded, turning to pace the room, her mind whirling. It was only a few minutes until Teddy walked through her door and pulled her into his arms.
"We got this, but we need to tread carefully. We need to talk about the past, do you understand?" Teddy said softly and felt her nod against his chest." If you let that woman get under your skin again, Declan will bring you back here until it's over, understand?"
"Okay, I get it," she said, irritated that he was treating her like a child. She had let the woman goad her, and she could see that now but she didn't need to be lectured like an idiot.
"Do you?" he raised an eyebrow. "You still sound pretty mad."
"Because you're treating me like a child, you arsehole!" she hissed and pushed away from him.
"I'm trying to protect you! Some of the stuff we are about to say and do will be triggers for you. We will be talking about what happened to you and the rehabilitation you went through. I told them that you would want to be there, but I need you to understand that Saxon and Beau will not hesitate to take Magda elsewhere to question her if you look distressed or are having trouble dealing," he pulled back and looked into her eyes. "I won't hide shit from you, but I also won't let that shit hurt you."
"I told you I get it," she hissed angrily, pushing him further away this time. The waiting and paranoia of being watched day in and out were finally getting to her, and she was ready to look this horror in the face and put it behind her once and for all. Maybe these women could fill in those drug-induced blank spots in her memory born of pain and trauma.
She opened the bedroom door, knowing he was right behind her and walked out to find that Magda now sat at the small dining table with Beau and Saxon opposite her. She allowed Teddy to pull her to him as he leaned against the wall, watching as two of the two men, whom he respected above all others, continued their conversation with the woman.
"Then finding that her son had not only kidnapped the Slaugh princess and kept her in a drug-induced state as he not only raped and abused her but also had tattooed and branded her," Saxon's voice was low and hard.
"Tereza took her to the hospital. She was never in any real danger," Magda argued.
"Only after carving out the brand and tattoo that would name the people who had tortured her," Beau laid out photos that made Magda physically recoil. "Why would she have needed so much rehabilitation if it were only a branding she was recovering from? Nobody believed she would survive her injuries, and her remaining family were called to say farewells. Did Tereza leave that part out of the story she told you?"
"She did what she had to do to protect her family," Magda said, averting her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest.
"Now we are protecting ours. You take this information and irrefutable evidence back to the women you scheme with and tell them the truth about what happened. We may not have known Holly when all of this shit went down, we were fighting our own war at the time, but that woman is our family now. If you keep coming at her to try and find some spectre from over a decade ago, we will not only come for you but all those who helped you, including your delivery men. One was your grandson if I'm not mistaken. Are you prepared to lose what is left of your family?" Saxon continued to speak in the low, threatening tone he had used throughout the interview.
