Page 43 of Secrets Within Us

As I locked eyes with her, I leaned forward, resting my arms on the table, and held her gaze as I explained. “I’m going to save you the trouble of acting like a parrot and asking me over and over what he did next. Throughout my time there, he consistently did the same thing every single day. He told me what a worthless, unwanted piece of trash I was. He told me repeatedly that when he was done with me, he’d rip the flesh from my bones and bury me in the grave he’d thrown me into numerous times. Then he beat me and tortured me with whatever type of sick weapon he’d choose at that moment. You name it, he used it.” I shrugged my shoulders and tried to act like it was nothing to say the words, when in reality it was everything. It took literally everything. “Whips, canes, knives, belts, baseball bats, plyers, or just his good ol’ fists and boots. Those were his favorite because he said he could feel my flesh and bones bending under them.” Leaning back, I ran my hands through my hair, frustrated as I tried to find the right words. “He’d chain me up and keep me there for hours until he wanted to play again. Then he’d beat and torture me again until I lost consciousness, or he grew tired. Or in his particularly cruel moods, he would force me into whatever sick position he wanted, and he would rape me.”

Kip would never want me after witnessing this. He was probably disgusted thinking about having me after that pig had forced himself inside of me.

My leg bounced uncontrollably under the table before I stood up and started pacing. No one said anything as I moved around, my brain exploding with questions and answers. He’d never want me, and I couldn’t even blame him. I felt like damaged goods, and they were forcing me to reveal just how damaged I was to the man I loved.

They all just watched me come unglued. My hands were clammy, and I started sweating, thinking about all the terrible things Peter Daniels did. I unzipped my jacket and took it off, folding it over the back of my chair, and tried to ignore the way they all looked when they saw the bruises, burns, and cuts still lingering on my arms.

I stopped in front of the mirror and instead of looking through it, trying to find Kip, I looked at myself in it, at what they were seeing on my skin.

More tears pooled in my eyes as I tried to come up with what to say next.

I stared at the tears in my eyes through the mirror until my vision blurred from them as I continued. “Eight times.”

There was a quiet pause in the room, no one said anything right away until Agent Harvey spoke up. “What was eight times?” She asked. She stood up and walked over to the mirror and turned to face me, leaning her shoulder on it.

“He raped me eight times in six days.” I turned my head to face her. “Don’t think that because I paraphrased it for you that I don’t remember what happened every single second of every day that he held me captive. I just can’t sit here and talk about it step by step with you when you still think I’m lying about it.” I said angrily.

Her right eye twitched again as she looked over at the others in the room before looking back at me.

“I’m trying here, Hadley. The crime scene looks bad for you, there’s more evidence proving you murdered him than there is evidence to back up what you speak of. We didn’t find any DNA from you in any room other than the living room where he was killed and in his car. We found the grave you talked about, but nothing else to support your claims. What else do you remember? Give me something solid.”

I turned back and looked at Tim. He tried to hide it quickly as I turned, but I could read the grief on his face before he locked it down.

“He used a condom every single time he raped me because he said he didn’t want to leave any traces of his DNA on me to lead the cops to him if they ever found my body.” I paused again, looking back to Agent Harvey, “Because at that point, he was the monster, and I was the victim the police would be trying to get justice for. But that was before I had to save myself.” Taking another calming breath, I paused once more, attempting to gather my thoughts and speak coherently. “I remember every time he strangled me until I’d pass out when he wanted to move me without me fighting him. I remember the times he used the cane with a red handle on my kneecaps, he told me it was his favorite because the noise it made when it hit my bones made his dick hard.” As my body trembled with anger and pain, I kept my gaze locked with hers. “I remember the burn of the shackles digging into the skin at my wrists and ankles when he’d chain me up and leave me for hours while he left. I remember begging God to kill me so that I could be free of his torment after he waterboarded me and then threw me down the stairs, only to pick me back up and take me to the top to throw me down them again.”

It was evident that everyone was affected by what I said because there was a mixture of horror and pity on every face in the room. But I knew I needed to give them something they would know was the truth, undeniable proof. “But what I remember most is the way he nearly broke my back, shoving me into the closet next to the front door when Sheriff Boyd came to visit.” I watched as all eyes turned to the Sheriff, but he remained oblivious to them because his gaze was fixed on mine, overwhelmed with absolute disbelief. My heart was breaking inside of my chest, I could physically feel the pain I’d felt in his home as I told them all what he did to me. The sheriff knew when I said I’d been there for six days that he had been there in that time frame. He had been trying to figure out how he could have missed the signs of Peter holding me against my will when he had been at the house.

So I talked to him directly as I went on. “You stopped by on my third day there. He’d just pulled me out of the ground where he’d made me stay overnight, naked and bleeding, for my disobedience in fighting him as he tried to rape me the last time. I was exhausted and suffering from hypothermia, so I was nearly unconscious when he started throwing me around. You pulled in as he shut the front door behind us and he panicked. He didn’t have time to lock me back up or knock me out because you were getting out of your car and walking up the front walk. So he forced me into the closet and smashed my face in with his fist four times before telling me that if I made a sound, he would cut your throat open and hold me under it while you bled out all over me.”

My body trembled as tears fell, “So I laid there in the closet, holding my hands over my mouth…” I shivered and my eyes fluttered closed as I cried, “praying for the strength to stay quiet while you spoke to that monster about the ice fishing derby going on that weekend and how you hoped the pike would be biting. I sobbed silently in the dark because I didn’t want your death on my conscience when he finally killed me.” I accused angrily, pointing my finger at him.

My chest shook as I tried to take a deep breath, but couldn’t. I grabbed for the wall as my knees gave out and I fell to the floor in utter exhaustion. I brought my knees up and wrapped my arms around them as I laid my head back against the wall.

Tim rushed over and fell to his knees next to me, still silent.

I was so tired, I just wanted to crawl back into Kip’s bed and hide from everyone. But I had to keep going. “The day he died is the day he tried to kill me for good. No more threats or attempts, he held the knife to my chest ready to plunge it in and get it over with. But I fought back. And when I fought back, I didn’t stop fighting until I had stabbed him so many times I couldn’t lift my arms anymore. I lived because he didn’t.” When every ounce of energy left my body all over again, I closed my eyes. “I grabbed what I could of my own things and left. He had no phone there that I could find, and I couldn’t find the keys to his truck. So I grabbed my bag and ran into the blizzard to escape him for good. And it all would have been for nothing if Kip hadn’t found me and saved me.” I fought to keep my emotions in check as I got overwhelmed with my feelings for the lumberjack.

The alpha.

“The only reason I’m alive right now is because of him. He gave me a reason to fight to stay alive when, after everything, I was ready to just let death take me. I’ve gone from being the victim, to being the criminal, to being whatever it is that I’ve become now.”

“You’ve become a survivor, Hadley.” Tim said affectionately before looking up at the agent who just stood silently watching it all unfold, “That’s enough, Agent. She’s been through enough. You have everything you need.”

“No, it’s not enough,” I said weakly. I found it hard to even lift my head off the wall.

“No, he’s right, that’s enough Hadley. We can clear you with your statement, assuming Sheriff Body here provides his statement about his visit to the house.” She said, looking over to the older gentleman who easily nodded his head yes without question.

“No,” I said, though. “That’s enough of my story. But if I don’t keep going, who’s going to tell the stories of the other girls?”

Chapter 15 - Kip

The Others

While watching Hadley tell her story, so much anger filled me I almost broke the glass of the mirror and every other surface in the room multiple times. So much anger flowed through my body while watching her tell those sons of bitches what happened to her.

When she said that Boyd had been there while she was held captive and that she had forced herself to remain silent to save his life, I felt an immense sense of pride and an overwhelming love for her flooding over me. She had been incredibly brave and strong the entire time she was there and again while being questioned.

She was everything I’d convinced myself she wasn’t. When I’d found her inside of my late kid’s room, I thought her to be the most selfish person I’d ever met. That she couldn’t even wait for me to tell her about them, and instead had forced my hand and found out herself. But instead of being selfish, she was the most caring person I’d ever met, living her life in selflessness every step of the way.

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