Page 91 of Very Special Forces

"Really?" I couldn't keep the surprise from myvoice.

"Yes.Bryce stayed over so she's telling him now."

Something niggled at the edges of my memory, but I couldn'tthink of what worried me. "I'm glad she's come to the decisionherself," I said. "Perhaps giving her the report later will fortifyher resolve and she’ll realize that she made the rightdecision."

"I thinkso too. Can you drop it off? Anytime is fine. I said I'd work fromhome today in case Julia needed any support."

"I'lldrop it off soon," I said. When I hung up, I held onto my cellphone, a frown furrowing my forehead. Someone told me somethingrecently but what was it? And why did it seem so important toremember now? I got up and paced the floor, forcing myself tothink.

Like a bomb, it burst into my head. Maddox said it:The worst time for something to go wrong is justas it starts to kick off.

Solomon said something similar too:It's always just when they're about to breach that's the mostdangerous time."

Thatreminded me of some material I once read about women leavingrelationships. It was the moment they left that was often the mostdangerous period, especially if the abuser realized his victim hadher mind made up and intended to defy him.

I hadalready seen how explosive Bryce's behavior could be. If Julia wasending her relationship now, she might be in seriousdanger.

Igrabbed the folder from the coffee table and shoved it into mypurse. Snatching my keys, I raced for the door. I got to Jas andJulia's building in under fifteen minutes, hurrying upstairs. Ipaused at Jas's door, listening for sounds from Julia's adjacentapartment. Soft, muffled sounds came from inside, then a whimperthat cut off abruptly. My instincts fired. Something was verywrong.

I bangedon the door with my fist. "Julia?" I yelled.

"What'sgoing on?" asked Jas, opening her door. She blinked when she sawme. "Lexi? I didn't expect you so soon. Is everythingokay?"

"Something's happened," I told her, as I resumed pounding."If you don't open the door right now, I'm calling 911," Iyelled.

The dooropened and Bryce stuck his head out. His hair, usually so neat, wasruffled out of place and his tie was askew. "Get lost," he growled,his face red and his eyes bloodshot.

"Where'sJulia?" I demanded.

"She'sbusy." He made to push the door shut but I wedged my foot in theway.

Behindhim, there was movement, then Julia stumbled into view. Her hairwas a mess and blood streamed from her nose. She held her armawkwardly and her eyes were red and wet with tears.

I didn'tstop to think. I pulled back my fist and, packing all my weightbehind the movement, punched Bryce hard in the face. He dropped,astonished, clutching his nose. I stepped past him, grabbed Juliaby her unhurt arm and hurried her into Jas's apartment where Jasslammed the door shut behind us. Behind us, Bryce yelledobscenities.

"You'reokay now," I told Julia as she began to cry again in choked gasps.I flexed my aching hand and raised my cell phone to my ear, readyto call for the police and an ambulance as I took in the odd wayshe held her arm and the deep finger marks around her throat. Jaswrapped her arms around her friend and Julia shivered. "You're safenow," I told her, my back against the door. On the other side,Bryce continued his litany of threats. "You're going to beokay."

Chapter Twenty-One

"Ireally appreciate you visiting," said Julia. "You didn't have to."We were sitting in her living room a few days after Bryce's attackand it was nice to see Julia smiling. A large bunch of flowers saton the side table but the television still had a big crack down themiddle and needed to be replaced. Jas thoroughly cleaned the bloodoff from where Julia told us he shoved her face first into it, butthings would be much better after the set was replaced.

"You canpress charges," I said.

"How? Noone actually witnessed anything. It'll be what he said versus whatI said. As far as it appears, I stumbled and fell onto the TV andthat's when I hit my nose and made it bleed and I also banged myarm on the way down. He'll make me sound like I'm hysterical. Eventhe police didn't have anything to hold him on."

"Youdon't know that."

"I do.Bryce sent me an email."

"Hedid?"

"Yeah."Julia reached for her laptop and opened it, then pushed it towardsme. "That bastard has made it sound like I'm some kind of crazypsycho klutz."

I readit, and was appalled. It was a nice email on the surface. Bryceexpressed his wish that she recover quickly and suggested shereplace the rug that caused her to stumble and maybe even tidy up alittle more so she wouldn't fall over anything else. Then heclaimed to be shocked that she would say he intended to hurt her inanyway because he loved her although he couldn't see any future forthem now. It was as though he just dumped her.

"Ihaven't replied to it. I don't know how to respond," saidJulia.

"I'm notsure you should reply," I said.

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