Author's Note:

Hello! ❤️

I've hit more than 1K reads, what makes me so happy and excited! Thank you all for your support and for being here with me. It keeps me motivated and makes me feeling awesome about my work! 

Lots of Love and Stay Safe!

- Caroline ❤️

***

"Keep the change!" Hailie exclaimed quickly and got out of a taxi.

The driver must have felt a relief as it was probably troublesome, giving a ride to a crying, emotionally unstable girl. Hailie wondered if he had experience with other customers like her. Maybe some girls after a sad party, who just like her were quietly sobbing.

She stared at the house. The lights were on so Lucien didn't sleep probably. She couldn't walk in, what if he was in the kitchen or in the living room? She was in an awful condition. Her mascara ran down her face along with tears, leaving black traces. Her cheeks were red and her hairstyle was spoiled.

"I need to calm down."

She sat on the corner of the street and hid her face in the hands.

It was too perfect to be true. Hailie thought she could escape from the past but it lived with her every day. It found her again and left with nothing.

She couldn't believe how mistaken she was, thinking about finding a happy ending with another man. He checked her in the police database, he read her file, the story of her life. She didn't want to keep it a secret but it should've been her call when to tell the truth. For God's sake she knew officer Blackwell so shortly, she had every right to keep that part of her life as a mystery.

She couldn't forgive him even though it wasn't completely his fault. After all she was in the newspapers, a lot more people might have seen her. And yet right now she didn't want to see Shane as he violated her right to privacy. He could talk with her first, not sniffing around.

Hailie was furious and devastated at the same time. She stood up and threw her purse on the lawn.

"Dammit!" she yelled with helplessness and started crying again.

Why did her past have to destroy everything? Why couldn't she just be a normal girl?

"Why me? Why?" she screamed and got down on her knees. "Why, why, why?!" Hitting the ground with hands, she finally laid down her head and cried in the grass. Lonely, lost inside. She sharply sucked in a breath.

Could there be an end to what she felt deep inside? She cracked and had no idea how to restore the cold, broken pieces of her. "Why..." she sobbed and hit the ground one more time without strength.

"Hailie!" Lucien kneeled beside her and embraced her tightly. "It's okay, it's okay." She tried to break free, but he held her close and after a few seconds she became calmer although she was still crying.

In her moments of weakness Hailie never had anybody to turn to. She always felt so alone. Maybe that's why she let Lucien comfort her and hugged into him. She grabbed his black t-shirt and lay down the head on his arm as he embraced her tighter.

"What has he done to you?" he whispered with disgust through clenched teeth.

Lust felt a powerful need to bring that scumbag on the house grounds and make him pay. He wasn't sure where it came from as he believed he didn't care for Hailie.

She hasn't answered, she just cried more. He felt how much she was trembling in his arms. Hailie was so petite and defenseless. Lust knew he should control himself but once again he got that feeling that he had to protect Hailie, that he had to take care of her. He shook it off, cursing himself for those thoughts. He was a demon, not a human being. And yet he took her in his arms and picked up from the grass.

"I'm taking you home." He did as he said and placed her on a couch.

A square, red blanket was folded on an armchair. Lust was planning to grab it but when he stepped forward, Hailie grasped his hand. Electric sparks ran through his body. He wanted to slip away and put a barrier between them so he wouldn't get involved too much. Instead, he sat on the edge of the couch and touched Hailie's hair.

"You need to tell me what happened," he asked softly, while she hid her face in a heart-shaped cushion. "Please, Hailie, what has he done to you?"

It was warm inside the house but a chill went through her back.

"He did nothing," she sobbed although Shane did something. "It's not about him."

She was all messed up. Her jacket slumped off her arm so Lust brushed it aside, revealing a harrowing scar. She curled up in herself.

"You can tell me." He ran over her hair. "You're safe here."

Lust could've used his charms to make her talk, but he wanted to give her that choice. Even though it wasn't in his style.

Hailie fought with thoughts in her mind. It always felt hard to talk about what happened. She did so in the court and nobody believed her. That was the biggest disappointment in her life. Jayson was a malicious and evil man and he walked free. It was such an injustice.

"Before I moved to this house, I lived in the nearby town. I had to leave because of my abusive ex-boyfriend. He," she glanced at the scar on her arm, "he did this to me."

Her voice was trembling, tears still running slowly down her face. As she looked in Lucien's eyes she suddenly felt calmness spreading over her body. It was so hard to go on by herself. The truth was she wanted to tell somebody what happened that night.

And so she began to tell her story.