Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 22864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
“Come in,” I say, knowing it is not Florence. We already had this discussion about her just walking in anytime she wants to, as my wife she has full privileges. “Hey buddy,” Paul says, shuffling in. He walks to my desk and drops a manilla file on it. I know immediately what it is and my stomach begins to coil.
“How bad is it?” I ask him, not opening it yet. I need a second. Hell, I need someone who decides to read what I am about to read.
“I’ll tell you this,” he says, shaking his head, “it ain’t good.” Shit. I knew that already by her mannerisms, but hearing him say it is once again making my temperature rise. “Just remember if you go to jail who is protecting her.” Asshole. Why did he have to go and make sense? That is the annoying part of being friends with people you’ve known for years. They know you.
Cautiously, I open the file and the first thing I see makes me want to vomit. Her face is covered in bruises and her eyes are so withdrawn that I don’t even recognize her. “Jesus. Baby. What the hell did he do to you?” Under the photo are numerous police reports, most of them she denied any wrongdoing on his part. The hospital reports are even worse. Broken ribs, a fractured shoulder and plenty of contusions and bruises.
Before I know it the file is flying across the room against the wall. I am up out of my seat, punching the wall, trying to stop the rage from spilling out into a wail of unstoppable fury. The last thing I need to do is scare her. I look down at my fist and immediately feel like an asshole. When she asks me what happened to my hand I am going to have to lie to her and I don’t fucking like it.
Taking a drink of water, I hang my head and try to calm myself down. Sitting in the chair, shoulders slumped like a chastised boy, I picked up my phone and call Paul once more. “Fletcher.”
“I need a name.” I tell them not to bother with posturing. He chuckles.
“I figured as much. Check your email. You’re welcome.” Hanging up I open the email like a kid on Christmas the only difference being I am primed to see the name of the dead fuck who dared to touch my wife, even if she wasn’t my wife then.
I look over his summary of the life of this douche and see his name is Gary Sanders. “Huh. An unremarkable name for an unremarkable coward.” I say to myself looking over everything else. I know the next step and that is to call my pal. We met in unusual circumstance when he and the twins I know as Axel and Diezal, rescued a little girl and brought her to the practice to be seen. We all call him the Colonel. His specialty is recovery, but he also hunts down scumbags.
Without hesitation I call him and like I knew he would, he and his guys jump on it. Feeling slightly better that someone is going to help me end that fuck, I wipe my hand over my face and take a deep breath.
“Fletcher?” Her voice is like balm to the turmoil happening inside of me. Quickly, I close the file and look up at her.
“Yeah, Red. What can I do for you?” She blushes at the use of the name Red. I started calling her that when she woke up the other morning and her face was so fresh and clean, the sun was shining in the room and she looks like a phoenix rising from the ashes.
“Mrs. Prose is here. She is saying something about the mole on her foot.” I groan and put my head in my hands. She is one of my most stubborn patients and the biggest hypochondriac of all of them. I look up to see Florence giggling and it brings a smile to my face.
“Funny huh baby. I tell you what, you are going to sit in with me and let’s see how funny you find it then." I wink at her and relish the pink of her cheeks and how she tries to hide the smile behind her hands.
As I walk toward her, taking in her tiny frame and soulful eyes, I vow to remove the hurt from her heart but also the fear from her head. I am going to hunt him down and end him, even if I have to hire someone to do it.
I will be the hero in her story and the knight in her dreams.
Chapter Five
Florence
A Few Days Later
Fletcher and I have settled into our routine quite nicely and I’ve even made friends. It’s been years since I’ve been allowed to hang around anyone who wasn’t related to me. I’m not stupid, I know that once Gary and I got married, he’d isolate me even further. That’s how abusers assert their power over their victims.