Stephanie knew that at this point there was nothing else to do but play the game. Nathaniel was so furious that he could’ve hurt her. Slowly, she undressed from her shirt and when she dropped it on the floor, Nathaniel started to tremble and groan, as if he was having an orgasm.          She felt like throwing up but came quickly to her senses. This wasn’t the time to let herself go. She had to run from that room and that house... Unfortunately, what she had hoped for and dreaded at the same time was already happening. Nathaniel was taking some faltering steps towards her.“Now take off your bra! Come on, hurry up!”          With one hand, Nathaniel was trying to lower the zip of his trousers to show her what seeing her like this was doing to him and with the other he was trying to touch her, to throw her on the bed, to

            She was there… Billy could feel Stephie’s heartbeat… His woman was there, waiting to be saved from that freak hands.“I’m here, my love… I’m right here… Just breathe and think of me. Don’t let that bastard get under your skin. Hang on, baby! I’m coming to save you,” Billy whispered while looking for the house.                   The rain was pouring, but he couldn’t care less. After what he saw on that video, after seeing her tied up, blindfolded, and gagged, Billy just snapped. That son of a dick won’t live another second after he's going to put his hands on him. “Prick! I’m going to tear you to pieces!” Billy cussed and hit the wheel.            

          His eyes moved over Stephanie’s face, her chest, her exposed waist, but he saw no trace of blood. A few bruises, a few small cuts, but apparently, nothing serious.“She's probably cut her hands and knees on the glass… when she broke the lamp...” the detective said.“No, that's not it... Please, take me to the hospital... now...” Stephanie repeated in a determined her anxiety increasing. “Hurry up...” she begged Billy and with his help she got up from the floor.“Love, I know you are very scared. You just went through hell, but...”“You must take me to the hospital now,” she added, looking down at the floor where small drops of blood could be seen.          Then Stephanie's tearful eyes met his bemused gaze. Stephanie was nervously pulling her lower lip through her teeth.

“I want to help you and Stephie, so let me know what would you like me to do,” she replied with a sweet smile on her lips.“It’s not about me at all, it’s about Stephie only. Belle, after the doctor is going to sign her discharge, Stephie’s going to need all the psychological support in the world. She’s going to need a friend, a person who can understand what’s really going on with her. You two have been tagged by the same psychopath, so you have something in common. As much as I’ve tried, I can’t calm her down, I can't bring her back to me all by myself. For the first time in a long time, whatever I say or do to her, falls flat. She struggles to open up to me and this thing kills me slowly. Stephie keeps it all inside and she keeps pushing me away while the pain is consuming her from inside out. I can’t accept this, especially now that...”“Now that...?” Shawn added approaching his cou

          Sitting in the armchair, Isabelle was looking with sadness outside of the window. She hadn’t been able to sleep much that night, so carefully, without waking Shawn up, she got out of bed and went into the living room. She needed to think about what she had discovered since the day she went to the hospital to see Stephie.          As much as she had tried to convince herself that it wasn’t true, the facts were very clear. Nathaniel Stevens was her half-brother. That merciless man that all of them had seen and known, that monster, was her father’s son. From beyond the grave, her father had managed to hurt her once more.          Months had passed since she last thought of her father. Her last memory of him was a very unhappy one. But life rewarded her and Isabelle was no longer alone. She was no longer weak.