Page 35 of Beneath the Dawn

“No, after Harvard, I went to work for the FBI for a few years.”

She took a sip of her coffee. “While I was at Harvard, I took classes to become a dual-licensed attorney-CPA, so I’m licensed as both. It’s advantageous for my clients that I’m able to combine both legal and financial expertise.

She took a deep breath. “Anyway, after college, I was hired to work at a CPA firm in Sacramento. I met Malcolm in my second week there. He was six years older, and I was young, naïve, and way too trusting. My head was filled with romantic notions of love and happily-ever-after.”

She paused a moment. “Although we dated exclusively for only five months, I honestly thought he loved me as much as I loved him. He even said he did. Things were going great for us, so I definitely wasn’t prepared for what he did.”

“Betraying you with another woman?” Dante asked before taking a sip of coffee.

“It wasn’t another woman.”

Dante went still with his cup halfway to his mouth. “It was with another man?”

“No.”

He set his coffee cup down. “Then how did he betray you, Marti?” He could see the pain in her eyes and wondered just what the hell the man had done.

“One Saturday, he had four of his closest friends over to watch a football game. We hadn’t moved in together, but I hung out at his place a lot on the weekends.”

She drew in another breath. “I knew the guys. They were always nice. I figured I could hang out in the bedroom and study for my upcoming CPA exam.”

She picked up her cup, and he noticed her hand trembling. “And what happened after that, Marti?” he asked softly.

She met his gaze, and he saw tears well up in her eyes. “I honestly don’t know what happened, Dante. I recall Malcolm coming into the bedroom during halftime and offering me a glass of wine. He said I was studying too much, and it would relax me. All I remember after that is waking up sometime during the night in bed, naked…with five men.”

“What the hell!” he said, jumping out of the chair and nearly knocking it over. “Are you saying those five bastards raped you?” he bellowed in a voice filled with rage.

Marti wiped tears from her eyes. “Yes, and before I could dress and leave, they tied me up and gagged me so I wouldn’t scream. Then they raped me again, just to make sure I knew what they had done.”

“Jesus!”

He walked around the table and pulled her into his arms. “Oh, baby, how could your boyfriend drug you and let his friends do that to you?” he asked, his voice filled with intense fury.

She lifted her head and looked at him. “Malcolm raped me first, then told his friends to enjoy me. He watched as they took turns with me and said that as best friends, they shared everything. Just to add to the insult, Malcolm told me that he didn’t love me, and that he’d never loved me.”

“The bastard!”

“When they headed out for breakfast, I quickly left.”

“What about the police? Did you not call the police?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No. One of the guys, Larry Upshaw, was a cop. He threatened to do all kinds of things to me if I reported them. Larry said he knew other cops and would tell them where I lived so they could set up an accident. One that would be fatal. I believed him.”

“Oh, sweetheart.” He pulled her back into his arms and held her. Closing his eyes, he had to contain his outrage, which was full-blown. “I’m so sorry they did that to you. Did you tell your parents or your sister?”

“No. I didn’t tell anyone. I was both too afraid and ashamed. I resigned from my job, left Sacramento, and moved back home to San Francisco, and worked there for a while before moving again to North Carolina.”

Dante took her hand and led her from the kitchen into the living room. Sitting down on the sofa, he eased her down beside him. “So your ex-boyfriend and his friends got away with what they did to you,” he stated as fact and not an inquiry.

“No. I couldn’t let them get away with it, Dante.”

He saw the icy fury that appeared in her gaze when she turned to face him. “What did you do, Marti?”

She lifted her chin. “You know what they say about payback being a bitch. Well, I became that bitch, Dante.”

“How?”

“A few years later, all five of them had married, had good careers, and were highly respected in their communities. One of them was even running for mayor. And Larry had been promoted to lieutenant in the police force. Based on the bragging Malcolm had done that morning, I knew I wasn’t the only woman they had assaulted like that. So I hired a private detective to dig up anything he could on Malcolm and his buddies. During his investigation, my private investigator discovered that all five men were operating a very successful child pornography ring of which they were participants. There were actual videos of them gang-raping children. Can you believe that?”