“Fuck!” I gripped the back of my neck.
“I’ll keep you posted if she says anything else. Have you heard from Lennie?”
“No…nothing at all.” I sat down on the couch. Trevor was talking on his phone to somebody and Corrina was at the back of the house looking out at the pool. I wanted to break down but couldn’t. “Just keep me updated, if I find the son of a bitch I’m going to kill him.”
“I will, please don’t Dominique…he’ll get what he has coming for him.” Tiffany said with a worried tone.
Corrina’s phone rang, she looked at it for a couple of seconds before answering it.
“Hello?” “Are you serious?” her voice grew louder. With wide eyes she turned around, “Okay…okay. Thank you for calling!”
I hung up on Tiffany, “What—who was it?” I asked as she walked toward Trevor and me.
“The bank…Lennie called to transfer three million to a different account. They transferred the call to the PD, they were able to get a ping on the phone!”
“Where is she?” I started for the door.
“The lady from the bank didn’t say, she just wanted to call me and let me know what the detective told her.”
I pulled the business card out that I had been given and called the police department, I was on hold for close to eight minutes before Detective Basen took my call.
“Mr. Hastings we have officers in route, if you want to come to the station and wait here you can or I can call you back as soon as I know more.”
“Where the fuck is she?”
“About an hour or so away, according to where the ping came from. I’m not even sure how the call was able to be made, there’s not much out in that area.”
“Can I ride along with an officer? I need to be there for her.”
“I’m sorry but I can’t let you, like I said—you can either come to the station or I’ll call you when I hear more.”
“Just call me.” I hung up the phone and told Corrina and Trevor what the detective said. We agreed to wait at Lennie’s house for a while, if after an hour we would go to the police station.
I sat down on the couch and leaned my head back, “Have you called her dad?” I asked Corrina.
“Him and Jennifer are on their way here, they’ll call me as soon as they leave the airport.”
I nodded my head and closed my eyes.
“Dominique…wake up man.” Trevor shook my shoulder.
My eyes snapped open, “Did I miss a call?” I asked in panic.
“No, it’s been a couple of hours. We need to go to the station or we can stay here so you can get some rest.”
“I don’t fucking care what you have to do to find the son of a bitch!” a mans voice boomed around the house. I looked into the kitchen. He was pacing back and forth while listening on his phone. “I’ll kill him, if he hurts her I will kill him. Do you hear me?” He pulled the phone away from his ear and stabbed the screen with his finger. Corrina and another woman were staring at him then Corrina looked at me. The guy spun around, “Not the best way to meet me, I’m so god damn mad I could spit fire.” He held his hand out for me to shake.
“I’m right there with you, names Dominique.”
“David and that’s Jennifer.” He nodded. “Ready to go to the station?”
We took two vehicles, Trevor and I in my car, Corrina with Lennie’s dad and Jennifer in their vehicle.
No matter how many times I checked my phone on the way there, I had no missed calls or text from Tiffany. I decided to call her and let her know what was going on.
“I’m getting ready to go in there with her dad, she’s awake again. Please call me when you find out more.”
“Same goes for you. Thank you.” I blew out a breath and hung up.
Since it was closing in on shift change the station was busy with officers doing paperwork while others talked about their cases.
Detective Bison greeted us, “We’ll go to my office, he shook David’s hand then we all followed him through the precinct. “Have a seat.” He nodded at the two chairs in front of his desk. Corrina and Jennifer sat down. “Okay,” he cleared his throat and rolled out a map on his desk. “Here is where the ping came from.” He pointed at a red circle, “It’s pretty wooded out there, with the ping and triangulation we should be within at least four miles of her location. The cell phone she used is a pre-paid so we are working against that.”
“How fucking long does it take to get out there?” David asked angrily.
“We’ve got three different units in that direction and an ambulance on stand by should we find them. Knowing he is armed we have to approach with caution.”
David was shaking his head about ready to say something when a female voice filled the speaker of the radio on Bison’s hip.
“Eleven eighty this is six hundred, I’ve located the victim.”
Bison grabbed his radio, “Ten four, six hundred what is your location?”
“Did they find her?” I rushed out.
Bison held up his finger, “Six hundred…what is your location?” he asked again.
The radio crackled and the officer’s voice was inaudible. The tension that filled room as we all waited to hear if it was Lennie the officer was talking about made my body tense.
“Eleven eighty to six hundred, getting ready to transport via ambulance. Location is west off two ninety and Garland road.”
“Ten four.” Bison responded.
A scanner in the corner of his office beeped, then a female voice started talking. She detailed injuries to the hospital, the injuries she was listing off made my stomach knot up. “Is it Lennie?” I shouted my voice breaking. Corrina and Jennifer both jumped.
Bison nodded his head, “Yes, they are taking her to WMH. The other units are going to a cabin that was not far from where Lennie was found.” He looked at his cell phone and typed out a reply.
“Where’s Justin?” Corrina asked.
“That was a text from one of the units, he’s not at the cabin, there’s no electricity so we will dispatch out a truck with a generator so they can search the property. When morning hits we’ll enter the home. Right now it’s being treated as a crime scene, let’s hope Lennie will be able to give us more information. I’ll meet you at the hospital, I’m not going to try to talk to her until she says she is ready to. I just need her to know that we are going to help her any way possible.”
David stood up and pointed a finger at the detective, “Find the son of a bitch before I do.”
Then we all walked out and to our vehicles. “Hey man, they found her…she’s alive and breathing.” Trevor broke the silence as he drove.
I nodded, “I’ll fucking kill Justin.” I balled my fists in my lap. “I just need to see her.”
“I’m here for you brother.”
At the hospital the only person that was allowed back to see Lennie as they worked on her in the emergency room, was David. “Sir you need to calm down or I’ll call security.” The nurse told me.
David patted my shoulder, “I’ll see if they’ll let you come in after I’m done. Okay?”
I nodded my head and walked away. My blood was boiling my anger and hatred for Justin growing by the second.
It seemed like hours passed by while we waited for David to come out. He was wiping tears from his face when he walked into the lobby where we were all sitting. Jennifer rushed over to him, he bent over with his hands on his knees. She wrapped her arms around his waist, “David, talk to us please.” She said with tears streaming down her face.
He took a few deep breaths before standing upright, “They had to put her in a medically induced coma.” He swallowed hard, “She…he beat the hell out of her. He hurt my baby girl!” David hugged Jennifer as he started sobbing so hard he was shaking.
Corrina was crying, I pulled her into my chest unable to speak. After a few minutes the staff showed us to a private waiting room. I couldn’t sit still, I paced back and forth constantly checking the door to see
if the doctor was coming to talk to us. Tiffany called so I left to talk to her.
“Hello”
“It’s not good, Justin is one very sick son of a bitch.” She said.
“You’re telling me something I already know.” I paused. “They found Lennie, David her dad was the only one they let go see her. She’s in a medically induced coma right now.” I leaned against the wall.
“Oh my god!” she yelled, “What…where…I mean…”
“I don’t know what all happened to her but it’s not very good, not according to what we heard come over the radio at the station.” A single tear rolled down my cheek followed by another. “I want to see her.” I choked out.
“I know you do sweetie, let the staff do their job first. When she’s stable they’ll let you in.”
I nodded my head, “What did Jill say?”
Tiffany exhaled, “Well, Justin forced her to get an abortion. When she got home from the clinic he had a bunch of cocaine lined up for her. They each did a couple of lines, when she started crying about the abortion Justin beat the hell out of her and forced her to OD on cocaine. The last thing she remembers him saying is he wanted her dead since she was such a fuck up and then said he was going to go to the media about her drug usage.”
“Jesus.” I sighed out with frustration.
I looked up to see a doctor walking into the waiting room, “I’ll call you back.” I hung up and walked in behind the doctor. She was a short oriental woman, with a serious look on her face.
“I’m doctor Moria Vizin.” She shook all of our hands then gestured to the chairs. She flipped open a chart, “Lennie is stable, her injuries aren’t a severe as we first thought. I am however sorry to have to tell you that the baby did not make it. She was raped and the stress that her body has undergone in such a short period of time was too much.”
“What?” Her dad asked.
“What?” Corrina shrieked.
The doctor looked at them both, “She was three weeks pregnant, did none of you know this?”
Then all eyes were on me, “Are you sure?” I asked around the lump in my throat. My hands started shaking.
“Yes sir, are you the husband?”
I shook my head, “Boyfriend.” I said slowly. I clenched my fists and bowed my head, so much anger started to course through my body I was about to lose control.
The doctor looked back down at the papers, “Which one of you is the husband? Her records indicate she’s married.”
David scrubbed his hands over his face, “She is married and going through a divorce, that guy right there is her boyfriend. Her husband is the reason she’s in the condition she’s in.”
“Are you the father of the baby?” she asked.
My eyebrows shot up, “I…I would assume so.”
She scribbled something into the chart, “I’m sorry that you had to find out like this. I won’t be allowing anybody besides immediate family in to be with her this evening. Tomorrow morning when she wakes up and I have a chance to talk to her I will let her know she has several friends waiting to see her.”
“That’s fucking bullshit!” I erupted. “Let me fucking see her!”
Doctor Vizin closed the chart and dropped her hands, ”I’m sorry sir but it’s the law. I’m not doing it to punish you…I take my patients health and privacy very serious.”
I looked at David hoping he would tell the doctor that it was okay for me to go see her. “I’m sorry,” he patted me on the shoulder and stopped in front of me, “I’ll tell her you’re waiting.” Then he left.
My jaw muscle ticked and my anger boiled inside.
“Where are you going?” Corrina hurried to catch up with me.
“I’m leaving.” I stated.
“Don’t leave! I’m sure she’ll want to see you…”
I turned and looked at her she quickly snapped her jaw shut, “I need to get out of this hospital before I tear down doors to see her. I’ll be back in the morning.”
The drive to my house was silent, my mind running a million miles a minute.
I walked in my house and slammed the door, I walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out a cold beer. Mom would know what to say to calm me down.
“Hey baby!” she said happily when she answered.
“Hey”
“What’s wrong?” She could tell by my tone something was wrong.
I blew out a breath I was about to drop the news to mom about Lennie, the girlfriend she didn’t even know I had. “I need your advice, just listen and I’ll tell you when I’m done.” I started at the very beginning from the first day I met Lennie and finished with this evening. There was a long silence but I could hear mom sniffling.
“I’m so sorry Dominique, give me a minute to process everything.”
I grabbed another beer twisted the cap off, “You’ve gotta have some answers for me. All I know is I love her more than any woman I’ve ever been with and this feels like I’m being torn a part from the inside out.”
“True love can really hurt sometimes but you’re strong willed and have a strong heart Dominique. Be strong for you and her both. What made you fall in love with her?” mom asked.
“Her personality, the way she lights up a room with her smile, I could listen to her talk for hours, when I kiss her I forget about everything around me—everything going on in life. When I’m with her I want to make sure she knows that it’s only her and no other woman can even begin to compare to her. I love everything about her, even the heart she guards so carefully, I love every fucking thing about her.”
“And she knows all of this?”
I chuckled, “Oh yeah, I scared the hell out of her when I told her I love her. I can’t believe she was pregnant and didn’t tell me.” Tears fell down my face.
“You need to get it out honey, if you hold all this emotion in…it won’t be good.” Mom said softly.
So I did, I cried and cried—“I just want to see her.” I choked out.
“I know you do baby, Dominique she’s been through a lot this road to recovery is going to be long and hard. Not just for her, it’s going to be hard on everybody that loves her. She’s going to be scared, she ‘s going to be angry, and she’s going to be hurting inside. This is where the true love will be tested the most.”
“Thanks for talking to me.” I wiped my hand down my face.
Mom chuckled through her own tears, “I’m always here for you no matter what, no matter what time of day. I should however get to scold you for failing to tell your mother you were seeing someone.”
I laughed softly, “I know, it’s just that everything was moving so fast in such a short time I wasn’t sure if I was losing my mind.”
“Oh Dominique, I think you lost your mind with that Ava gal. Maybe Lennie was just rewiring your brain to think properly.”
“Thanks mom…thanks a lot.” We both laughed.
“Get some rest, buy some pretty flowers for her and go see her tomorrow.”
“Okay, I love you.” I told her.
“I love you too, you’ll get through this. Unless, I never get to meet the woman that captured your heart. I’ll hunt you down. Night baby.”
“Night momma.”
No matter how hard I tried to sleep, I couldn’t. Visiting hours didn’t open until ten the following morning and I wanted to be there as soon as they would allow people into patient’s rooms. I managed to sleep for a few hours before my alarm went off. I showered then dressed. On my way out the door I called Tiffany.
“Hey there, how’s she doing today?” She asked, sounding tired.
“I’m on my way there, you’re not going to believe what was discovered.” I told her.
“Do I even want to know?” she asked with a worried tone.
“Well…she was three weeks pregnant.”
Tiffany didn’t respond for a few seconds, “Past tense? My god Dominique…I don’t even know what to say!”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a doctor get so confus
ed before. I had no fucking clue Tiff, no clue.” My throat tightened. “She never told me.”
“Maybe, she didn’t even know. Do you know how hard it’s going to be on her when she finds out?” I slammed my hand down on the steering wheel, “Have they found Justin?” she finished.
“I need to be there when they tell her. Not that I’m aware of, he was so deep in drugs and owed so much money to dealers I don’t see how he could possibly find a place to hide.
“I’m at the florist, I’ll call you later. And Tiffany, Thank you.”
I could tell it made her cry, she sniffled, “You’re like family to me I’m always here for you.”
Inside the flower shop I was looking at the roses when a lady walked up and stood beside me. “I think the pink and red would be beautiful together.” I looked over at her. Her eyes got big, “Oh…oh my god! You’re Dominique Hastings!” she screeched. “Can I please take a selfie with you?”
“Not today I’m kind of in a hurry.”
“Dang it!” she snapped her fingers. Then I felt bad.
“If you can put together the most beautiful bouquet of lilies and roses, I’ll do it.”
Her eyes got big, “Give me ten minutes!”
Did you know you could actually get a pretty bad fucking headache in a flower shop? That was probably the longest ten minutes of my life. I started sneezing, my head was pounding, if she didn’t hurry up I was pretty sure my throat was starting to close up too.
“Here you are!” She put the massive bouquet on the counter, “Oh, yikes—I think you’re having some kind of allergy!”
I sneezed again, “Obviously.” I handed her my credit card. “Mind if we take the selfie outside before I die in your shop?” I asked then sneezed again.
I took deep breaths when we got outside, “What the fuck is in there that I’m allergic to?” I asked the lady.
“I’m guessing the Goldenrod that was in with the Sunflowers, I’ll get rid of it ASAP.”
We took a few selfies together then I left.
Love Again Page 16