Escaping Trouble

by Dee Bridle

  “Fuck!” I shouted running back out again. I ran along the hallway, checking locked doors, wondering where she could have gone. Panic swirled around inside my head, making it buzz. Something had happened to her, right under my nose, and I would never forgive myself.

  A guy was at the ballroom doors, adjusting his tie as he went to open them. I ran towards him and checked my phone for Zac’s picture. I looked at the guy again. It was him!

  “Where is she?” I growled shoving him with all my force.

  He smacked his head against the door and stumbled.

  “Where is she?” I shouted desperately.

  “She’s dead!” he said, hitting me in the nose with his fist.

  I had underestimated him and reared back from the hit. But he had underestimated me when it came to Ivy.

  I lunged toward him and smashed my fist into his face as hard as I could. He fell through the ballroom doors and landed on the floor. There was a collective gasp from around the room.

  “Where is she?” I screamed, lunging for him again and throwing punch after punch.

  Security tried to grab at me, but I swung and hit every one of them. I was wild with anger and ready to kill.

  “Noah!” I heard my father bellow.

  I was pulled up by more security guards, but managed to kick Richard one more time before they dragged me away.

  “I will kill you! Where is she?” I screamed as they yanked me out.

  I shoved them off me, throwing punches like a wild man before I ran outside and down the steps, looking for her.

  “Ivy!” I shouted looking around, trying to make sense of where she would go or hide. I heard sirens as I ran down the main street, knowing they would be after me now.

  A car pulled up and its door flung open.

  “Get in!” shouted Zac.

  I jumped in and he sped off into the night, keeping me away from police, but further away from Ivy.

  Ivy

  I had escaped him. For now.

  As hours passed, I sat in the cold wet sand on the familiar local beach, trying to stop my mind from running. My legs had given up running a while ago as I tried to figure out what the hell I was going to do now. The bottle of bourbon I was gulping was not helping me with clarification, but it was slowly numbing the hurt.

  I had switched my phone off earlier on in the night and it sat cold inside my bra. I didn’t know how to explain my situation to Noah without fully involving him and I didn’t want him to be a part of my very real hell. The last few hours had cruelly ripped me back to my old reality, a dark place of misery and pain. I had only just started to breathe again and enjoy a little of life but I knew I didn’t deserve it. Tonight proved that. The monster would always be there, ruining everything.

  A familiar voice suddenly broke through my haze.

  “Noah’s looking for you,” said Sean from behind me. “He’s going crazy.”

  I took another swig of bourbon and looked out to the darkened sea. Sean was here and talking about Noah. I had escaped here to drink myself to numbness and to be alone, just like I used to in the past. The beach was the only place that could calm my angst, along with a bottle of bourbon.

  “He obviously doesn’t know your secret spots like I do,” he added.

  “Go away, Sean,” I said, my voice raspy from all the crying I had done over the last few hours.

  “Noah says your phone is turned off.”

  “He uses it to track me,” I muttered.

  “Wow, possessive much?”

  “He wants to look after me,” I said taking another swig of the bourbon. Which was an under-fucking-statement of the year, now that his life had led me straight back to the hell that I had been running from for all these years. Not that I blamed him. He was the only perfect thing in my life, and now I would ruin it. I’d have to leave him, especially now that my father knew I was alive. I couldn’t disrupt his life anymore than what I already had. I shook my head to myself, knowing that life had been going too well. Fairytale shit just didn’t happen to me.

  “Well, you need to speak to him Ivy, so he can stop bothering me. I had to leave a perfect piece of ass in my bed to come out here and search for you,” said Sean.

  “I saw the monster tonight,” I said gulping more bourbon. “He dragged me away from the ball and was going to kill me.”

  “What the fuck were you doing at a ball?”

  “Eat a dick, Sean,” I said, taking another deserving gulp.

  “I did wonder why you were sitting there in the sand looking like a dark, depressed Cinderella.”

  “Can you just fucking leave me alone?” I slurred in anger.

  “What do you expect when you go to fucking ‘balls,’ Ivy? Trash like us don’t do shit like that. He wouldn’t have found you if you had stuck to your plan.”

  “If I wasn’t so drunk right now, I’d slam my fist into your face for calling me trash,” I spat. “And what do you even know about my plan?”

  “I know you’re hiding from some asshole who hurt you, in the places where he wouldn’t even think to look. Why the fuck would you have stayed around me for that long otherwise?”

  “Whatever,” I slurred taking another large gulp. “Don’t even pretend to know me, Sean.”

  “Like lover boy knows you?” he asked.

  “He knows more about me than you ever will,” I responded with an angry tone in my voice.

  For some alcohol-induced emotional reason, tears began streaming down my cheeks out of the pity party I was feeling deep inside myself. I wiped at the tears with the back of my arm, knowing I was smearing black makeup everywhere.

  “You need to go and see Noah,” he demanded. “He thinks I’m covering for you and I personally don’t appreciate being threatened with bodily harm or having my shop burnt down.”

  “Just go. You didn’t see me,” I said, taking a shuddering breath.

  Tears continued to find their way down my face. I had suspected that Noah was searching for me by now and wondering why I had disappeared. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I couldn’t go back to his life. Tonight had been a wakeup call.

  “You going to drink that whole bottle?” he asked.

  “Yep,” I said taking another long swig.

  The bourbon burned my throat. I had stolen the bottle hours earlier. The ballroom gown had come in handy for at least one good thing tonight.

  “He put your monster in the hospital, Ivy.”

  I froze.

  “What?”

  “Your boyfriend found him somehow, and bashed the shit out of him.”

  I closed my eyes and my head spun. So Noah knew. Now he would be in trouble with everyone—the law and his family. All because of me.

  “Fuck,” I exclaimed.

  “If you would have told me who the monster was when we were together, I would have done it years ago for you.”

  “So are the police after Noah now?”

  “I asked him that, but Noah said that the guy isn’t pressing charges yet.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Maybe he’s just too unconscious to talk to the cops right now. I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of your boyfriend’s fists. But hey, it is what it is,” he said with a shrug. “Maybe lover boy is above the law somehow.”

  I took another gulp of bourbon, feeling my stomach rile against me, wanting me to stop. It was the last of it, and I threw the empty bottle into the sand.

  “You need a bed for tonight?”

  “Without you in it,” I mumbled.

  “Okay,” he said.

  Then I promptly passed out in the sand.

  Noah

  I looked out over the city as I sat on the balcony of Nick’s penthouse. Her phone was still off. I had failed to keep her safe and now everything had exploded in front of me. I had gone to Sean’s, to Lou’s place, and her mother’s. No one had seen her.

  Her mother hadn’t seemed concerned until I mentioned Richard’s name. Then fear overtook her
eyes and emotions. She started throwing clothes into a bag, getting ready to run.

  Her father was a monster.

  * * *

  Once Zac had unlocked sealed files, I read about the truth and the pain Ivy had gone through. Hospital records detailing abuse had been deleted from the system over the years. The fucker had planned a car accident. To kill her. Her and her mother had secretly survived somehow. Zac was still working on who was behind the cover-ups. Deleted files proved she had entered the hospital the night of the car accident. Reports showed that she had a broken arm and two cracked ribs, along with other injuries. Someone had help her escape and made all the details disappear.

  The monster believed that both of them were dead and had continued on with his life, clear of any wrongdoing. His secrets were buried in the ground, or so he thought. Ivy had been hiding and running ever since.

  I had put him in the hospital, but I wanted to put him in the ground. He deserved nothing less.

  Zac hadn’t moved from the table in the penthouse, working his way through information, planning an attack on Richard. He needed to pay for what he had done. We needed to seal Ivy’s future, if I could fucking find her.

  Nick stepped out onto the balcony and passed me a glass of scotch.

  “Dad’s furious. I didn’t tell him you were here,” he said leaning against the railing and looking out over Melbourne.

  The sun was starting to rise and the city lights had begun to turn off.

  “Rachel called.”

  “I don’t give a fuck about Rachel,” I said, gulping the entire finger of scotch.

  “She offered up some interesting information about your girl.”

  I looked over at him, waiting.

  “She saw him grabbing her and taking her outside down the steps. He told her to go back inside, because Ivy had stolen his wallet, and he was waiting for the police.”

  “And the fuckwit believed him,” I muttered.

  “I guess.”

  “She could have come and told me, anything, but she decided to stay silent. In fact, she lied about seeing Ivy when I confronted her. Now Ivy’s gone,” I said clenching my fists.

  “She also told me how our father got her to offer Ivy two hundred grand to leave you,” my brother said next.

  I glared at him in disbelief.

  “No fucking way.”

  “Maybe she’s done a runner and is waiting for the money. Ever thought of that?”

  I sprung up and grabbed him by the collar.

  “Take that fucking back!”

  “It was a fucking suggestion! Why wouldn’t she take the money? She’s got nothing. She knows you’d be better off without her,” gasped Nick.

  “Say one more word, and I’ll throw you off this balcony,” I said angrily.

  “Cut it out!” shouted Will stepping between us and shoving us away from each other.

  “You’ve lost your mind over this girl!” shouted Nick, straightening his top.

  “I fucking love her, you piece of shit!”

  There was silence.

  Will put his hand on my shoulder.

  “We’ll get her back,” he said seriously.

  “Guys, Sean is at reception. He wants to come up,” Ava called out from inside.

  “Send him up,” I said instantly.

  “Who the hell is Sean? And do I even want him in my apartment?” asked Nick in annoyance.

  Ignoring Nick, I waited for the lift to arrive with tension running through my body. He better have good news for me. I was only holding on by a thread.

  The lift beeped and then the doors opened to reveal Sean holding Ivy in his arms. I was there in a flash taking her from his arms.

  “What happened?” I asked in a panic.

  “Nothing more than an entire bottle of bourbon. She’ll wake up and vomit soon, no doubt,” said Sean.

  I held her to me, feeling my chest tighten at the sight of her. Her makeup was smudged like she hadn’t stopped crying, her hair was matted with sand, and her gown was ripped at her legs. Her bare feet were dirty, and she was lifeless in my arms.

  I walked to the couch, sat down, but didn’t let go of her.

  “Where did you find her?” I asked.

  Sean let out a sigh and said, “One of her spots at the beach. You know her fascination with beaches and the ocean.”

  I swallowed down a lump of emotion. I didn’t know that.

  “She said he was going to kill her tonight.”

  Pain hit me in the chest, and I gritted my teeth.

  “Did you know about him?” asked Zac.

  Sean shook his head and said, “I knew she was hiding from someone, but she never told me who he actually was.”

  I touched her face, running my fingers over her cheek.

  “She’s going to wake up and expect to be at my place. So, just a heads up when she goes ballistic.”

  I hated that she had decided to go with him and not come back to me.

  “I only went against her wishes, because I’m hoping you will keep her safe. Safer than what I would,” said Sean, putting his hands in his pockets.

  He pulled out her phone and placed it on the coffee table.

  “She had her phone turned off, because she knows you track her with it.”

  I looked at the phone on the table, clenching my jaw.

  “You can’t get much past her…so…”

  There was silence.

  “I’ll leave you to it. Call me if I can help with anything,” he said walking over to the lift.

  I hated that she had chosen him. I hated that he had shared her life, for a lot longer than I had. I hated that there were certain things that he knew that I didn’t know about her. But he had brought her back to me. That was a miracle I was thankful for, and I had to tell him.

  “Sean,” I said, as the lift doors opened. “Thanks.”

  Sean gave a nod and then disappeared into the lift.

  Ivy

  Water ran over me and I gasped. I was drowning. I was in the ocean. I scrambled to get up and it felt like hands were holding me down. I wanted to scream but my stomach turned in on itself and I felt the vomit shoot out of me.

  I retched and more came up.

  I retched again.

  My throat was on fire and my head was pounding so hard that I felt like I was dying. I heard my name. A soothing, warm, but worried voice called to me. The hands were no longer holding me down but were rubbing my back. It felt nice.

  I retched again and groaned from the pain.

  I opened my eyes and tried to focus. I was in a shower and the vomit was running down the drain. I turned my head and saw that Noah was holding me and I burst into tears.

  * * *

  I awoke in a strange bed, my head throbbing and my throat so dry I could hardly swallow. There was a glass of water on the bedside table. I grabbed it and took a sip.

  “Take the painkillers. You’ll need them.”

  I turned and looked at Ava who was next to me on the bed. She yawned as she focused on me.

  “Where am I?” I asked in confusion.

  “Nick’s penthouse,” answered Ava sitting up on the bed.

  “Are you joking?”

  Ava laughed and motioned to the painkillers on the bedside table.

  “Take them before your head splits in two.”

  I swallowed the pills and drained the rest of the water, seeing my phone on the bedside table. I checked the time and day.

  “I didn’t dream yesterday, did I?” I asked softly.

  “Nope, but you’re here and safe and that’s what matters,” said Ava with a smile.

  “Where’s Noah?”

  “Doing a few things before we leave.”

  “Leave?” I asked.

  “We’re going somewhere for a couple of days, just to escape all this stuff. You can have a shower, and fresh clothes are in that case over there,” she said checking her phone and typing something.

  “Wait. I need to know what happened, and—”


  “Sean brought you here. You were completely passed out. Noah went out of his mind trying to find you.”

  “And…Richard?” I asked, swallowing his name down without choking.

  “Was in the hospital with a broken nose, fractured eye socket, concussion, and a cracked rib, amongst other things.”

  I processed her words, feeling a slight satisfaction from them.

  “And Noah? Is he hurt?” I asked.

  “A slight black eye and the usual bruising of knuckles,” she said with a reassuring smile.

  “His family? Did Richard press charges?”

  “Noah’s working something out with his family now. He didn’t press charges. I’ve got a feeling they are negotiating something with him, but don’t say I told you that. Anyway, we’ll talk when we get there. The guys want to be out of the city for a couple of days.”

  Something wasn’t right, or I had woken up on a different planet. Unease settled in my stomach. My head hurt as I climbed out of bed and headed to the shower.

  “You chose Sean last night.”

  I stopped at the bathroom door and closed my eyes.

  “I didn’t. He just found me,” I said quietly.

  “The Noah I saw last night…scared me,” she said softly. “I wish you had had enough trust in him to not run away. You mean a lot to him. To all of us.”

  “I trust him with my life, for whatever that’s worth,” I replied, turning to look at her. “My own personal hell stared me in the eyes last night. I was terrified. Maybe a part of me no longer wanted to darken Noah’s life with it all.”

  “Noah’s life is only darkened when you’re not in it,” she said with an honest smile. “We’re all going to help you, Ivy. It’s what we do for each other.”

  Noah

  “You tried to bribe her!”

  “I did what I thought was best, Noah. It’s highly irrelevant now that we are dealing with your possible prosecution. This is exactly why I did it in the first place, to avoid something like this,” said my father.

  “She wouldn’t take it. You don’t know a thing about her,” I said, trying to keep calm while everything within me wanted to express my true emotions and shout.

  He stood up from his desk, and continued talking like I hadn’t spoken.

  “I will do what’s necessary to ensure he doesn’t press charges. He’s made it known that he’s willing to negotiate. I’ll also push for Emily’s safety. He will not be allowed near her or to make any contact with her. She, in turn, will have to sign a contract stating that she will not disclose any information about him for the rest of her life,” he said, looking out the window of his high-rise office.