"Ouch." I can't help it; I flinch.

Sarah shakes her head and continues wrapping an ace bandage around my black and blue ribs. "I can't believe he went this far." She looks up, her eyes gleaming with unshed tears.

"Oh, Sarah. Please don't cry. You'll have me bawling like a baby if you do." I give a strained smile and try to mask the pain my broken ribs are causing.

She sniffles and continues with the wrap. "There." She steps back and gives my bandage a look of approval. "Krista, you have to leave this bastard. He's going to kill you one day if you don't."

I lower my head, no small amount of shame coloring my hopeless expression. It's nothing I haven't heard from her before, but years of planning are beginning to pay off, and I'm much closer now than I was two years ago.

As Jay was just promoted, no one would believe me if I reported it. He's untouchable, and I'm just the useless wife holding him back from greater things.

I look up to see Sarah staring at me. Her eyes pierce mine with an edge of anger straining her usually easygoing expression. She gently grabs my shoulders and takes a deep breath before releasing it on a heavy sigh. "I know someone who can help you get the fake ID you need."

I'm shaking my head before the word tries to escape past my lips. "N ...”

"Don't cut me off before you've heard me out." Her penciled-in brow raises in admonition. "My cousin likes to make his living doing things on the not so legal side. I've never mentioned it before ... well, because of Jay and his position. But fuck him! You need to get away from that rank bastard, and I know a few people who can help you get away ... for good."

My forehead crinkles and a deep V forms between my brows. "What do you mean, for good?" I've been meticulously planning for the past two years, but I hadn't found the final piece to the puzzle. Things just hadn't clicked yet, and until they did, I would continue hiding money and plotting my escape. I couldn’t afford to make the same mistakes again. To be honest, I don’t if I could survive the beating his wrath would incur.

She starts putting away the first-aid kit, shutting the mirrored cabinet and then turning back to me. "Listen, your dad turned his back on you years ago, and the only thing he's invested in is his next can of beer. He's wasting away in a trailer park, and you have nothing else holding you back." She steps toward me, and I find myself lowering my gaze to my broken nail. I nervously begin picking at it ... half listening ... half trying to forget everything that happened last night. "You need to leave, Krista. He's never going to stop. I don't care how many times he apologizes; he's never going to stop." She doesn't know that I've been planning to leave. I've told her bits and pieces, but I'm afraid to reveal too much because Jay will come to her when I'm gone, and I don't want him to use his "powers of persuasion" to get the info he needs to find me.

He would beat her senseless if she didn't tell him what he wanted to know, so it's best she doesn't know all the details. Even though it would probably piss her off to know I've been hiding so much from her, it’s my only means of protecting her after I'm gone.

A single tear rolls down my cheek, and I try to avert my gaze from her intense stare, but it's no use. She sees my pain and fear as clearly as if a billboard had my scattered emotions scrolling in bold print for all to bear witness to.

"Oh, Krista ...” She rushes forward and pulls me into her warm embrace. Her arms enfold me in a blanket of love that I'm not accustomed to. At first, I struggle with what to do with my own arms, but eventually, I just give in and hug her back.

My sobs echo through the small bathroom situated at the back of the diner.

She gently pushes me back at arm’s length and eyes me. "I'll tell Tony that you're sick and couldn't make it in. I'll cover your shift tonight. You go and see my cousin and get things rolling." She steps away and rummages through her purse then turns back to face me with a wad of cash in her extended grip.

"No! I can't accept that, Sarah." I shake my head. I scramble to grab my purse and exit the bathroom, but her tight grip on my arm stops me.

"Go straight to my cousin’s house. I'll write down the address for you and let him know you're on your way. Go straight there.” She rips off the corner of the Band-Aid box and jots down the address and then shoves it in my purse. “Jay thinks you're at work, and tonight's poker night with the boys, so he won't think to drive by and check on you." She gently places the money in my hands and clutches her hands over mine. "You have to get out of here. Let me help you."

I look down to her firm hands gripping my weak ones. Sarah is a mountain of strength and perseverance where I'm a weak mound of self-pity and despair. But what if she's right? What if this is my one and only chance to get the hell away from Jay once and for all? I’ve been searching for someone to create a new identity for me, but my resources are very limited, so this is the opportunity I’ve been patiently waiting for. Had I known she had these connections, I would have asked years ago. But I had to be careful, and trusting people isn’t an easy concept for me.

Our eyes clash, and I swallow the fear threatening to overcome me. I've planned for this moment for the past twenty-four months, seven days, and six hours. This is the final piece of the puzzle, and if I pass it up, it may be another year before I'm given the chance to escape again. With that in mind, I decide to trust her. "Okay. I'll do it."

Her smile reaches her eyes. "You won't regret this. I promise."

For the next thirty minutes, she lays out a plan for me to get a fake ID and a means to start a new life. It's as if she had been planning this for months on end, and knowing Sarah, she probably has been.

She tells me a story about a friend of hers who was having trouble supporting her family and decided to become a surrogate to pay off some bills. The couple covered all her medical expenses and paid her a hefty sum for carrying their child. The process was lengthy, but the money she made would be enough to set me up for a couple of years. Even though I’m a little unsure about carrying someone else’s child, the idea holds merit and starts to take root in my mind.

I don't tell her, but her plan is far better than the one I had been working on. I was just trying to hoard enough money away to run away one night after Jay had fallen asleep. The money would get me to California by bus, where I could make ends meet by waitressing and painting on the side to earn extra cash. In a city as big as Los Angeles, I could disappear amongst the crowd. Become invisible to all and especially Jay. He'd never find me there, but Sarah's idea is a little more sound.

It's a lot riskier, but the monetary gain would enable me to go back to school and pay for my divorce while in hiding. I would be able to afford a decent lawyer and legally change my name. It wouldn't just be a start, but a means to a future without him in it.

I would finally be free!

I think about it all the way to her cousin’s house, and the idea solidifies itself with each passing minute. Even though it would feel like I was selling my body, it's better than losing my soul, which is what would happen if I stayed here.