In that fraction of a second, my entire life flashed before my eyes. Every little detail came back to me. I thought of my mother, a woman I’d barely known who had been ripped away from me. The numerous foster parents I’d had growing up came next. Very few of them had been kind to me, but there were a few whom I had cared for. Shelly entered my mind next. Sweet, kind, innocent Shelly would always wonder where I’d gone, why I’d left her behind. I loved that little girl more than she could ever imagine, and now, I would never have the chance to tell her.
Finally, Cooper’s face flashed through my mind. I thought of every moment we’d spent together. I remembered how he’d driven me mad at first, but slowly, I’d come to care for him. Then, I’d fallen in love with him. He was the brightest part of me, dimming everything else in comparison. He’d made me stronger, better, more confident. I knew I’d love him until the moment my heart stopped beating.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
Four seconds.
“What are you waiting for?” Robert demanded.
Five seconds.
Six seconds.
Seven seconds.
“Claire! Fuck! Claire!” Cooper yelled.
Eight seconds.
Nine seconds.
Ten sec—
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of a gun going off filled the room, followed by a thump. Isaac’s full weight pressed down on me, suffocating me. Blinding pain invaded my senses. My shoulder was on fire. Cooper’s voice screamed my name over and over again. Someone else was screaming—no, not someone. It was me. I was screaming in terror and pain.
Then, everything went black.
When I regained consciousness, I kept my eyes firmly shut. I remembered everything, every single detail of what had transpired, before I’d blacked out. I didn’t want to open my eyes just yet and become a part of a world so terrifying.
If it weren’t for the constant beep, beep, beep of my heart monitor, I would have wondered if I were dead. Well, the sound and the pain in my shoulder and wrists told me I was very much alive. The pain wasn’t terrible, but it was there.
My mind relived every single moment of what had transpired in Cooper’s room. I remembered the dead look in Isaac’s eyes and then the feel of his weight pressing down on me, his skin touching mine as he’d pinned my legs down. I remembered Cooper’s screams of pure rage and the way he’d fought against his bindings with every bit of strength he had. I could picture Robert’s perfectly calm face as he’d told us that Isaac was going to rape me and that Cooper and I were both going to die.
As I lay there with my eyes shut¸ my body completely still, I tried to remember what had come next—pain, blinding and horrible pain. No, that hadn’t been next. The sound of a gun going off had come first and then the pain. I had been shot.
But by who?
Whatever had happened, it was obvious that I was safe now. I wouldn’t be in a hospital if Robert had shot me, not unless Cooper had somehow managed to get free. I needed answers, but in order to get them, I would have to open my eyes.
I was terrified of what I might see. What if Robert was still pretending to be a good man and was in the room with me? I couldn’t handle seeing him ever again. Something buried deep inside of me was ready to break, and all it would take was a glance at him to push me over the edge.
I remained frozen for a few more minutes before I finally found the courage to open my eyes. At first, I opened them just enough to let the bright florescent lights shine through. My eyes slowly adjusted, and I opened them further. A bright white room slowly came into view. I looked around at what was obviously my hospital room. It was small, a private room with only my bed. There was a single chair in the room with me. It was huge, and truthfully, it looked a lot more comfortable than my bed.
Sitting in the chair was the most beautiful sight I’d ever laid eyes on—Cooper. The weight of uncertainty that had settled on my chest finally lifted, and I felt like I could finally breathe again. Cooper was safe. I was safe. That was all that mattered.
Cooper was fast asleep with a blanket over him. The chair was reclined, and his head rested against a stark white pillow. It made his already dark hair seem black in comparison. Even though he was asleep, his face was lined with worry. He looked ten years older than the last time I’d seen him.
I carefully sat up further in my bed, wincing when the pain in my arm doubled. I looked down to see it wrapped in gauze. I didn’t want to think about what it looked like underneath. I’d been shot—whether on purpose or by accident was yet to be determined.
My gaze moved further down my arm. My wrist was also wrapped in gauze. I checked my other wrist, and it was the same. I’d sliced my flesh away on both arms as I tried to break free from Cooper’s bed. Without a doubt, I knew that both wrists would scar.
My eyes darted back to Cooper when I saw movement in the corner of my eye. He was stirring, his eyes slowly peeling themselves open. Our eyes met, and his widened with disbelief. Before I could blink, he had torn the blanket off of himself and crossed the room to stand next to my bed.
“Claire.” My name on his lips was nothing more than a whisper, but it held so much emotion that I could feel my eyes welling with tears.
“Hi, Coop,” I said. I instantly regretted it. My throat was so dry that my words cracked.
I looked around the room, desperate to find something to drink. Cooper was one step ahead of me. Without asking, he walked across the room to where a pitcher of water and a cup were sitting. He poured water into the cup with shaky hands and carried it over to me. As soon as it was within reach, I took it from him and sipped as fast as I could.
Cooper refilled the cup once and patiently waited for me to finish drinking. Once my throat started to feel better, I stopped. He took the cup from me and put it on the table before walking back over to the bed. He sat down next to me. He made sure to keep distance between us, obviously afraid that he’d hurt me.
Cooper seemed uneasy as we sat together in silence. He fidgeted constantly, his leg bouncing and his fingers tapping.
“You okay?” I finally asked when I couldn’t stand it any longer.
He let out a humorless laugh. “I think I should be the one asking you that.”
“I think we both have a right to be worried,” I said quietly.
“I suppose we do,” he said. His face darkened. “You’ll never know how truly sorry I am for what happened. If I hadn’t involved you, none of this would have happened. You wouldn’t be lying in a goddamn hospital bed with a bullet wound and slashed wrists. You wouldn’t have almost been—” His voice choked up, cutting him off before he could say the last word.
We both knew what he was talking about though.
Rape.
“None of that was your fault, Cooper. Robert…he’s past saving. He’s pure evil entrapped in flesh and bone. Even if it hadn’t happened the way it had, eventually, something would have happened to me. It was only a matter of time before he lost his control over me.”
“You should hate me, Claire. Instead, you’re trying to make all of this easier on me. I almost wish you would just scream at me. It would make things easier.”
“That won’t happen. I don’t hold you responsible for any of this. If you’re looking for forgiveness from me, you’ll find none. There’s nothing you’ve done that needs to be forgiven. You were only trying to find justice for your mother, but neither of us realized just how insane Robert really is.”
He stared down at me with glassy eyes. I knew he was a millimeter away from crying. “I don’t deserve you. I never have, but that doesn’t stop me from loving you. The fact that you love me back, even after all of this, is beyond comprehension. You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met. You’re so strong and brave, Claire.”
“You made me that way,” I told him honestly. “If it weren’t for you, I’d still be the terrified little girl who had walked into Robert’s home without a cl
ue as to how twisted the world really was. You opened my eyes. You stood behind me through everything, giving me the strength I needed to truly be who I was meant to be.”
He shook his head. “Whether you realize it or not, you did that on your own. The only thing I did was bury you under a heap of trouble.” He shuddered. “I’ve never felt so helpless in my life. I was so close to you, but I couldn’t do anything to stop him.”
“You tried. That’s all that matters.” I cleared my throat. “I remember everything up until the moment I passed out. Do you want to tell me what happened? Where are Robert and Isaac? Who had a gun?”
“My father and Isaac are both dead.” He paused. “Ellie killed them.”
My eyes widened in shock. “Ellie?”
He nodded. “She came back to the house because she’d left her purse behind. Normally, she would have just left it until the next day, but she needed to go grocery shopping, so she stopped by to grab it. She heard us screaming and ran upstairs to see what was going on. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out, so she shot both of them. She accidentally hit your arm when she was aiming for Isaac.”
“Where on earth did Ellie get a gun?” I couldn’t picture sweet and kind Ellie with a gun in her hand, yet she’d saved my life with one.
“She was mugged a long time ago. I was just a kid then. Ever since, she’s carried a gun in her purse. I doubt if she thought she’d ever have to use it though.”
“Is…is she okay?” I asked.
He nodded. “She’s shaken up pretty badly, especially since she spent two days in jail for killing two people, but she’s starting to come around.”
“Why did they arrest her?” I demanded. “She saved our lives!”
“The police didn’t have much choice at the time. She called them. When they arrived, she was standing a few feet away from my father’s body with a gun in her hand. Once I told them what had happened and I showed them what we had from my mother’s death, they cut her loose with a low bond. One of my father’s rivals from another law firm is going to represent her, pro bono. It seems not everyone loved Robert as much as he made it appear.
“The police tested both of us for GHB, and the results came back positive, so that will be used to prove our story. Once we testify about what happened, she’ll walk away free. The police have even talked to my mother’s lawyer. He’s going to testify about Robert’s threats to him—not only for my mother, but for you as well. Robert had Isaac pay Mr. Peters a visit only a few hours after you left.”
I shook my head. “Robert knew what we were doing every step of the way. He even knew that you were having him followed.”
Cooper laughed bitterly. “He did. My private investigator has been working both sides since my mother’s death. He fed me whatever information my father wanted me to know.”
“We never stood a chance against him,” I said sadly.
“No, we didn’t. But he never stood a chance against a bullet straight through his neck, so it has all evened out in the end.”
My eyes widened, and Cooper smiled.
“I’m not kidding. The bullet went straight through his neck. Ellie has one hell of an aim.”
“Jesus,” I said. “Ellie might walk away free, but this is going to haunt her for a long time. I hope you know that.”
He nodded. “I’m aware of that, but I can assure you that Ellie doesn’t regret shooting either of them. She knew what was happening, and she did what she had to do to save us.”
“We have to be there for her, Cooper. For however long it takes, we have to stick with her to make sure she comes out of this intact,” I insisted. I couldn’t bear the thought of Ellie suffering because she’d acted to save our lives.
“We will. I promise,” he assured me. “I love Ellie just as much as you do. I won’t let anything happen to her.”
“Good,” I said. “So, what happens now? How long will I be stuck in here?”
He shrugged. “We’ll both know the answer to that when your doctor stops by to see you. From what I understand, you’re going to be fine though. The bullet went straight through your arm, and there’s no permanent damage there. You’ll probably have a couple of scars, but that’s it.”
I held up my bandaged wrists. “And these? Will they scar as well?”
He pulled up the sleeves of his shirt to reveal his wrists. They were bandaged just like mine. “Yeah, we’ll both have scars. I guess it was my father’s parting gift.”
It seemed that no one had escaped Robert unscathed. Ellie would always have the emotional scars of what had happened that night. Cooper and I would have those, too, but we also had the pleasure of wearing our physical scars so that everyone could see them.
“At least we match,” I joked.
That brought a tiny smile to his face. “Some couples claim to do everything together. We have proof that we do.”
A thought occurred to me at that moment, one that brought a genuine smile to my face.
Cooper eyed me warily. “What? Why are you smiling like that?”
“It’s silly really, but I just realized that we’re truly free. Not only is Robert gone, but we also don’t have to hide our relationship anymore. We’re safe, and we can finally be happy—together.”
He smiled before leaning down to kiss my forehead. “Is that what you want? Us being together, I mean?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” I asked when he pulled away.
“I know you wanted to leave this town behind, Claire. I’m not a fool. I saw the need to flee in your eyes every time we were around my father.”
“I did but only because of him. If you want to stay in Morgantown, we’ll stay. If not, we’ll go someplace else. I don’t care anymore,” I told him truthfully. “Wherever you are is where I want to be.”
“I love you, Claire,” he whispered as he rested his forehead against mine.
“And I love you, too.”
There were things I didn’t want to think about at the moment, things I knew I’d have to face very soon, but for now, I just wanted to enjoy the fact that, no matter what happened, Cooper and I were together. Robert was dead, and we were safe.
For now, it was enough.
Two days later, I found myself sitting on a plush leather couch. Today was my first—and hopefully last —session with a hospital therapist to see how I was doing with everything that had happened. When my doctor had informed me that he wanted me to talk to someone before he discharged me, I’d readily agreed because Cooper was standing in the room. Inside, I had cringed away from the mere thought of talking about what had happened.
For the past two days, Cooper had talked about anything and everything else but what Isaac had tried to do. I wasn’t sure if Cooper had been trying to distract me from it or if he just couldn’t bear to say the words out loud. Whatever the reason, I was thankful. I wanted to forget. Talking about it would be the exact opposite.
I looked up when the door opened across the room. A woman in her late thirties with fiery-red hair stepped into the room.
“Hello, Claire. I’m Dr. Wilson,” she said, her voice soothing. She walked over to the chair across from me.
I instantly liked her. “It’s nice to meet you,” I said politely.
“And you as well.” She took a moment to pull a file and a notepad out of her leather bag.
I watched as she opened the notepad and grabbed a pen. “I’ve had time to review your chart along with the statement given by Mr. Cooper Evans. Now, I want to hear your side of the story.”
She intently stared at me, and I shifted uncomfortably under her gaze.
“Whatever Cooper said was true. I don’t think I need to tell you everything all over again.”
For a moment, we just looked at each other.
Then, she put the notebook down next to her and leaned forward in her seat. “Claire, if you don’t talk to me, I can’t sign off on your discharge paperwork. I know this is extremely hard to talk about, but you need to say it all out loud. I
f you don’t, it’ll build and build inside of you until it’s uncontrollable.”
“If I tell you what you want to know, will you sign off on my discharge papers?” I asked.
“I will. That’s a promise.”
I studied her for a moment before deciding that she was indeed telling me the truth. If talking to her about what had happened would help me get out of here faster, then I would talk.
“Fine. What do you want to know?”
She smiled and picked the notebook back up. “Everything you can tell me in the next ninety minutes. Start at the beginning, and go from there. I don’t mean just what happened that night. I mean, everything that had led up to what happened.”
“All right.” I paused. “Have you ever been completely alone, broke, and homeless, Dr. Wilson?”
“I have not,” she said.
“It’s terrifying. I was a foster kid, and my foster dad kicked me out on my eighteenth birthday. I had to sleep in my car and wash myself in the restroom of the diner where I worked. I have never felt so broken as I did then. Just when things seemed to be at their worst, Robert Evans came into my life. When I was at my weakest and lowest, desperate and alone, he found me. Robert changed everything. He gave me everything. He was every woman’s dream—rich, powerful, and charming. He made me forget the fact that he was twenty-four years my senior. He made me feel alive, and for the first time in my life, I was content—until I met Cooper, his son, and Robert began to change.”
So, my story began. I told her every detail of my life from the moment I’d met Robert up until the day of the attack. She listened closely, constantly scribbling notes in her notebook. She didn’t stop me to ask questions, not even when I told her about Robert’s part in Marie’s death or when I admitted to sleeping with Cooper.
As I spoke, I realized just how many things I wished I could have changed. I’d made so many mistakes. If I had chosen differently, things might have ended differently. My first mistake had been ignoring all the warning signs when it came to Robert. I’d turned a blind eye every time he did something that bothered me. I’d allowed him to take over every facet of my life without doing a thing to stop him. He’d sold my car, emptied my bank account, quit my job—all without my consent. That right there should have scared me away, but it hadn’t. I had been so afraid of going back to my old life that I’d ignored every nagging feeling I had.
Retribution Page 17