***Chapter 10 already? Wow and I still have so much to go! Hope you guys hang in there with me! Thank you as always for the reviews. And to my secret guest reviewers who seem pretty loyal to the story - thank you so much! I have no way of emailing you back and I love reading your comments. It is definitely fun to write something like this and I hope I can keep it interesting for you guys!***

Going back to Collette's was perfectly uneventful. Collette kept herself locked up in her office so Sage didn't have to worry about running into her and the possibility of being arrested for attempted murder. That pretty much summed up how much she hated the wench at this point. Jax had gone with her just as he had promised and he stayed the entire time that she was gathering up her things, even going so far as to walk her back out to her car. He had asked her if she would be coming back. Her heart had flipped at the way he smiled at her, almost like he wanted to see her again. She felt conflicted, like maybe she was betraying him somehow. She told him she hadn't made her mind up about work yet and he said that he would help her find something else if she wanted. She didn't know what she had ever done to deserve a friend like that and she felt guilty lying to him at all.

But still, even with the guilt she felt and even with all the terribleness that she had gone through the night before, Kate had a smile on her face as she drove the short drive home from work. What Jax had done for her was something she could never repay and something he certainly didn't have to do, pretty much saving her life by being there at the right time. And the gesture of taking her away and making sure everything was ok, the concern he had when he had so many other, more important things to worry about. There was something about him that made her happy, that gave her more hope in life. The irony of that didn't escape her when she thought about all that he had lost.

She caught herself humming as she made a left to go down her street. Leaving was starting to feel bittersweet the more she thought about it, it was something she knew that she had to do but part of her wondered what it would be like if she stayed.

At almost 4:00 am, Kate's street was still completely dark. She switched her high beams on to be able see the road better. She smiled when she started to feel hungry, remembering Jax eating her pie that she had grossly dissected. As she approached her driveway, she turned her high beams off, noticing that all the lights were on inside her house. Her humming stopped as she wondered what could possibly be going on. Had Carlos gone out to take care of some business, just getting home now? Hopefully he hadn't gone to Collette's looking for her. She sat in her car for a minute, trying to decipher if going in was the right move. She ultimately figured she would play it cool and see what was going on, maybe it was only nothing. She just had to get through tonight and she was home free, literally.

She cautiously walked through the front door and could hear the sound of the TV blaring from the other room.

"Carlos?" She called out. He didn't answer her and she made her way through the foyer and into the living room. Carlos was sitting on the couch, stone faced and glaring hard into hers. But he didn't say anything. Something inside her immediately started to panic.

"Carlos, is everything alright?" She asked, not sure what it could be but trying to sound innocent anyway.

"No," He answered as he stood up, wiping his hands on his shirt.

"Why, what's the matter?" She had the feeling that something very bad was about to happen and she wasn't sure how to get out of it.

"Well, I was looking for my other work shoe in the closet and I found this." He pulled a wad of cash out of his pocket. Kate's heart dropped out of her chest. He was going to fucking kill her and she was never escaping now. He walked up close to her face and shook the money under her nose, "Why would there be money hidden in our closet Kate?"

"Oh my God you found it," She tried to think of a quick lie, "I had forgotten to give you the money one day so I put it in the closet so the kids wouldn't get a hold of it and…"

"Don't fucking lie to me," He grabbed her by her hair and dragged her towards their bedroom, not even giving her the opportunity to respond to him.

"Carlos, please, I'm telling you the truth, I wanted to surprise you with the extra money I made," She pleaded with him, hoping it would work, only needing to make it through one more night.

She pleaded as much as she could until his fist landed on her one last time, finally silencing her.

Kate groaned, a searing pain radiating throughout her body, coming from her ribs. She tried to open her eyes, but only the right one opened, which frightened her. She gently brushed her fingers over her face, feeling how swollen it was, especially on the left side. Moving her lips, she could sense they were split open, the taste of dried up blood all over them. She turned her head and was suddenly aware that she was laying on the floor of her closet. It was dark and quiet and she strained her ears to see if she could hear anything from outside the tiny room.

She cried out involuntarily as she struggled to sit up, more pain running over her like electricity. How long had she been here? She could tell she was beat up bad, but she was still alive.

She sat for a long while, leaning her back against the wall. She figured by the silence that it was day time by now and Carlos had left for work. If she could just get herself to the handle on the door, maybe she could still get away. After pacing herself for a few minutes of trying, she was able to get onto her knees and brace herself against the wall, pulling herself to stand up. Once she was able to stand up straight, the pain didn't seem as bad as she had initially thought. She felt like she might be ok to walk. Hopefully she could make it to the car and would be able to drive. She turned the light switch on inside the closet, noticing first that her vision was limited, and second he had ransacked the entire closet obviously looking for more money. Remembering she had hidden the rest of the money in the toes of a pair of boots, she felt inside and found it was all still there. She pulled it out and stuffed it into the waistband of her panties. She reached for the knob and it opened without any resistance.

Kate shakily walked into the bedroom, only to find it empty. She was eager to get to the bathroom and see herself in the mirror. She was horrified at the reflection that was staring back at her. Her face so swollen, her eye was just a tiny slit. She retrieved a cloth and using warm water, gently dabbed it on her face to wipe away the blood. After she was done she looked a little bit better.

She opened the door and made her way to the living room, panic rushed over her as she saw Carlos sitting on the couch.

"Well look who decided to finally get up," Carlos said smiling at her. She stood there frozen, scared for her life and regretting shoving the remaining money in her pants. "Well don't just stand there, fix me some dinner."

How was she going to fix him dinner feeling like she was? And how could he sit there smiling? She hated him more than she ever hated anyone.

Kate went into the kitchen and searched for some medicine for her pain. She took the pills with some water and prayed they would bring her immediate relief. She thought about taking a knife and hiding it on her somewhere, but after opening a drawer she realized he had taken them all out. Discouraged, she opened the refrigerator to see what was the easiest thing that she could make him. She saw a box of butter sticks and tipped one out, pulling the money from her pants and shoving it inside before putting the butter back on top of it. There was no way he would ever find it there. He never made himself anything.

She made him his awful dinner. Thinking the whole time of a new way out. He hadn't gone to work and she wasn't sure if he would be going back any time soon. Maybe when he slept she could leave. But if he caught her…..

After he ate he let her eat something. When she was cleaning up the kitchen he came in to tell her what his plan was, startling her causing her to jump with his presence.

"You can't go to work looking like that," He said, coming close to her face.

She didn't respond, but this was one time she wanted to go to work.

"You should be pretty decent after a couple of days and you can go back. It will hurt us, but I know you will work longer hours until you can make it up, right?"

"Yes Carlos."

"When you're done cleaning up I want you in the bedroom," He ordered, going back to his wretched couch.

She cringed knowing what she would have to do, painfully aware that her ribs were bruised, if not broken. Why did she even get off the closet floor?

Carlos did his usual thing to her. Pushing down with all his body weight and hurting her more than she thought she would even be able to bear. She was forced to keep herself from reacting to the pain in order to spare herself any further rage from him. When he was finally done, he threw a pillow and blanket into the closet and made her sleep in there on the floor. He shut the light off and slammed the door, not even giving her time to use the bathroom or clean up. All of the hope that she had experienced for a few hours with Jax the day before had vanished. There was no easy way out of this mess. Why was she even still alive? Just to be abused more? She crumbled onto the carpet and her tears began to silently spill as she started to accept the reality she had been given.

****Let me know what you think! The next chapter will be up very soon!****