Once he closed the door, he stepped away from me and I embraced the distance. As I clutched my phone, I slowly started to calm down. Trevor’s brows pulled inward as his gaze traveled over me from head to toe.
“Jac… Jackson left my pl… place to… to go to the store,” I said, choking on my words. “I thought it was him,” I blurted. “But my ex… my ex almost….” The rest of my words evaporatedbecause I didn’t want to think about what happened or what could’ve happened.
“Your ex-husband attacked you?” he asked, pointing at my neck. I nodded and burst into tears again. “Where is he now?” His angry voice oddly soothed me.
“He was in my apartment. I don’t know if he’s still there.” I looked at my phone. “I have to call the police.” I didn’t have much faith in the cops, especially since Mitch was one of them, but there was visible evidence of my assault.
“I’ll do that. Why don’t you just sit down?”
He motioned toward the small loveseat, but I didn’t move. I wanted to stay on my feet in case something else happened and I had to escape. He walked to the corner of the room and dialed 911. I heard him speaking, but every word sounded muffled.
As I stood there trembling, I recalled the details of what happened, even though I didn’t want to.
Mitch in the doorway to my bedroom.
The fear that spiked through me, horror that still resided.
Him on top of me, choking me.
Seeing his gun and thinking he was going to kill me.
Witnessing the deadness in his eyes and believing there was no escape.
“The police are on their way,” Trevor said, pulling me from my dreadful thoughts, and taking a step closer. “And I called Jackson, but there was no answer.”
“I don’t think he had his phone with him.”
“That’s okay. You said he just ran to the store, right?” I nodded. “Okay, then he should be back any minute.”
While I waited for both the police and Jackson to show up, I stole a sliver of comfort in the fact that I finally managed to stick up for myself and fight back against the man who’d killed my unborn child.
35
“Three fucking stores,” I mumbled to myself as I drove back to the gym. An errand that should’ve taken me no more than ten minutes took me almost a half hour. I hoped Sophie wasn’t too upset about having to wait, but if she was, I’d certainly make it up to her. I’d purchased four boxes of condoms, and even though I didn’t appreciate the judgmental look the female clerk threw my way, I didn’t want to run out of them anytime soon.
Finally, I reached the gym only to be greeted by the sight of two police cars parked out front. An uneasiness slinked through me as I pressed on the gas and turned the corner, parking my Audi behind the gym, near the entrance to the apartments.
I grabbed the bag and hurriedly climbed the steps. Sophie’s door was slightly ajar. Alarm slammed into me. I rushed inside, but she wasn’t there. The bed was disheveled, but nothing looked out of place. Perhaps she’d gone next door to my apartment. As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I dismissed it because she didn’t have a key, and I’d locked my door after I’d searched for the condoms.
Could someone have called her with an emergency, and she just hadn’t been able to reach me yet? I checked my pocketsfor my phone, but it wasn’t there.Where the fuck is my phone?I reentered Sophie’s place and found the device on the kitchen counter, but hers was missing. And now that I thought about it, I noticed her car was still parked a few spaces away from mine.
Confused by the entire situation, I rushed back down the staircase, the creak of the wood echoing with each step. I entered the back of the gym. We were open for several more hours, and it was the only place I could think of where Sophie might have gone.
I ventured into the main room, my footsteps muffled by the rubbery cushioning of the floor. I searched for her. However, she was nowhere to be found. Men and women conducted their workouts, but nothing out of the ordinary was going on here. It was then my gaze shifted toward the office, where I saw two police officers talking with Trevor. He appeared visibly agitated, gesturing feverishly as he spoke to them.
“What’s going on?” I asked, rushing into the room, my attention bouncing between Trevor and the cops. “What happened?”
“I called them,” Trevor answered but before he could tell me why, Sophie pushed him aside and ran towards me. I hadn’t noticed her when I first walked in. She was in her robe, and her eyes were red and swollen. Her arms tightened around me, and she clung to me as if her life depended on it. I held her close, still confused.
“Does anyone want to fill me in on what the fuck happened?” I yelled, anger clipping every word. I ran my hand soothingly up and down Sophie’s back, waiting for someone to answer.
“We got a domestic disturbance call.” The officer who replied was my height with blond hair and a thin build. He struck me as cocky. I already didn’t like him. I clocked his badge for his name. Baker.
The other officer, Marston, took a step toward me. He was similar in height to his partner but sported a bigger build, his dark hair cut close to his head.
“Mrs. Delaney told us that her ex-husband assaulted her. We were just finishing up here.”
I barely heard anything after he said the word assaulted. I gently pulled back and looked closely at Sophie. I scoured the length of her and saw the red marks around her neck. I caught a glimpse of another mark on her chest, but I wasn’t going to ask her to show me in front of these men.
