Sanctuary

Chapter Twenty Six - Nigel

The scars were still visible, if one pulled back Maggie's tangled curls. They ran back behind her ear, from clean scalpel lines to jagged tears. Baby Maggie's wailing was forever burned into Nigel's memory, as were the screams of his mother when she had run to the room to see what had happened. The clean baby smell was tainted with the metallic scent of blood, the stinging of disinfectant wipes, the cold smell of surgical steel, and the thick stench of liquor on Saito's breath.

Everything after that had been a blur of legal battles leading nowhere. No one cared about the little deaf girl. They all sympathized with Saito, the poor successful surgeon who found out that his daughter was a reject. They gave him paid leave for stealing supplies from the hospital and being drunk while on call, but not for the assault and near murder of his own child. He had been forced to make 'an impossible decision' the courts said. If anything, the doctors that had attended Maggie's birth should have been sued for not testing her hearing and killing her on the spot. That's what they had said. Nigel would hold the baby, with the bandages over her stitches, out in the waiting room of the cold courtroom while it all happened. His mother would come out with her eyes red and puffy, actively crying. They had nowhere to go. Thankfully, the Underground had been there to take them in.

Nigel had never wanted to see his father again. He wished he could say that moving to the Underground had been the last of it, but Saito had clung to the custody battle over Nigel just long enough to accuse Madelyn of parental kidnapping. He had never truly wanted custody of either of the children, but he had to establish his control over them one last time. Even after he dropped the legal battle and gave custody to Madelyn, he'd still show up randomly at Nigel's school to 'see how he was doing' and ask about Madelyn and Maggie, like he needed confirmation that their lives were miserable and he had made the right decision by being a terrible person. Nigel had a habit of spitting in his face, saying words that children his age shouldn't say, and ending up in a bit of trouble for it all. Nigel became a 'delinquent', his father went back to being a surgeon, and eventually the surprise visits slowed to a stop. It had been over a year since Nigel had seen his father last, but the lucky streak came to an unfortunate end with a blow to Nigel's face.

No one seemed to consider it wrong that Saito greeted his son with a backhanded slap. After all, the teen was obviously a grunger and a criminal—cuffed to a chair and streaked with dirt and blood. He deserved a slap or two, right? Maybe it would 'snap him out of it'. It made him sick, how little some people felt for others.

"First you're a delinquent in school and now this!?" Saito shouted, as if he had any right to scold his son, after all he'd done. "Do you even understand what a serious charge this is!? Kidnapping!?"

"Not as serious as attempted murder." Nigel spat back, his pale grey eyes hardening like steel. "Besides, Dani isn't a child. She's old enough to live wherever she chooses."

"You're doing this to spite me, aren't you? Kidnapping the daughter of a politician, smudging my name!?"

The daughter of a politician?

If Nigel had been standing, he might have staggered. If she was the daughter of a politician he was in a lot more trouble than he had thought. And for Dani to go from the Upper Class to living in the Underground... No wonder she wasn't interested in him. He was lucky she hadn't spat in his face.

"I hope they take you jail. It's where you belong." Saito bit out the words like a curse before storming off. He left Nigel with a dull hatred burning in his chest and a grinding of his teeth. To say that man left a bad taste in his mouth would be an understatement. He couldn't forgive anyone who would hurt Maggie the way he had. Maggie was precious and perfect the way she was. He'd fight the whole world for her if he had to.