“You know what I just said about my relationships with my employees? Well, none of that applies to Kevin here. Not only is he the best damn lawyer in this place, but he also happens to be my best friend.”
Kevin looked over at me.
“So this is the woman who finally managed to tame the lion we all know as Blake Andrews. I’m Kevin, it’s great to finally meet you,” he told me, holding out a hand, which I happily took. Blake had mentioned his best friend Kevin a couple of times, but I had yet to meet him.
“I had no idea that your friend Kevin worked for you,” I told Blake.
“Well, works for is a strong term. I do sign his cheques, and he sometimes does some work for me, but mainly it’s an excuse for him to browse Tinder on his phone all day without another boss getting on his ass,” Blake replied with a grin, and Kevin burst out laughing.
“It’s true. Unfortunately Blake here is too much of a goody two shoes to get into too much trouble, so I usually don’t have much to do except boring paperwork, and that’s what underlings are for. So what happened? Did you kill a man and hide his body?”
“You know if I did I wouldn’t tell you with a third party present.”
“Oh that’s right, attorney client privilege and all that,” Kevin replied with a wink at me. I liked this guy already.
“But seriously,” Blake continued, “That asshole that assaulted Julia in Columbus, her ex? He got off and the prosecutor there told her to get a restraining order, so that’s why we’re here.”
“Oh, shit. Sorry, Julia,” Kevin told me, and I nodded my thanks. “Yeah, we can do that. No problem at all. I haven’t filed a restraining order in a while, but I think I remember enough from law school and a couple crazy exes that it shouldn’t be a problem. Seriously though, Blake, you can leave Julia and I here, and I’ll send her up to you when we’re done.”
“Thanks, Kev. I knew I could count on you,” Blake told him, giving me a quick kiss and heading up to his office.
For around half an hour Kevin took down all the information he needed, printed a form off his computer, got me to sign the bottom, then told me he would give me a call later when he got back from the courthouse.
I thanked him, but he waved it away.
“Don’t worry about it. I hate scumbags like that, that the judge would let him go because he didn’t think you would come back to testify is a travesty of justice.”
“Well, I appreciate you doing this for me.”
“No problem. Now go back up to Blake, it’s good you’re together, you make him happy, and when he’s happy, the employees here are slightly less scared of him.”
I laughed as I said goodbye to Kevin and left. I made my way back to the bank of elevators, but instead of going down to the lobby went up to the 32nd floor.
After a quick visit with Blake in his office – a perfect, modernist, minimalist look place that still looked like it cost millions to decorate, I made my way back home. I got a call from Kevin that afternoon telling me I now had a restraining order, and that he sent someone in Columbus to serve it to Tom. I thanked him. It did make me feel better to know that Tom was legally not allowed to come within 500 feet of me anymore, that there was a piece of paper out there saying that. I slept a lot better that night, and the nights after.
* * *
Two weeks later, however, everything changed. Blake was at work, as usual during the day. I was heading out for a lunch date with Karen. It was going to be a three person date, I had wanted her to meet Blake, and he wanted to meet her, but unfortunately something came up at work and Blake couldn’t make it. He had promised to take us out to the best sushi bar in the city to make up for it, however, but we kept our original date anyway.
I was making my way down the street, which was fairly empty for this early in the morning, when suddenly I found a hand on my shoulder. I spun around and found myself face to face with Tom once more.
“What the fuck? You’re not allowed to be within 500 feet of me,” I exclaimed. He was breaching the restraining order, I couldn’t believe it. The next thing I knew, his arm was across my throat. I couldn’t breathe. I started to struggle, but he leaned into my ear and whispered words that terrified me.
“You will stay the fuck away from that man. You’re mine, and no one else’s. If you don’t, I will come after you both, and I will kill you both. I mean it, bitch. Do not test me.”
The next thing I knew, the pressure on my throat was released, and Tom was gone. I looked up and down the street. If anyone had seen what had just happened, they had made themselves scarce.
I immediately started trembling. I was terrified. How had Tom found me? How had he figured out I moved to New York? Obviously they were both pretty easy things to figure out if one cared to look, which Tom obviously did, but it bothered me. It bothered me a lot.
Worse than that was his threats. I wanted to go home. I turned around and ran back to the apartment, then sobbed into the couch.
Reality came down on me like a ton of rocks. Tom had been clear: I had to leave Blake, or he would kill us both. Was he serious? I thought so. I knew Tom well enough to know that he could kill me, or my loved ones. I had absolutely no doubt about it.
From there, I knew what decision I had to make, and it killed me to have to make it. I was going to have to leave Blake. The love of my life, the most perfect man. It wasn’t safe. New York wasn’t safe. Being with Blake wasn’t safe. I didn’t care so much about my safety, but I did care about his. It wasn’t right for me to put him in that kind of danger, it wasn’t fair to him. This was my battle, and unfortunately, right now my best option was running away.
As I wrote a letter explaining everything to Blake, tears fell from my eyes. I couldn’t let myself think about the future, couldn’t let myself imagine a life without Blake. After all, even though we had only known each other for a few months, I was truly, deeply in love with him. And I thought we were going to be together forever. Little did I know forever was only going to last a few weeks.
I cursed everything about Tom. Cursed the fact that he ever entered my life as I packed a duffel bag with the most essential clothes I owned. I was going to have to start over, from scratch. I couldn’t go back to Columbus. Wouldn’t go back to Columbus. Blake would find me, and he would want me to come back. No, I had to go completely anonymous, somewhere no one could find me. Not Blake, and more importantly, not Tom. I would let Blake go, but I absolutely would not go back to him, not under any circumstances.
Trying to stem the flow of tears, I took the elevator down one last time to the lobby. I made my way the couple of blocks to the Subway, and took the train to Penn Station. There I found a train leaving for Philadelphia ten minutes later, and I quickly bought a ticket and made my way to my seat. Thankfully, almost the entire car was empty. I didn’t want any strangers prying into the lonely looking woman bawling her eyes out.
As the train pulled away from the station, I wondered if I made the right choice. I knew I had, really. There was nothing else I could do. I loved Blake so much that I had to let him go, for his own good. I wasn’t going to be responsible for him becoming the victim of one of Tom’s crazy attacks. I couldn’t let that happen to Blake.
I closed my eyes and tried to focus on my breathing, in and out, to make sure that I didn’t completely hyperventilate and panic on the train ride. I knew I was making the right call. It was absolutely destroying me, but it was what I needed to do. I couldn’t let Blake be in danger because of me. I just couldn’t.
Heartbroken, the train finally arrived in Philly, and I booked into a hostel for a few days with some of the cash I’d taken with me. I was going to have to create a whole new identity. I didn’t think it was safe to be Julia Marley anymore. After all, if Tom could find me in New York with that name, surely he could find me in Philadelphia too. And so could Blake.
It took a few days, but I managed to open a new bank account, and I got a new job working retail once again. I imagined if I was going to go back
into nursing I would have to start all over again, I didn’t want to use Julia Marley’s credits, as once again, it could be traced back to me.
I always kind of figured that time would dull the pain. That the longer things went on, that the more time I spent being Julie Murray, the more I would forget about Julia Marley’s old life, the more I would forget how good I felt whenever I was in Blake’s arms. But, it didn’t quite work like that.
Instead, I found myself constantly depressed. I got myself a studio apartment, and when my shift was over I would just go back home, curl up in the blankets on the free couch I found on Craigslist and cry myself to sleep. I had no one to talk to. I couldn’t even call Anna, she wouldn’t understand. I missed Blake. I missed him more than anything. I wanted to desperately to be with him, wanted so much for him to hold me in his arms every single day, and yet I knew that he never would again.
Time and time again I thought back to that conversation that we had, about justice. This wasn’t justice. I had a restraining order, and yet Tom broke it to come and threaten me. What if I had just gone to the police and reported it? He would have probably been picked up, questioned, and then let go, free to make my life a living hell and hurt the people I loved.
No, this wasn’t justice. Blake had told me the story about the bullies, how in the end he got his justice by being a stronger person and becoming a billionaire. But when was I going to get my justice? Sitting on a couch crying myself to sleep, knowing that I would never again see the man I loved wasn’t justice. Tom had won. He had destroyed my life, even after I had left him.
* * *
Two months later, I was finally starting to feel better. I still cursed Tom every single opportunity I had. At night I dreamed about finally getting my revenge, my own little violent murder fantasies made me feel better, even though I knew that no matter what I would never be able to act on them. That just wasn’t who I was.
I had found a job as a receptionist at a veterinary clinic, which was a job I enjoyed, to the point where I was thinking that since I had to start my education all over from scratch again I might become a veterinary technician instead. I liked working with animals, and the office cat that kept me company all day was a welcome friend. I was even starting to make a friend or two here and there at the office.
Then, one Friday afternoon, when everything was quiet for once, I went out the back to visit with the little animal friends who were staying with us overnight. There were two dogs from the shelter that the vets spayed at low cost, and a cat who had just undergone surgery to remove an infected tooth. She was purring as I scratched her behind the ears, when suddenly I heard the bell at the front office. Giving her one last pat, I made my way over there, wondering who was here, as the next appointment wasn’t due for another fifteen minutes.
When I turned the corner and had a look at the new visitor, I stopped in my tracks. My mouth dropped open.
Standing there, in the middle of the room, was none other than Blake Andrews.
My heart immediately started racing in my chest. I’m not sure how long I stood there, just staring at him.
“What are… what are you doing here?” I finally asked. Probably not the reception he was expecting, but I wasn’t exactly expecting to see him here, either.
“I came to see if you’d be willing to come home.”
“Home?”
“To New York. With me.”
“How did you find me?”
“It’s a long story.”
“We’re not busy,” I replied, motioning around the virtually empty vet’s office.
“Let me take you out to dinner, when does your shift end?” Blake asked.
“In an hour. Come back then, I’ll be here.”
“You won’t run away from me, this time?” Blake asked with a smile, and I immediately knew he wasn’t mad. I wanted nothing more than to run into his arms right then and there, but I knew I couldn’t. I had to make him understand that Tom was serious, that I honestly believed he would harm Blake if given the opportunity.
“I won’t. I promise,” I replied, and Blake came over and kissed me on the cheek, softly.
“See you in an hour then,” he whispered softly into my ear. Just hearing those words made my knees weak and my blood start to boil. God, I had missed him. I had missed him so much.
Sure enough, at five past five, as I left the office, Blake was waiting next to a rented Toyota sedan.
“Moved down in the world have you?” I joked, motioning at the completely ordinary car.
“They were out of Ferraris at the rental place,” he replied with a shrug and a grin, which I returned.
“This one is probably less conspicuous anyway,” I replied as I climbed in. We drove in silence for ten minutes before finding a nice little diner on an out-of-the-way street that looked decent. We went inside, were led to a private booth in the far back of the restaurant, as Blake had asked for. The waitress brought over a couple sodas, and Blake and I started to talk.
“I wish you’d come to me, instead of just leaving.”
“I know. But I couldn’t. I knew if I waited, I knew if I looked into your eyes, that I wouldn’t have had the guts to do it. I wouldn’t have been able to, and it was what needed to be done.”
“No, it wasn’t. There were other options. There are always other options.”
I shook my head, sadly.
“Not with Tom. He came up to me in the street, choked me in broad daylight, and told me that if I didn’t leave you he was going to kill you. I wasn’t going to let that happen.”
“So you left. I can understand it, but I wish you’d come to me. We can work something out. Besides, I’d rather live my life in danger with you than safely without you,” Blake told me, and the crushing guilt built up inside of me. Had I made the wrong choice?
“How did you find me? We have time, now,” I asked him in reply.
“It wasn’t easy. I figured you weren’t just going to use your credit cards or bank account or anything, and I saw your phone on the dresser and knew you were going to try and really hide. So I hired four private investigators. Two to cover the east coast, since I figured that was where you were most likely going to go, since you’ve been here your whole life. One to the west coast, and one to the south. I basically wrote them a blank cheque and said to find you. Yesterday I got a call from my east coast man, saying you were working at a vet clinic in Philly. So I came out to see myself if it really was you. I didn’t want to let myself believe it until I finally lay eyes on you.”
“Well, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was flattered by the extent you went to in order to find me,” I replied, and that was the truth. It did feel nice to know that Blake went to every length he could to get me back.
“I would have gone to the ends of the earth for you Julia. I love you.”
My breath caught in my throat. Had Blake really just said that? I mean, I’d known for ages that I loved him, but I had never imagined that he might feel the same way so early in the relationship, and told me about it.
“I love you too,” I replied, breathlessly.
“You’re hands down the strongest woman I know. One hundred percent. You’ve overcome such major obstacles and were making such a good life for yourself. That’s why I’m so surprised that you gave up and left New York.”
“I couldn’t let anything happen to you. I would have hated myself if because of me I lost the best thing that had ever happened to me. I love you so much that I had to go to make sure you’d be safe.”
“You didn’t have to go. Come back with me. I know you’re worried about Tom. Let me deal with him. Please. I’ll make sure he doesn’t hurt us.”
“You don’t know Tom.”
“I know his type. Believe me. My father hit my mother at least once a week, until he finally died of liver cancer. I know people like Tom. I can protect us from him. Both of us. I promise, Julia. But please, come back with me.”
I sat there, stunned at the realization that B
lake knew exactly what I had gone through. Not directly, of course, but he had grown up with it. He knew what it meant. It explained why he was so protective, so kind with me. I had always sensed that he would never hit me, and I now understood exactly why. He had seen the destructive power of it growing up. And I knew what I had to do.
“Yeah. Ok. I’ll come back to New York. We’ll handle this together.” I smiled at Blake. “Let me go get some things and we can drive back tonight.”
“Great! Oh, Julia, you have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that. I promise you, I’ll protect you.”
“I know.”
Two hours later we were back on the road, with coffees in hand, on the way back to New York City.
* * *
When we finally got back, late at night, Blake and I collapsed into bed. It felt so good to be back in his apartment, to be back in his arms. Immediately I wondered what on earth I was thinking by leaving. I should have known that Blake would have done whatever was necessary to take care of me. Still, I was too exhausted to think about anything that night, and slept more soundly than I had in a long, long time.
In the morning, when I finally woke up, the sun was high in the sky. I found a note from Blake on the kitchen counter, telling me that in the afternoon a couple people would be coming by to improve security on the apartment. I had to admire the speed at which Blake got things done, he was taking this seriously. In the back of my mind, however, I wondered if he was taking it seriously enough. After all, Tom had been pretty explicit with his threat.
I got a call from Kevin a couple of hours later.
“Hey, Julia, Kevin here.”
“Oh, hi Kevin, how are you?”
“I’m good, Blake caught me up on everything, told me about Tom breaking that restraining order. I’m advising you as your lawyer to report it.”
“Seriously? It was a while ago now, will it make a difference?”
“Absolutely. Even if it doesn’t do anything straight away, you’ll be on record reporting it. You can tell them the truth, that when he broke it you were scared and ran away. I’m not saying it’ll be the easiest thing in the world to do, but it will be important to have that on record.”
Shades of Submission: Fifty by Fifty #1: Billionaire Romance Boxed Set Page 68
