A/N: contains possible triggering scene of sexual assault.

September 19th 2011

She couldn't will her body to stop shaking if she tried.

The hard and unforgiving wood of the floor beneath her dug mercilessly into her hip and ribcage.

She kept her body drawn up into as tight a ball as she could muster; her left hand was gripping the hemline of the back of her skirt, tugging it down to cover her modesty.

Her right hand lay almost limply under her chest; her numbing fingers trembled involuntarily against her, and with what little strength she could muster, she clutched the material of her ripped blouse between her pinky and ring finger; desperately trying to keep the soft material covering her bra, now that the buttons lay scattered across the flat.

Pain.

Pain was all she could feel, all that she could experience, and it surrounded her like a vicious cocoon.

It hurt to breath…

It hurt to think..

It hurt to move.

How long had she been laying there? Hours? Minutes? Seconds? She couldn't be sure; all sense of time having long since slipped away from her throbbing skull; and for one fleeting moment, she wondered if this is how Paul and Tony felt before they left this world…

…before they left her…

Her hair clung to her face; wet from a combination of sweat and tears. Her lips were parted as she struggled to regulate her breathing, her lips quivering as she stared unblinking at a spot on the far wall.

She was totally and completely drenched in fear….

…and the reason for her fear remained standing far too close to her, his body slumped rather indifferently against the door, just beyond her direct line of vision.

His haggard breathing now the only evidence that remained of the fury and violence he had unleashed on her. Somewhere far beyond the realms of her conscious, she had heard him pull his zipper up; had heard the metal of his belt as he fastened it. But how long ago he had stood there staring down at her she couldn't say. Through her peripheral vision she kept an eye on his black shoes; watching for any sign of movement. She was vaguely aware that her own black pumps were strewn by her feet, having been pushed off as she tried to crawl away from him just before he hauled her back towards him across the floor.

And now fresh tears began to stream from her eyes when, for what seemed like the thousandth time, the whole vicious encounter played like a film reel before her very eyes:

"Be honest with me Carla, then I'll go…" Frank stated as he walked purposefully towards her. " I think you owe me that, eh?"

She hated that he was stood in her flat before her, pleading with her; his heart breaking. Earlier at the factory, he had confessed how much he was in love with her, horrifyingly in front of their entire staff. To say she was shocked and mortified would have been an understatement. She didn't respond in front of the gaping workers, instead sending them all home early. She tried to reason with him, explain that she didn't feel the same way about him, but he instead cupped her cheek gently, pressing his lips to hers and she, for a moment, felt herself respond, before breaking away from the kiss. She had hurt him when she turned him down, and she hated that he got the wires crossed about how she felt, and blamed herself for being responsible for it.

"Okay," She exhaled through her tears needing to be honest with him, "there is someone."

"You see, I knew it," Frank said, his eyes flashing pain and anger, "Who is it?"

"It really doesn't matter-" She couldn't bring herself to tell him.

"Let me guess?" he piped in aggressively, "tall? Recently returned from Ireland? Brother to your dead husband? It's him, isn't it?"

She didn't respond, she simply wrapped her arms tighter around her body as the tears fell down her face, "isn't it?!" he took a menacing step towards her.

She exhaled, despising herself for how much she was hurting the man in front of her, and slowly nodded her head, "yeah…"

"Where?" he demanded and she furrowed her brows in confusion, "here?" he slowly paced around, his eyes on the bedroom, "our office at the factory? How many times?"

Carla let out a sigh of disgust as it dawned on her what he was implying, "ughh stop it…"

"Every time you had a meeting with a 'so-called' client! Was he good?" he spun back to face her, already knowing the answer to his next question as he had watched them that day back in June, "did he make you cry out?"

"Stop it!" she raised her voice firmly, the tears unwilling to stop flowing down her cheeks, "it's not about that! I just-" Carla struggled, "-can't get him out of my head. That's all." Her voice was pleading with him to believe her. "Now," her voice began to shake and he exhaled deeply, his eyes unmoving from her, "please will you just go, 'cause you asked me to tell you the truth and I have done. Just go…"

"I trusted you," he breathed out, and she started to feel a panic rise in her as he continued to stand staring down at her, "I opened up to you like I never have with any other woman, and you-" he stepped closer, his head tilting as he whispered, "you were using me."

"No I wasn't-" she answered truthfully, her head shaking

"Using me to make your boyfriend jealous!" he angrily spat out, as he stepped away from her, "a smokescreen! For your sordid little affair!"

"It's not true-" she choked out

"And now you think you can just chuck me away, job done?" he ground out, his eyes menacing as he turned back to face her.

The panic she had felt earlier now becoming overwhelming unbearable.

"Okay!" She whispered out, pulling her mask back up and starting to walk past him, "I want you to go, now!" she said forcefully, holding back a sniffle

She went to open the door but Frank reached over her shoulder and furiously slammed the door shut, before forcefully turning her around to face him as her arms came up involuntarily to break free of his grip. He slammed her body back twice into the closed door, his grip on her arms just under her shoulders searing into her skin; his body pressing against hers angrily. For a moment she stared into his dark eyes and cowered under his gaze.

'This is it' she thought, 'this is how I'm going to die.'

But that wasn't what he had in mind. Without warning, Frank threw her viciously to the floor and she attempted to crawl away from him, but he grabbed her by the waist, and pulled her furiously back towards him, flipping her over onto her back and pinning her beneath him.

Her eyes widened in fear as his hand tugged at her skirt, "Frank, no! Please don't-" she begged him, realizing exactly what he intended to do. He was easily overpowering her small frame; ripping her shirt open with one hand and pinning her wrist down with the elbow of his other arm. She meekly pushed against him with her free hand, but he would simply swat it away as he laid bruising kisses down her neck and chest.

There was no adrenaline pumping through her veins any longer; no fight-or-flight response: she was simply frozen. He laid a bruising kiss on her lips as his free hand unzipped his pants and hiked her skirt up; with a sudden burst of energy, she snapped through her shock and attempted to wriggle rather unsuccessfully beneath him

"No, no please don't do this." She pleaded with him as tears continued to fall down her face. To her astonishment he ceased, but still pinned her wrist to the floor with his elbow as he stared down into her terrified face.

"Why did you do this to me Carla, why?" his voice sounded tortured and angry, his eyes full of hurt, "I love you, why don't you love me?"

"I do Frank. Please just stop-" she begged him

"But you love him more," his eyes turned angry again, "your brother-in-law!"

"No, I don't!" she pleaded desperately, trying again to reason with him, "Please Frank, you're terrifying me, please get off me-"

"Say it!" he demanded

"Wh-what?" she choked as a sob escaped her.

"Tell me you that you love me."

She took a shaky breath before saying as sincerely as she could muster, "I love you, Frank." She lied, hoping it would make him stop; hoping it would make him realize what he was doing. But his eyes darkened as he leaned in close to her face again,

"You're lying to me." He stated menacingly,

She shook her head furiously, "No, no I'm not, Frank please don't-"

"You've been lying to me from the beginning. Leading me on while you rebounded from Paul, from Tony, and all the while you were just pining to be with him! And you think you can just refuse to be with me now? After everything I've done to make you mine?" She felt his hand reach up under her skirt and hover over her underwear, "can't get him out of your head eh?" He leaned in closer to her and moved his head to the side of hers, whispering menacingly into her ear, "Well I will!" he viciously ripped her underwear off and she screamed in fear. He silenced her with another bruising kiss, and as she struggled to get free he pried her legs open with his knee. She began to cry against his lips, her body tensing, bracing for what was to come. He stared into her eyes for a moment, relishing in her beauty and fragility, before smirking evilly and thrusting inside her, his hand moving to cover her mouth as she screamed into his hand, her back arching as agony shot through her. He continued to kiss her neck and chest as he thrust into her trembling form over and over again…

"It's your fault," his cold, chilling voice brought her back to the present; to the hard, unforgiving floor, and to the pain that wracked her damaged and violated body, "you made me do it…" he almost whispered, as though trying to justify his actions to himself more than to her. The words cut through to her very soul 'my fault, my fault…' her mind chided her over and over again…

Suddenly he shifted, and her body instinctively tensed, curling itself up as he leaned towards her, "Carla?" he called to her, his voice low and thick with concern; her name hung painfully in the air between them, and with the little strength that remained in her aching muscles, she pushed back away from him, pathetically sliding barely a centimetre from her original position. Her body convulsed into more prominent tremors, her fingers tightening around the hemline of her pencil skirt as she tugged it down ever further, while the back of her right hand flattened from the weight of her body pressing itself further into the wooden floorboards.

For a moment, Frank considered running out of the flat as a mixture of guilt and panic overtook him. But as he stared at her frightened face, he realized that it was exactly what she was waiting for; waiting for him to leave so she could call Liam to come to her rescue. The rage he felt just moments before he pinned her to the door suddenly came back full force at the thought, and with a sneer he stepped ever closer to her trembling body.

"…no…" she croaked, again trying to move away and failing miserably. Through her tears, she watched in horror as he walked around her fetal position and disappeared from sight. She heard the bathroom door open, and seconds later the sound of the bathtub taps turning on and the gushing of water into the basin. Terror set in as all sorts of scenarios ran through her mind. Was this how he was going to finish her off? Drown her in the bathtub and framing it as an apparent suicide? No, no, no...

She willed herself to move, to rise up and run out her front door but she felt as heavy as lead. Her breath hitched painfully in her chest as his shoes clicked all too soon back onto the hardwood. Carla's body was shaking so profoundly that upon hearing his knees crack as he crouched behind her, she felt overcome with nausea; "…please…no…" she pleaded desperately, choking on the sobs that involuntarily consumed her.

"Come on sweetheart," his voice was sugary sweet and gentle once more, "let's get you up and into a nice warm bath."

Her eyes widened in alarm as she felt his hands edge across her body, and with great effort she tried to claw herself across the floor away from him. She let out a cry of anguish as his grip tightened on her. Quickly slipping his hands under her knees and shoulders, he easily lifted her slender frame off the floor.

She screamed in pain as Frank rose to his feet, her head falling helplessly back over his arm and her hand pressing against her pelvis in an attempt to halt the sudden and sharp stabs that pulsed from her groin up through to her abdomen.

"Shhh," he cooed, lifting his shoulder so her head raised closer to his head, "shhh sweetheart, it's alright," he pressed a kiss to her damp forehead and she instantly choked on the bile that rose to her throat.

"n-no," she cried shakily, beginning to struggle in his arms as they approached the tub, "please Frank, don-don't do this…"

He paused momentarily at the edge of the bath, his brow furrowing in confusion as he locked onto her wide, tear-filled and frightened eyes. He felt his heart snap in two as he realized what she assumed he was going to do, "Carla," he whispered, hugging her closer to him, "I'm not going to kill you, how could you think that?" he asked almost accusingly.

"P-please Frank, j-just let me go…please I-I won't s-say anything…" she stuttered, through the blinding pain that was overtaking her.

"Shhhh," he hushed her again, as he placed her fully clothed into the tub, now half-filled with sudsy water, "I'm never letting you go Carla, not after everything I did to obtain you in the first place."

She flinched as a stinging pain shot through her lower body upon contact with the hot liquid, but leaned back against the fiberglass in her severely weakened and dizzy state. He kneeled beside the bath, and she tried to move away as he reached over and gently ripped off her blouse. She blinked rapidly as everything before her became blurred, "wh-what are you talking about?" she breathed out as her head rolled from side to side along the edge of the basin.

"Oh come on Carla, you're a smart woman…surely you can figure this out," he chuckled rather mockingly, as his hands reached beneath the water to remove her skirt, swatting away her hands as she weakly tried to push him away, "surely you can deduce that it was no mere coincidence that I just 'happened' to show up after both Paul and Tony died?"

She rolled her head towards him, her eyes narrowing in bewilderment as she mulled his words over and over in her foggy brain.

Loving the confusion etched across her face, he slowly trailed his fingers up her abdomen, knowing she was too weak to fight back, and almost lovingly peeled her bra off her as the bubbles rose and covered her breasts. He smirked at her, his eyes darkening…she needed to know the measure of his resolve; he had to be sure she wouldn't try to turn him in to the authorities…

…and besides, now that this unfortunate incident occurred, she was bound to find out sooner or later…

"I've been obsessed with you since the moment I laid eyes on you my dear," he began softly as he leaned over and turned off the faucet, "your husband was suspicious of my motives for wanting to get into business with Underworld and so he began dodging my calls and deflecting my proposed business. And Tony became quite jealous after I made some comment about you needing a more secure and controlling man to tame you. He too must have seen my desire to have you at any cost and so he ended our business relationship as well…"

Darkness was beginning to set in, and her head lolled from side to side as she blinked rapidly, desperately trying to keep conscious, "I-I don't un-under-understand…" she whispered shakily,

He reached out and gently caressed her cheek, "I was driving the car that killed Tony, Carla," he smiled triumphantly as her head snapped back towards him, her eyes widening in sheer terror, "and I hired the man who drove the lorry into your husband Paul's car," he chuckled as she pressed her lips together and shook her head in denial; "so you see Carla…there is no way I'm letting you go now…"

His evil chuckle rang loudly in her ears as she succumbed to darkness…