by Sadie Jacks
I nodded immediately. “You can have anyone look through PennCorp. Since taking it from my father, it’s been on the up and up. Not a single shade of gray remains. I would ask, that if you do need to do an investigation, that a select few be entrusted with the information as I have a number of sensitive deals in the works.”
Wright nodded. “Of course. We’ll see if it gets to that level. Assuming everything you’ve told me is true and verifiable, I’m sure we can charge him without a lot of media craze.”
I snorted. Shot him a wry smile.
He had the grace to flush. “Right. Well, a media craze that hopefully dies down pretty quickly. How about that?”
“Better.”
Amatucci shifted in his seat. “I’ll sign an affidavit that Penn was working on my behest. That he removed Willow with my permission. I’m Willow’s medical power of attorney. Errington shouldn’t have been able to get within fifty feet of her. I even informed him of this before he tried to enter the room.”
Wright’s eyes flinched in surprise. “Run that part back for me.”
Amatucci laid out the facts about the hospital visit from start to finish. His hands were clenched around the arms of the chair again by the time he was done. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“And you have the Protection From Abuse order? It’s still valid?” Wright asked.
Amatucci nodded, pulled out another sheet of paper. Slid it over the table.
“Is Ms. Chase open to a forensic nurse exam?” Wright asked.
Amatucci growled. “She wasn’t raped.”
Wright shook his head. “No, thank God that didn’t happen. However, we need to get high-res images of the bruising on file. I can probably win the case without them, but if you’re wanting to stick it to Cavendish and send him upstate for prison bitch selection, the pictures will go a long way to making that happen faster.”
I bit my cheek. She wasn’t mine. She wasn’t mine. She wasn’t mine. I repeated it over and over and over. She would hate that. In the minutes I’ve known her, I knew she wouldn’t want to be splashed across the pages or have anything to do with being in the media. If pictures of her were taken for a case, they became public record.
But that asshole Cavendish needed to get ass raped in prison by a bevy of Billys and Brunos. If John had gotten his son’s charges dropped before, this could be one of the few times that the charges could be made to stick.
“I’ll ask her. But I won’t force her to come here.”
Wright nodded. “It wouldn’t be here. It would be at the hos—”
“Abso-fucking-lutely not,” I interrupted. “She ran from him. Down six flights of stairs without shoes on while she was essentially delirious. No. Arrange for the forensic nurse to do an exam somewhere else.”
Wright leaned back in his chair. “It has to be done in a medical facility for it to be admissible in court, Penn. The nurse can’t just go on a fucking photo shoot. Not and preserve evidence the way it needs to be.”
Amatucci waved his phone at me, catching my attention.
GOOD SHEPHERD scrolled across the screen.
Fuck!
I nodded at Amatucci.
“If I can set up a legal, secure setting for the exam, will the photos remain admissible?” Amatucci asked, his voice low and calm against the anger that flashed like fire from me.
Wright turned again. Nodded. “As long as it’s recognized and certified as a Class 1 medical facility with appropriate locks and guards on their system, then yes. Ms. Chase can go to a different facility.”
I let out a breath. “What about the nurse?”
Wright tapped his fingers against the desk blotter. “We have a team of five SANE/SART nurses who are qualified to do the exam. Since GMH serves all of New Tenadie and some of the smaller surrounding areas, they mostly stay at GMH. All forensic cases are brought to GMH.”
“Can we pay one to go to the outside facility? Personally hire him or her?” I asked.
Wright shook his head. “No, that could muddy the waters. I’ll see what I can do about getting a court order to cover the exam in an outside facility.” He swallowed. “This is all predicated on the idea that Ms. Chase allows the exam.” He looked at Amatucci.
The mafia lawyer smiled tightly. “Excuse me, gentlemen. Let me make a phone call.” He got up from his chair and moved to the far side of the expansive room.
I cleared my throat, drawing Wright’s attention back to me. “This outside facility…I’m a significant donor. Is that going to be an issue?”
Wright’s entire face pinched. “Shit.” He rubbed a hand down his face. “When’s the last time you were on premises?”
I shook my head. “Hell, I have no idea. A year? Maybe two? My CFO takes care of all the charitable giving of PC.”
“You have no say in how the funds are spent or in which department?”
I shook my head. “No. The owners came to me after they helped a family member. Wondered if I would be willing to help their cause. I readily agreed.”
“Was this donation and any following done in a quid pro quo manner?”
I shook my head again. “No. Aid was rendered and recovery completed before they approached me initially. I signed off on the rolling annual donation, but that’s all of my involvement.”
“Do you attend any fundraisers publicly where PC is the majority donor for this facility?”
Another head shake. “No. I make it a habit to not go to functions.”
He smiled. “I wish I had that luxury.”
I shot him a wolf’s grin. “One of the few benefits to being in charge.”
He acknowledged that with a dip of his chin. “If we can show that no favoritism or quid pro quo has been established or is ongoing, then we should be fine, legally. If any of that status changes, I need immediate updates.” He drilled me with a stern look.
I nodded. “Agreed and understood.”
He nodded, turned. He made a note on one of the pads he had littering the credenza behind him.
Amatucci came back. “She’s agreed on the condition it not be at GMH and that the nurse is a female. She asks that a rape kit not be done due to no sexual contact.”
Wright nodded, made some more notes. “That’s fine. The rape kit is in conjunction with the forensic exam in most cases. But it can certainly be left out. Does Ms. Chase have a preference in the age of the nurse?”
Amatucci shook his head. “No, but I would say send your most empathetic but not overly touchy-feely one. Will doesn’t do well with pity and casual touching.”
Wright wrote some more. “Anything else?”
Amatucci sat quiet for a moment. “The nurse needs to talk to Will while the exam is going on. No silent observer bullshit. Willow will either shut down or run out of there. Neither is to happen if you want those photos.”
Wright nodded. “I think I know who to request for the court order. I’ll see if she’s available and then write up the request. I should have an answer by the end of day.” He looked up again. The intelligence and the thrill of the hunt lit his eyes. “Anything else, gentlemen?”
Amatucci and I looked at each other. Looked back at Wright. “No.” We said it in unison.
Wright smiled, stood.
We stood as well. Another round of hand shaking. Wright walked us to the door. “You two make an odd pairing in legal matters. But damn if you aren’t efficient with it.”
I could feel the scowl on my face. Looked at Amatucci’s. He had a matching one.
Wright laughed. “Have a good day, gentlemen. I’ll call as soon as I have an answer for you.”
We nodded and took the elevator back down to the ground floor.
We slid into the car and the driver pulled us away from the curb.
“How is she?” I asked Amatucci.
He snarled. “She’s not your concern, Penn. But since you’re helping with Errington and Cavendish, I’ll share. She’s fine. Understandably upset about everything, but Rafe’s with her. H
e’s the best of us, he’ll get her through whatever trauma this is bringing up for her.”
Chapter 12 – Willow
I could feel the bile pushing at the back of my throat. “Hurry, Rafe.” We were standing outside the door of my apartment after the prep shopping we’d done for my parties this weekend.
Finally, he got the door unlocked. He dropped our stuff and picked me up and rushed me to the bathroom. We made it just as my stomach gave its last shove towards victory.
“Fucking Nico,” Rafe said as he held my hair back as I emptied my stomach into the toilet again. I barely had time to wipe my mouth before more came gushing from me. He held me tight against his body. My abused legs were unable to support me or allow me to bend.
Finally. Finally, he was going to pay. Granted, I didn’t want it to be this way, but if this whole thing could be over? I’d submit to the rape kit even. They could poke, prod, take pictures of anything they wanted if it meant he would finally be stripped of his medical license and put behind bars.
Another round of heaves shook my body as the five years of horror and terror played in my mind like it was on a big screen. I squeezed my eyes shut, tried to push the thoughts away.
“Will?” Rafe asked, his voice low.
I shook my head as tears trailed down my cheeks. “Help me.”
He sucked in a breath. “Aw, baby. I can’t. Not like that.”
My heart broke. “Please, Rafe. Please.” I brought my hands up to cover my face, shame and guilt drowning me.
“Fuck.” He squeezed me tighter. But not tight enough.
The huge yawning wound in my mind tried to swallow me whole. It sucked me down and forced me to watch as the worst parts of my life infiltrated my mind. The memories trapped me mentally as I had been trapped physically.
“Fuck!” Rafe yelled, startling me for a brief moment in time.
But it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough to pull me out of it. To save me from it. That nothingness that had been an unending nightmare.
“What the fuck is going on?” Dom said from behind us.
“Help me, Dom. Please help me.” I reached out for him blindly, tried to find him when my brain was dark.
The black pulled me under again, made me numb to the room around me.
But they were too late. We were all too late. He had found me. Pulled me back and forced me to watch. Again.
**
“Fucking look at me, Willow. You want to save her, don’t you?” Ethan said, his voice warm and soft.
The girl in his arms couldn’t be any older than fifteen. Her young body already slashed to ribbons by the scalpel he held. Her blood dripped from the cutting implement designed to help heal people.
I looked at her eyes. Mostly swollen shut, the blue irises were hazed and unfocused. Good. I hoped she’d found a happy place. A place where he couldn’t hurt her.
A place I was never allowed to find.
I tried to get my tongue to move, my lips to move. Any part of me to move. But I couldn’t. I was locked in this hellscape with no way to flee.
He sliced her again. Part of her flesh fell to the plastic lined floor.
She didn’t move. Didn’t jerk. Nothing. Lifeless as a doll. At least she had that small blessing.
Ethan sneered. “That’s all you’ve got, Willow? That’s pathetic. Try again and make me believe it or her death will be on your hands.”
I used every part of me to move, to flutter an eyelash, to save her by some kind of movement. But I failed. I failed with this mother’s baby who didn’t deserve to be abducted by a sociopath.
Just like all the others I couldn’t save. The countless mother’s babies, sisters, girlfriends, fiancés I’d been unable to save. Like ticker tape, they flashed through my mind. Every ethnicity, every race, every age between eleven and twenty-five, every body type. They didn’t matter to him. Not really. They only mattered as leverage for the horror he inflicted on me.
And that…that was the fact that damned me to hell. I hadn’t been strong enough. Been able to fight the drugs well enough. I wasn’t strong enough when I finally got to leave the prison I called a home. I wasn’t brave enough to tell someone what was happening.
They were dead.
And it was all my fault.
**
Pain—sweet and beautiful—slid through my mind. Forced the memories back into the deep dark place I kept them. I came back to my body with a sharp short scream.
My eyes flashed open. Light seared through my nerves as cold wet agony slammed through my body. My head fell back on a gasp.
“That’s enough, Penn. Touch her again and I’ll fucking kill you right here,” Dom shouted from far away.
Something grabbed my chin, pulled my head down.
Brilliant green eyes probed my own. “You back, cupcake?”
A smile pulled my mouth wide. “You saved me again.” The words were barely audible.
Ryker tightened his grip on my chin. “What’s my name?”
My eyelids drooped low for a moment. “Ryker.”
“Ryker what?”
“Ryker Penn.”
“Open your eyes, cupcake. I need to see those pretty eyes.”
My lids felt like weights, but I got them up enough to see his handsome face. I’d been lying before. He definitely was in the same league as Chris Hemsworth.
Ryker’s lips quirked. “I’m going to remind you of saying that. What’s your name?”
I tsked him. “Not remembering a lady’s name is in poor manners, Mr. Penn.” My lids tried to close again as another surge of pain swept through my mind.
“Name or the pain ends,” Ryker snarled.
My eyes popped open. “Willow Koa Chase. Don’t let it stop. Please, Ryker. You have to keep me here. Don’t let it get me.” I could feel the tears burning, pushing at the back of my throat. He couldn’t let the memories win. He couldn’t do that to me. Please.
Another hot surge of pain floated through my mind.
I sighed as I tried to bundle myself up in it. Wear that prickly warmth like a favorite blanket on a cold night.
Ryker slapped my cheek lightly. “Come all the way back or it ends and I’ll make sure you never get anymore, cupcake. You don’t want to play that game with me.”
I could hear someone, or maybe two someones, moving around outside my bedroom door. Their voices were familiar, but I couldn’t place them at the moment.
“Sharp or thudding?” Ryker asked.
I shivered. “Either. Both, depending.”
“On?”
“My mood,” I answered. I was trying to get my brain to do it’s damn job. There was no way I was risking not ever getting pain again. I was trying to do what he told me to do. Some part of me wanted to because he asked me to. And not just because he’d threatened me with the lack of pain.
“Whips?” he asked, his voice clearer to my ears.
I shrugged.
“Shit. Don’t do that.” His hands readjusted on my back. “Another concussion shouldn’t be on your agenda. Whips?”
“Not a huge fan.”
“Any particular reason?”
“Sound they make.” I shuddered. “Do you like whips?”
“They have their place.”
My brain did another filter and I could finally see beyond the green of his eyes. His lush mouth, his dark lashes, his brown brows. They all came together in a seriously sexy package.
“Back with me?” he asked.
I nodded. “I think so.”
“Can you feel this?”
One of his hands moved, but I didn’t feel anything else.
I shook my head.
“Fuck.” He bumped his knee into my leg. My bruise.
I inhaled sharply as another surge of prickly aching throbbing shot through me.
He laid his forehead against mine. “Fuck, you wear pain well. When you’re under me, I’m going to give you so much pain and pleasure that your brain won’t be able to sort it out. You’ll be a wri
thing mass of sensation and naked nerve endings. Your cunt will—”
I pressed my mouth to his to get him to shut up. He can’t say those things. Not to me. I didn’t do sex. Not anymore. Not ever again.
I pulled back as I felt him respond.
He chased me with his mouth. His cheeks were flushed.
“Ryker. Stop.” I tried to get out of his grip.
He jerked to a halt, blinked quickly.
I felt my lips tilt up at our strange role reversal. “Are you back with me?” I asked.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Yes. Why’d you pull back? Your mouth was built for sin.”
I grimaced. “Maybe, but it doesn’t do any sinning anymore. I don’t do sex. Ever.”
His eyes widened as his mouth fell open. He studied me for a moment. Closed his mouth. He looked me straight in the eye. “Maybe not right now. But yes, you will. And it’s going to be with me.”
Some deep part of me yearned. Wanted. Begged. I shook my head. “No.” I brushed my lips to his in thanks. “But thank you for saving me. Again.”
His eyes flicked back and forth as he searched my gaze. After a moment, he nodded. Stepped back, his arms on my hips instead of curled around my back. “You’re welcome.”
That deep part of me that yearned, shattered.
Chapter 13 – Ryker
The slightest downturn edged her sexy as fuck mouth when I accepted her gratitude. I wasn’t giving up the mission to get her in my bed, but I knew bulldozing her wasn’t going to get me where I wanted to be. Under her. Over her. Inside her.
It might not be tonight or even next week. But I would wear her down. I could give her what these Amatuccis were too fucking scared to give her.
I don’t know how they held out against her begging. Domenico and I had walked in, joking about something stupid when Rafe had yelled fuck like his soul was being ripped from his chest.
I’d pushed both Amatuccis away as I ran for her. Tears streamed down her cheeks, her voice quavered as she asked them to save her. They’d shaken their heads and denied her mercy. They claimed to love her, but would only love her in ways they found acceptable. Regardless of what she actually needed.
