And then she screamed.
She screamed and shuffled away and turned towards me wide-eyed and scared. And she didn’t know me. Barely registered who I was. Barely knew anything through her own fear.
“Jesus Christ, Anna. What the fuck happened?!” I called out to her, and her eyes focused on mine.
“Lucas?!”
I was down on my knees and reaching out, but she was so scared. It was only when my hand took hold of hers and pulled her closer that she broke and cried, and I was there. I was right there.
My voice was quiet, and my arms were holding her tight, and she was freezing. Freezing and trembling, with ragged breaths and tears.
I asked her what happened, calmer this time, but she wouldn’t answer, just shook her head.
I took off my coat and wrapped her up, and asked her to come with me, pulling her to her feet, but her legs were weak and she collapsed right back down onto the grass.
“Please just talk to me,” I begged, and I was straight back down beside her.
This time she sucked in a breath and tried to calm herself. Her hands were shaking as she held them out, and I thought she was reaching for me, but she wasn’t.
She let out a gut-lurching rumble of a scream and twisted the diamond ring from her finger, then threw it into the water with more rage than I’d ever seen in her.
“What the fucking hell did he do to you?” I asked her, and I knew it was bad.
I knew it was really fucking bad.
She shook her head all over again, then pulled my coat tighter around her, and it was something in the way she tugged her knees up to her chest and squeezed them closed so tight.
“Anna,” I said, and my voice was so soft and so low, “come with me, please. Let’s get you back in the warm.”
Her lip trembled and then she nodded. She breathed and nodded.
I took her hand and helped her to her feet a second time around, but this time I was ready. I took her weight and held her steady, and then I lifted her up from the floor.
Her arms wrapped around my neck, and she was holding so tight, and it was the most natural thing in the world as I carried her back to the truck and lowered her into the passenger seat.
“Do you need a doctor?” I asked her as I turned on the ignition, but she shook her head.
Then she managed to speak.
“No. I don’t need a doctor. Please just get me away from here.”
I didn’t ask her where. There was only one place we were going.
She didn’t respond to any questions as we drove the lanes and headed to mine, just kept her eyes on the road ahead and sucked in the breaths as her tears subsided.
My driveway was on us in what felt like seconds. I jumped out of my side and helped her out of hers, and she was steadier on her feet this time, pressing into my side as I led us to the front door.
It was warm inside. I got the lights in the kitchen and she pressed into the counter, and I could truly see her in this space. Hollow and scared and barely conscious – my beautiful little magpie with her barbed thorns torn to shreds.
Torn to shreds by him.
I had no doubt she’d been torn to shreds by him.
“What the hell did he do to you?” I asked her, but I already knew.
Something deep inside me already knew.
“He…”
She paused.
“He…”
“Say it,” I encouraged. “Tell me, Anna. I promise you can say it.”
“I was drinking prosecco and he didn’t like it… he didn’t like it… and we… we argued, and he.” Another pause. “And he…”
“Say it,” I told her. “Come on, sweetheart. You can say it.”
Her lip trembled, and I was right there all over again. I was on my knees with my hands on her thighs so steady.
“You can say it,” I said again. “I promise. You’re safe now, Anna.”
She looked away from me, staring into the darkness through the windows. And then she said it.
She fucking said it.
A breath. Barely audible. Lip still trembling through her words.
“He raped me.” Her face crumpled. “Oh my God, Lucas… he raped me… Sebastian raped me…”
Holy fuck, my gut twisted like a knife.
“I told him to stop… but he didn’t… I screamed for him to stop… but he didn’t… he wouldn’t stop…”
I pulled her down towards me, and she gave up the fight to stay standing. She buried herself in my arms and I held her so strong. I rocked, and she rocked with me, and she cried all over again.
“They said I should go back to him… they said he was my life… and I believed them. I wanted to believe them.”