"Than this will be it..." Alessandro Russo closed the laptop and looked compassionately at the young lady across from him at the table. "Who did you say told you to ask for me?"
Jane showed a weak smile and nodded. "Thank you very much. And Cate did."
He nodded. "Tell her I said hi when you see her."
"I will."
"But hey, Jane. It will be alright. You did the right thing to come here. I will try to finish this as soon as possible," he assured her and gave her a trustworthy smile. "I advise you to call your parents first, but most importantly, if you go outside, especially in the dark, make sure you are with someone or find people to walk with. And give a call to victim support."
She nodded. "Thank you for your help and time."
"Anytime. You will find your way out, right?"
Jane got up from the chair and put her backpack on her back. "Yes, I do," she said and stuck out her hand. The police officer shook her hand. "Ciao."
"Buona giornata," he nodded.
The smile on her face began to hurt. Her face was swollen and very sensitive right now. She barely slept last night, it was just a complete disaster. And she was so nervous about going to the police, even to go outside and receive all those judgy looks. Jane left the interrogation room and grabbed her phone. She had to call her family, even though she was anxious about the reactions. Her dad and oldest brother both worked as police officers. However, she wanted her mum and dad.
Jane put in her earphone, and she accidentally touched her cheek. She pressed her jaws on each other and squeezed her nails into her skin. The pain was sharp, and she couldn't let it know because she was in the police building. It hurt like hell. She took a deep breath and blinked away the tears.
After a few minutes, the pain slowly disappeared. Jane deeply inhaled and unlocked her phone, ready to call her mum. She didn't pick up, but then Jane remembered her mum was on a trip to the north of Iceland to work on her new book. And that meant a week without internet, without phones, only her laptop and the writing programme. Jane bit her lip and looked around.
Her face straightened when she saw him. Her heart started to beat faster, and the palms of her hand began to sweat. She swallowed hard and started to speed walk. There was no way he was here on accident; that was impossible. Jane couldn't stand out (more) than the rest, so she had to look like she was in a rush instead of running away from someone. She looked around her, he was following her. "No, no, no," she whispered, and a glossy layer of tears covered her eyes.
Three more blocks.
500 more metres.
Just a couple of minutes.
"Jane!"
Run. She wrapped her hand tightly around the handle of her bag and started to run.
"Jane, wait!"
The footsteps behind her became louder. Jane looked around her in a panic, how could this happen? Out of everyone, out of every place, he had to be here. There weren't many people out of the street. Fuck.
She felt a tight grip around her wrist, and someone pulled at it. Jane turned around and faced Leonardo. Her eyes widened, and her lips parted. No... She froze, but her heart started to beat faster.
"What the fuck happened to your face?" Leonardo worriedly asked and removed the black sunglasses from his face. "Jesus Christ, who did that to you?" He took off the hood of his hoodie and parted his lips.
Jane's bottom lip started to tremble, and she gasped for air.
"Whose arse do I need to beat?"
He doesn't remember it... The first tear rolled over her cheek, and she looked him in the eyes. Leonardo definitely had a hangover, he looked terrible and had memory loss, so he went bad last night.
Leonardo knew Jane had moved on, he just started to move on as well. The realisation of that happened during a conversation with his sister last week. He just didn't want to see that Jane had moved on, that she wasn't his person, but he hoped she was so badly... He fucked it up. But seeing her like this... He wanted to be there for her, wrap his arm around her and just comfort her. There was just this one person you never stopped caring about, and that was Jane in his case. However, she was with Marcus, and he had the job of comforting Jane now.
"Please... Say something, Jane," Leonardo whispered and let go of her wrist. "What happened?" His face softened; it looked bad.
She blinked, and more tears rolled over her cheeks. He really doesn't remember it... Yesterday Leonardo was looking for a reason to cause a scene, he made a scene and hurt someone. The dark look in his eyes was gone, he looked worried and hurt. Now he was standing in front of Jane, trying to figure what happened to her, who actually hurt her.
Jane took a few steps backwards and turned around in one movement. Her legs started to move, and she pushed herself away. It was now or never. Her lungs began to hurt, sprinting was never her favourite thing to do, but now she had to. She was still in shock, and everything around her was still a blur, but she managed to get away.
Four hundred metres.
Run.
Three hundred metres.
One more corner.
Keep running.
The tears were streaming down her face. Jane opened put off her backpack, and opened it. She noticed her hands were shaking and that she was gasping for air. When she found her keys, she managed to open the door. Once she was inside, she slammed the door shut and ran up the stairs. Jane didn't know if Leonardo was still following her, but she needed to be safe. She closed her front door and locked it straight away.
She placed her hand on her heart and let herself slide via the wall on the ground. A loud sob left her mouth, and she burst into tears.
Luna squeezed her eyebrows together when she hurt noises coming from the living area. She was still lying in bed, trying to get as much sleep as possible. It was a long night for her as well since she got worried and couldn't stop thinking about the situation. Luna threw the duvet off her body and put on a hoodie before getting out of bed. A yawn left her mouth, and she opened her bedroom door.
"Jane, what's happening?" Luna was wide awake now. She ran towards Jane and sat down next to her, taking Jane in her arms. "It's okay, calm down," Luna whispered and rocked her slowly.
"He doesn't remember it," Jane cried and closed her eyes. "He doesn't know it."
"Who?"
"Leonardo."
It slowly came to realisation Jane went out, to file a report. The plan was to go to the police together, but Jane was awake and couldn't sleep anymore, so she decided to go independently. She needed to get this off her chest, she needed to close this chapter.
"Did you see him?" Luna worriedly asked and tried to look at Jane's face. Since yesterday, she looked Jane in her eyes for the first time - Jane was avoiding eye contact. "Jane..."
Jane blinked, and warm, thick tears rolled left her eyes. "I'm sorry."
"No, don't say that. What happened?"
"I..." Jane sniffed and looked away. "I left the building, and I looked around and... he was there. I walked away, I ran away, but he stopped me from running. Leonardo looked at me, and he was so lost, so hangover." She dried her eyes, forgetting about her bruised cheek. A painful groan left her mouth, causing more tears. "And then... He asked me who did this. He doesn't remember it. Bloody hell."
"Oh, my goodness," Luna whispered and felt so sorry for Jane. "Did you tell him?"
"No. I just... I couldn't do it. I was so scared that he would hurt me again, Luna."
"I know, it's over now... You filed a charge; you did the right thing." Luna swallowed hard; it just wouldn't stop. "How did it go at the police?"
Jane closed her eyes and let her head lean against the wall. "They are processing it now." She sniffed. "That man was kind, I really hope he is on our side."
"Of course, he is."
"He made photos of my face, and it's just so confronting to see myself on the camera." She deeply inhaled and blew the air slowly out. "It needs to heal for so many weeks. I'm so freaking ugly."
"Put a bit of makeup on, and it looks like you got fillers," Luna blurted. "Kylie Jenner, who?"
Jane opened her eyes, and she looked at Luna, who looked at her with regret. "Mate," Jane began and burst into laughter. "How even could you say that?"
A laugh rolled over Luna's lips, it luckily didn't offend Jane, but it made her laugh. "I'm speaking facts."
"Just for the half of my face? It looks like shit," Jane laughed and dried her eyes. "Ah, it hurts." She couldn't stop laughing, but the muscles in her left cheek hurt, just like her skin. "Fucking hell."
"I'm sorry," Luna giggled and dried her eyes as well. When Luna started to laugh, she always got tears in her eyes. She got up. "Come, I will make you a cup of tea."