"N-Nathan." She murmurs.
"Yes amour?"
"I t-think I am g-going to j-jail."
I swear, for a second, I'm completely convinced that my heart stopped beating.
"What do you mean?" Adelaide demands. "Odeletta Juileta, what do you mean?"
Everyone starts questioning her at once, shooting a million questions a second.
She pulls her hand away from mine and hides it.
"Shut up!" I shout at everyone. They silence right away. "Asking her a million things at once won't solve anything!"
She's shaking so bad.
Gabe lets out a slow breath.
She's sobbing again, and she's starting to hyperventilate.
When I touch her and she pulls away, I ignore her, grab her small body, and pull her into my lap.
She squirms around for a only a moment, trying to escape me, but when I push her head into my chest, any self control that she regained since I got here is lost, and I feel my blue button down getting wet on my shoulder. Her arms are locked around my neck and she just cries. I rest my chin on her shoulder and rub her back, breathing steady breaths. She starts following me again, crying.
After another half hour, she calms.
"Mon amour," I begin. "Look at me, darling."
She starts shaking her head in my shoulder.
"Please?" I ask softly.
She hesitates for a moment, and then slowly, she lifts her head off of my shoulder.
When my eyes lock on her face, I feel my entire body heat up with rage.
She has a black eye and a busted lip.
"I'll fucking kill him." Josh seethes. "Who the fuck-what-"
I brush my thumb along the bruise. Her eyes are red and she looks like she's been crying for weeks.
"Oh no." I murmur, shoving my feelings to the side to focus on her. "What did he do to you?" I whisper. "What happened, Odeletta?"
She sniffles, looking down at our joined laps. She fiddles with her fingers.
"You were right." She says, large tears slipping down her cheeks. "He tried to force himself on me." She wipes away her tears, wincing when her hand presses against the bruise. "And he almost did. He almost did Nathan...you're right, I'm not strong enough." Her bottom lip quivers. "But...but he almost did, and I just...I lost it. I beat the hell out of him! I-I didn't slam him into anything or something but I was punching him and kicking him and, and I kicked him in the head. You know, like that roundhouse kick they do the movies? I got him in the temple. He was already bleeding in the face. I think he had a broken nose and two black eyes." She sniffles, her voice breaking. "And when I kicked him in the head, he slammed into the brick wall because we were in the alley separating my work and the parking garage. He hit the wall hard and when he fell, he was bleeding so much, and-and I called 911 and then ran away! I'm going to prison! I'm going to go to prison!"
Annalise, who was a just in England and is now looking for a job as a Judge here, speaks up.
"No you're not, Odette. It was self defense. Was he fighting back the whole time? Obviously, considering your face. Any judge would take a look at that case, if there is even a case to begin with, and put that guy behind bars."
"But I-he was bleeding!" She starts sobbing again, burying her head in her hands. Gabe crouches down next to me. He puts his hand on her shoulder.
"He doesn't have a case." He says. "I've handled tons of cases like this, Odette. He doesn't have a case. He was harassing you for eight months. You reported it to the police."
"But Officer Larik told me to call if-"
"If you saw him, yes." Gabe rubs her shoulder. "But you didn't have time, right? Or did you have time?"
"No, he grabbed me, I didn't-I couldn't." She wipes her eyes again. "What do I do? I don't want to go to jail."
"You call Officer Larik and tell him he needs to come here." Matthew says. "I deal with cops on the daily. He seemed to be on your side. You need to call him."
"The longer you wait, the more guilty you look." Annalise says calmly.
She looks down, her hand shaking, and then she looks up at me.
"Tell me what to do." She whispers.
"You need to call him." I say, rubbing her back. "Tell him to come over. He's going to see your face and have that guy locked up."
He better hope he has that guy locked up. I was being nice with one hit last time, if I fucking see that prick again, I don't know if I'll be able to stop myself from-
"I don't-I was on lunch. I did not tell my boss I was leaving. I can not find my phone."
I notice how the sleeve of her dress is stretched out.
"Here baby, use mine, okay?" I pull my phone from my pocket and hand it to her.
She sniffles, slipping off my lap, and walks out of the room.
The moment she's gone, I stand up.
"Tell me she's not going to jail." I whisper to Gabe.
"I doubt she's going to jail." He says. "But if that guy comes to and decided to press charges..." he sighs slowly. "Honestly Nate, I don't think he has a case. She was stopping him from-" he lowers his voice to a harsh whisper "-raping her." He finishes. "The scratches on her arms, the marks on her knuckles, her face...it's all just more evidence against him. She filed a claim against him. She has an officer on her side. After she beat the shit out of that scum, she called help for him. It's clear she's innocent."
I grit my teeth.
"If I fucking see him again," I start, whispering. "It will be me going to jail."
_____
Officer Larik showed up twenty minutes after Odeletta called him.
She, rather shakily, explained everything.
He took her statement, told her he would be back, and left to the hospital to get the condition on the guy and to arrest him when he was patched up.
She has blood on her clothes and she won't eat. She won't drink. She won't even take off her shoes.
Every time somebody touches her, she jumps. If she's standing and somebody brushes past her, she jumps, turning around fast with her hands up like she's going to protect herself.
And I'm pissed. I'm so mad that he did this to her.
If it weren't for my family here, I'd have gone after that dick.
Actually, that's not true.
If it weren't for how fragile and upset my girl is, I'd have gone after him.
She's blood caked under her fingernails that I didn't notice earlier, scratches up and down her arms...she seems to be in pain in her rib area. I think they're bruised.
She needs to go lay down, but I'm not sure she will.
It's been four or so hours since the officer left. I called her boss and explained what happened and she told her she could take off as much time as she needed.
Obviously I didn't go into detail, just that she was assaulted on her lunch break. She didn't need more of an explanation. Her boss was kind about it, said Odeletta is a great person who didn't deserve that.
Damn right she is.
She also told me to let her know if Odette needed anything.
After agreeing with her, thanking her, and promising to let her know if she needed something, we hung up.
She's so on edge. She won't sit down.
So when the doorbell rings and she gasps from being startled, I'm not surprised.
"It's okay darling, you're safe."
I kiss her forehead as I walk over to the door.
She stays out of sight from the foyer but I know she's listening. I step down the step int the foyer, opening the front door.
Officer Larik stands there.
We shake hands and I let him in the house, shutting the door and then shutting the door to the foyer behind him.
Odette stands there, repeatedly wiping her hands on her pants.
"Is he dead? Did I kill him?"
She looks so frightened.
I'm expecting him to cuff her right then and there, but he looks like he actually feels bad for her.
"You didn't kill him." He says calmly. "He's not pressing charges on you. He has a minor concussion. He was unconscious from the blow to his head and he was bleeding because when he hit his head, he cracked his head open." His voice is smooth. "I've talked to my boss about the situation on what to do with you and what to do with him." He says quietly. She looks so scared, I just want to hold her. I'm not sure she would let me though.
He pauses, and the whole family waits, exhausted.
"He and I both agree that it was self defense, so you are not in any trouble with the law." He says. "He has to stay the night in the hospital but when he gets out, he's getting arrested. I highly suggest you press charges." He says. "And file a restraining order. You got lucky this time, Odeletta, but if he were to catch you buy surprise..." he trails off. "Well, your fighting him off might not have been so lucky."
The fear in her eyes quadruples.
"For now, everything is okay." He says. "You are okay. You're safe here." He adds. "Now I want to ask you a question. Don't get insulted, okay?"
She nods, wrapping her arms around herself.
I ache to comfort her, but I don't because I'm not sure how she would react to my touch.
"When you saw him, he grabbed you, yes?"
"Yes." She sniffles.
"And did you have a chance to run? You're not in trouble, I'm just wondering."
"Um..." she thinks. "I probably could have ran, but he would have chased after me."
He nods slowly.
"If you ever see him again, you run. Run as hard as you can, and as far as you can, into the most public place you can. We live in the city so it won't be hard to find a crowd. Run to a store, run to anyone. Just run...and then call me."
"Unless you're with me." I interrupt. "If you're with me, he won't touch you."
"How can you be so sure?" Officer Larik asks.
I look at him and without any hesitation, I say, "Because if he touches her again, I'm going to prison."
_____
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~Sam