Chapter 1

The once carefree, vivacious diva cowered in the corner as he continued to beat her. This was becoming a weekly ritual that he seemed to enjoy immensely. She had screwed up once again he had told her as his foot connected with her head, knocking her to the ground. She held her tears back not allowing him to see her pain. She had to remain strong. A few more slaps and he was off, leaving her to think about what she had done.

Just last month he had crushed her hand by stomping on it. She had never felt so much pain in her entire life. She had to cover it up, just like she had done so since the first beating had taken place. He even had hired a bodyguard to keep an eye on her while he was away. Tyson at times seemed as if he had cared for her, yet when Christian hit her, he would look away as if nothing was happening, or he would simply leave the room. She was completely helpless. Nobody was around to rescue her because she was forced to burn bridges and by turning on Jericho, lost all of her friends in the process. Her hopes and dreams were shattered completely within a few short months. She was forced to put on a smile each week while deep down inside she was dying. She was just going through the motions at this point. She was merely a robot that was programmed to do whatever Christian wanted her to do.

Several months prior to Trish hooking up with Christian, she was beginning to form a romantic relationship with Christian's partner at the time, Chris Jericho. She was actually starting to fall in love with him. He made her feel things that she never felt before. That was when Christian had approached her. He tried to get her to help him destroy Chris. He felt that Chris was becoming too soft hearted, vulnerable, letting a woman affect him in ways that Christian never would. She refused at first but Christian had done some digging on her past and found out Trish's deep dark secret.

He used this bit of information as leverage to get what he wanted. He promised her that he would tell everyone, especially Chris, if she didn't do exactly what he told her to do. She had no choice but to give in to his demands. Christian came up with a plan to take down Chris at Wrestlemania. As much as it killed her to do it, Trish had no choice. Nobody could ever know her secret. Her career would be ruined. She turned on Jericho, helping Christian win the match at Wrestlemania. She would never in a million years forget the look of betrayal on Chris's face. That look destroyed her. From that point on she knew that no man would touch her heart the way that Chris had. Her heart would be forever jaded.

Trish gave a quick glance around the room, making sure that Christian and Tomko were nowhere in sight. She got up from her place in the corner and headed into the bathroom to freshen up a bit. She did her best to conceal all of the markings on her body. Nobody had a clue just how black and blue her body truly was. Christian had bought her a special makeup that covered up just about anything. That was one of the only things that he had ever given her. It was just too bad that the gift was to cover up his mistakes.

Once Trish was satisfied that everything was covered up, she decided to take a walk down to catering. She was absolutely famished. She hadn't eaten one thing all day. As a matter of fact, she wasn't eating very well lately. She was withering away into nothing. She had lost a good 20 lbs at least. Fit Finley had even commented about it once or twice during training. She simply shrugged it off as if nothing was wrong, but Fit knew better. He knew that something had been bothering Trish for quite some time but he knew better than to stick his nose into her business. He knew that she would tell someone what was bothering her when she was good and ready. For now, he just silently prayed that someone would be able to help her out.

When she arrived at catering, she immediately headed over to the salads. If she was going to eat, she wanted to make sure that it wasn't anything too heavy. After all, she hadn't been able to keep much down anyway. As she filled her plate, she tried not to make eye contact with anyone, especially any of her former friends. She could hear Matt and Lita whispering to each other over in the corner. She wasn't exactly sure if they were talking about her but of course she assumed that they were. I mean why wouldn't they be? She was a horrible person right? She ruined so many people's lives that she deserved to suffer right? So many questions ran through her mind over and over again as she tried to contemplate what they were saying. She gazed around the room and noticed that it was filled with more people than she had hoped for. She began to sweat profusely feeling like all eyes were locked on her. She continued on at a quicker pace than she was before, wanting to get out of there as quick as possible.

Once she was satisfied with her selections, she poured a ladle full of Russian dressing over the top of her salad. She covered the container and headed out of the room at a hurried pace. When she rounded the corner, she rammed directly into Hunter. Her salad flew up in the air and landed upside down on top of his head. The rest of Evolution broke out into a fit of laughter at the site of him. Not only was he enraged because everyone was laughing at him but now he had to go and shower again because he had dressing running down the front of his face.

"You stupid Bitch," he screamed. "Don't you know how to watch where you are going?"

Trish shuddered at the sound of his voice. His anger at the moment reminded her of Christian. He would scream at her the same way before he began hitting her. She wanted to breakdown right there but she had to remain strong.

Trish immediately apologized, hoping that he wouldn't cause too much of a scene.

"God, I am sorry Hunter, I didn't…"

Hunter cut her off before she could continue.

"Yeah, you obviously weren't thinking were you Trish? God, how can you be so stupid? You really give great meaning to the saying Dumb Blonde."

Trish's eyes filled will tears as Hunter continued to unload on her. She began to block it out, just like she did when Christian yelled at her. Before long all she could see was his lips moving but she couldn't hear a thing. She tried to block it all out. That is how she dealt with things.

Now Ric wasn't one for caring about too many people but from the look on Trish's face, he couldn't help but feel pity upon her. He knew lately that she hadn't been herself. He often wondered to himself what could possibly bring such a beautiful woman down. In a lot of ways, she reminded him of his daughter. Even though they weren't close, he felt deep down inside that he had to do something for her. The look of sorrow in her eyes would make any man, no matter how macho, want to break down and cry.

"Hunter," he began. "I think that she was trying to apologize, the least you could do is accept it. It is not as if she did it on purpose. Why don't you cut her some slack?"

Hunter looked over at Ric, then back to Trish. He always considered Ric to be his mentor, a second father to him even. He didn't want him to think that he was completely heartless. He bowed his head in defeat, knowing full well that Ric was right. He was having a bad day and it was wrong of him to take it out on Trish. She was after all on the same side right?

"I am sorry Trish, I didn't mean to yell at you. Ric is right. It was an accident. No harm, no foul."

Trish was very surprised at the sincerity in his voice. He actually appeared to be remorseful for yelling at her.

"It's okay Hunter," she reassured him. "I understand all about having bad days," she explained. " "I know that you didn't mean to attack me personally."

The remaining two members of Evolution just watched on silently. They had never seen Hunter apologize to anyone, let alone a woman. They realized for the first time, the true power that Ric had over him. Hunter reached his hand out to Trish as sort of a silent agreement that there were no hard feelings. Trish accepted his outstretched hand, smiling weakly.

Trish glanced over at Ric, silently thanking him with her eyes. He smiled at her genuinely, hoping that someday soon, she would come to him with her problems. He wanted to help her. Hell he had to help her. He knew that if she could confide in someone that she would feel a lot better. He wanted to be that person. He felt such a connection with her. He didn't do many things right in his life but somehow he figured that if he helped Trish that he would be making up for lost time with his real daughter. Truth was, she disowned him years ago and he secretly yearned for that kind of relationship again. Trish just seemed like the perfect person to make that happen with. No she wouldn't be flesh and blood but something was calling out to him, urging him on. He knew that if he could help her, then maybe his real daughter would be able to forgive him for all the horrible things that he had done.

However, just by looking at her, Ric knew that whatever it was that was bothering Trish that she was not going to give up the information easily. Ric vowed to himself that he would do everything within his power to help the young Canadian. She was as lost as anyone could be and he wanted to be the one to point her in the right direction.

Once Trish was satisfied that the situation was under control, she attempted to make her way past the remaining members of Evolution. She made eye contact for a brief moment with the "Enforcer" of Evolution but it was a moment too long. She didn't have her wall of armor up and she knew for a fact that he saw something in her eyes. She knew this because he looked at her in a questioning manner. He looked as if he was going to say something but thought better of it. What the hell was she thinking letting her guard down? She had been so touched by what Ric had done for her that she wasn't prepared. He would know now that she wasn't what she claimed to be. She pretended to be the toughest girl around with no care in the world. Now what was she supposed to do? He would ask too many questions. Trish knew that she had to get away before it was too late. She took off down the hall, hoping that neither Ric nor Dave followed her. Once she reached her dressing room, she ran inside, locking the door behind her.

Ric excused himself from the group and took off down the hall without an explanation. Dave had an idea of where The Nature Boy was headed. He was off to rescue the damsel in distress. Now normally Dave wouldn't think twice about a woman, his main focus was always Evolution. The women that he was used to were a luxury of Evolution and just one night stands, someone just to take away the loneliness of being on the road. However, something about the look in Trish's eyes tore at his heart strings. Although the Big Man wouldn't admit it, she got to him in a big way. He knew that Ric would get to the bottom of whatever was bothering her. All he knew was, Trish had some serious problems and it was going to be quite the challenge trying to get past her icy exterior and finding the real Trish Stratus.