The Protective Heart ✔️

22. Protecting her from her anger

"Crystal might be fine but her sister is not." I rose an eyebrow at that.

Her sister? My mind immediately shot back to the moment I met her sister at the hospital. She was really upset and blamed Goldi for their mother's death. They still hadn't talked since the funeral.

"What do you mean?" I asked cautiously.

"Nikki started doing drugs." I felt my stomach start to churn with a mix of emotions that I couldn't separate.

"So you thought you would come and tell Goldi so she would fix it for you? Like she has everything else that you fucked up?" My disgust was becoming unbearable for this man.

"No...I just...there's no way for me to help Nikki. Not now. Not after everything I've done to her. Crystal is the only person who can help her." I took a deep breath before contemplating what to say next. After thinking for a few moments, I sighed and then spoke.

"What do you know?" If something really was going on with Nikki, I couldn't just ignore it. This was Goldi's sister, despite the fact that they hadn't been talking.

"She did weed a day after her mom passed. But then on thanksgiving, she started doing coke. My PI said that she has been staying at her friends' house and hasn't come out for days now."

"I will tell her what's going on with Nikki on one condition." I stated firmly.

"And what condition is that?" He narrowed his eyes and I couldn't help but see the similarity between him and Goldi. It was ironic that the person he hurt most looked eerily identical to him.

"You stay the hell away from her from now on. Go back to wherever you came from and stay there. You've hurt her more than enough to last a lifetime. You may think you know how much damage you did, but you don't. She took care of both her mom and her little sister when you left. She lived almost her whole life in fear that a man would come in and destroy her life again. You did that to her. So I never want you to show your face here ever again. Do you understand?" I tried to keep my voice even but it came out jagged and filled with venom.

"I understand... And thank you." He caught me off guard with those last words.

"For what?" I asked hesitantly.

"For taking care of her. Like I said, my PI has been watching and you have been really good to her...I'm glad she has a man in her life that treats her well. So don't hurt her, alright?"

"I will never do what you did." I said confidently.

"Good. Because it was the worst mistake of my life." We stared at each other for a long while before I finally broke the silence.

"Your daughter means the world to me. I will take care of her and keep her safe for the rest of my life, I can promise you that." He smiled sadly and then nodded.

"She's lucky."

That pissed me off.

"No, I'm the lucky one. Your daughter is a wonderful person. She's smart, strong, kind and more than anything, she's filled with love that you will never get to see. She is all of that DESPITE what you have done to her. You will never know how much you've missed out on." I said harshly and then turned and walked away from the man who had ruined my Goldi. Once I got far enough away, I heaved a deep sigh.

How was I going to tell her that Nikki was on drugs? She was finally happy and now this had to happen.

Maybe I didn't have to tell her.

Maybe I could solve this on my own.

I decided that I was going to fix the problem myself. I wasn't going to tell Goldi. I had to protect her and that was the only way I could.

I made my way to her car in the parking lot and found the group surrounding and comforting her. As I approached, Bailey turned to look at me.

"She needs you." She said quietly and then moved so I could see Goldi. She was crumpled on the ground, her back against the car, sobbing into her knees. I felt anger towards her father all over again as I approached and crouched down next to her.

"Goldi." I whispered. She didn't hesitate as she launched into me, wrapping her arms around my neck and continued crying into my chest. I held her in my lap as the group around us dispersed. Where they went, I had no idea but I didn't care. All I was worried about was my Goldi.

"It's alright, he won't bother you again. I took care of it." I whispered into her ear as I stroked her hair soothingly.

"Why did he have to show up?" She asked as she continued to sob.

"I don't know, Goldi, but he's gone. For good this time. He'll never be able to hurt you again. Alright?"

"I hate him, Declan." She sniffed and clutched handfuls of my jackets desperately.

"I know, baby."

"Can we get out of here, please?" She asked after her crying had subsided.

"Yeah." I scooped her up into my arms and put her in the passenger seat of the car. After I got in on the driver's side, I looked over and examined her face. She was staring out the windshield, watching everyone else have fun at the ice festival. I wondered what she was thinking at that moment, seeing all of those people go on with their lives while hers had become so bleak.

Her face was red and slightly swollen from crying so hard. The blue eyes that an hour ago had joy in them were now tainted with despair. My heart ached for her in a way I couldn't even begin to describe. I wanted so badly to take away all of her worries and sorrows. I wished that I could erase all of the painful memories that her father had implanted into her life.

But the only thing I could do was keep the truth from her. I would go to Nikki and help her get her life back together. I just had to hope and pray that Goldi would never know what was really going on. I knew if she ever caught wind of this it would break her, fully and completely. And if that happened, I wasn't sure I would be able to put the pieces back in place again.

A vase can only be broken so many times before it's impossible to put back together.