36
Derek
My feet hammered through my eighth mile on the treadmill. It didn’t seem to matter how long or how far I ran, nothing could ease the tirade of emotions coursing through me ever since Gianna bolted out of her apartment the previous morning. I hadn’t heard from her. I was agitated, pissed off, and worried beyond all belief. I didn’t know if I was coming or going anymore.
The alarm on my sports watch sounded, alerting me that employees would be arriving at The Mill in thirty minutes. I impatiently stopped the treadmill and skipped my usual cool down. The gym opened for business at six in the morning. I wanted to be showered and locked in my office before I got pulled into a conversation with another human. At that moment, I didn’t want to talk to anyone but Gianna.
The problem was, Gianna was gone, and I had no idea where to find her.
Grabbing a towel to wipe the sweat off my neck, I headed to the showers. After I stripped out of my t-shirt and shorts, I braced myself against the shower wall and let the water stream over me, I thought about everything that had happened over the past twenty-four hours.
I felt trapped with my hands tied behind my back, utterly helpless to protect Gianna from the monster from her past. I couldn’t understand why she ran—why she wouldn’t stay and let me help her. Was I that wrong about what we had together?
She was out there all alone, and only God knows what could happen to her.
After I towel dried and dressed, I left the locker room to seek the quiet confines of my office. Unfortunately, the front desk was already active with gym members. I must have taken longer in the shower than I thought. Clients were lined up to the door, each one holding out their membership cards so they could be scanned in. Lisa was behind the counter of the Nutrition Center, pulling supplements and fruit from the refrigerator for smoothie orders that would soon follow their workouts.
“Hey, boss,” Lisa said cheerily when she saw me walking by.
She looked so happy—so normal. She was mentally healthy and whole, having never experienced the horrors Gianna had. Emotion scorched my throat as I thought about all Gianna had been through. It was all I could do to keep my shit together.
“Morning,” I greeted without making eye contact. “I’ve got a bunch of stuff to do and don’t want to be disturbed.”
Through my peripheral, I saw the odd look she tossed at me, but I didn’t stop moving until my office door was closed behind me. I turned the lock and leaned against the back of the door. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I paced the length of the room like a caged animal. I wracking my brain, trying to think of where Gianna could be and how I could possibly help her. Impulsively, I ripped my cell from the pocket of my shorts and dialed my sister.
“Derek, it’s six-thirty in the morning,” Isabella growled groggily. “This better be good.”
“Have you heard from Gianna?” I asked without preamble.
“Gianna? Who’s that?”
“Val. I mean Val. Have you heard from her?”
My sister, dazed from sleep, didn’t think to question my slip-up. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to continue using Gianna’s fake name. We never got to discuss that part before she ran out on me. Until I got the all-clear from her, I’d need to remember to be careful.
“No. She’s scheduled off until Wednesday. Why?”
“You know how we’ve talked about her possibly being abused?”
“Yeah. What about it?”
“Well, she was—badly. It was her husband. Yesterday morning she took off because she thinks he found her.”
“Wait. What?” my sister asked, suddenly sounding wide awake. “What do you mean he found her? Start from the beginning.”
I gave Isabella a brief recap of everything Gianna had told me last night, leaving out only the most sordid details but saying enough for her to get the complete picture. Rehashing it all—giving voice to the story about the woman who I loved more and more with every passing moment—was debilitating.
Blinding, white-hot rage flashed as my brain scrambled to understand how anyone could even think to hurt Gianna. My eyes burned. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt the sting of tears or if I’d ever had such a gripping tightness in my chest. I only wished I could take away everything that had happened to her.
“Isabella, she’s the brightest, smartest, most beautiful…” Driving my hands into my hair, emotion clogged my throat as I paced tight circles around my office. “How could he… how could anyone… do that to her? I just want to protect her, but I don’t know how to find her. What if she never comes back?”
“I’ve seen the way she looks at you, little brother. You’ve found your diamond in the rough. She’ll be back.”
“What if something happens to her before then? She shouldn’t be alone.”
My sister stayed silent for a moment. I took a few calming breaths while I waited, holding onto my sanity by a thread.
“Karma is a bitch, Derek. He’ll get his due. Until then, you need to do everything in your power to help her—which means doing what she asks. She needs you now more than ever. I hate to say it, but she probably understands what he’s capable of more than both of us combined.”
37
Gianna
The support I’d received from my group therapy sessions was the reason I found myself on the doorstep of Stone’s Hope, twenty-four hours after I’d abandoned Derek at my apartment. I’d spent the first day and night in a nearby hotel room, planning my course of action. However, memories of Ethan breaking down my hotel room door all those months ago niggled at my subconscious, causing the hairs on the back of my arms to rise on more than one occasion. It seemed as if it had happened a lifetime ago, yet the visions were as clear as if it happened only yesterday.
I’d barely slept a wink, jumping at the slightest noise, and quickly learned I couldn’t stay in a hotel. Exhaustion was one luxury I couldn’t afford if I wanted to keep my wits about me. Gathering my things, I’d checked out of the hotel just after sunrise and went to the one place I knew I could be truly safe—Stone’s Hope. It wasn’t only a place where women could receive counseling. It was also a shelter for those looking to escape their abusers. My only concern was whether they had a room for me. If not, I didn’t know where I would go.
When I first started going to Stone’s Hope for group therapy, I wasn’t an active participant. I’d sit quietly, sipping on tea or nibble on a homemade dessert that always seemed to be present, listening to other women speak their truths. They taught me how abuse could be invisible and how many of us were living with secrets. It was staggering to learn that one in three women were victims of rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States alone.
The group of women who met each week was small, and eventually, I began to open up to them. There were only six of us plus the leader, Krystina Stone. We all knew each other intimately, so when I saw Krystina’s familiar face when I walked through the door today, it was a relief.
Of all the women in the group, I related to her the most. While she hadn’t been married to the person who abused her, he had been her longtime boyfriend. It wasn’t until she met and married her very own prince charming, who just so happened to be the founder of Stone’s Hope, did she finally open up publicly about what happened to her.