Oliver paced in the waiting room. Russell sat bouncing his knee up and down, his hands moving through his hair.
"Who could have done this?"
Oliver ignored Russell's heartbroken mutterings, he had a very good idea, but he couldn't stomach to speak. The doctors had been looking at her for over two hours. Every minute felt like an hour.
Alissa came through the doors to the emergency waiting room in a flurry. "What happened?"
"She was beaten. Badly." Russell replied through gritted teeth.
Alissa swallowed, her hands shook, she knew. She knew who the only person to beat her within an inch of her life was. All she could mutter was, "not again."
Oliver's pacing paused and he was almost afraid to look at her and get the answers he knew deep down.
"Again?" Russell looked at her wide eyed, his face paled further.
"She always begged us not to tell anyone." She sniffled and looked away in shame.
"Mr Black, Mr Adley?" A tall doctor cut off Oliver from speaking.
"How is she?" Oliver shot out.
"Please follow me." The doctor ushered them to a quiet a corner of the room, out of earshot of others. "We completed the examination on Miss Adley. She woke up not long ago, but we gave her something to help sleep for the moment. She has a concussion, multiple rib fractures, broken nose, multiple contusions and bruising. Her liver and kidneys also seem to be bruised. We suspect she's been whipped with a belt judging by the welts and buckle shaped marks on her skin. Miss Adley has very clearly put up quite a fight. She was strangled, but her trachea isn't affected although there is a slight increase in respiratory effort from the inflammation, but nothing concerning." He paused and looked at Oliver with suspicion. "The police have taken photographs and managed to find potential DNA from underneath her fingernails."
Oliver glanced at Russell who was lost in thought. If what he thought was true, then Adley and the police seemed to go hand in hand.
Just as the doctor finished speaking an officer walked up behind him and ushered him to a separate, smaller waiting room. The officer and her partner asked many questions, where he was, what he was doing, who he was with, his relationship with Avery, their recent fight and more. Oliver was thankful there were cameras in his apartment building, giving him the alibi he needed. If they truly got DNA from underneath her fingernails it would help them get the real asshole responsible.
"I have to ask." The officer looked at him in the eye. "Have you ever hit or abused your fiancée?"
"Absolutely not."
"There are clear signs of prior abuse." The officer's lips pursed while his stomach churned. "There are a lot of old bruises in different stages of healing. Mostly on her abdomen, back and thighs. Which is pretty common in these domestic violence cases as they're easy to cover. There are clear signs of attempted rape," she clenched her jaw, "but from the report they were unsuccessful. She's a fighter. Whoever it was didn't get away unharmed." The officers stood to leave. "We will be in touch."
Oliver whipped out his phone the moment they were gone and rang Sam.
"You finally want to hear what I have to say, huh?" Sam asked with an indignant huff.
"Avery's in the hospital, Sam."
He sighed. "I'll be over in a minute. I have some things to show you anyway."
"Sam will be here soon. He can help."
"Sam?" Russell frowned. "Not Samson Davis?" He groaned.
"The very same."
"That guy is a pain in the ass," he said before returning to his grave expression. "What are we going to do?"
"Keep her safe." Oliver stood up.
"Alissa knows something," Russell stated.
Oliver thought back to her state, she looked like she was going to end up on a hospital bed herself. Her face was as white as sheet, she couldn't stop crying and was shaking like a leaf.
"Leave her be for now. She's pretty shaken up at the moment. We'll speak to Sam first and follow up once she's calmed down."
Russell nodded. Oliver walked and found a nurse to take him to Avery's room. He ordered for the utmost security, confidentiality and care. Thankfully, they had private rooms in the hospital.
The moment he stepped through the door he sucked in a breath and looked at Alissa who was holding her hand and humming. He wanted to cry seeing Avery hooked up to the machines and an IV drip. She looked so delicate lying on the hospital bed with bandages all around her body.
"Her mother used to sing this song to her." Alissa glanced at him. "I can't remember the lyrics."
"You were friends?"
"She helped us find our jobs." Alissa looked back to Avery "I thought she would be safe now that she was living with you, away from him."
"Adley."
Alissa nodded. "I thought once she was out of that house things would be better." She sniffled. "But this..." she gestured to Avery, "this is the worst I've ever seen her."
"I'm sorry I didn't protect her."
"We all failed her." She sighed sadly. "I was naïve to think it would solve everything. Something bad must have happened for him to react this way. I should have just told you, but..." she shook her head.
Oliver nodded and sat down. "I had a feeling he was hurting her. I just didn't know how to go about it. I knew she wouldn't tell me, or she would come up with something else. I couldn't force her to do anything or say anything."
"She was afraid," Alissa whispered and quietly sobbed.
He breathed out and held Avery's hand. His grip was so light, it would barley be felt.
━━❖❖❖━━
Oliver, Sam and Russell sat in a secluded lounge just down the hall from Avery's room.
Sam slapped a few files on the coffee table and slid off his jacket. Russell pulled one over to himself and flicked through it.
"If you wanted to know this stuff, I could have told you." Russell sighed. "This is a waste of time."
"That's not all I found." Sam flopped on the sofa. "Tell me, why did she try to kill herself?"
"She was depressed." Russell pushed wisps of hair away from his face, he was feeling stressed and defensive. "She was having problems with bullies at school and at home. My family isn't the easiest to get along with, especially for Avery. She refused to get help so, Alissa and I made her promise us she wouldn't hurt herself again."
"Well, that's the worst thing she could have promised," Sam muttered and pressed his lips together.
"Are you saying she was better off dead?!" Russell abruptly stood.
Sam shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. He was looking at both Oliver and Russell with dark eyes and lowered brows.
"What did you find out, Sam?" Oliver was getting impatient and just wanted to return to Avery.
"Right, well... before that happened Adley took her to a hotel for a meeting." He shot Russell a look. "She wanted to learn business, so what better reason did he have to take her with him?" He asked rhetorically. "Do you know who it was?" He looked at the silent duo. "Denner." He shook his head, jaw clenched. "And guess what he wanted in exchange for a deal."
"Avery," Oliver murmured.
"I won't believe my father prostituted her out! He's not a good person but, I just can't-" he cut himself off.
"Better believe it," Sam pulled out a piece of paper. "I have an account of that day from a member of staff there. They were all threatened not to interfere by Adley. The manager was paid off, of course. The man I spoke to quit the next day. He said it was horrible, he heard her screaming, but they were all too afraid of Adley." His lips pulled into a sneer. "Adley would have destroyed his life if he even stepped foot in the room." Sam continued, "he said he watched Mr Denner stumble out. His nose was bloody, and he was holding his groin. But even after that the screams continued. Adley dragged Avery out of the room and was-"
"Beaten bloody." Alissa walked through the doors with red, puffy eyes. "She was locked in her room for a month until all her injuries healed. After all, no one ought to know. A week after that she went back to school, came home and tried to overdose on Mrs Adley's medicine. We didn't know the full extent. I didn't know she was sexually assaulted." She looked at Russell, feeling guilty for not telling him. "I'm sorry, Russell, she knew what would happen to us and we knew what would happen to her if anyone found out."
Sam nodded. "That wasn't the first time either. There were meetings where she was groped and had someone try to force themselves on her. Gotta give it to her though, every time she fought. After she became useful, he stopped trying to sell her to people in exchange for business. For a while at least."
"Fuck!" Russell exclaimed. "How could I not have seen it then?"
"People don't see the things they don't want to see." Sam shrugged. "Did you guys never wonder why she was so reserved? Didn't like being touched?" He glanced at Russell.
"How did you get all this information?" Russell swallowed down his guilt and inadequacy. Sure, Avery was good at hiding things, she knew what was at stake, but there were many clues. Clearly the incident with his mother wasn't the worst.
"All it took was some observation." He smirked. "Also, I spoke to people about her. I wasn't surprised to find that no one really knew her. I got this information from going back years. It took a lot of hacking, stalking, CCTV footage and tracking people down. Also, money." He peeked at Oliver. "Expect a bill."
"She's never going near that man again." Oliver closed his eyes in anguish.
"There's something I couldn't seem to find out." Sam ran a frustrated hand through his hair. He hated it if he couldn't find his answers. "Why do they all hate her so much? I know Adley's greedy, but what about his wife and daughter?"
They turned their attention to Russell. He sighed heavily. "Well, my mother hated Aunt Camille." A dry chuckle fell from his lips. "Because my father was in love with her. That deepened the grudge between the two brothers and my mother couldn't stand being second best. And Avery... looks so much like her and always takes attention away. Unintentionally, of course."
"What about Leah?" Sam asked.
"Ah, she was always jealous of Avery. Actually, so was I." A wistful look crossed his face, he seemed to be off in a faraway place. "She had loving parents. When our mother was shopping and socializing, Avery's mother was reading, baking and even getting down in the dirt with us kids." He chuckled, eyes glistened. "When Dad was trying to get ahead of everyone else and get more money, hers was working hard, but also taking time out to have dinner at home and cuddle and play with her. She was their first priority. We were our parents third and fourth." He bit his lip before continuing. "Leah didn't really know how to handle it. She always got rejected by them, but learned that whatever items she asked for, she got. She became a spoiled princess. Even after Avery lost everything, Leah found more things for her to resent. Avery's beautiful, attracts attention, she was always smart, likeable and gentle. Of course, Leah's beautiful too, but she was twisted by my mother and her expectations. Now, she just wants the attention and the money because that's what she was taught to want."
"This is pathetic." Oliver gritted out. "What about her inheritance?"
"What?" Russell frowned. "She's got money put away and has shares in the company."
"Oh, you poor ignorant bastard." Sam shook his head and sighed. "She got nothing. She was lucky Adley even paid her college fees."
"What?" Russell paled.
"Adley took everything from her. I'm not sure how he did that yet, but I guess he altered the will somehow. For him, it wouldn't be hard." Sam shrugged. "You probably would have found out eventually, but what's in her bank account is all her hard-earned money, which, by the way, she's severely underpaid."