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16
After leaving Zeke at her parents’restaurant, Liv had gone straight to A New Beginning Center for Women to check in on Claudia Rogers.
The battered wife had been on her mind ever since her conversation with Callie yesterday. Like most women who showed up at the center, Claudia feared her husband would find her and, with equal fervor, feared leaving her home.
Liv hadn’t missed the old scar on the woman’s right cheek or the permanent hook to her left pinkie, likely from a break that had never been properly set.
Rather than make her customary circuit around the common room to say hello to those present, Liv made a beeline for the woman rolling her small travel-size suitcase her way.
“Claudia, where are you going?”
The older woman glanced around the safe house, taking in the gray vinyl flooring, gold-plated light fixtures, clean but well-worn furnishings, and its occupants—women of every race, color, age, and socioeconomic background. “I don’t belong here.”
“Please,” Liv motioned toward a small table with two chairs near a window, “sit with me for a moment.”
Claudia stared at her, one bloodshot eye at half-mast, swollen and severely bruised. Her split lip trembled and her fingers tightened around the telescopic handle of her suitcase.
“Please,” Liv urged, wrapping an arm around the woman’s stooped shoulders and urging her toward one of the chairs.
Claudia didn’t resist, and a few seconds later Liv sat across from her, holding the battered woman’s cold hands in hers.
“I know it feels unfamiliar, but this is a safe place. He won’t find you here.”
“I’m not unsafe at home.”
Liv studied the woman’s injuries, which included a scraped jaw and bruised neck. “He hurt you, Claudia. And this wasn’t the first time.”
“Sam’s been under a lot of pressure at work. He’s short-staffed and there’s a backlog of repair work. Once he’s caught up, everything will go back to normal.”
“Until things get busy again?” Liv lowered her voice. “Until his work shirt hasn’t been pressed to his specifications again? Or his dinner isn’t ready at whatever time he decides to come home? Or he finds an empty soda can on the coffee table?”
Claudia’s shoulders rounded even more and tears filled the narrow space of her swollen eye.
“Stay, Claudia. Stay the full five days you’re allotted while I continue to work on finding you longer-term housing.”
“My cousin lives in Raleigh. I might could stay with her for a few days.”
As if on cue, Claudia’s phone vibrated. She picked it up and peered at the screen. The gathering tears tipped over the rim and slid down her flushed cheek. “He must be sick with worry. I’ve never been away from home before.”
More like he’s lost without his live-in maid these past two days.
Liv kept her opinion to herself as she watched Claudia turn away to answer her phone. Across the common room, Liv met the Center’s director’s questioning gaze and shook her head.
The moment Claudia answered her husband’s call, Liv knew she had failed. The bastard would talk his wife into returning home, and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to stop her.
Claudia hung up and faced Liv, though she continued to stare at her phone. “He apologized and swore he would never lay a finger on me again.”
“He will, Claudia,” Liv said, unable to let the woman leave without trying one more time. “You know he will.”
The battered woman grabbed the handle of her overnight bag and rose. “You didn’t hear him, Olivia. He sounded so m-miserable.” Her voice broke. “He was crying.”
“There’s no life for you there. Only his wants, his needs.” Liv’s heart pounded with her desire to make Claudia see reason. “His anger will explode again when you fall short of his expectations.”
“I’ve made up my mind,” Claudia snapped, wrenching her hand from Liv’s.
“My apologies. I didn’t mean to upset you. I want only the best for you.”
A pained expression replaced Claudia’s anger. “I’m sorry.” She squeezed Liv’s forearm. “I know my husband. He’s not an evil man. He loves me.” She smiled. Or tried to. It was a broken effort. “Thank you for your kindness, but it was a mistake to come here.”
