Page 89 of Hard to Hold
“There was a story about Jane Doe. About a year ago. I read it. It went out to the local agencies, asking for information that might lead to an arrest.” Rhys never looked away from me. “They found the battered and beaten body of a woman in a drainage ditch. There were no pictures of you because...”
“Because my face was so damaged I wasn’t recognizable,” I finished for him.
Rhys nodded, pain in his eyes. “The list of injuries was extensive.”
I nodded. They needed to know how cruel this bastard really was. “That day he broke my jaw, both wrists, my left clavicle, three ribs, and both bones in my lower right leg. My cheekbones were fractured, and the swelling on my brain was extensive.” I shifted on the chair, the memory of the pain still fresh. “I honestly think he believed I was dead or that I would be shortly after he dumped my body. And if those old people hadn’t found me…”
As those words left my mouth, my energy wavered, my body suddenly so weak, so tired, I could hardly sit up anymore. Now that they knew the story…
I felt as though I could breathe again, like some of the weight had been lifted.
But as the exterior door slammed behind Wolfe, I wasn’t sure how long that feeling would last.
Rhys
I probably should’ve gone after Wolfe, but I noticed Amy sagging, her entire body listing to the left as though every ounce of her energy had faded. Based on what it took to tell a story like that, I could imagine it had. So, instead of making sure Wolfe didn’t beat someone to death, I picked Amy up, carried her up the metal stairs and into the break room on the second floor, while Lynx went after his cousin.
After depositing Amy in the recliner and perching on the arm, I brushed back the strands of hair that had pulled free from her ponytail.
“You need to find Wolfe. Calm him down,” she told me as she curled into a ball.
“I will,” I assured her. “In a minute.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I wasn’t strong.”
I hadn’t cried in years, but at that moment, I could feel the tears forming behind my eyes. I wanted nothing more than to go back in time and change the course of Amy’s life. All the way to when her parents died.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t do that.
However, I could find this bastard. It might not be easy since I had no doubt she would refuse to tell me the monster’s name. But I would find him.
And when I did…
I only hoped I got to him before Wolfe did.
“When you finally left the hospital, where did you go?”
Amy rested her head on the arm of the chair. “I never told the nurses my name. I knew he wasn’t going to report me missing, so no one would ever search for me. They called me Jane and I got used to it. The day finally came when they told me I was being released. I was terrified. One of the nurses—Annette—helped me for a few days after. I stayed at her house in her daughter’s bedroom. Then, one day, when she was at work, I left. I knew I couldn’t stay. I didn’t want him to hurt her if he found me.
“I went to the bank, withdrew the money my parents had left me, bought a car, then decided I needed to get far, far away from him. I stayed in various motels for months. I would stay for three or four days, then move on to another, slowly working my way north. I got almost to Arkansas and decided I couldn’t keep running forever, but I wasn’t about to go back to Houston. So I made my way back here. When I found the house for sale and realized I could pay for it with cash, I decided that was a sign I should stay in Embers Ridge.”
I continued to slide my hand over her hair.
Amy yawned. “I didn’t know where else to go.”
My heart broke for her. The damaged woman who had no one to turn to for help.
I sat there, watching Amy until I realized she had fallen asleep. I leaned over and kissed her head. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
She didn’t stir, so I left her in the chair and made my way back downstairs.
Reagan was standing at the bottom of the stairs, watching me.
“Who the hell is the bastard, Rhys?” she demanded, her eyes hard. My sister had always been the protective sort. When she was little, we had a hard time stopping her from taking in every injured or homeless animal we came across. In school, she had always been the one to stand up to the bullies, no matter who their target had been. She might be a hard-ass, but the girl had a huge heart.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. But I intend to find out.”
“Why won’t she tell you his name?”
