Page 114 of All for her Forgiveness

"No, I prefer to talk about it all at once. I know I'll have to testify about these memories that have come back. When I set foot on the last step, I noticed they were both naked and completely drugged, and I turned around to run, but I wasn't fast enough. Ryan saw me, came after me, and grabbed my arm, then my neck. I fought with him. I kicked him in the balls just like I did with that creepy manager in New Orleans."

"I'm going to kill him."

"He deserves to face justice. To have his disgusting face plastered all over the newspapers."

"That will happen too. Now, go on."

"I ran away, but he chased me. But he was already too out of it, I think, from a mix of drugs and alcohol."

"And Pam?"

"She just laughed at my attempt to escape. When I got upstairs, I locked myself in the room. I don't think he really tried to catch me that time, or he would have succeeded. I felt pain all over my body. Ryan is much bigger than me and was hallucinating. I was at genuine risk of not surviving that night. That's when I realized things had gotten out of control.”

"Out of control?"

"Yes. I’d heard Pam when she’d called you earlier and the lies she’d told you."

"Why didn't you try to contact me?"

"I was upset with you because we’d made love and then you didn't reach out to me again. That only confirmed the bet story. Now I know that you didn't remember anything, but at the time, I was very angry. Also, when she called you, I didn't really think I was in danger at the time. I thought I could leave the next morning and everything would be fine."

"Tell me why you said things got out of control."

"I don't think they wanted to kill me or even that Ryan planned to kill Pam. You heard the recording. She wanted to film me having sex with Ryan or maybe cause you to catch us both in the act, make you disappointed with me."

That bitch.

How could I have been so deceived by someone? Ernest is right: Pam turned into a monster.

"But you fought. You weren't the scared prey they imagined you would be."

"Yes, and from what I heard on the phone call she made to you, you said you would arrive the next day, right?"

"Yes, but I decided to see what was going on. I came early."

"Well, she didn't count on that, I think. Maybe she decided to take advantage of the night. Maybe she used more drugs than was safe and lost control. We'll never know the reason why Ryan decided to kill her."

"He didn't just kill her. He tortured her for hours too."

"Do you think he'll ever confess to what he did? It would be the only way to fill in all the gaps."

Yes, because I'll make him talk."Who knows. Once he's caught, we'll find out."

"All I know is this: I fled to my room, not to that hiding place. Then I started to hear screams. They were talking nonsense, making vows of love and saying what they wanted to do to me. I think that was the moment I left the suite again, according to the recording, when I caught them having sex, but that's just speculation because I don't remember that, nor Pam chasing me and me hitting her with the statue."

I can't hold back anymore, and I pick her up, lying down on the couch with her on top of me. "It's okay, love. It's already a lot. Maybe the rest of the memories will come back at some point. What you’ve told me will help finalize several points."

"I still can't believe I had the courage to hit her with the statue."

"You were fighting for your life, Kennedy. We never know what our limit is until we're stretched to the maximum."

"Delores told me something similar."

"Delores?"

"My cellmate. I still write to her every other day since I left prison."

She quickly tells me all about the inmate.

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