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Dad got arrested that night and put away for eighteen months for violating the permanent protective order my mom had against him and resisting arrest when the cops showed up. It had given us another two years of peace before he managed to find us again.
And by then, he’d gotten smarter. There was no banging, crashing, or deafening abuse. No warning.
He came in the dead of the night, and Ali and I woke to Mom’s screams as Dad dragged her from her bed.
“She’s my girlfriend, so you better step out of the fucking way so I can take her home!” a voice roared from down the hallway, and my body jerked at the sharp tone. “Get out of the way!”
“Dammit,” Matt cursed. “We had this OD come in. Had to pump her stomach, and it looks like this guy is already trying to take her home. She’s barely fucking conscious.” He rushed down the hall where a couple of orderlies were attempting to stop the young guy from rolling his girlfriend out in a wheelchair.
“Sir, she needs medical treatment,” Matt called as he hurried to put himself between the guy and the girl. The aggressive young man was dressed in a three-piece suit, although he couldn’t have been much older than twenty-two or three. The girl wore a tube top that barely covered her breasts, her clearly battered and abused body on full display, the bruises and tracks in her arm making my stomach churn. The denim mini skirt she had on was even worse, as it was currently up around her waist from how he’d obviously dumped her into the chair with absolutely no regard for her dignity.
“Do you know who the hell I am? You need to fucking move,” the guy snapped, but Matt didn’t move.
“I can’t let you take her out of the hospital without her permission, and she can’t even speak, sir,” Matt explained calmly, though I saw the slight shake in his hands grow as they argued back and forth.
No doubt the cops were already on the way, though they would need to be quick because the look in this guy’s eyes was one I’d seen before. It was possessive and violent, and I knew I needed to get that girl out of there.
I crouched in front of the wheelchair as Matt and the others attempted to keep the guy back. Her eyes weren’t open, and she was slumped awkwardly, but I could see her breathing, so my first concern was getting her the hell out of there, then I would assess her.
As I shimmied her skirt, trying to cover her up, I noticed a tattoo on her hip.
A heart with Mom written through it on a fancy ribbon.
I paused.
I was sure there was no way, but when I looked up and brushed the long, matted dark hair away from her face, I knew it was her. The girl Bishop and the club were looking for. There was no mistaking it.
“I swear to God, doc.” The suited man had lowered his voice, but now, there was a more dangerous tone to it. Less angry, more deadly. “You better fucking move.”
I needed to move fast.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I quickly scrolled, finding Bishop’s number that Calli had put in there just for emergencies. I hadn’t seen or spoken to him in over a week, trying to avoid the awkward energy swirling around us.
But at that moment, I had no choice.
I hit dial and tucked the phone between my shoulder and ear, listening to it ring as I grabbed the handles of the wheelchair and spun it around, walking with the young girl at speed in the opposite direction.
The roar that came from behind me was almost deafening. “Hey! Get back here with my girlfriend, you bitch!”
“Yeah?” Bishop answered, his voice gruff.
“It’s Shay. You know that girl you were looking for, she’s here at the hospital. I—” I screamed, and my phone went flying as someone pulled on the back of my shirt, dragging me to the floor, where I landed with a hard thump on my back. The wind was knocked from my lungs, and I twisted and turned as I fought to suck in a breath of air.
I turned my head just in time to see the shiny black shoe pull back, then drive hard into my ribs, once again forcing the little air I’d managed to draw in straight out again and sending pain shooting through my body, forcing me to cry out.
“The fuck do you think you’re doing!” he screamed at me from above. Blood dripped from his nose, and his well-put-together suit was now a little disheveled. “Stupid whore.”
He stepped over my upper body, and I turned my head, looking back to see the carnage he’d left behind.
Matt was on the floor, as were the two orderlies, and anyone who wasn’t trying to help them was just watching on, their mouths open in absolute horror.
They weren’t trying to step in to help me. Or to help this young girl. A girl I knew he was using and abusing.
She had a family. They were looking for her.
And if I let him walk out with her at that moment, they might never get her back.
I clenched my teeth and kicked out my leg, catching his knee as he tried to step over my legs. It sent him tumbling to the floor, stunning him for a few seconds and allowing me to clamber to my feet, fighting through the pain I was sure could be broken ribs, but I didn’t have time to stop as he was already groaning and attempting to get to his feet.
