Chapter 40
Raven insisted on carrying me into the hotel, and up to the room.
I argued, briefly, but gave up when it was clear he wasn’t going to back down.
One of the other guys opens the door, and Raven nods to the doctor, who points out the bedroom.
He walks us into the room, and I notice she has everything set up.
There’s a bag of fluid on the dresser I’m really hoping I won’t need, along with various bandages, and what appears to be an antiseptic.
Raven lies me on the bed gently, and Dr. Evans comes up beside me.
“Bones filled me in. Where are you experiencing pain?”
Bones? Where do these guys get their names? I wonder what the other two are called, but don’t ask, and instead, answer her question.
“My head, face, and right leg.”
She nods, getting the antiseptic and a cloth.
“We will start by cleaning up the wound on your forehead. It doesn’t look like it’ll need stitches, but it needs to be cleaned to prevent infection.”
I like the way she tells me everything before she does it. Doctors are terrifying for me after Dr. Martin, and her approach calms me slightly.
I flinch from the burn of the liquid, as she gently pats the cut.
“How did this happen? What did he hit you with?”
Closing my eyes as I take a deep breath, I answer her with a shaky voice.
“He didn’t. I was running from him, and fell on the handle of an axe.”
She finishes with my head, and touches my cheekbone where he did hit me.
“Were you sexually assaulted?”
I glance at Raven, and swallow hard as I spot his balled up fists. He also took from me without consent, but somehow it feels different, even though I know it shouldn’t.
“Were you sexually assaulted?” She repeats, and I’m lost to the not-so-distant memory.
Sullivan holds the back of my neck up against the tree, and yanks my pants down with his free hand.
“Stop! What are you doing!” I scream against the bark, and it muffles my voice, but he still understands me.
“Fucking my wife.”
He grabs my hair, and pulls my head back before slamming it into the tree. I cry out as I hear his zipper quickly slide down.
“No!” I yell.
He slams into me so hard, and the pain rips through me, just like our wedding night.
“After this, you die.”
I’m not sure what’s worse, him fucking me, the promise of my death, or the disgusting heavy breaths, mixed with grunts, in my ear.
“Fucking repulsive whore,” he groans as he comes inside me, and after everything I’ve been through, this is among the worst moments of my life.
“Bianca, it’s okay. Just answer the doctor,” Raven says, staring at me like he already knows the answer.
“Yes,” I say, my voice as broken as my soul is.
Two years isn’t a long time in the grand scheme of things, but when you’re attacked every day, it’s like an eternity.
Never ending. Every strike chipped away at the person I was, until I felt like a ghost walking among the living.
One day I woke up and started praying for death.
That day was when he killed our daughter, after assaulting me, and throwing me down a flight of metal stairs.
I was told I was lucky to survive. I didn’t want to.
The doctor turns to Raven, and says, “I’ll give her a morning-after pill, but she may be fine anyway with your…”
She makes air quotes and continues “... special IUD.”
Glancing at Raven, he has a strange, anxious expression on his face. He clears his throat nervously.
“Can you give her something for pain?”
“Of course,” she says and hands him prescriptions.
“I will leave enough for a few days. If she still needs it, you can get these filled.”
She leaves as she says, “Call me if you need anything. Otherwise I’ll check in, in a few days.”
Raven nods his thanks, and comes over to me. Kissing me on the forehead, he speaks low.
“You need to take your medication and get some rest.”
He grabs the glass of water on the nightstand with the pills, and hands them to me.
I swallow them and hand him the glass. There’s one thing on my mind, and it’s not resting.
“Why is my IUD ‘special’?”
“Rest now. Talk later.”
I shake my head, refusing to give in.
“You’re keeping something from me. Something inside my body. I have the right to know what the hell it is.”
Taking my hand, he pulls it to his lips and kisses my skin softly.
“You need to rest. I need to talk to the Bonetti brothers. I promise we will talk when you get up, and I’ll tell you everything.
You may not like it, but I’ll tell you regardless.
Please sleep. I need you to take care of yourself.
You think you need information, but rest is the most important thing right now. ”
He walks away, not giving me a choice. I close my eyes, and let the darkness take me.