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After doing her business in the bathroom, she stood in front of the vanity, washing her hands. The harsh lighting over the mirror was awful, and did nothing to hide the already dark spot forming on her cheek. Orly brought her hand up to it, touching the spot where Russell had struck her. Tears burned her eyes, but she swallowed hard, forcing them back. This couldn’t be her life.
Swiping at a stubborn tear that made its way down her cheek, Orly remembered how kind, charismatic, and chivalrous Russell had been when they met. He’d swept her off her feet, bought her lavish gifts, took her to the finest restaurants, and always made her laugh. He was everything she’d ever wanted in a man. When he proposed, she’d been nervous, but she loved him. When he insisted she break her lease and move in with him, she worried it was too soon, but they were already engaged. What difference did it make if they moved in together now or in a few months? Orly sighed. Everything had been so perfect until she’d told him about her ability. That was when things between them started to change.
It was small things at first. An unkind word here. An insult there. It was easy to ignore or sweep under the rug. Then it became more frequent and so much harsher, but still, Orly held on to the hope that it was just a phase. That the man she’d fallen in love with would come back to her.
People say that a woman can’t change a man, but Orly didn’t want to change him. She just wanted him to go back to who he was, before she told him the truth about herself.
Orly shook her head. That clearly wasn’t going to happen. She knew that now, and as much as it broke her heart to let go of the dream she’d had for her life with Russell Graham, she knew from this moment forward, she had to focus on her own survival. It was something she’d always done as a foster kid, but since meeting Russell, she’d relaxed, thinking she was finally safe. She couldn’t have been more wrong.
Orly dried her hands on a clean towel. Then, with a heavy heart, grabbed her purse and keys, and walked out of the room.
She headed for her car, but Russell came up behind her and snatched the keys out of her hand. “Uh uh, you lost that privilege. I’ll have it transported back to L.A. when I get a chance. Now, get in.” He motioned to his car, a newer model sport utility vehicle that he’d recently bought at a police auction. When she didn’t instantly move, he grabbed her painfully by the arm. “I’ve already settled your bill. Now, you can either sit in front with me, or I can cuff you and throw you in the back like a common criminal. Your choice. Either way, you’re getting in right now.”
Orly looked at her car, almost longingly. It was her only means of escape, and now, he was taking it away. She had a horrible feeling that if she didn’t do something right now, she’d never see it again. With his fingers still wrapped around her wrist, she forced a smile and asked, “Don’t you want to sleep first?” Her gaze quickly drifted to the motel room door she’d forgotten to close, and then back to Russell. “The room is paid for, and you just got off a night shift, then drove for six hours straight.” It was a last ditch effort to salvage what she’d started, but seeing the anger still brewing in his eyes, she already knew the answer before he spoke a word.
He glared at her for several long moments, then released her wrist and nodded toward his vehicle. Of course he wasn’t going to sleep, even if he was tired. He’d pulled plenty of twenty-four hour shifts only to go right back to work when there was a big case. He was driven like that. Strong, too. His tenacity was one of the things Orly admired most about him - until now.
Resigned, and feeling like she’d been caught with her hand in the proverbial cookie jar, Orly shut the motel room door, dropped the key in the box outside the office, and got in the front passenger seat. She was tempted to sit in the back just to stick it to Russell, but now wasn’t the time to ruffle feathers. After all, this guy was capable of murder.
The thought still didn’t sit right with her, even now. It was hard to look at the man she’d fallen in love with and was ready to marry… and see a murderer. But her ability was never wrong. Seeing through the victim’s eyes, feeling what they felt, it wasn’t an abstract thing. The connection she had with that woman was real, and there was no doubt in Orly’s mind that Russell Graham shot and killed her last night.
Orly considered going to the police right after it happened, but without knowing the woman’s name, address, or anything about her, Orly had no idea what she could tell them. Russell Graham was a well-liked, and even loved, member of the community. No one would believe he was capable of cold blooded murder without serious proof. And Orly had none.
The drive back to Los Angeles was made in the kind of heavy silence that felt like it could break the wings of birds if they tried to navigate through it.
When they finally pulled into the parking garage of their apartment building, Russell said, “I hope I made myself clear back there. Oh, and you are to never use that vile trickery of yours again.”
Orly didn’t know what to say to that. He’d called her and her ability all sorts of mean things, but it wasn’t like she had any control over it. She wished she did. It would’ve been so nice when she was a teenager growing up in the foster care system, getting picked on by her peers for being aloof, or seemingly staring into space, when in fact, she was hearing strangers’ voices in her head crying out for help. She looked up at Russell who was watching her, waiting for a response. “You know I can’t control it.”
“Then ignore it.” His fingers tightened around the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. “I’m not marrying a witch or some devil’s spawn. Maybe if you stop giving into it, it’ll go away completely. And this goes without saying, but you better keep your mouth shut about what you think you saw, because you don’t know the half of it.” He let go of the steering wheel and took her hand in his, gripping her fingers so tight, she thought the bones would snap. “I love you, Orly. But I have my limits.”
Orly swallowed and nodded, then started to get out of the car, hoping he’d release her hand.
He squeezed it harder, keeping her in the seat. “Don’t ever pull a stunt like this again,” he added.
Then, he released her hand.
Chapter 1
Give it your best shot, Douchebag!
The stranger’s thought rushed into Orly’s mind, a jarring but welcome distraction from Russell’s speech at the annual police luncheon. “I want to thank everyone again for coming. As you know, we are a team. We work together to bring peace and unity to our streets…”
Orly tuned Russell out, pushing her sunglasses up the bridge of her nose, grateful the department had chosen a garden venue for this luncheon. She’d applied three layers of concealer under her foundation, but there was still a shadow from the two day old bruise he’d given her when she dared to question him after he demanded she stop going to her favorite coffee shop. When his reply had been, “because you don’t need it,” she dared to mock him by saying she didn’t need him either. That earned her a direct hit.
Things between them were never the same after the night he tracked her down in Nevada.
As she’d suspected, Orly never saw her car again. A week after he’d had it transported to Los Angeles, he forced her into selling it. He claimed he’d promised it to a lieutenant friend of his who was looking for a gently used car for his daughter who was graduating from high school. When Orly tried to say no, Russell said going back on his word now would embarrass him and made it abundantly clear he wouldn’t stand for that. When she asked for the money he’d gotten for her car, he claimed to be keeping it for now in a high yield savings account. He even insisted she thank him for taking such good care of her after she’d made a fool of herself and tried to leave him.
Not long after that he insisted Orly quit her job as a nurse because she didn’t need the money. She’d taken some time off in anticipation of being gone for a while when she’d run away, but had since returned to working at the hospital. She loved her patients, and the other nurses she worked with. So when she refused, he threatened to have one of her colleagues fired after learning her ex-husband was incarcerated for drug trafficking. “All it would take is a few ounces of meth strategically slipped into her bag. She’d lose custody of her kids and be tossed in a cell for years.” His words sent a cold dread up Orly’s spine. Part of her was tempted to simply walk out on Russell, even if she had to live on the streets, but that wouldn’t help her colleague. So, Orly turned in her two weeks notice.
Even that wasn’t enough for Russell though. He monitored her calls and constantly looked for signs she was still using her ability. Hiding it from him was hard, though not impossible. It was far easier than ignoring the people who actually needed her help.
The only thing Orly hadn’t told Russell about was a YouTube channel she’d created a few months before meeting him. It started as a fun hobby she really didn’t think much of that turned into something Orly looked forward to working on in her free time.
Right around the time she moved in with Russell, one of her videos went viral, and her channel started to grow exponentially. Orly could hardly believe how much viewers loved the whispered ASMR Psychic Reading videos she was recording with her smartphone camera. As her subscribers and views grew, so did her earnings. Capitalizing on this newfound business venture, Orly set up an online bank account and started saving every dollar she earned. She’d planned on telling Russell about it eventually but was now glad she’d kept it to herself.
Recording and posting a new video almost every day, at least every day Russell went to work, was really helping her bank account was grow. She’d spent most of her money from nursing on paying off student loans and the rest of it was put into a combined checking account that Orly no longer had access to after he took away her debit and credit cards to ensure she couldn’t leave him again. But now that she was making money from her YouTube channel, leaving Russell was starting to become more and more financially possible. She just needed to do it right this time so he didn’t find her again.
