SCARRED - Part 6 (The SCARRED Series - Book 6) Read online

  SCARRED

  Part 6

  By:

  Kylie Walker

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Copyright © 2015 By: Kylie Walker

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Kylie Walker holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  EPILOGUE

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  Chapter 1

  Jake was running across the sand towards Chloe when she suddenly fell limply forward. He felt the invisible hand of panic seize him around the throat. He could barely breathe as he tried to maneuver the shifting earth underneath his feet. He could hear nothing but chaos behind him, people yelling and sirens blaring. “Stop! Get on the ground! Put your hands in the air! This is your last warning! Take one more step and you will be shot.”

  Jake was about three feet from where Chloe went down when he finally stopped and dropped to the ground like the police officer on the megaphone was ordering him to do. He could see her from where he was now...that’s what he needed. He needed to know that she was still breathing before they separated them and whisked her away in an ambulance. Her back was moving, ever so slightly up and down. She was still breathing but he could see that there was a thick pool of blood underneath her arm in spite of the makeshift bandage she had tied around it. She was quickly bleeding out.

  “She needs an ambulance!” Jake yelled. He saw one when he drove in. They were waiting for clearance from the cops. “Now! She’s bleeding to death!” Cops suddenly surrounded him, guns drawn, and still yelling at him to stay down. Jake was on his belly with his hands behind his head. Chloe was facedown and they were losing her... “My name is Jake Stark. I’m an attorney out of New York. Miss Green is my client and trust me if you value your jobs and your freedom, you do not want to let her bleed to death in front of me. She needs medical attention now!”

  One of the cops knelt next to Chloe and then said something to one of his partners that Jake didn’t hear. He lay there for what seemed like forever...praying in his head because at that point he felt completely helpless and there was nothing else to do. At last he heard the beeping sound of the ambulance backing up and a few seconds later he saw them approach from the side, carrying a stokes basket and a bagful of equipment. They put Chloe in the basket and began taking vital signs on her. One of the men was on the phone with the hospital as he put a pressure bandage on her arm. The other finished her vital signs and started an IV. Jake was watching them when suddenly he felt hands on his arms and he was pulled up out of the sand by a couple of less than gentle cops. Then, he was immediately handcuffed.

  “What the fuck are the cuffs for?”

  “We need to secure this scene and find out what’s going on.”

  “I need to talk to the officer in charge of this mess. I’m her attorney. My brother is her fiancé. I need to call him. I need to let her family know what is going on...” None of them seemed to be listening as he was led to a police car. He was getting frustrated and suddenly knew how his clients felt who had pending charges for assault on the arresting officer. He raised his voice and said, “You saw me run the fuck over here from my car. I wasn’t here when any of this happened! She called me!”

  The cop shoved him into the back of a police car and closed the door. He could see Chloe being loaded in the ambulance, thank God. He sat quietly, it wasn’t going to do any good to kick and scream the way he wanted to, but he was freaking out inside. He had no idea how Chloe was and he hadn’t even been able to call Derek. She was going to be at the hospital alone.

  “Why is my son in the back of a police car?” Jake felt relief wash over him when he heard the sound of his father’s voice.

  The officer in charge was an older man in a crisp blue uniform and hat. Whether it was Kevin’s sharp looking expensive suit or commanding voice, something caused him to suddenly take interest in Jake. “We were securing the scene, sir.”

  “I don’t see what that has to do with my son being in the back of your car.” Jake’s dad walked over and looked into the window of the car that was rolled about a quarter of the way down. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, but they took Chloe to the hospital and they’ve had me sitting here for I don’t know how long. I told them I’m her attorney. We need to call her parents, Dad and Derek.”

  “Chloe called them,” Kevin told him, “But they don’t know that she’s hurt.”

  Meanwhile Jake heard the older officer ask his subordinate, “Did he tell you that he’s her attorney?”

  “Yes, but I didn’t have any proof of that...”

  “Did you ask for his I.D.?”

  “No sir, but...”

  “Get him out of there and un-cuff him!”

  Jake was pulled out of the car, not quite as roughly as he was put in, and the young officer took the cuffs off his wrists. “Where did they take her?” he asked the police officer in charge.

  “To the Rhode Island hospital over on Eddy. Mr. Stark, there is a dead body in the home.”

  Jake didn’t say anything. They would definitely interview Chloe when she was up to it. That would be the time to talk. Until then, all he cared about was that Chloe would be okay. “Is my client under arrest?”

  “Not yet. Do you know anything about what happened in there?”

  “I have a good idea what happened,” Jake said, “But I wasn’t here, so you’ll have to speak with my client to get the details.”

  “Can you tell me who the deceased is? He doesn’t have I.D. on his person.”

  Jake looked at his dad and Kevin said, “I’ll take a look at him. If he’s who we think he is I can tentatively identify him for you so you can notify his family.”

  The captain nodded, and Jake said, “Can I go now?”

  “Yes, I’m sorry for the inconvenience,” the captain told him.

  “I’ll see you at the hospital, Dad?”

  “Of course, as soon as I’m finished here, I’ll be there. You go.”

  Jake sprinted back across the beach to where he parked his car. When he got inside he grabbed his phone and when he did, he saw there was a missed call from Roxi. He put the car in gear and pushed his Bluetooth button. Then he called the Whitemore’s first. Trevor answered on the first ring,

  “Chloe?”

  “No Trevor, it’s Jake. Chloe has a cut on her arm and I’m not sure what else. She’s being taken to Rhode Island Hospital on Eddy.”

  “We’ll be there as soon as we can.” Trevor hung up. Jake called Roxi next.

  “Jake! What the fuck is going on? Chloe called me and said that Jesse is dead and just hung up!”

  “He is. She killed him. I’m on my way to the hospital where they took her. Do you want me to pick you up?”

  “Yes, I’m at the club. I’ll wait outside.” It took Jake about fifteen minutes to get to the club. True to her word, Roxi was waiting outside.

  She didn’t
even say hello when she slid into the car before she said, “What did that son of a bitch do to her?”

  “She had something wrapped around her arm so I didn’t see the wound. I’m assuming he cut her though because it was gushing a lot of blood, even with the wrap on it. I don’t know what else was wrong with her. She passed out before I got a chance to really see or talk to her.”

  “That little fucker is lucky she killed him. I would have loved to get a hold of him and spend a few days torturing him before I cut off his little pecker and shoved it down his throat.”

  Jake chuckled lightly, “Somebody has a little violent streak.”

  She looked at him with her beautiful eyes blazing and said, “Nobody messes with the people I care about.” Jake sobered and nodded. He felt the same way. He might not have expressed it as eloquently as Roxi...but he had his own ideas about what he would have liked to do to Jesse. As far as Jake was concerned, there were two types of low lives in this world that weren’t even worth defending...One of them was a pedophile and the other a man who likes to hurt women.

  When they got to the hospital Jake told them he was her attorney...and her brother in law. Since he was the only “family” who had shown up, they were willing to talk to him. The receptionist sent him and Roxi into a waiting room and a few minutes later a middle-aged lady dressed in a casual business suit came in to talk to them.

  “Hi, my name is Rhonda Pierce; I’m the case manager for surgical services.”

  “Jake Stark. I’m Miss Green’s brother in law, and her attorney. This is her employer, Roxi Danworth. Is Chloe okay?”

  “She’s in surgery at the moment. She has a four-inch laceration to her left arm. It sliced through tissue and muscle, all the way to the bone. It also cut through a major artery and she’s lost a lot of blood. They’ve given her two pints, but she will undoubtedly need more after surgery. They’re repairing the artery and the muscle will be closed up as best as they are able to. She also has multiple bruises and contusions all over her body, but luckily none of her bones are broken.”

  “She’s going to be okay, though?”

  “I’m not a physician Mr. Stark so I’ll have to leave that one for her surgeons. When she’s out of surgery and in recovery, they will come out and speak with you.”

  “Okay,” Jake said. He was hoping for more, but they’d just been through this with Derek and he knew how things worked. When they were ready, they would come out and talk to him. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. The police are waiting outside to speak to her when she wakes up as well.” Jake ran a hand through his hair and said,

  “Can you send them in here?”

  “Of course.” When the lady was gone Roxi said,

  “Are you going to tell them what happened?”

  “I’ll give them a preliminary. They’ll still want to talk to Chloe, but maybe they won’t be circling like vultures.”

  When the door opened back up, Kevin came in with two men in suits right behind him. “This is Detective Case and Detective Brady from the Rhode Island Police Department. This is my son and law partner, Jake Stark and...” Kevin and Roxi had never met. Roxi didn’t wait for Jake to introduce her. She held out her hand and said,

  “Roxi Danforth.” Jake noticed the subtle look one of the detectives gave Roxi. He couldn’t help but wonder if he was one of her patrons, perhaps.

  They shook Roxi and Jake’s hands and then Detective Case, a tall blonde man who didn’t look old enough to be out of high school, much less a detective said, “We need to get some information about what happened tonight.”

  Jake nodded. “Let’s sit down.” They all sat and Jake started talking. He told them what he knew of Chloe’s relationship with Jesse, and Kevin filled in some of the blanks. When they got to the part where he tried to kill her, the other detective, and a surly looking little bald man raised a bushy eyebrow and said,

  “Why isn’t he in prison?”

  “He was,” Jake told him, “For two years.”

  He raised the other eyebrow. “For attempted murder?”

  “No, assault.”

  “What the fuck?” the detective looked at Roxi and said, “Excuse me ma’am.” Roxi looked like she was trying not to laugh as she nodded at him to go on. “He nearly kills her and he gets two years for assault? Whose ass did he have to kiss for that?”

  “Vince Donavan, the district attorney of New York is his father.”

  “Son of a bitch!”

  “You said it,” Jake said. “But, it didn’t stop there. Chloe moved, changed her name and her looks...but he still found her. As soon as he got out, he began stalking her. He beat her friend nearly to death with his bare hands and put her in the hospital. He’s been evading arrest ever since and we have good reason to believe during that time, he cut the brake lines on my brother’s car and caused him to have a terrible accident. He showed up at the condo tonight while she was alone. He planned on killing her, he told her so. Chloe fought back, Jesse ended up dead instead of her. It was self-defense.”

  The young blonde was typing things into his tablet as Jake talked. He occasionally stole a glance at Roxi. She gave no indication that she knew him, but Jake was pretty sure she did. The older detective said, “We found the outstanding warrant on him when we ran his name through VICAP for the assault on the other girl...Chantelle. For now, she’s not under arrest, but when she’s up for it we’ll need a formal statement. You gentlemen know better than I do, of course...but it will be up to our D.A. whether or not to file charges.”

  “We understand,” Kevin told him. “We would appreciate you giving her a day or two to heal before you interview her. She’s been through a lot.”

  “As far as I’m concerned, she should get a medal,” Detective Brady said.

  Chapter 2

  Chloe felt like she was in a heavy black cloud. For a few seconds she couldn’t see or hear anything...it was like being inside of a dark vacuum. Her body was heavy, so heavy that she couldn’t move. She couldn’t remember how to open her eyes and she was on the verge of panic when her ears all at once began to register sound. She could hear the buzzing of machines and clicking or clopping noises like rubber soled shoes on a tile floor. People were talking, but their voices were low...hushed. She strained to hear what they were saying, but it was just like background noise and the words didn’t make any sense.

  Where am I? She wanted to open her eyes but she couldn’t remember how. She concentrated hard, struggled with her eyelids until finally her will won out and they fluttered open. The light above her was so bright that it hurt. She closed them again.

  “Chloe?”

  She let them flutter open again. A lady with a ruddy complexion and wearing blue nursing scrubs and a blue hair net was looking down at her, smiling. She had a pleasant face, but it wasn’t one that Chloe recognized.

  “Hello there, Chloe. You’re awake. Welcome back.” Chloe opened her mouth, but like her eyelids, her voice didn’t seem to work. She blinked her eyes rapidly and the lady smiled. “I know it’s bright in here, I’m sorry.” That wasn’t what she was trying to say. Where is here? She tried to force the words out again but still nothing. She concentrated on her throat this time...hard. Her head was pounding from the effort when she was finally able to clear it. She forced the words out, thinking they would be loud. What she heard was a whisper she hardly recognized.

  “Where am I?”

  “You’re in the hospital sweetheart, in Rhode Island.”

  She tried to move and that was when a searing pain shot through every muscle in her body. It was like her body was a pinball machine and there was a ball of pain bouncing off of every part of it. She looked down at herself and saw that her right arm was wrapped in a clean white bandage from elbow to wrist. The area underneath that was throbbing.

  “What happened?” she whispered. In her head she could see Jesse. He was smiling at her...taunting...

  “You were hurt honey. You just came out of surgery. Ever
ything went well. Are you in pain?”

  “A little...” That was an understatement, but the memories were trickling back...she didn’t want to be all doped up and have to start all over again. She was hurt...she was in a fight...she killed someone...

  “I’ll get you something. I’ll be right back.”

  “Jesse!”

  “Is that your husband, honey?”

  My husband...no, thank God. Jesse’s dead...isn’t he? I killed him. Oh my God, I killed him...I killed him...I’m alive and he’s dead...I’m free!

  “No,” Chloe finally whispered out loud. “Can I have some water?” Her throat felt like sandpaper.

  “I’m sorry dear, no water yet. I have glycerin swabs.” Chloe wrinkled her nose. It hurt. The pleasant nurse laughed. “I know, but it’ll help, trust me.”

  She went to get the medicine and the swabs and Chloe tried once again to lift her head up and take inventory of the toll her fight with Jesse had taken on her body. She was able to lift it, but it hurt like hell...everything did. All she could really see was the bandage on her arm and the IV going into the other one.

  Everything was still a little fuzzy...Is it medication, or is my right eye not opening all the way? Her mind jumped from there back to Jesse’s dead. I killed him.

  While she waited for the nurse to come back she thought about Trevor and Samantha and most of all Derek. They must be frantic. She felt bad for putting them through this so soon after they’d gone through Trevor and Derek’s accident...but Jesse’s dead...he won’t hurt them anymore. When the nurse came back with the swabs and a syringe Chloe said, “Is my family here?” It sounded strange to her own ears to say that...still foreign. She has a family who wants her and loves her. For the first time in her life she has someone that cares enough to worry about her. Jesse’s dead.

  “There are some nice people waiting for you in the waiting room. We’re going to get you into your room and then they’ll be allowed to visit, okay?”

  Chloe started to nod and realized what a mistake that was immediately. Her head felt like a bowling ball and when she moved it, it felt like it would roll off. She watched as the nurse put the contents of the syringe into her IV and then she opened her mouth and let her wipe down the dry membranes with the swabs. The nurse was right, it helped. A warm feeling was trickling through her veins now. Whatever the nurse had given her was flowing through her blood and quickly shrouding the pain...at first it dulled it and then the pain went completely away and left her feeling like the black cloud had been replaced by a big, fluffy white one. She was floating on it, and she felt light again...but she was tired. She wanted to lie down on it and take a nap. She was so sleepy and her eyelids were so heavy...but she couldn’t go back to sleep again. She wanted to see Derek. She needed to see his cool blue eyes and she needed to tell him that she was sorry for worrying him. She wanted to see her parents and tell them the same thing. And Jake...Jake was there...Jesse’s dead. Chloe closed her eyes again and felt herself being pulled away on a cloud.