Page 85 of My Lord
“I guess that comes from years of travelling alone and learning to take care of herself, and herunusualsexual appetite. I mean, who the fuck wants to be tasered?”
I sipped on my whisky and we both chuckled.
* * *
It was a couple of hours later that the police visited again. Gabriella and Veronica were sitting on the same bed having both eaten a little. A doctor had been to check them over and prescribed pain relief. He was concerned about Veronica’s neck, but she refused to attend Accident & Emergency again, stating that she’d make an appointment if she felt she needed to.
Mackenzie and I were ushered from the room while both women gave more statements. Gabriella confirmed that although he had attempted to, he hadn’t raped her. They were made to state exactly what happened to them, again, and although I got angry at that, I understood. The police needed an airtight case that time, any slight difference in wording would give cause for the defence to pounce. I dreaded the thought that Gabriella would be put on the stand and prayed that he pleaded guilty beforehand.
“Should we call her mother?” I asked, while we were waiting for the police to join us.
“She said not to,” Mackenzie replied.
I nodded. There was no point in having her upset while miles away. I guess we still felt that we wanted to do something, be proactive. Watching the woman I loved cry, call out in her sleep, and look so sad and beaten was eating me up inside.
“I don’t know what to do,” I whispered.
“Love her,” came a reply. Veronica had left the bedroom and came and sat on the edge of my chair. She placed her arm around my shoulders. “She knows you love her, Alex, she just needs to hear the words leave your lips.”
“I don’t want to ask if you’re okay because it’s such a daft question,” I said.
She smiled at me. “I’ve had worse days, I can assure you.” A tear streaked down her cheek.
Mackenzie rose to wipe the tear away and as much as she was grateful, she covered his hand with hers, I didn’t detect anything other than a friendship there.
“Oh, fuck, Mother must be going nuts,” I said, picking up my mobile and seeing a few missed called from her.
“Let me speak to her. I’ll explain that Gabriella and I got a little tipsy and forgot she was meeting you,” Veronica said. I handed her my phone. I didn’t necessarily want to lie to my mother, but I didn’t need her worrying about Gabriella as well.
Veronica walked away while talking to my mother. The police returned from the bedroom and I replaced them in there. Gabriella was shuffling up the bed and I fluffed the pillows behind her.
“Are you up for more talking?” I asked. She patted the bed beside her and I sat. “What happened when he got into your house?”
“I left the front door open; I was just going to run upstairs to grab a coat. He must have followed me. He tried to grab me, and I ran around the bedroom but there was really nowhere to go. He was shouting at me not to touch anything, which I thought was odd. I grabbed a cushion and I threw it on a chair, I knew, if you saw it, you’d think something was off. He didn’t want any evidence that I’d been taken, I think.”
I sighed. “When I spoke to the police I told them someone had been in the bedroom because of the damn cushion. It was a brilliant idea, baby,” I said. I wrapped my arm around her, and she snuggled into my side.
“I have something else to say. I want you here, in this apartment, it’s more secure and I won’t take any arguments over it. Also, Mackenzie wants me to move to the US to deal with some of the businesses there that he wants to consolidate. I think it’s a good idea and I want you to come with me.” I looked down at her.
She blinked a few times and I couldn’t read her reaction. “Stay with you, yes, but can we talk some more about moving to the US? That’s rather dramatic,” she said, gently.
“No, what’s dramatic is you nearly getting raped because of me. You getting beaten because of me. I’m, ultimately, the cause of this. It was my quest to bring down Stanton because of what he did to my father. And yet, what happened to my father was my fault as well.”
The more I spoke, the words tumbled from that locked up box in my mind. Pandora had truly been unleashed. I spewed years of grief, anguish, and hurt. I had no idea how long I spoke for, but I know I also cried with both release from the pent up issues I had, and the relief of sharing it all with her. She kissed my cheeks, my eyelids, and my lips.
I wiped at my face. “What the fuck happened there?” I asked, chuckling. We had been sitting silently for a few minutes.
She shrugged. “Fear makes you search inside yourself, I guess. Makes you reanalyse your life. I know I am with mine. I was terrified, not for my life, I didn’t think he’d go that far, but…I don’t know if I could survive being so brutally violated by him.”
“And I thank God that you don’t have to.”
“I want to go to court, Alex. I want the opportunity to stand in front of him and tell the jury what he did.”
I didn’t respond that I hoped she’d never have to. I’d witnessed the British judicial system and it wasn’t always the finest.
“We’ll deal with that when the time comes. But you’ll move in here, yes? At least grant me that for now. I can’t be away from you, Gabriella. I’d move in with you but…” I stopped, I didn’t want to remind her that Stanton had been in there and knew where she lived. If he did, so did hisfriends.
“I’ll move in with you on one proviso,” she said, looking up at me. “I get to redecorate.”
