Page 9 of Avenging Devil: Part 1

I’m already expecting a visit from the cops and I know better than to tell them something other than what Duke had suggested. He’s got some of their rank in his pocket. He boasts often enough about that, and how he could literally get away with murder.

“No one can help me.” I turn my head back the other way, not wanting her to see the tears of defeat in my eyes. Anyone offering assistance is likely to go the same way as Jude. Even if I could make an official complaint about him, he’d have to be convicted and put away if I were going to be safe. They might arrest Duke, but they wouldn’t arrest his brothers, and they, protecting their VP, would do whatever it took to stop me from testifying against him.

The nurse, though, isn’t put off by my dismissal. “There’s a group I’ve heard of that helps women like you get away. Women who can’t involve the authorities.”

“It was a mugging,” I stubbornly repeat.

“Sapphire. Your man was wearing his cut. He’s one of the Crazy Wolves. I’ve heard the rumours, hell everyone around here has. I can well understand why you don’t want to go to the police, but please, trust me, there is a way out.”

With embryonic hope, I turn back to her. “You’re taking a risk if you help me.”

She shrugs. “I won’t be doing anything but putting you in touch with the Freedom Trail. I’m sure, if they can, they’ll get you out of here.”

The Freedom Trail?I’ve never heard of them. But what could they do? “I’ve no time for anything to be arranged. And if they helped me escape, what then?” I’d still need to be in a hospital, and being moved to a different one wouldn’t help. Duke would still find me. Crazy they might be, but one asset to the club is a disgraced ex-fed, whose computer skills can find anybody.

“Just leave that to them.” The nurse is not at all put off. “If they help you, you’d be given a new identity. You’d be moved far away, and Sapphire Marshall wouldn’t exist anymore. You’d have a fresh start. Both you and your baby.”

I don’t allow myself to get excited, but I’d be lying if her words don’t give me hope and something to think about other than the desolation of my situation.There could be a way out?My eyes widen as the idea settles in my head. “Are you sure they’d help me?”

“Honey, you’re one of the worst cases I’ve ever seen. You don’t have to tell me this isn’t the first time he’s beaten you. You’re covered with scars and healed broken bones. They’ll help you, I’m certain.”

“He’s going to come for me tomorrow,” I warn her.

The short timescale doesn’t seem to put her off. “Then we’ll need to be quick. Please say yes, honey.”

Just one nod, one little rise and dip of my head, and that’s all it takes for her to beam at me.

As she disappears without delay, presumably to kick-start arrangements, I start to daydream about having help to get away. I don’t give a damn about changing my name or my whole identity. As long as Duke’s nowhere close, I’ll be free.

How could this work? I’m in no state to be moved. Not even by Duke. Under normal circumstances, a patient would expect the medical staff to explain my condition to concerned relatives, and said relatives would agree, the hospital was the best place for me. But Duke’s never been described as normal. Come morning, I know he’ll arrive and take me away. My future will comprise of little more than a cell and whatever medical care he deems necessary, and that only being provided by prospects again. Prospects who’ll have witnessed Jude’s demise and know better than to become friendly.

Don’t get your hopes up,I tell myself. I’m out of my mind if I think I can escape.

But I’ve got to try.

And do it despite the pain I’m in. What’s far worse is the worry about the new life I still can’t believe is growing inside me, and what would happen if Duke ever found out about his impending fatherhood. Either of his possible reactions would have horrific consequences. Like before, he might kick the baby out of me, or he’ll decide it’s time to be a dad, and look forward to having an heir. A child I wouldn’t put past him to take away from me.

What’s certain is I’ll be little more than an incubator, having no influence on how my child grows. A son would be groomed to follow in his footsteps, a daughter, well, her future would depend on how best she could be used. My baby, like me, would be nothing but his property.

If this Freedom Trail offers a way out, I have to take it. Alone, I’ve no chance, even if I wait until I’ve healed. I’ve been trying to escape Duke for five years, but he’s never given me sufficient freedom to make a successful attempt. When I’m allowed off compound, I’m always escorted.

If he takes me back, it will only be a matter of time until he puts his fists on me again. Now I definitely can’t risk it, not least because I know I’m only alive as they decided to help me. Only a few more minutes without the correct treatment, and I might have died. But most of all, I now have a baby to think of. A child who could be killed along with me.

The cops come to see me, but like Duke had instructed, I lie.It was a mugger. They took my bag. No, I didn’t know who, they came up behind me.Something inside was crying out for the cops to see through my lies, but if they did, if that was a glimmer of doubt I saw in their eyes, they dismissed it as a domestic dispute between husband and wife.

After them, a stranger comes to visit me, a middle-aged woman, whose eyes are sharp. In soft tones she explains what using the Freedom Trail will mean. I’ll be unable to have contact with friends or family or anyone from my current life. No problem, I reassure her easily. Duke’s kept me isolated. I’ve had no contact with friends for five years, and any which I thought would show pity for me, I wouldn’t risk putting up against the man I so foolishly married.

I’ve been lonely throughout my ill-fated marriage. I can cope with more now. To only worry about myself, to be able to concentrate on growing my baby, seems a luxury to me.

When she leaves, satisfied with my response, I wonder how my disappearance will be accomplished. Whether I’ll be caught. Whether Duke will get wind of my plans. Whether he’ll turn up and kill those trying to help me.

In the end, my worries were in vain. It goes smoothly, showing I’m certainly far from the first person they’ve helped. I’m moved in the dead of night. On a gurney, I am wheeled out of the hospital and into an ambulance. It’s not the normal type, but one painted black.

Doped up on painkillers, I’m only vaguely aware of the apology that I’m being transported in the same way as they would a corpse.

I pass out for most of the journey, and when I come too, see sunlight streaming through windows of yet another hospital. It’s light and airy, and I take it as a premonition, a sign my future is looking bright.

I’m reassured by yet another woman from the Freedom Trail that things had gone to plan, and I have gotten away cleanly. I don’t ask for details of the mess I left behind.

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