Page 53 of Building Courage

“I told my parents everything—and they were concerned. But they also blamed me for having the bad judgment to get involved with the wrong kind of man.”

Stunned, Tucker couldn’t speak for a moment. “Jesus Christ! How could they even say or think that after what you’d been through? And how would you have known he was a psycho?”

She shook her head. “My parents found raising the boys easier. I was the odd girl out. I was the troubled one because I didn’t fit into the family as easily. I was artistic, creative and they wanted me to be analytical and practical like they were.”

“But you are analytical and practical, Brynn. Otherwise, you’d never be able to run a business like you do.”

“But not enough, Tucker. I learned from an early age I could never depend on my parent’s support only their disappointment and judgement. But I could depend on my brothers. Marcus slept on my couch for days.”

She raked her fingers through her hair, pushing it back, away from her face. “I had a photoshoot planned for the weekend. Sarah was going to meet me at the lodge and hang out with me while I did my thing. We were going to share a room, so I got a double at the lodge. We planned to meet in the restaurant at five.

“I’d gotten there early, hoping for some good light, and I found it. There were groups going up the trails, so I decided to follow along behind one and take some shots. The fall foliage had turned, and the colors were amazing. Only Marcus and Sarah knew where I was, and Chad was under lockdown with an ankle monitor. I felt free for the first time in weeks, so I wandered, took pictures, and just enjoyed being free from it all.

“But Chad wasn’t under lockdown. He cut the ankle monitor off and made a run for it. The police never called me to notify me he was loose when it stopped working. If they had, I would’ve hidden out in my room or left the lodge and gone to stay with one of my brothers.

“I found out later Chad hired a man to follow me and update him on where I was at all times and who I was with. That man was later charged with stalking and as an accessory to my assault. He’ll be up for parole in another year.”

She stared out across the water for a long moment, and her throat worked as she swallowed. She drew her legs up and looped her arms around them. Her body language screamed distress, but her expression remained neutral.

He’d seen the same response in survivors during battle. They had to distance themselves to stay in control. But this was Brynn someone he cared about. He looked down to see his own hands clinched into fists as he held back his own emotions.

“I had just lined up to take a shot when I heard someone running up the trail. I half turned to look behind me. He hit me so hard and fast that I didn’t have time to react, and I went down. He was on top of me, wild with rage, and made these awful grunting, gasping noises as he pounded me again and again. I tried to fold my arms over my face, but he grabbed my arm and twisted it like he wanted to break it off. At one point, I bit his arm and held on. When he started beating my head against the ground, I screamed, and he mashed his hand over my mouth, looped my camera strap around my neck, and started pulling until it went tighter and tighter. The blood started pounding in my head, and I couldn’t breathe.” Her hand shook visibly as she touched her throat.

“When I woke, ants were crawling all over my face and arms. Every breath hurt my throat and chest. It felt like knives were stabbing into my right side. My vision was blurry, and I could only see from one eye. Every time I moved, it felt like the world slid sideways. I think I threw up. I passed out again for a while.

“When I came to, I was cold. The sun was going down, and everything looked dull, as though the color had leached away. I tried to turn on my side, and there was just open space below me. I felt like I was tumbling and the ground might rush up to meet me. The shock of that helped snap me out of the haze a little. I wiggled back away from the drop-off and laid there for a long time, just trying to fight my way back.

“While I was drifting in and out, Sarah had arrived at the lodge. Had she not agreed to come up to spend the night and go hiking with me, no one would’ve been alerted to my being missing.

“She saw my car parked in the lot when she came in but didn’t see me. She went to the dining room to see if I was waiting for her there. She saw Chad sitting at a table eating. She knew about the restraining order, the monitor he was supposed to be wearing, and that he was supposed to be confined to his house or office.

“She went to the front desk and asked them to call my room to see if I was all right. When there was no answer, she asked them to send someone to check on me. One of the hotel porters went to the room with her, and when he opened the door, someone had used the shower, and there were bloody towels on the floor.

“She called the police and reported that Chad was there at the lodge, and I was missing from my room, and the bathroom was bloody. She went back downstairs and explained the whole situation to the manager. He alerted hotel security, but by the time they got to the dining room, Chad was gone.

“He’d taken my room key from my pocket, used the shower to clean up, went to the gift shop and bought a T-shirt to replace his bloody one, and in the dining room, he ate a steak dinner, then walked out and drove away as though nothing had happened.”

Tucker ran a hand over his face. Frustrated rage tied his stomach into knots, and he bit back several expletives. God—the guy really was a psychopath.

“The sun went down, the temperature dropped, and my teeth wanted to chatter, but I couldn’t because my jaw was broken in two places. I couldn’t breathe very well because my nose was broken as well. One eye was swollen shut. I couldn’t call for help because my throat was so swollen, and it hurt to breathe because I had four broken ribs on the right side. I knew if I didn’t climb back up to the trail, they’d never find me, and I would die on that ledge.

“When I look back on it now, I don’t know how I made it up the side of the mountain. It was only about fifteen feet, but it felt like a ten-story building and seemed to take me forever. When I finally reached the top, I had to lie down again. I must have drifted off, but I woke to the sound of voices calling my name. I couldn’t answer them. So, I got up again, and I started down the trail.

“There were four men from search and rescue on the trail when I staggered down it.” She shook her head. “You should have seen their faces. They radioed for a chopper to medivac me out. One started an IV and wrapped me in one of those silver emergency blankets. I don’t remember the helicopter ride.

“The police were waiting at the hospital when I landed. They asked me who attacked me. I couldn’t speak, so I wrote Chad’s name on a piece of paper. A week later, they found him in Boston at his aunt’s house. He had my camera with him, and he had taken pictures of what he thought was my dead body on the ledge he’d thrown me on. He was extradited back to New York and held without bail.

“After months of stalling, talking to the press, slandering me, and making things as difficult for me and his family as he could, he pled not guilty. His parents cut their financial support, and he had to sell his business to pay for his lawyer. The trial lasted two weeks. I had to testify, and I told the story to the jury that I just told you. He was found guilty and was sentenced to twenty-five years to life for assault and battery and attempted murder.

“I left New York the next day.”

Tucker laid a hand against the curve of her back and ran it downward in a gesture he hoped she found soothing. “I’d say I’m sorry, Brynn, but I don’t think it would offer you any comfort.”

“You don’t have to say anything. I just wanted you to know who I am before you get closer.”

Tucker’s swallowed against a throat gone tight with emotion. “What happened to you doesn’t define who you are, Brynn. The way you handled it does. You’re a warrior. You didn’t quit. You kept going even though you were severely injured and in pain. And you kept fighting. You faced him and fought to get justice. You stood up for yourself and every other woman he would have put in danger if he’d escaped justice. You stood up for every woman he scarred in the past.”

She turned to look up at him. “I hope that’s true. It’s been four years, and there are still times when I catch movement out of the corner of my eye, my heart leaps into my throat, and I get the shakes.”

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