By Monday night, Marcus realised that the brief truce between him and Annie was over. They were back to where they were before her birthday. Annie avoided him and he, hurting at her sudden withdrawal, did the same.
Marcus saw Annie for the first time after she fled the school grounds the following Sunday at lunch. As soon as he saw her, Marcus knew something was wrong. He wanted to confront her, but he couldn’t do it in front of the rest of the family and not when she looked like this. He kept an eye on her during the meal, and his heart clenched when he noticed her nervous tension. She clenched and unclenched her hands the whole time and didn’t make eye contact with anyone.
When Reid’s phone rung, Annie visibly started and bumped her water glass over. Her eyes went wide, and she shivered uncontrollably.
Marcus cursed. He was right. Something was wrong, and he needed to know what. He didn’t want to scare her any further, so he kept his tone gentle when he demanded, “What’s going on, Annie?”
She swallowed, wringing her hands and turned her head to face him. He felt as if something grabbed his heart and squeezed when he looked into her eyes. If Marcus wasn’t mistaken, Annie was scared of something. She had that same look in her eyes when she returned from New York two years ago. M
Marcus’ question had drawn the other’s attention to Annie. Anna was the first to react. She rushed to Annie and folded her arms around her daughter. Marcus wanted to do that, but he had no right. He wished he had.
Anna, still hugging Annie, whispered something to her. Annie mumbled, “Kent is back.”
Marcus cursed, causing Reid to give him a strange look. Marcus never swore. Well, not in front of the children. He ignored Reid’s gaze and asked, “Since when? Is he bothering you?”
Annie nodded and then she said, “I don’t know when he came back. I know he’d been following me since that night of Nathan’s party at O’Malley’s.”
“How do you know that?” Marcus frowned.
Annie flushed, “He sent me photos he took that night and the week after that. The whole week I felt as if someone was watching me, but I thought I was just paranoid. You know, after that car following us from the town that night. I hadn’t seen him until Saturday afternoon, after Maddie and I had lunch with Meghan and Jennifer.”
Annie continued to tell them what had happened afterwards, but her eyes stayed on Marcus as if she was urging him to understand. She ended her explanation by saying, “Kathleen went with me to the Police on Sunday afternoon, after we came and picked up the documents I needed. The Police took my sim card so they can monitor it.”
Marcus took a deep breath. Is that why she didn’t answer his messages?
“Why didn’t you tell us, Annie?” he demanded. “We could’ve helped you and supported you. You didn’t have to do it on your own.”
Annie looked at him and muttered, “Yeah, because we’re family, Marcus. That’s what families do, isn’t it?”
Marcus finally understood why Annie had withdrawn from him last Saturday. She had interpreted his words differently from what he intended. Now, however, was not the time to clarify it. He anyway needed time to figure out what to do, and he needed to be alone to do it.
Oblivious to the rest of the family watching their interchange, some confused, some curious, he held Annie’s eyes. He needed to get one thing across to her and hoped this time she would understand his intention.
“No, Annie. We do it because we care—if you allow us,” he added before he got up and left the room.
At the sound, Marcus felt as if something cold ran down his spine. He stiffened, stopped and listened again. Something was wrong, and Marcus had a bad feeling that it had to do with Annie. He wasn’t even sure what alerted him, but all his senses were on high alert.
Since Annie told them on Sunday that Kent was back, Marcus was worried. He still didn’t know what happened between Annie and Kent, but it was clear that she was scared of her ex-husband. Every night Marcus came to check on her and Maddie.
There, he heard it again. Without a second thought, Marcus ran to the open door of Annie’s cottage. A child’s scream then muffled noises followed.
Marcus heard Annie giving instructions to Maddie to press the alarm, but Marcus didn’t wait. He rushed around the corner to the tiny living area.
It felt as if his heart would stop at the scene in front of him, but then Marcus saw red. He moved before Kent realised Marcus was there. He caught Kent’s fist before the bastard could bring it down on Annie again.
He had never been a violent man. He hadn’t been in a fight before, not even at school or on the rugby pitch. It, therefore, had to be an instinct that kicked in when he jerked Kent around. The pain shot through his hand when his fist contacted with the other man’s chin.
Marcus was so furious, he would have beaten the man to a pulp, but it was unnecessary. He had only needed the one shot to knock Kent out. Frustrated, Marcus watched Kent’s prone form. It shocked him too to realise that he could’ve and wanted to hit Kent again and again. Silently he urged Kent to get up so he could do it again, but Kent was out cold.
Marcus caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. It pulled him out of the unfamiliar zone he found himself in and suddenly felt at a loss. He had only been this angry once before in his life, and that was because of his stupidity. It was the first time he had to take this anger out on another human being, and it scared the hell out of him.
When he was satisfied that Kent would not get up, Marcus pulled his eyes away from the man and turned.
Again, he acted on instinct when he looked at Annie and Maddie. Annie was sitting on the ground, cradling Maddie in her arms but she was oblivious to the tears and blood running from a cut just below her hairline. Her focus was only on her daughter, who hadn’t escaped Kent’s wrath as a handprint was visible on the little girl’s cheek.
Marcus sank on his knees and pulled them both in his arms. He rubbed his hands over their backs, whispering in Annie’s hair, “It is okay, Baby. You’re safe. You’re safe, Annie. I will not allow him to touch you again.”
Marcus felt Annie’s arm circling his waist. Silent tears racked her body, causing it to shake against his. His arms tightened around her. He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw.
Nobody, but nobody would do this to Annie again and especially not Kent Brody. The bastard had hurt Annie enough.
Marcus didn’t know that his father and Adam had entered the room. His focus was on Annie and Maddie. He only lifted his head when Kent regained consciousness.