Page 61 of Exile
“Who woulda thought the person to bring down the big, bad Dominick Reeves would be a middle-aged woman who can’t remember what she had for lunch and does puzzles in her free time?” Dane lets out a chuckle that causes a spike in my blood pressure, resulting in yet another mind-melting surge of agonizing pain. “You’re lucky Serena is a good person. She could’ve left you on the floor of the cabin to bleed out from a cerebral hemorrhage.”
“What. The. Fuck. Are. You. Talking. About?” I bite out the words as I clench my eyes shut, trying to block out the pain.
“I’m talking about how you are done fucking terrorizing Serena and the people closest to her. I’m talking about how your obsession over her has caused your whole fucking life to cave in. I’m talking about how, with the help of Serena’s friend Kai, there is now evidence of you abusing your role as a police officer, as well as conspiracy and murder. We also have evidence of physical abuse, sexual assault and false imprisonment, thanks to Serena’s statement. The fact that you have cameras all over your house that recorded it all? Are you that fucking dumb? Or were you that fucking delusional in your ability to not get caught?”
“Agghhhh!” A roar rips from my throat as rage floods through me. I lurch forward, trying to grab Dane by his shirt, but my left arm hangs limply by my side, and the shock of pain that ricochets through my head forces me to fall back against the pillow.
“Yeah, like I said, you might wanna take it easy there, bro. They had to do surgery to relieve the pressure on your brain. Apparently you suffered a stroke while you were under. Lost the use of your left arm. Not sure if that’s temporary or what.” Dane shrugs, like it doesn’t matter to him one way or another.
“Where’s Serena?” I grit out, slowly breathing through the nausea the last wave of pain summoned.
“Probably at home. Her home, that is. With Kai, living her best life. You’ve been here in a medically-induced coma for the last week. She hasn’t come to visit you once. Not that anyone can blame her, after the shit you put her through.”
“Why are you here?” If looks could kill, Dane would be dead on the spot. The anger I have towards this punk ass rookie trying to put me in my place rages through my veins. Fuck this kid.
“Your doctor called Serena, told her they would be letting you wake up today. Apparently since she’s your fiancée, she’s the closest thing you have to next of kin. Unfortunately for you, she hates your fucking guts and pretty much said as much to your doctor. I volunteered to come be here when you wake up to let you know how irrevocably fucked you are. Oh, and to let you know there is a protective order against you for Serena, Kai and Laura. Not that you’ll get the chance to harass her. As soon as you’re medically stable, you’re being transferred to the county jail to wait for trial.”
“You have no fucking idea what you’re talking about! Serena is mine! If that bitch-ass punk touches her…”
“You’ll what, Dom? Come on, give me another charge to add to your file. Please, I’m begging you. I want to make sure you never see the outside of a prison cell for the rest of your life. Dirty cops like you and Eric give the rest of us a bad name, and I’m not going to fucking stand for it. Have a nice life, Dom. Enjoy being someone’s prison bitch.”
With a wink and a tip of his hat, the motherfucker saunters out of the room, whistling the theme from Kill Bill.
“FUUUUUCK!”
Moments later, a nurse rushes into the room, drawn in by the flurry of erratic activity on the monitors by my bedside. “Oh, hon, you need to calm down. If your blood pressure spikes, it can cause more bleeding on your brain. I’m gonna give you something to help you calm down and go to sleep. You need to rest in order to heal up.”
I watch helplessly as she pulls out a syringe and attaches it to the IV in my arm. Seconds later, warmth floods my veins, my mind growing fuzzy as the meds take hold. I let it pull me under, no desire to remain conscious in a world where Serena doesn’t want me any longer.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
KAI
Iwalk through the front door, a bouquet of flowers, a bottle of wine and a pint of ice cream in hand. Today is a big day for Serena, and I am ready to support her in whatever way she needs. The grand jury for Dominick’s case will be announcing whether or not he will be indicted for the charges brought against him by the district attorney.
Serena has tried to put on a brave face, but I know she’s been a wreck, waiting for this result. I can’t lie, even with the evidence we helped compile, the testimony against him from Brad the douche bag and the recordings from the cabin, I still worry his position as a well-decorated police officer will get him off the hook. Dane has assured us there’s no way they won’t bring charges against Dominick, but excuse the fuck out of me for not having a lot of faith in the justice system. I won’t relax until I know for sure he is being brought to task for his crimes.
“Hey, ReRe, I got that wine you like and your favorite ice cream!” I head into the kitchen to drop off the food. Serena doesn’t respond, so after stowing the fudge brownie ice cream, I go through the house room by room searching for her.
“Serena, you up here?” I call out, heading up the stairs to her bedroom, worry tightening my chest. She’s made remarkable strides since starting therapy, but she still has bad days when something triggers her PTSD, like when she gets major case updates, or when Dominick tries to contact her. In the last month, she’s finally started using the right words to describe what he did to her, stopped saying rape in the hesitant, apologetic tone that implied those were someone else’s thoughts, not her own. Stopped hedging around her abuse and making it seem like she somehow asked for what happened to her or that it was somehow her fault for falling for his bullshit. Now that she’s had that breakthrough hit, the rest will be easier, and I look forward to the rivulet of improvement becoming a stream, a pond, a reservoir of strength.
Somehow, he still manages to send letters to her from jail, even after we’ve repeatedly asked them not to let him send them. After reading the first couple of unhinged manifestos about how they belong together and she will always belong to him, I’ve made it my mission to catch them before Serena sees them and give them to the prosecuting attorney to use as evidence. My stomach plummets at the thought of her getting one of those before I can intercept it. The last one she read caused her to spiral and spend the weekend in bed, reliving the nightmare of his abuse.
“ReRe?” Poking my head into the bedroom, I find it empty. Okay, she’s not huddled under the blankets in a heap. That’s good, but where is she? I turn to leave the room, but soft music floats through the open bedroom window.
Striding across the room, I peer out of the window and see Serena sitting in the hammock in the backyard, swinging between the two towering oak trees that shade most of her yard and the neighboring ones as well. A familiar beat emanates from the Bluetooth speaker, indicating she’s listening to her favorite nineties hip hop playlist. Her laptop is nestled on her lap, and she bites her lower lip in concentration as she focuses on what is on her screen. Curious about what could have her attention so focused, I head outside to let her know I’m here.
She’s so focused on what she’s working on, she doesn’t sense my presence until I flop down on the hammock next to her, startling her.
“Ah, fuck, Kai! Jesus, you scared me.” She laughs as she tries to shove me away. I ignore her feeble attempt at retaliation and bear hug her before planting a kiss on her cheek.
“What ya working on?” Her body melts against mine as I pull her into my side, arm around her shoulder, her head nestling against my chest.
She turns her laptop towards me, and I see she has the BFU website pulled up to their Criminal Justice program. I take the computer from her, and my brow quirks up. “What’s this?”
“I’m planning on changing my major. I want to go into Criminal Justice. After I graduate, I want to apply to the police academy.”
“Are you sure about that, ReRe? After everything you went through?” I give her a skeptical look, stunned by her admission. “You want to be a cop?” I try to keep the incredulity from my voice, but she picks up on it right away and doesn’t let me off the hook.