"I was sure that I was fucking clear that I didn't want my money being used to feed your bastard kid. Do you understand how fucking humiliating it is that a fucking gamma is getting the best of me?"
"I told you not to push her. We could have gotten what we both wanted if you hadn't pushed her!"
"So you're saying that this is my fault?"
There's a loud bang and the sound of a glass shattering against the wall and Harper closes her eyes, trying not to cry anymore. But it was hard not to when her face hurt and so did her hands and knees. She couldn't even really remember what she had done wrong this time, she had just been telling Mack about all the fun she'd been having with her ma and mommy Santa, when Strando had thrown a half filled can at her.
It had hit her just above her eye, spilling the contents of the can all over her. Some of it had gotten in her eyes, and when she had begun to cry Strando had started to yell at her which had caused Mack to start screaming. The next thing she knew there was fighting and she had gotten shoved off the couch by Mack, but that hadn't stopped Strando from smacking her hard in the face before Mack had shoved him away.
She had managed to get away and get to her things where she had called Santana immediately, but she wanted to call her ma. Her ma was the best fighter in the world and she could beat up Strando.
"Well what do you think she's going to do to you once she finds out what you did to her—"
The sharp slap echoes across the house and Harper closes her eyes tighter and tries to remember what her ma said about being brave. There's another loud bang, causing her to jump and she pulls her legs closer to her as she hides behind her half-brother's crib. There wasn't much room to hide anywhere else. She was just lucky that Strando didn't know that she had a phone.
~ O ~
It's the moment that she starts walking up the stairs to get to the third floor of Mack and Strando's shitty building that she realizes that confronting a violent alpha without an alpha is by far one of her more terrible ideas. Strando, according to Charlie, was mostly bluster, and fake intimidation. But Charlie was an alpha, and a trained fighter, Strando seemed to be a coward if he was hitting children. She also should have called Sue, and probably the police, or her mother.
Even with that knowledge she doesn't hesitate and marches towards the apartment where she can hear the noise complaint waiting to happen. She knocks on the door firmly, and takes a step back, and takes a deep breath to calm herself down. The yelling doesn't stop if anything the volume increases as they make their way closer to the door.
"What?" Strando shouts at her, before realizing he had just screamed into the face of a beautiful omega.
"I'm here to pick up Harper." Santana informed him, taking a step towards him and watching as he immediately backed up, confused as to who she was.
"Santana?"
Santana turns and spots Mack in the kitchen, she pauses as she quickly assess the visible injuries that she can see and then turns to look at Strando who still looked confused. He was a rather dim idiot, no wonder Charlie didn't think much of him. "My mother is a district attorney, I've already told her that I was going to remove Harper from your residence, and she's already sent police cars over, I'm just here early. I'm telling you this so you don't try anything stupid like attacking me. I'm pretty sure that will lead to a lengthy stint in prison. I am just here for Harper."
"You think I don't have friends in law enforcement?"
"What will they do? Attack the possibly pregnant daughter of a district attorney?" Santana asks, raising a brow. "Harper, get your bag and your things and let's go." Santana called out, keeping an eye firmly on Strando who looked like he was starting to get agitated. "I am just here for Harper."
"You can't have her."
"And yet I'm walking out of this apartment with her," Santana repeats coolly, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her afraid. The sick fuck probably got off on that kind of thing.
"Mom?"
Harper's small voice is enough to break her concentration on Strando and turn to Harper. She can see in the corner of her eye that Mack's turning as well but those thoughts fly out of her head when she sees her daughter, covered in some gross sticky liquid and bleeding from a gash on her forehead. If Charlie had seen this— "Get your things." She turns on Strando, but she can barely see him through the rage that she feels. "You are so incredibly lucky that Charlie isn't here Strando, because she would kill you."
Strando scoffed, "You think I can't fuck up a gamma?"
"You put hands on a child, you're not winning that fight, Strando." Santana turns as Harper scrambles towards her with her bag, and Santana places a protective arm over her. "You did great Harper, now let's take you to your abuelo so he can give you a checkup." Santana places a brave smile on her face as she smiles at her daughter before turning to Strando. "Step aside," she snaps with all the force she can muster and it's enough to cause Strando to take a step back. Santana immediately pushes Harper out of the apartment. "Keep going until we get into the Uber," Santana mumbles to Harper.
Harper nods and heads down the stairs with Santana, "You came."
Santana looks behind her relaxing for a moment when they weren't being followed. "Of course I did, I'm your mom remember?" Santana motions at the car that she had ordered. The moment she got inside she was going to check out Harper from head to toe, and then she was going to make all the calls she should have made. "Your ma is going to be very upset that we didn't tell her what was going on."
"Am I in trouble?"
"You? Your ma isn't going to be upset with you, she's going to be upset with me," Santana said with a small laugh, as she pulled some kleenex and wet wipes out of her purse and gently began to clean Harper up. Dabbing and wiping away the spilt beer. "We're definitely going to fight about this, but I don't want you for one second to think that this is your fault. I should have told your ma so she could protect you, she would never have allowed you to come back here if she knew how bad it was."
"I don't want ma to be mad at you."
"We'll be alright Harper, we're mated once she knows that you're okay that I'm okay she'll be fine," Santana admits, hoping that was true.
