Page 207 of The Life of Anna-Tenth Anniversary Edition: Act 2

He gave her a wry smile. “You were defending yourself. Anna, sweetie, I think you killed Jack.”

“What?” She shook her head wildly. “I couldn’t have done that. He’s so much stronger than me.”

“There is a part of you that is very strong, and it’s starting to emerge when you need to defend yourself. It took Ian and two other men to subdue you when it happened before.”

Anna remembered Ian talking about it and the bruise on his cheek. Her heart twisted at his memory. Another death because of her. She stared at her hands. “What do I do now?”

“Go home, take a bath, and get a good night’s sleep. I’ll take care of things here and come up with a story for Devin. I can honestly say he got attacked in his hotel room.”

“You’re not going to call the police?” Hugo asked incredulously.

Tom gave him a sympathetic look. “This is beyond the police, Hugo. Involving them would only endanger An—er, Katrina.”

He frowned. “I know her real name.”

“What else do you know?” Tom asked, his face inscrutable.

“I know that she was raped by her guardian tonight and you don’t seem to care much about how she’s going to deal with it.”

Tom took a long breath and looked at the wall behind them. “I do care that Jack found her. Unfortunately, what he did to her was rather... Well, I’ve seen her go through much worse.” He looked back at Hugo. “I know you’re concerned about her, and that’s good. She needs that. I am too. There’s just more going on here than I can explain right now and frankly, it would be dangerous for me to share any more with you.” He straightened. “What I can tell you is, by being here in New York, she is safer than she’s been in her entire life, and there are many people working to make that safety a permanent reality for her.”

Hugo looked at him for a long moment and then nodded. “Please tell me if there is anything I can do.”

Tom smiled at Anna and then looked at Hugo. “You’re doing it. Please continue to call her Katrina. If her name gets out, I don’t know how long I’ll be able to protect her.” He crouched down and looked Anna in the eye. “You can tell him what you’re comfortable with about your personal experiences, but keep names out of it, okay?”

Anna nodded. “He knows a little about Alex.”

Tom looked surprised and pleased, then took her hand, rubbing her empty ring finger. “You took your wedding ring off.” He looked approvingly at Hugo. “You’re obviously doing many things right, Hugo. Take her home, get her cleaned up, and put her to bed.” He kissed Anna on the cheek and stood. “Are you healing again?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t been injured in a while.”

“That’s good.” He chuckled. “A good problem to have. Don’t worry about this, Anna. Devin won’t find out you’re here.”

“Thank you, Tom.” She stood and Hugo put his arm gently around her. She looked down. “My shoes are in the other room.”

“I’ll get ‘em.” Aaron hurried out of the room and returned a few minutes later.

Hugo cleared his throat. “Do I, uh, need to be concerned about... defending myself?”

Tom’s eyes lit with amusement. “Are you planning on raping her or dragging her back to people who want to hurt her?”

“Absolutely not!”

“Then you have nothing to worry about. She’s not the Hulk where she’ll turn into a monster if she gets angry. She’s just finally learned to defend herself.”

“Are there many people who want to hurt her?” Hugo asked.

Tom frowned. “Unfortunately, yes. But there are many who want to help her too.” He smiled encouragingly. “Take her home. She’ll be alright.”

Anna put her shoes on and glanced at Tom. “Thank you, Tom.”

Tom nodded. “Anytime, Anna. It’s the least I can do.”

Chapter 110

Hugo and Aaron flanked Anna as they walked down the hallway and into the elevator down to the lobby. The doorman hailed a cab and they went back to Anna’s and Aaron’s apartment. Hugo kept his arm around her the whole time.

“What can I do to help?” Hugo asked as they walked inside.

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