***Warning - this chapter is violent...

Chapter Twenty-Four

"You need to try and remember the rest," Steve finally told her, lowering Jaime back into the nest of pillows. "The guards were still busy talking to Oscar, so I jimmied the lock and you went inside. I hid around the corner to make sure no one was coming."

Jaime took several deep, strengthening breaths. "And...I saw Michael..."

"Yes, you did. I know this is awfully hard for you – and I know you're in pain – but..."

Jaime nodded. "I know....I have to face the 'Suits' sooner or later."

"Yep." He smoothed the hair from Jaime's face and sat back to allow her to take her time.

Like water seeping in through a small-but-growing leak, every horrible second came flooding back to her...

Michael's smile was warm, at first. "I didn't think you'd come," he told her. When the door closed behind Jaime and he knew they were alone, he sneered. "If you were smart, you'd have stayed away."

"I want a divorce, Michael," Jaime said in a calm, clear voice. "I'm getting a divorce. You've got no grounds to fight it."

"But – I love you. Don't you see that?" He stepped toward Jaime, but she firmly stood her ground.

"It's over, Michael. You said if I came here -"

"There was no other way to get you here. I had to talk to you – to make you understand -"

"It won't change anything," Jaime insisted.

"You're not leaving me, Jaime. I won't allow it to happen."

"It's already happening. I've talked to a lawyer. This is the last time you'll see me, Michael – ever."

"NO!" In one violent motion, Michael reached out, grabbed Jaime's left arm and twisted it behind her back, forcing her body up against his. He leaned his head over her shoulder as he kept her arm pinned back between them. "We are NOT getting a divorce."

His breath on the back of her neck made Jaime feel sick with fear – and anger. She raised her right arm and swung, but with her body twisted (and unable to turn enough to see him), she could only flail at the air. Finally, her energy almost spent, she connected with the side of his head, sending Michael reeling. Jaime bolted for the door but his hand snaked out and latched onto one of her still-weakened legs. He yanked sideways with a cruel, vicious snap and Jaime tumbled, slamming her head against the chair before hitting the hard concrete floor.

For several terrible seconds, she couldn't catch her breath. Jaime tried to scramble to her feet, but Michael's foot swung out and caught her side and his fists began to pummel her as she rolled into a ball, trying to protect herself. Michael grabbed her as though she was a rag doll, slamming her into the floor and pinning her there. Jaime's vision was beginning to blur....and she could feel his hands circling her neck, tightening slowly, cutting off her air.

Desperate to stop his lethal assault, Jaime gathering all of her quickly-waning strength and slammed her right fist into the side of his head, knocking him off of her and sending him flying into the wall. He slid to the floor and didn't move. Jaime was barely able to raise her head and make sure he wasn't coming back to finish her off before she, too, faded into the blackness.

By the time she had finished relating every horrific detail, Jaime was trembling violently. Steve gathered her back into his arms and rocked her gently. "You did the only thing you could do," he assured her. "You're alive....so that means you did it right."

- - - - -