Shadows of the Heart

Chapter Twelve

Bret read and reread the email, his fury increasing as he read what she'd been through. He was angry, but not with her. Getting to his feet he rubbed his face with his hands and then grabbed his jacket and headed to HQ.

"I don't know what to tell you, Bret," said Vince as he read the email. Bret was pacing up and down agitatedly in front of his desk.

"Did you know about this? Did you know this had happened in the ring? Is it why you gave her the time off and told me to look after her?"

Vince sighed and then started typing into his computer. He turned the screen to reveal a video clip and Bret sat down. It was clearly a fan filming on his phone as the video was pretty shaky but Bret saw Marc in the ring with a smaller wrestler. He was beating the crap out of the kid, with stiff, hard moves. It was very clearly a shoot as the kid was bouncing all over the ring. They disappeared over the ropes and Bret heard the fan curse excitedly as Marc dragged a blonde girl into the ring, body slamming her onto the mat. The girl arched her back and lay stunned but then she was dragged to her feet by the hair and Marc wrapped an arm round her throat from behind; a sleeper hold which he released just before she lost consciousness. He then whipped her into the turnbuckle and she crumpled in the corner. At that point he jumped from the ring and dragged her under the rope before hauling her up the aisle. Bret stared at the footage, his foot tapping agitatedly on the floor and then he got up furiously.

"How the fuck did nobody put a stop to that?" he demanded and Vince sighed.

"I don't know. I know that at that point that company wanted ratings and Marc got them those ratings. Segments like this played out quite regularly I think, but with trained talent. Rain was not then a member of their talent. She didn't collect any kind of wage and she wasn't on the roster. She was just his wife. When I looked into her past this video was sent across to me. I gave her my word that nothing like that would happen here; that's why I was so pissed at Hunter. Bret we try to act with integrity here, you know that. We want our talent to be loyal and for that we know our talent expect to be safe. Rain isn't front of house talent but she is a very talented blogger and journalist. Of course I want to protect her; she's a company asset and she's also the partner of one of my most highly valued superstars."

"I need to track her down and bring her home," Bret said. "This is just bullshit Vince. How the hell does someone like that keep his job?"

"Well from what I understand he was enormously talented..." Vince broke off at the look on Bret's face. "Look I don't disagree with you, Bret but when a company is desperate they'll do anything to boost their ratings. Marc had a good look and despite what you've seen in that video he is a damn talented wrestler. The only reason I've never tried to pull him over to us is because of stuff like what we've just seen. You've been in the territories yourself, Bret, grown up in them. You know that men like Marc get a pass because they're a draw."

Bret just glared at him though, unwilling to believe that his father who had run one such territory would ever have kept someone on if they beat on their wife like that. Vince sighed and looked away.

"You know a lot of people Vince. I need your help."

Vince looked thoughtful but then he picked up his phone. When he finished, he hung up and rested his chin on his hands.

"He'll be right up," he said and as if on cue there was a knock at the door. As it opened Bret saw an old friend come in and got up to shake his hand.

"Ray," he said. "It's good to see you."

"You too Bret. Vince tells me your girl disappeared. If there's anything I can do to help I will."

"Thank you."