MAC

Three Days Ago

Mac watched as the car drove slowly out of the driveway. He saw her in the back, her face haunted, her hair hanging limply around her face. His hand curled into a fist at his side. They were taking her from him. Whipping his cell phone from his pocket, he dialed his brother's number.

"Do not let him leave with her".

"Consider it done" was the terse reply before the line went dead.

NISSA

Three Days Ago

The miles between the apartment and their destination didn't matter. She had seen him. And she knew what that meant. Mac had come for her after all. But what she didn't know is if he came to save her, or if he came to finish what he started.

She still couldn't remember what happened to her that night. She had tried, desperately, to recall anything, but it was like someone had taken those memories and wiped them clean. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, she woke in a cold sweat, she could almost see the outline of a man. A man who wasn't Mac. The therapist her brother was forcing her to see seemed to think she was deliberately blocking the memories of that night. She claimed that all evidence posted to Mac being the one to do those horrible things to her, but that she refused to admit it because of some misguided feeling of loyalty. Absently, she ran her fingers over the scar she carried on her neck. The first Mac had ever given her. No, their relationship had not been romance and roses. Mac had told her that from the first. But she had no doubt that he felt a type of love for her. And if he hurt her, it was only because that was how he showed his particular brand of love.

"Was I really left to die?" she half whispered from the back seat.

"It's really a miracle you survived" Jeremy said, flicking his gaze for the briefest of moments to meet hers in the rearview mirror.

"Then it wasn't Mac"

"Goddammit Carnissa!" Jeremy shouted, slamming his hand against the door as Matthew slowly brought the car to the side of the road. "What will it take for you to believe that he is not some white knight on a horse? Look at yourself for fucks sake. You cannot seriously expect me to believe that your so called boyfriend didn't do that to you. He's been accused of murder before!"

She shrank back from her brother's words. She knew it sounded crazy. But after a moment, she could take his silent judgement no longer.

"I could tell you everything Mac has ever done to me" she said, sitting up straighter. "I could tell you every time he stuck his dick in me. Do you want to know Jeremy?" she asked tilting her head a bit. "Do you want to know how he tied me to the bed? Or about the night he first whipped me with his belt? I see the accusation in your eyes brother. I know what you're thinking. That he's a monster. But if he's a monster Jeremy? Then I am too".

Jeremy twisted in his seat to look at her as Matthew drummed his fingertips against the steering wheel obviously uncomfortable with the direction this conversation was going. "You are NOT a monster Carnissa, how can you even say that? After what you've been through, after what he did to you?"

"What he did to me?" Nissa scoffed rolling her eyes, "You're still not listening to me!" she threw up her hands, "Mac didn't do a goddamn thing to me that I didn't want"

"I'm fairly certain you didn't want to die Carnissa, and yet, he nearly did that didn't he?"

"You asshole" Nissa tanked her shirt to the side exposing the scar on her neck. "Mac did that the night I turned eighteen. He gave me a matching one… lower… that same night" she twisted, pulling her shirt up, "this one on my side he gave me on Saint Patrick's Day a year later, and this one?" she showed him a matching one on the other side, "Valentine's Day a year after that. The older scars?" she laughed, "Those I can't account for. He whipped me. He cut me. But God Jere he fucked me so good I didn't fucking care."

"Turn the car around Matthew" Jeremy ground out, "I'm taking her back" Jeremy spit through clenched teeth. He hated her words. He hated the proof of what she showed him. But most of all he hated Mac. "You will tell the police this, we will see Mac arrested and we will move on".

"No I won't" Nissa said, crossing her arms, "Because Mac didn't do what you think he did and I can prove it".

"Are you sure we should take her back?" Matthew asked, secretly thinking it was about time Carnissa stood up to her brother.

"Yes. Matthew" Nissa said, "By all means take me back so I can prove to my brother just how much better off I was without him".

JEREMY

Two Days ago

His sister was going to be the death of him. Apparently, it hadn't been bad enough that she had refused to tell him anything else after he conceded to her wishes and brought her back yesterday, but now she was making him wait with her to speak to her personal doctor. And what was this person going to tell him that he didn't already know? Mac had abused his sister in some of the most horrible ways imaginable.

When her name was called, he accompanied her, a moment's shock rendering him speechless at seeing the kindly old man standing before him with a clipboard and a grandfatherly smile.

"Its ok Doc" his sister said with a smile "you can tell him".

"Doctor Sampson, " the old man had said offering his hand for a shake that Jeremy reluctantly obliged. "I have been your sister's doctor since she came here" he said by way of explanation, before raising an eyebrow, "And I've been told that I have information that could help you?"

"Just tell him about my last appointment with you please" his sister had interjected before Jeremy could form a proper question.

"Ahh, yes. I remember that appointment as I was particularly surprised to see Mac with you my dear"

"And why" Jeremy asked through clenched teeth, "Was that asshole allowed back here?"

"Why to hear his child's heartbeat of course" the doctor said, with a sad smile for Nissa. "Such a shame the attack on you caused you to miscarry".