“While we were still married,” I whisper as all the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place.
“Yes. I’m sorry,” Harris says from the other side of the room.
“Lily, anything you can tell us which can help us in our investigation against Trent would be helpful.”
“What did he do to her?” I ask in a soft voice as I look the detective straight in the eyes.
“He broke her jaw, her pelvis, lacerated her arm, and smashed her head to where she needed stitches.”
“Don’t tell me anymore,” I whisper. “I can’t hear what he did.” Instantly I’m hurtled back to memories of the last beating he gave me, the way he kept hitting my head against the fridge. I lift my hand and touch the spot I had stitches on my head. “I feel sick,” I say as I stand and run for the bathroom.
“Lily,” Peter calls after me. But I keep shaking my head as I run to the bathroom, open the toilet stall and vomit into the toilet. I vomit again, and again. And when there’s nothing left in my stomach, I sit on the floor, curled into myself and cry.
“Lily,” Jones says softly as she comes into the bathroom.
“Go away; give me a few moments,” I manage to say as I sob.
“I just want to tell you a story. Is it okay if I do that?”
Through the tears I mumble, “Yes.”
“I want to tell you about a girl I know who in high school fell in love with the school’s sports star. He was popular and good looking and all the girls wanted to be with him and, as the saying goes, all the boys wanted to be him. But he had his eyes set on the geeky girl, and they ended up together.”
“This is a nice story,” I say through the door as I pick myself up and sit on the lid of the toilet.
“It was, until he decided he wanted her to do something and she didn’t want to.”
“What did he want her to do?”
“He wanted her to sell her body, and pimp herself out because he thought she’d make him a lot of money.”
“Oh my God,” I say as I come out of the stall and go wash my face and hands. “What happened to her?”
“She started doing it, because she thought he’d love her more. But then she wasn’t making enough money for him, and he started beating her to make her work harder.”
“Oh my God,” I say as I look up from the running tap to her.
“But after a couple of years of him bullying her around, and beating her, she finally realized what he was doing was the furthest thing from love there was.”
“Did you save her?” I ask as I wipe my hands and then lean against the wall in the bathroom.
“No, Lily I didn’t save her. She saved herself. She made a conscious decision to change her life, accept her past, and move on with her future. She also finally grasped how strong she was as a woman and had that miserable son-of-a-bitch arrested. She went to court for his trial, stood with her shoulders straight and her head held high, and she gave the court her testimony.”
“Wow.” I look down at her shoes avoiding her eyes then look back up at her. “Whatever happened to her?”
“Why aren’t you asking what happened to him?”
“Because I have faith he was dealt with by the court.”
Her mouth twists up in half a smile and she says, “You’re looking at her.”
My arms break out in goosebumps and I get ambushed by admiration for her. “Wow.”
“You can do this, Lily. If there’s anything you can tell me to help me put him behind bars, please I need you to be brave.”
I open the door and walk back to the room where everyone is waiting for me and Jones to return. “I have something I can say, but I have something which may be even better.”
“What’s that?” Jones asks.
“I have the diary I was writing. But it’s at my best friend’s house and I need to go find it.”
“A diary? As in a journal?” I nod my head. “Does it have details?”
“I can give you some details,” Dale interrupts. “Lily showed up here freezing cold, with blue lips because she’d left him with nothing more than the clothes on her back. I wrote it down, kept a note of what happened in case there were repercussions.”
“You did?” I ask Dale.
“Yes, I’m sorry, Lily. I didn’t mean to deceive you, but I kept a record of it.”
“You were protecting me. I’m not mad.”
“I’ll go get it.” Dale darts out of the office and comes back a few moments later with an envelope. “I’ve kept a copy for myself, but here’s the original.”
“Thank you. Lily, when can you get your diary?”
“I can go after work tonight and get it.”
We make arrangements for me to go tomorrow morning down to the police station and give them my journal. They also tell me if I need to give evidence, they’ll speak to the DA and ask if I can do it via videotape, so I don’t have to face Trent.
When they leave, I sit, emotionless, in Peter’s office. “Are you okay?” he asks.
I shake my head, then nod. “I don’t know. I feel numb.”
“Look, I’m going to call that guy of yours and get him to come pick you up. Take the rest of the day off, and tomorrow morning go to the police station. Just come in after that.”
I nod but I’m not sure what I’m nodding for. “Okay,” I say in an automatic response.
Like a jumbled blur; I hear Peter talking, and Dale talking, but I’m completely zoned out and not sure what’s happening. I just sit in Peter’s office, staring, at nothing.
My mind goes around and around. I’m numb, but I’m also confused. I’m not sure how long I sit here, because everything is quiet. I can’t hear anyone. Maybe they’re talking, or maybe they’re not. I’m stuck in limbo, somewhere between hell and earth. Every emotion, every feeling, everything is bubbling just beneath the surface. Like an active volcano waiting to erupt.
“Lily,” Max’s serene deep voice calls me.
Blankly I look into his dark brown, green-speckled eyes. Did he say something? Is he actually here?
“Lily,” he says again, as he lifts me from my seat and hugs me.
“He did it again,” I flatly say. “He hurt someone else.”
“I know, Snowflake. Peter told me. I came the moment he called me.”
“They want my diary. I need to give them my journal. We have to go.” Suddenly I feel an extreme amount of urgency as I leap out of Max’s arms and go for my desk to get my bag.
Max is right beside me and walking me down to my car. But I’m in no shape to drive. “Here,” I say as I give him my keys.”
“I’ve got my car. We can come back later and get yours, okay?” I nod my head, tuck my keys back into my bag and walk in the direction of Max’s car.
“Is Shayne home yet?” Max asks. “So she can let us in.”
“I still have keys. They told me when I left I could keep them, because it’ll always be my home.” I get into the car and stare at nothing, everything is a blur. Before we reach Shayne and Liam’s house, Max calls them to let them know what’s happened.
In a daze, I stare out the window, really not comprehending what’s been happening. I feel like I’m so unsure of everything. I’m a mess. I feel a tidal wave of strength, then it dissipates to uncertainty and anguish.
“I have to do this,” I end up saying to myself. “If I don’t, he’ll always be able to hurt someone else. He shouldn’t think he has that right.”
We pull up outside Shayne and Liam’s house, and we go inside to the room I was staying in. I look everywhere and can’t find the journal. “It’s useless, he’s going to get away with it because I can’t find the journal.”
Max hugs me and lightly rubs his hands up and down my back. “Lily, when was the last time you wrote in it?” he ask in his beautifully hypnotic, deep soothing voice.
Instantly his lull completely relaxes me. “It was when the divorce went through,” I automatically respond as my eyes close.
“And w
here were you sitting when you wrote it?”
I think for a moment, and an image flashes in my mind. “On my bed. I put the journal down and went to sleep. Oh my God,” I yell. “It’s under my bed.” I get down on all fours and look under the bed. There it is, with a dust bunny over it, right down the back of the bed. “Thank you.”
Max pushes the bed, and I grab my journal, wiping off the clump of dust. “There you go,” he says smiling broadly at me. “You just needed to relax.”
“Can we go home now? I just need to switch off and not think about anything.”
He takes the journal, and links our fingers together, leading me out to the car. “I think you need a bath, some dinner and a really stupid comedy to make you laugh.”
“Let’s not worry about my car tonight. A bath sounds perfect.”
He opens my door and tosses the journal on the back seat. As we drive home I keep looking back at it. “Don’t worry about it,” he says, obviously sensing the weight my diary is imposing on me.
“I can’t help it. What I have in there may send him to jail.”
“No, you can’t look at it that way. If he goes to jail, it’s because of what he did not because of what you wrote.”
He’s right. I didn’t beat Audrey. I didn’t do all those terrible things to her. He did them. And for that, he needs to face the consequences.
“Are you ready?” Max asks as we stand on the sidewalk outside the police department. I nod my head. “I have the journal. I kept copies of every page. You can do this, Lily. I’m right next to you, the whole way.”
I look up at the building and smile. I can do this. We walk in and go to the front counter which is manned by two people. “Can I help you?”
“I’m here to see Detectives Harris and Jones.”
They look me up and down, then pick up the phone to ask either of them to come down.
A moment or so later, while my pulse quickly thrums through my body I hear, “Lily,” Harris says as she approaches us. “Come with me,” she leads us to an office and closes the door. “You’re looking better than you were yesterday. You are?” She directs her attention to Max.
“Max Sterling.”
She gives him a slight nod, and looks back to me. “Did you bring the journal?”
“I did. Here.” Max hands her my diary. “I also took copies of everything in case anything happens.”
“Nothing will happen. We’ll read it and take copies of what we need. Once Trent’s trial is over, we’ll return it to you.”
“Can I ask a question about Trent?” I look at Harris and silently plead.
“If I can answer it, I will. There are things I can’t discuss with you, obviously.”
“When did he beat Audrey?”
“Three days ago.”
“Is he in jail?”
“He was granted, and made bail.”
I shiver at the thought he’s around and could come after me. “Should I swear out an order of protection against him?”
“It’ll be a good idea, considering he’s out on bail, and now we have something that shows he’s a perpetual offender.”
I look at Max and he nods his approval. I can tell he wants me to get one. “Okay, how do I go about doing that?”
She explains it to me, and tells me under the current circumstances, they should be able to get a judge to approve it fairly rapidly.
Max and I leave after filling out paperwork for the restraining order, and Max takes me to work. “You sure you don’t want to spend the day at home? I can have a masseuse to come over, maybe even have someone come and give you a manicure and pedicure?” he asks.
“No, I’ll be okay. I need to keep busy, and I need to call Jolene and speak to her. I should’ve told her on Saturday I wasn’t going to accept the position. I don’t want to move, even though I would like to be doing what I love.”
“Okay, well the choice is yours. I’m working late tonight. I won’t be home until around eight or nine.”
He pulls up in front of the store and leans over to kiss me. “I’ll see you tonight,” I say.
As I go upstairs, I stop into Peter’s office. Dale’s there and they’re drinking coffee and laughing. “Lily, come in,” Peter says. Dale gets up from the chair, and moves to lean against the small expanse of wall between the large windows overlooking the floor.
“I just wanted to let you both know what’s happening.”
“And what’s that?” Dale asks.
I give them a run-down of everything that happened this morning, and both say how they’re pleased Trent’s finally being held accountable for his actions.
“I also wanted to say, to both of you, thank you. You’ve not only shown me kindness, but you’ve also been patient with everything. I really appreciate it.”
“Peter told me you had your interview with that publishing company,” Dale says changing the conversation. Obviously they both find it as difficult to accept compliments as I do.
“I did, but I’m going to decline their offer.”
“What?” they both half yell at me. “Why?” again they both say.
“First they wanted me to move to New York so I could go into the office, but I told them I’m not moving. So they offered for me to do it all by email, phone, courier and fly into New York once a month. But I don’t want to do that either.”
“Was the money good?” Dale, the numbers man, asks.
“It was ten percent more than I’m earning here, but the catch is I can’t have any personal clients.”
“Ten percent is weak,” Peter says and Dale nods his head.
“It’s really a combination of things which made me decide to decline the offer.”
“You’ve not declined it yet?” Dale asks.
“What with what happened yesterday, I really didn’t have a chance to.”
“Do you want to take it?” Peter says as he finishes his coffee.
“It’s what I’d like to do, but at the same time, I like it here. And I’m booked up for the next three months and I have five on a waiting list. So really I don’t need them, but it would be nice to do what I love.”
“You know, Lily,” Peter starts. “You’ve been headhunted by one publishing company. I can guarantee it, you’ll have more offers.” I laugh and remember what Jolene said to me. “What’s funny?” He looks at me quizzically.
“Jolene, the lady who offered me the position, said to go back to her with any offer I receive. I’m sure she was being nice, and I most likely won’t receive another offer like hers again.”
“There she goes again,” Dale murmurs to himself, but obviously loud enough for me to hear.
“What is it, Dale?”
“You, Lily. You still don’t get it.”
“Get what?”
“You’re worth what she offered times a million. She wanted to meet you because you, my dear Lily, are worth it. Every penny, every dollar. And her offer won’t be the last. It’s only a matter of time, and someone will give you what you want and you’ll be an asset to their company, just like you’re a precious commodity to ours.”
“Thank you,” I say and accept his beautiful words. “But I’ll be rejecting it because frankly, air travel and I aren’t the best of friends.”
Peter and Dale both laugh, and understand what I mean. “Tonight we’ll need a hand with counting inventory out the back. Can you stay late and help?” Peter asks.
“Of course. Around what time do you think I’ll be done, so I can tell Max?”
“No later than eight to eight-thirty.”
“Great, I’ll let Max know.”
I get up and go to my desk. First thing I do is call Max and let him know I’ll be working late, and he says for me to wait at work because he’ll come by and take me out to dinner. Seeing as the hospital is close by, there’s no sense in me driving home, only so we can come back out this way for dinner.
And then I call Jolene and reject her offer. She tries to offer me another ten percent, but I’ve m
ade my mind up to not accept. The biggest drawback for me is being unable to take on new clients, who could potentially be another New York Times or USA Today bestseller.
“I’ll be getting off right at eight, so just wait for me, okay?”
“Yep, we’re busy with an inventory check anyway. I’ll just have to go get my sweater from my car when we’re done.”
“Alright, I’ll see you when I get there.” Max hangs up and I go downstairs to start helping with the stock counting out the back.
The hours fly by, and before I know it, Peter’s telling me Max is waiting in the store out in front. He tells me to go home and thanks me for all my help.
“Hey,” I say to Max as I go to him. “I’ve gotta go get my cardigan from my car. It’s parked around the back.”
“I’ll come with you.”
“How about you bring the car around the back? I’ll go straight there, see you in a few minutes.”
“Okay.”
I give Max my bag after I take the keys out, and head out through the back exit as he goes to get his car. I walk toward my car in the back parking area, and it’s quiet and isolated out here at this time of the night.
When I reach my car, I unlock it with the fob when I hear the one demonic voice I know I’ll never forget, “Lily.”
I turn around and I get punched in the face. Startled, I fall back against the car. “Trent,” I scream.
He lays another punch into my stomach, winding me. I buckle over in pain, and try to scream, but he’s knocked all the air out of me. Instead I desperately gasp for air, trying to get something other than pain into my lungs.
He grabs me by the back of the head, and smashes my head against the door. “Help,” I scream.
“You should’ve just minded your own damn business, bitch. But you had to give them your fucking immature, stupid little diary.”
“Help,” I yell again, fighting the urge to throw up. I’m fighting, with everything I have in me. I begin to lash out with my arms, and I manage to swipe at Trent’s face.
“I should’ve done the world a favor and killed you when I had the chance. Looks like I’ll have to do it now.”
“Help,” I yell as I keep punching toward Trent.
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