Chapter 20

 

The Escape

Hours later

 

Melissa

 

 

Exhaustion wouldn’t even begin to cover how tired I was. First, Detective March interrogated and humiliated me, calling me a whore more times than I could count. I had been slapped by my mother’s best friend. Peyton dismissed me again and showed his true colors when I ran into him. Then I was shoved into a car, threatened, and now dropped off in the middle of nowhere.

The interview with March stripped away almost all of my dignity. And the little bit I had left was taken by Alton Fitzgerald. I may have been stripped of my self-respect but that is when I realized that I gained something else: the knowledge that they didn’t break me.

My phone and purse were still at the police station, or maybe my parents had gone back to the hotel by now. Either way, I had no money or way to contact anyone to pick me up, so I was stranded. I also wasn’t sure I was ready to face my mother and father, and I knew I didn’t want to face Regina.

Trying to contemplate the mess of my life, I walked along the sidewalk to a little park. I recognized where I was. It wasn’t far from Peyton’s apartment. I followed the sidewalk, walking to a bench under a tree at the back of the park. I sat and watched an occasional jogger as he or she ran through the trails.

“Miss Summers, may I sit with you?” a soft feminine voice said from behind me.

“Why?”

I didn’t bother to look up as a woman came around the bench. I didn’t care. I just wanted away from the damn cruel world. Hell, the sun had started to descend toward the horizon. I should have been scared that I was just approached by a stranger, but I wasn’t. I didn’t care anymore. No one could hurt me any more than I’d already been hurt.

I might still feel physical pain inflicted upon my body, but nothing else could faze me anymore. I was dead on the inside even though my blood still pumped through my heart. A big part of me was lost; I just hadn’t realized how much until this moment.

“I’d like to help you,” the woman said.

“Oh. I've had enough help for a while,” I answered dismissively. “I think I’ll pass.”

“May I call you Melissa?”

I lifted my gaze toward the nicely dressed woman still standing before me. “Honestly, I don’t care what you call me as long as you leave.”

“I believe you.”

“What do you believe?” I was on the verge of tears. “That I don’t care… because I don’t. Or that I want you to leave? Because I do.”

“May I sit with you for a few minutes?” she asked.

“Fine.” I nodded to her and scooted over to the other side of the bench.

The woman sat and leaned toward me. “I know Bryce Spencer brutally beat and raped you.”

My head snapped back toward the woman. “What?” I wrapped my arms around my body and leaned forward and rocked. Soft cries filled the air as her words sank into my thoughts. She was the only other person besides my mother to validate my rape, the only other person who believed me. I didn’t even know this woman. But her words were something I’d needed to hear since that terrible night. I don’t think I had realized how much I needed to hear the words out loud until they were spoken. It was like a weight lifted off of my shoulders.

“My name is Deloris Witt, and I’d like to help you if you’re willing to help me.”

As I jumped up, the validation I’d felt seconds ago vanished. “I fucking should have known. You want something from me too. I’m out of things to give. I’m empty. Why can’t everyone just leave me alone?” I turned to walk away.

She stood and placed her hand on my shoulder. “Please sit. It's not what you think.”

Exhaling a deep breath, I sat down and waited for the other shoe to drop. It always did.

“Melissa, I want Bryce Spencer punished, but I need your help.”

“I can’t come forward. Everyone already thinks I’m a gold-digging whore.” I looked every which way but at her, not wanting to see the pity in her eyes before that emotion turned to disgust. I’d seen it too many times.

Mrs. Witt placed her hand on my chin and turned my face back to hers. “Listen to me. You’re not a whore.” Deloris spoke slowly and quietly. “Bryce is a rapist. You didn’t ask to be raped.”

“No, but I sold myself. So I’m no different than a whore.”

I tried to turn my head away, but she kept it in place.

“Listen to me. You made a choice. It might not have been the best choice, but at the time it seemed like your only choice. We have all done things we later regret.” She placed her hand over mine and clasped it. “You aren’t the first person to ever work for Infidelity. You won’t be the last. Earning money as a companion isn’t an invitation for a man like Bryce to take what you didn’t want to give. Your correlation is inaccurate. You made a decision to follow a dream, not to lose it.”

I didn’t know how this woman knew so much about me. “Who did you say you are?”

“I’m Deloris, and I want to help you.”

“But you want me to do something. What do you need me to do?” I asked suspiciously.

“I would like you to disappear for a while,” she said with a smile.

“Disappear? How? Where? Why?”

“The how is what I want to do for you. The why is not important, but the where... well, that’s up to you. Think of my offer as a paid vacation to anywhere in the world. What do you say? Would you like to get away and leave all of this behind you?”