Maggie took a deep breath.
"I knew then that I was in trouble. I'd never understood how abused women could stay with the person that beat them. I was determined to leave. Anthony showed up at the hospital with flowers and a small Tiffany box. He dropped to one knee. Told me he was so sorry. He explained that the man I'd been dancing with, Lorenzo Gallo, was his enemy. Lorenzo's plan had been to seduce me in order to lure me away from Anthony. Then he told me it would never happen again. That he wanted me to be his wife."
Bastard. All abusers were the same. They all promised the same things, and yet, each time, they abused those that trusted them. It was a disease. An illness. But there was no excuse. When you were ill, you got help. When you were sick, you took medicine. You didn't beat innocent people and unleash your disease on them.
"The ring he presented me with was a three-carat diamond in a platinum band. I was young and stupid," Maggie said, disgust rolling off her in waves. "I bought the lies, convincing myself that if he didn't really love me, he wouldn't be asking me to marry him. He said he'd been drunk, and I knew from experience that he rarely let that happen. So, I said yes."
Of course she did. Why wouldn't she? A young, impressionable girl who didn't have a father figure, who’d practically been raised by her slightly older brother. Of course she would say yes.
"Everything was fine for the next six months. Anthony wooed me like we had just started dating again. He was sweet. Attentive. Spoiled me rotten. That night disappeared from my mind. It had been a fluke. It would never happen again."
"But it did," Sully said.
Maggie nodded.
"It did. We were at another charity function. Anthony disappeared from sight. It was the first function we'd attended since that night he'd found me in Lorenzo's arms. I was nervous, the memories assaulting me. I went to look for Anthony, unwilling to talk to or be near any men. I found him in an office. He was with another woman, and they were, um—well, let's just say they were occupied."
The creep. Sully wanted to kill him. Forget maiming or just hurting him. He wanted Anthony's head on a platter. No one, especially his Maggie, should have to go through that. No one.
"I must have gasped out loud, because Anthony turned and saw me. I ran away, flagging down a taxi and not really knowing where to go. I drove around for hours, with the taxi driver asking me every fifteen minutes or so where I wanted to go next. I ran up quite the bill that night. Finally, exhausted, I went back to our apartment. I had planned to sleep in the guest bedroom. I wanted nothing to do with Anthony."
It was going to turn bad again. Sully knew it. It would have had to be something terrible to make Maggie leave this man. She was loyal to a fault.
Maggie's breath hitched. "He was waiting for me when I returned. I screamed at him. Told him it was over. I threw the ring at him and stormed past him. He grabbed me by the arm and twisted it behind me. I heard the bone snap. The pain was so terrible, I vomited on the lush, white carpet. This only angered him more. He beat me black and blue. Then he told me that I would never leave him. That if I tried, if I ever pulled a stunt like I had that night, he would kill my brother and his wife."
Sully watched as the tears spilled down her cheeks. She was the bravest woman he'd ever met. It drew him even more to her.
"I was a prisoner. I lived like that for the next two years. In fear. The slightest thing would set him off. He'd come home smelling like cheap women's perfume and alcohol. I had no illusions that he was faithful to me. I was grateful that we’d never married. Anthony kept putting the date off, and I was fine with that. I didn't want to marry him, but I was too scared to leave him."
She stopped her pacing and sat down again on the couch next to him.
"But he hardly ever let me out of his sight, and, when he did, he had bodyguards follow me everywhere. Then, one night, everything changed. My circumstances changed, and I decided I'd had enough. I had just healed from his last beating. And I knew I had to try to leave."
Sully felt like she was leaving something out. The catalyst that had made her leave. He'd ask her about it later, but he knew she wasn't ready to tell him now.
"I planned for two weeks. Putting all the pieces together so my escape would go off without a hitch. Anthony was going out of town. I figured this was the best time to leave. I had a better chance of escaping from his thugs when he wasn't around.
"By this time, I knew Anthony's work wasn't on the up and up. I had a suspicion it was mob-related, but I didn't want to know the details. The less I knew, I figured the safer I was. Anthony left the house that morning, and I made my plans. The housekeeper, Consuelo, arrived. I shoved several hundred dollars into her hands and told her I was leaving. Compassion filled her eyes. She was willing to help me."
Sully wished that he could hug that housekeeper right about now. He had no doubt that her silence is what had enabled him to find Maggie years later.
"When the bodyguards arrived, I told them I was going to the gym. They followed me there, but I'd already stashed a disguise during the week leading up to that day. I worked out and then went into the locker room. When I came out, I had black hair, different clothes, and a baseball cap on. I walked right by them.
"My mistake came when I went back to the apartment to get the rest of my things. I should have just put a few things in a duffel bag and left. Again, I was young and stupid. I walked in, and Consuelo was lying on the floor, blood flowing from her nose and a gash on the side of her head. I pressed my fingers to her neck, and she still had a pulse. I tried to get her to wake up, but she was out. That’s when Anthony pulled me up by my hair, dragging me across the floor."
Maggie took a deep breath, her hands shaking in her lap. Sully took them in his own and pulled them up to his lips, where he kissed them gently. He knew that this wasn't something she usually talked about. He was honored that she trusted him. But his own breathing was labored, his heart breaking at her pain.
"I was in the hospital for three weeks. Multiple broken bones. Concussion. I had thirty stitches in my face, here." She pushed her long bangs back to show him a scar that ran from the top of her forehead down the side of her hairline. "When I woke up in that hospital, I'd never experienced such pain. My whole body felt as if I'd been hit by a truck. Funnily enough, that's what Anthony told them had happened. By this time, though, the hospital staff was aware of what was going on."
Her smile was sad.
"Consuelo lived. Anthony brought her in as well, saying she'd tried to save me and had tripped on the curb. He fired her. And, if the rumors were true, Consuelo and her family had to leave Atlanta. People said that she was unable to find another job. Frankly, I think she was terrified of Anthony.
"I was just as terrified. He'd almost killed me this time. And I knew my life, and, well…I knew I had to leave. I owed it to myself and to my family to leave. When Anthony left that day, the hospital sent in a social worker. She told me that she knew I hadn’t been hit by a truck and that there was a way I could leave. There was a program that would relocate me and my brother and his wife. I agreed."
Sully had never been more thankful for those who risked their necks for the lives of others. He guessed that some would lump him and his team in with that category, but helping battered women leave powerful men was something altogether different from what he and his team did. It was truly heroic.
"The phone call to Will didn't go as I had planned. I had assumed he'd be angry at me. He wasn't. When I told him what had happened, he and Jenna readily agreed to the program. So the authorities relocated us to a small town. They still live there. But after a year and a half, I moved to D.C."
She smiled sadly, and Sully knew that she was still leaving out some crucial bit of information. But he didn't push her. Not yet.
"I never saw Anthony again. I thought I'd never see him again. So when Zach said his name last night, I lost it."
"What about this morning?" Sully asked, referring to her tears in the shower.
"
Just emotions. Tired. All too much to handle," she answered, waving it all off as if it were no big deal.
Her eyes shifted. Sully knew there was more.
"There's something you're not telling me."
Chapter 8
Maggie looked into Sully's eyes, the deep blue lulling her into trust. He wanted her to trust him. And she did. But she couldn't tell him about Brady. Not yet.
Brady had been the reason Maggie had decided to leave. It was one thing to put her own life in danger, but something entirely different to put her son's life in jeopardy. It was at the hospital, weeks before she'd attempted the escape, that they'd told her she was pregnant.
She'd had no choice but to continue to have sex with Anthony. Most of the time, he’d taken care of his needs outside their home, but once in a while, he'd come home and want her. There was nothing loving or passionate about it. She was a vessel for him to use. Nothing more.
But he'd gotten her pregnant. And as much as she hated him, she’d immediately loved the little life growing inside her. When she'd woken up in the hospital after she'd tried to escape, her first concern was that he'd killed her baby. Anthony hadn't known about the pregnancy. She hadn't planned to tell him.
The doctors had been monitoring her closely, but, as it was still early in her pregnancy, the baby had been fully protected. When the social worker had offered her a way out, she knew she had no choice but to take it. She owed it to her baby.
Will and Jenna had been amazing. Uprooting their lives for her. Changing their last name. The organization had moved them to a small, rural town in North Carolina. It was only a few miles from Raleigh, but no one would ever know it. There was no broadband internet. No cable TV. Everything was satellite.
Brady Giles Thomas had been born seven months later. He had his dad's dark hair, but her blue eyes and facial features. Maggie was grateful that the hair was the only reminder of Anthony that she’d have to live with. Brady was her mini-me in every other way.
Maggie took a deep breath and exhaled loudly.
"That's all I can share right now. I'm tired, Sully."
He watched her, his eyes searching her face. Finally, he nodded, then stood, offering his hand.
"You up to working today?"
She nodded. She needed something to keep her mind off Anthony Garmoni and the nightmare that was her past.
"Of course."
"Good."
Maggie followed Sully down to his office, not stopping to say anything to Zach. She was embarrassed about yesterday. She was also grateful that Isabel was nowhere to be seen. She'd want a play-by-play of what had happened last night with Sully, and Maggie wasn't ready to talk about it.
She sat down at her desk, shuffling through the papers she found there. Things had been slow since the FBI investigation, or so she'd been told. She hadn't worked here before that fateful night, so she had nothing to compare the current workload to.
The air shifted around her, and awareness lit her belly. When she lifted her head, she wasn't surprised to see Sully propped against her door.
"You ok?" he asked.
It had only been an hour since she'd started organizing the papers on her desk and sorting them into the appropriate files.
"Um, yeah. Fine."
Tension fired and snapped between them. Maggie lifted her brows in question. Why was he still standing there, looking at her?
Sully opened his mouth as if to say something and then snapped it closed. He opened it again, and Isabel popped her head around the door.
"Hey, you two!" she said cheerily. She gave Sully an odd look and then focused her attention back on Maggie.
"Maggie, I'm going to the grocery store. I need to get out of this place, and we need groceries. Want to come with me?"
Maggie jumped up from her desk. "Absolutely."
She was dying for some fresh air and time away from Sully. Her sanity was holding on by a loose thread.
"Great!" Isabel said, stepping back.
"No," Sully stated, no emotion in his voice.
"Excuse me?" Maggie's mouth dropped open in disbelief.
Before Sully could continue, Isabel interrupted. "Sully, don't be a bully. I need groceries. We'll be together. Relax."
Sully pushed his hands through his hair. It was a wonder he had any left, considering how many times he did that when he was around Maggie.
"Fine. The other guys are all tied up, but I'll send a couple of the contractors with you to keep an eye on things."
"If it makes you feel better," Isabel said, lifting herself onto her toes and kissing him on the cheek.
But Sully's eyes never left Maggie's. She wanted to lift herself onto her toes and press her lips to his, but she knew it wasn't professional, and she wasn't sure he would entirely welcome it—although the heat shooting from his eyes made her think that maybe he was thinking about the same thing.
He hadn't left the door and was still standing there, halfway blocking her exit. She scooted by him, but he caught her by the arm, tugging her closer. Her face tilted all the way up to meet his gaze.
"Be careful," he said softly.
She nodded, too taken aback by the emotion swirling in his blue eyes. He squeezed her arm softly and let her go.
* * * *
Isabel talked all the way to the grocery store, which was located outside the city. There were several markets inside the city limits, but they found the prices to be cheaper in Virginia, so every couple of weeks, they'd make a trip out to Alexandria to pick up groceries for the warehouse.
Feeding an army was expensive and required a lot of coordination. Fortunately, Isabel was used to it since she'd lived with the guys for so many years. Adding a few extras never seemed to bother her.
Maggie pulled the car into the grocery store parking lot, and she caught sight of a black sedan pulling in beside them. She'd driven her own car this time, needing something to keep her mind and hands occupied.
When they had retrieved a shopping cart and started down the aisles, Isabel began her interrogation.
"So, want to tell me what's going on with my brother?" She smiled sweetly, her hand dropping to her tiny baby bump.
"Nothing," Maggie lied.
Isabel laughed loudly. "Right. Because you go around straddling every guy around?"
Maggie's face heated up, and she dropped her head into her hands.
"Of course not. It's just—"
"Complicated?" Isabel finished for her.
"Exactly."
"All the good stuff is. You like him."
It wasn't a question, but Maggie felt the need to nod in agreement anyway.
"He likes you, too."
"I’m not so sure about that. One minute, I think he does, and the next minute, I think he wants to take my head off."
"Well, that's pretty much Sully's m.o. with anyone he cares about. And mark my words, he does care about you. I'd guess quite a lot."
Maggie hoped so. She hadn't felt like this about anyone since—well, she had never felt like this about anyone. Anthony didn't count. She’d been a kid. It had been infatuation, and then poison to her soul.
She hadn't dated anyone in the years since she'd escaped. She’d been too scared to repeat her mistakes. Not to mention, if Anthony ever found her, she wouldn't want to put anyone else in danger.
Sully was different. For one, she hadn't sought him out. They'd become friends at the diner, and then she'd had to move in when her house had been firebombed. And he could handle himself against Garmoni. If anyone could fight him and win, it was Sully.
"My past isn't easy," Maggie started. "I got involved with a really bad man at a young age. Just a teenager. It changed my life. And now he's here in the city."
"Zach told me about Anthony Garmoni. I didn't realize you'd had a relationship with him, though."
Maggie snorted. "If you could even call it that. The man was abusive. Sick. Twisted. And I escaped. It was shocking to hear that he was here in D.C. I thought I'd never be anywhere nea
r him again."
"I'm assuming you changed your name—appearance, even."
Maggie nodded. Sometimes it was nice having a friend with a psychology degree, and sometimes it was damned inconvenient.
"I went dark, then red. As the red faded to a pinkish hue, I realized I loved it. So I kept it pink. Changed my last name. New ID. There was an organization that helped me and my brother and his wife escape Atlanta. They took care of the new identities."
"I've heard of organizations like that. I wish there were more of them. The lack of safety after fleeing a domestic violence situation is one of the main reasons that victims think they have no other choice but to stay. They're terrified that the man will show up and drag them back. And many times, they do. Not everyone can learn to kick ass like J. Lo did in that old movie."
Maggie laughed. She had thought about taking self-defense lessons. But once she'd had Brady and then had had to move to D.C., time and money hadn't allowed her to do it. Maggie had never been able to attend college. She had only a high school degree and no work history, since Anthony wouldn't let her work while they were together. Something about its reflecting poorly on him if he couldn't take care of his wife. He claimed that she shouldn't have to work—never mind that they hadn't actually married yet.
Jobs had been scarce, and she'd found Roy's diner shortly after moving to D.C. with only a few hundred dollars to her name. Will and Jenna had insisted on sending her with a little something.
"I'm grateful to them, and to my brother and sister-in-law. I don't know where I'd be without them. Well, I'd probably be dead."
"I heard he was a real piece of work."
"The last time he beat me, I was in the hospital for three weeks. I almost died." And worse yet, if she had died, Brady would have, too. She was lucky that they were both alive, even if she wasn't able to raise him herself.
She promised herself that one day, she would.
"I'm sorry," Isabel said. "No one deserves that."
Maggie shrugged. "I was young, but I was also incredibly naïve. If only I'd listened to my brother, I could have avoided a lot of heartache." But then she wouldn't have Brady, and it was hard to regret the decisions that made his existence possible.
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