“Get the fuck off me. I have to go to her.” I hiss, trying to break free, but he holds me tight. I stop when I see the two men being brought out in cuffs. Josh lets go of me, and I race over to them. “Stop!” I shout and look at the men that held my wife captive. They were tall, built, covered in tattoos and scars. The taller one looked me in the eyes, and a slow dark smirk appeared on his face. “You son of a bitch!” I punch him so hard across the face, I felt his jaw crunch and dislocate. He turns his dark gaze to me and winks before they haul them into the van. I push aside my anger and run into the house, followed by Josh. I look around and almost threw up. The place was disgusting, and there was a putrid smell. I push through the police officers to the back of the house.
“Get me something to cut these! And get the paramedics in here now!” I hear Detective Scott's voice shout, and I push through the officers and run into the room and stop. I saw her bloodied feet first, and
“I hope you don’t mind me saying, but I’m a huge fan of both you and your wife. I used to see your pictures in the papers or social media all the time and always wish to find someone to look at me the way you’d look at each other. I could just feel the love through the screen of my phone.” She states with a smile, and then her face falls when she looks at Shayla. “Then I read about her being abducted and now seeing her like this...”I look at her, frown and, sit up straight. “Please don’t say anything to anyone about what she’s suffered. I don't want the papers to find out about what she’s gone through and have it all over the internet. It would destroy her even more.”Her brown eyes go wide, and she looks at me, surprised. “Oh, no, I would never. I’d have to be completely heartless to do such a thing. I’ve always idolized her and hoped I’d meet her one day, but I obviously didn’t ever dream it would be like this.” She replies woefully and shakes her head.“I wo
I stare at her wordlessly, my mouth agape while I let her words sink in. Sophie was the one responsible for my plane crash? “What? I don’t understand. They said it was turbine engine failure.” Shayla shakes her head meekly.“It was her. She tried to have us killed, Cole.” She croaks and drops her gaze to her hands, an endless stream of tears falling from her eyes.Jesus Christ.“Here, drink this.” I pour her a glass of water, and she takes it from me and drinks it and sighs, wincing a little. I take the empty glass from her and take her hand into mine again. She doesn’t pull away this time.“How’s Alaia?” She asks, lifting her eyes to look at me for a second before she looks away again.“She’s at home with your mum. She’s okay; she wasn’t hurt. They left her outside a police station with a note to call me to collect her.” I explain, and she closes her eyes and cries.“Thank God. I was so worried she had done something horrible to her.” She s
*Content warning*This chapter contains sensitive content (abuse/assault) that some may find triggering or upsetting. It's not graphic, but I advise you to skip this chapter or read it at your own risk.I stare out of the window at the gradually dimming sky. The sound of the rain hitting the window and the distant rumble of the thunder was soothing. It gave me something else to focus on, other than the ache in my body, my wrists' stinging, and the crippling fear that had my heart racing a mile a minute. I didn’t think I would see daylight ever again. The scary part is that I was okay with that. In fact, I was welcoming it. I gave up fighting after the third time. I begged them every hour to just kill me, but they didn’t. Sophie wanted me to suffer, and suffer I did. I can still feel their hand’s all over me. I can feel their long beards dragging along my skin, making every hair on my body stand with disgust. I thought I was broken before—I was wrong. Now,
“No! I don’t want to sleep! I don’t want to sleep!” I scream terrified. If I sleep, I’ll see them, and I don’t want to. “No, please! Please.” I sob, shaking my head vigorously.“All right, all right. He’s gone, he’s gone, baby.” Cole shakes his head, and the doctor backs away, and I whimper, panting. Aimee and Jo had run out of the bathroom, sobbing when they saw me in that state. “I got her. Leave us.” The bathroom empties, leaving me alone with Cole. He holds me until my sobs ebb away, and silent tears remained. “Let me take these off you, baby, and we can clean you up properly.” I pull back and allow him to undress me slowly. “Keep your eyes on me, okay.” I try to look down at myself, but he lifts my gaze to his. “On me, sweetheart.” I nod and keep my eyes on him as he washes my body gently.“Harder,” I whisper. “Scrub me harder.”“Shayla—”“Scrub me harder!” I sob, and he nods and scrubs me with more force, and I wince, watching his face as he scowls,
“After she left, they both took off their masks and kicked the door shut before they walked toward me and untied me from the chair. I fought them as they took my dress off. The taller one picked me up and threw me down on the bed.” I whisper, closing my eyes. “I tried to fight him off. I scratched and kicked, hitting him wherever I could, but he was too strong. He grabbed me by the throat and punched me hard in the face. I was in a daze, but the other one held my arms down while the bigger one took my underwear off.” I explain and choke on a sob. “They raped me.” I cry, shaking my head. “I screamed the whole time, begging them to stop, but they didn’t. They took turns assaulting me, biting, and grabbing me until I was screaming, and they would laugh, enjoying the pain they were inflicting on me. Every time they forced themselves on me, they would whisper that I was worthless, that I was theirs now.” I sob despairingly into my hand.“That’s enough,” Cole growls, walking over t
As I lay there watching Shayla, she’s gazing at me inquisitively, her eyes searching my face. “Cole, what have you done?” She queries, and I kiss her palm gently before I shake my head.“I told you, they’re going to pay for everything they did to you,” I explain, and her brows knit tightly. “Sophie is facing fifteen years, and those fuckers are going down for twenty years at least. Detective Scott said they’ve got a shit ton of offences they’re wanted for. They’ll be lucky if they don’t get life.” Shayla’s eyes water as she looks at me. “They’re going to suffer every single day for years.”“What does that even mean?” Shayla queries while I brush my fingers along her jaw, and she flinches, shrinking away from my touch.“You don’t need to worry about the specifics, baby. Just know that they will endure ten times the pain they inflicted on you. You’re not the only one that’s got that rage burning inside of you. I punched that fucker so hard I dislocated his jaw, bu
It went on like this for weeks, and I could see her sinking deeper and deeper into depression and reclusion. She shut off from everyone around her. Even me. She’s angry and resentful, and every day that passes, I feel like I’m losing her.“What are you thinking, man?” I turn and look at Josh while I pace in the kitchen.“We need to pull her out of this, Josh. I can’t stand to see her like this anymore. She won’t talk to anyone. Not the girls, not her mother, not me. She won’t even open up to the therapist. I tried to take her to one of those group therapy meetings, where she could sit and be with people who have suffered as she has, but she got up and walked out after ten minutes. That’s not Shayla up there, and I’m scared if I leave her alone for a moment, she’s going to do something stupid or hurt herself.” I tell him frenetically, and he watches me sadly.“The girls are here. They can watch Alaia. Let’s take her to the gym, as you said before. This could be t
“Harder Shayla,” Josh says, and she puts more force into her punch. “Harder!” Josh shouts, making her jump, and she glares at him. Josh takes a step toward her, and she jumps back. “Are you weak?” he hisses while advancing toward her, and Shayla backs away, shaking her head. “Are you weak?!” Josh yells again, and she looks up at him, her chest rising and falling quickly, her eyes drowned in tears. “Hit me!” When he reaches to grab her, she shoves him back.“NO!” Shayla screams, and he grabs her arm and pulls her against him. Shayla whimpers and punches him in the chest over and over again.“Is that all you got?! Come on, harder! Hurt me, Shayla! HIT ME!” Josh barks, and she sobs, hitting him repeatedly. I watch her as she relives the moments those bastards hurt her. Josh did it—he got her to open up that box she’s been trying to keep locked away. Josh let her hit him and took each blow, each punch she wished she could have delivered to them. Shayla was screaming and so