AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Joe says you’ve been feeling ill.”
His voice sounded sincere.
She couldn’t look at him. She just kept washing dishes. “It was just the flu bug. I’m better now.”
“That’s good.”
As she stretched her arm across the counter to grab another dirty bowl, her sleeve rose up. She knew in an instant that was a mistake, his gaze fixed on her bruise. She yanked her sleeve down. A rush of panic whipped through her. Sweat beaded on her upper lip.
“That’s a pretty nasty bruise,” Nick commented matter-of-factly.
“It’s nothing,” she immediately replied. Her voice cracked, and her gaze stayed on the dishwater.
“It doesn’t look like nothing to me. It looks to me as though you may have had a rather unfortunate experience.”
She stood silent. Why did he have to see it?
“I’ve seen that pattern of bruising before.”
Deep down she knew he wasn’t going to leave it alone. “What?” Elizabeth asked, her voice just a whisper.
He cleared his throat. “In my seven years on the police force, I’ve seen that pattern of bruising more than I care to admit.” His voice was soft.
Though the burden of secrecy was about squeezing the life out of her, Nick certainly wasn’t on her list of potential candidates in which to confide. Especially since she was adamant Joe never find out what happened. Her mind spun, her head felt light, and her chest constricted. She just couldn’t take it anymore.
She lifted her gaze to meet Nick’s. His eyes reminded her of Joe’s.
His eyes shifted to her neck. “May I see your neck?”
Tears filled her eyes. She patted them with her shirtsleeve and returned her gaze to him. The concerned look in his dark eyes was convincing, causing the apprehension coiled in her stomach to loosen slightly. She held her breath as she slowly hooked her finger onto the collar of her shirt and pulled it down for him to see the bruising around the base of her neck.
Angelina and Maria stood behind him, their eyes filled with compassion. Now almost everyone knew her dirty little secret. Shame, embarrassment, confusion, and a tinge of relief jockeyed for position.
Hot tears ran down her burning cheeks. She tried to wipe them away with the back of her hand, but there were too many. Angelina walked over to her and hugged her.
“Maria, is Joe still napping in the recliner in the living room?” Nick asked.
Maria peeked around the doorway. “Yes.”
“Try to make sure it stays that way for a while, and if he wakes up, keep him occupied while Angelina and I talk with Elizabeth.”
Angelina and Nick took her into Angelina’s bedroom. Elizabeth took a seat on the edge of the bed, Joe’s sister sat next to her and took hold of her hand.
Nick pulled up a chair and placed himself directly in front of her. His silence made her more nervous, and she scrounged for something to say but nothing came to mind. How did I end up here?
Finally, Angelina spoke. “Elizabeth, please tell Nick what happened. He can help you if he knows what happened.”
Elizabeth shifted her gaze between the two of them, finding the same soft, caring brown eyes Joe so often displayed.
Tired of fighting it alone, she sucked in a calming breath, and let it out. “I was raped.” She nearly choked on her words but managed to get them out. Deep down she knew, even before she spoke, that Nick knew what happened to her, but she said the words aloud anyway. Oddly, a small sense of relief floated through her. His gaze stayed on her. A part of her wanted to look away, but the compassion in his gaze held hers.
“Who did this to you?”
Angelina’s grip on her hand tightened.
It had been hard enough to actually say out loud what had happened to her, but the mere thought of saying the rapist’s name aloud was excruciating. She swallowed hard and fought for a voice. “Patrick, the nephew of the man who owns the company.”
Nick leaned forward. “Can you tell me what happened?”
