Page 27 of The Sound of Silence

Natalia and I chatted for a while longer about Cleveland, before reverting back to my physical well-being. Her repeated concerns about me going to a hospital to be checked out were well intended but she just didn’t understand. I had patched myself up enough to know the drill. I was finally free of Ethan’s clutches, which was all that mattered. I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize that. After thirty minutes of reassuring her I was fine, I heard her yawn. Glancing at the clock on the nightstand, the red digital numbers told me it was going on three in the morning.

“I should let you go. It’s late.”

“Alright. I’ll see you in the morning when Teddy and I come to pick you up. He said we should be there around ten o’clock.”

“Thank you for everything. Good night, Nat. I love you, girl.”

“Love you too.”

I placed the phone on the nightstand and got up from the bed to change into pajamas. Just as I unbuttoned the fly for my jeans, the hotel room phone rang. I froze. Natalia, Teddy, and Ben were the only people who knew where I was, and all three knew to call me on the Tracfone. The hotel phone continued to ring, the sound loud and intrusive. My heart raced.

Relax. It’s probably just the hotel front desk.

I took a step toward it and hesitantly picked up the receiver.

“Hello?” I said cautiously.

“Gianna,” said my husband’s familiar voice on the other end of the line. My stomach dropped.

No. There was no way… impossible.

Without thinking, I slammed the receiver back onto the cradle. The phone rang again—and again, and again. With every ring, my heart thrummed louder in my ears. Snatching up the receiver once more, I skipped the pleasantries.

“How did you find me?” I demanded.

“Oh, honey, haven’t I told you before that you shouldn’t try to be smart? Finding you was way too easy. Natalia used her credit card to pay for the room. I’m a cop, remember? Finding out that information is like child’s play. You can’t hide from me.”

I silently recited a whole slew of profanities and pinched the bridge of my nose. It never occurred to me he’d somehow found a way to track Natalia credit purchases, too. I knew better than to be so stupid.

“Leave me alone, Ethan. Don’t make this more difficult than it needs to be.”

“Leave you alone? Oh, I can’t do that. I’d worry too much about my girl,” he said in a sugary sweet voice. “Especially with your plan to go to Cleveland. I heard there’s a lot of crime on the waterfront.”

I stilled for the briefest of moments, my eyes growing wide, then threw the phone against the wall as if it had burned me. Blood pulsed in my temples and I broke out into a nervous sweat. The only way he could have known about Cleveland was if he heard the conversation I’d just had with Natalia. It had never been discussed before then.

I glanced around the room nervously, then ran to the window. Pulling open the curtains, I peered outside. Looking past the fire escape, my gaze went to the parking lot. My view from the second floor revealed a few cars but that was it. There wasn’t anyone there.

A loud bang on the door caused me to jump a mile.

“Gia! Open up!” I heard Ethan yell. There was another bang, then a thud from his body—or perhaps his foot—slamming into the door to try to get in. The cheap frame on the old hotel room door splintered.

Shit, shit, shit!

Without thinking, I ran to the window and slid it open, then glanced back. The garment bag with my clothes was still in the room. So was my purse with all the cash, the phone, and my shoes. I looked at the door that was barely still intact as Ethan continued to pound. He’d be through it any second now. The clothes would just weigh me down, but I needed my purse and shoes.

“My girl! You’re fucking my girl!” he roared. A deafening crack sounded and I watched as Ethan tried to wedge himself into the room through the now busted door frame. His eyes were crazed and dried blood caked the side of his head from where Ben had hit him with the lamp.

Moving as fast as I could, I snatched my purse from the floor. To my horror, the phone and wad of cash spilled out on the floor. Twenty-dollar bills seemed to unfurl in the air in slow motion just as Ethan burst through the door. He looked murderous. If there was any doubt in my mind about what Ethan was capable of, that doubt was gone now.

He would surely kill me this time.

Abandoning the cash and the phone, I spun and raced back to the window. I pulled the latch to release the fire escape ladder, then scaled down the rusty metal until my bare feet hit the broken asphalt driveway.

Then I ran.

And ran.

Ignoring the pain in my ribs, I ran until my feet were raw and bloody and I could run no more.

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