Chapter Sixty Seven
Lincoln
“Hey,” Rowen says poking his head in the door, looking from Raleigh to me and then focusing back on his sister. “Detective Morris is here and would like you to give your statement if you’re up for it.
I feel her stiffen next to me and immediately want to tell him “fuck no,” *I mean, hasn’t she been through enough?* But, I know that she has to give it. Before I’m able to do or say anything though, Raleigh is nodding.
“Yeah, why don’t all of you come in?” she asks. When he gives her a look that asks if she's lost her ever-loving mind, and honestly, I’m wondering the same thing, she sighs and then explains, “If you’re all in here, hopefully, I will only have to tell this once and then, I can be done with it.”
His eyes soften, understanding for his younger sister's situation is clearly written on his face. “Okay,” he tells her, “I’ll be right back,” before closing the door behind him.
“Are you sure?” I ask, turning all of my attention to her. “You don’t have to do this yet. You can wait until tomorrow.”
“No, I’d rather just get it over with. And I know that you all want to know what happened as well. I only want to go over it once.” I get what she’s saying, but her entire body is trembling.
With what? Nerves? Fear? Dread? I guess I’m fixing to find out, I think just as the door to her room opens once more and all three of her brothers walk in followed by Detective Morris.
When he sees me in the bed with her, he gives me a nod and a sad kind of smile, knowing the type of toll that her disappearance had taken on me.
“I hope that it’s okay that they’re all in here,” Raleigh says, looking at Morris. “I really don’t want to have to go over what happened more than what I have to.”
He nods in understanding and then glances around at each of us, assessing each one of us for a moment before speaking, “As long as you can hold your tongue and keep your tempers in check. I’ll permit it but the moment one of you gets out of line, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. She’s been through enough as it is already.”
“I promise to do my best,” I say, looking Raleigh in the eyes as I bring our joined hands to my lips, placing a chaste kiss to the back of her hand.
“Okay, then.” Morris nods towards us, his attention on my girl and says, “Raleigh, whenever you’re ready, you may begin.”
The room is silent except for the sound of the air conditioning pumping air into the room. We’re all watching her, waiting as she chews on her lower lip, most likely trying to decide where to even begin.
Finally, after several long minutes of silence, Raleigh begins speaking.
“So, the night that I was taken, I was leaving Lincoln’s house. It was late and I wasn’t really paying attention to my surroundings, like I probably should have been.”
“When I pulled out onto the main road this black SUV came barrelling up behind me with its headlights blinding me through the rearview and side mirrors. They move beside me, to where they are driving in the other lane and I think they’re going to pass me but instead they ram into me, over and over until I ended up crashing. I don’t think that I passed out but I remember that my head hurt really, really freaking badly. My car as sitting on it’s roof, and I hanging upside down. Someone made their way towards my car and I thought it was someone coming to help, so I screamed for help but instead of helping me, they knocked me out.
“When I woke, I was in the house that I was rescued from. There was a maid there, Julia, who was taking care of me, tending to my wounds. I tried to escape once but was caught and beaten so badly that I was black and blue. One of my eyes was completely swollen shut and my nose was broken.”
At the mention of being beaten, I nearly lose it. And what’s worse is that I know that there’s more, stuff that’s going to be harder to here, that’s yet yo come.
Fisting my free hand and clenching my jaws so hard that I’m surprised that I don’t break a tooth, I continue listening.
Listening as Raleigh goes into detail about how he raped her, how she first thought it was me.
Tears are flowing down her face and her eyes are pleading with me to forgive her for her betrayal but there’s nothing to forgive, even when she goes on to explain how she let him touch her, imagining that it was me, and that she touched him, doing the same, only to avoid another beating or him forcing himself on her again.
*She was doing what she had to do to survive,* I remind myself.
*How can I fault her for that?*
*Do I like it? No*
*But do I blame her or hold it against her? No, she’s been through enough as it is and I’m just glad to have her back and by my side.*
I’m trembling with rage by the time she’s done with her account of what happened, barely holding it all together. I won’t leave her side, but I look away, needing a minute to try to compose myself but a tug on my hand pulls my attention back to the beautiful woman at my side. “Lincoln, I’m so. *so* sorry. I never meant to hurt you,” Raleigh cries, tears fall in rivulets down her cheeks.
“I think that will be all for now, Miss Stewart. I’m very glad that you are back and safe, if you think of anything more, please give me a call,” Morris gives us a nod and then backs out of the room.
Rowen, Ryler, and Ryker all three move over to the side of the bed that Morris had just vacated.
“I know that conversation wasn’t easy for you, but I’m just glad that you’re here and that you’re okay. Please know that we love you,” Rowen says peering down lovingly at his baby sister. “And that we will do whatever it takes to help you get past the trauma you’ve been through, therapy, counseling, whatever.”
“I love you guys too and thank you.” Raleigh says with a forced smile.
Clearing his throat, Ryker interrupts the awkwardness” we’re going to head out for a bit, grab a shower and a bite to eat.” He then reaches out and gently squeezes her hand that has the IV in it. “Do you need anything?”
“I’d kill for something greasy to eat,” she says with a laugh, the first one I’ve heard since walking into her room and God, I hadn’t realized how much I had missed hearing her laugh until this very moment.
“You got it,” Ryler says and leans in and gives Raleigh a hug and a kiss on the head, the other two following suit.
“You better take care of her!” The oldest brother orders, pointing at me as he stops at the door.
“For the rest of our lives, if she’d let me,” I promise
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