Page 45 of Love At Peace

“He got me fired so I would be at home all the time. He locked me into his apartment so I’d be there, waiting for him. When I pushed back and tried to leave, he found me and sedated me until I could remember that I had to obey and show my gratitude for him rescuing me. I tried to fight back, and he’d overpower me. I’d sneak out, and he’d have the cops patrol nearby and get me back.”

I stood, too upset about this to take it sitting down. Rage filled me, and I wanted to move. To vent. To react physically to let out even a little bit of the tension wracking my body with this news of how bad David was to her.

“I had no one and nothing to rely on to get away. I had no friends, just moving to the city. I had no coworkers to confide in because anything I said would get back to him. I tried to go to a women’s shelter and someone there tattled and he came to get me there. I ran in the middle of the night and begged a stranger on the street to let me borrow her phone, and they called the cops on me. Again”—she lifted her hand and let it fall—“he heard and came to get me. I had no resources to get out. I was cared for. He fed me, when he thought I wouldn’t get ‘fat’ and he provided the basics of shelter and water and whatnot, but it was always under his control. Anything I was deemed to need, he doled it out when he wanted to. All decisions about my life were for him to make.

“He didn’t beat me. Maybe a few slaps here and there, but he mostly just grabbed me and confined me. Drugged me to keep me acquiescing.”

“I’ll fucking kill him.”

She shook her head, then let it hang down. “You wouldn’t be able to get close. He’s paranoid and always scheming one step ahead. Always watching. He’s got connections and they never, ever fail. I only got out because I waited and planned. I had to find the keys to my car that was in storage, and then like a freaking fugitive, I got out and ran. The only place I could think of to go was here.”

But he followed you. “Did he know where you were from?”

“No. I never said. Then again, he could probably find out where from records. He had PIs on his payroll. I tried to hide anyway, getting a new phone and new cards. He took over all my bank accounts, all my savings, everything, so I wouldn’t have the resources to leave him. But when I planned to escape, I had cash for gas because I tried to start over with everything like that so I wouldn’t be traceable, but it wasn’t enough. I was hoping that getting away from him would be a sign that I was done. That he no longer had me captive and couldn’t control me. He wasn’t a beater, but he was vicious with mental abuse. A classic narcissist, but he took it too far. Like a stalker. An obsessed creep.” She sighed.

“Heather...” When I sat again, leaning forward to prompt her to look at me, she barely moved. Peeking at me, but keeping her chin down and her shoulders lowered in defeat, she drew in a steadying breath.

“And now he’s doing it again. I’ll explain a lot of this to Marty, too, but I needed you to know. He’s doing it all over again with Nevaeh. I don’t know what she might have told you—”

“Nothing. She won’t tell me anything but swears that he’s a good guy.”

She grunted a weak laugh. “See? He’s moving on to her and doing it all over again. He’s controlling her and swaying her. And with him getting her pregnant...” She rubbed her face. “He’ll never give up control over her now. His manipulation will never stop.”

Lowering my head, I braced my hands on either side and sighed.

“I couldn’t start thinking about leaving without saying something. I couldn’t leave in good faith without at least giving you a head’s up about this. Going to Marty won’t solve anything. I’ll still tell him about my past, but it won’t make a difference no matter what branch of law enforcement I contact. It doesn’t matter. That’s how many connections he has. But now that I see that he’s moving on to Nevaeh, I had to give you a warning, in case you can try to help her through this.”

I wasn’t sure I’d believe her on that fact. No one could be that immune from the law. Marty was a good cop, and Burton wasn’t within the same political, legal, or legislative sphere as Chicago was.

“I wanted to tell you about my past if I leave—”

I stood again, slowly so as not to spook her. She looked vulnerable after shedding the story of her past like that, and I didn’t want to give her any other reason to feel uncomfortable.

“If you leave?”

She pressed her lips together and furrowed her brow. “Yeah. Leave. If I take that job...”

If. For such a short word, it shot me up with a lot of hope. Before, when we’d last talked, she’d made it sound like she was leaving already.

“Please, can you reconsider?” I asked. Reaching out, I took a risk of holding her hand. “Don’t go.”

She stared down at our hands.

“Not yet.”

I refused to see her go.

She’d just told me about a man trying to control her. A narcissist who had controlled her, and he just proved how far he’d go to maintain that control even longer.

“I can’t stay near him,” she said quietly, as if she hated that fate.

I didn’t want her near him at all.

But if she left...

The worry for her would never stop.

“Please, don’t go, Heather. I’ll never stop worrying about you and—”