Burn With Me

Chapter 16

Damien

"I have to talk to Nate about this. He'd know what to do, but I want to get Hallie on board first. I won't do this behind her back. I don't want to scare her away. I want her to trust me to help her fight whoever is scaring them into a life in hiding," I said. "I want her to tell me her story.  I don't want to force her." I've gone so far as to persuading her to let me help her, I won't betray her trust by going behind her back. I was about to add something when suddenly I was startled speechless as Hallie stepped into view and said, "Where do I start?"

I was shocked, but impressed at the look of determination and strength on her expression. But it didn't stop me from wondering how long she's been standing there and how much of our conversation she heard.

"How about by telling us who you're running away from," I said.

She nodded.

"If you feel more comfortable talking to Damien without us, we understand," Bella offered.

Hallie smiled gratefully. "If he trusts you, then so do I."

I smiled at her encouragingly and nodded for her to sit beside me.

"His name is Marcus," I began. "He's from Yorkshire originally, but we met here. At first he was charming, sweet, and thoughtful. I didn't completely trust him at first, but after awhile, I learned to accept him."

"And Marcus is Ty and Michy's father?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yes. He was abusive. I didn't know until later on. Then one night, I just got so scared. I witnessed him murder a man in front of me without batting an eye. After shooting him, he walked away as if what he had just done was nothing. Was just something he does on a regular basis. I tried to..."

"Tried to what? Leave?" I asked.

She nodded. "But I couldn't. Not without Ty and Michy."

"Couldn't you have gone to the police?" Dylan asked.

"And tell them what? Marcus has most of them in his payroll, I didn't know who I could and couldn't trust. I was a foreigner in a place I barely knew anything about. I was scared. Scared for my life and my kids' life. It wasn't until," she paused.

"Until what?" I urged.

"It wasn't until he laid a hand on Ty that I was determined to leave."

"That bastard!" I growled, making Hallie jump.

"How did you escape?" I asked.

"There was a baker who helped me. I worked for him a few hours every other day. He helped get tickets for the ferry. He knew someone who faked documents, so I had him help me get in touch with this man and he made the necessary paper works for us."

"So wait, is your name really Hallie?" I asked.

She bit her lip. "It's my middle name. My full name is Marie Hallie Scott. But I've always gone by Hallie. Marie is my mother."

"I don't understand. I only used the documents to help us cross back to the states. I couldn't risk him finding us by using our real names while traveling back. I'm hoping Marcus hasn't figured it out, but I'm not sure. I'm hoping he thinks we haven't left Yorkshire. I'm certain he would have checked airlines and whatever he can. We wore a disguise while traveling, so I'm hoping even if he come across the ferry we took and asked around, none would recognize us as the people he was looking for."

"When we got here, we stayed in a small town called, Westchester. There I met a middle aged lady who helped us get back on our feet."

"Why did you leave?"