Chapter 38
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Three hours already. She had been trying to call Manny for the better part of three hours, and so far, she'd only succeeded in getting his voicemail every time, like now.
"Manny, this is your mother again. You need to call me; I'm worried about you." She said before she hung up the phone. "Where are you?" She asked nobody, aloud. This was the eighth time she'd gotten his voicemail, and she knew he hadn't been arrested yet, so where was he?
"We can't!" She said, her voice diminishing as he took a step closer and put his hands on her waist, eliminating the space between them.
"Dimé por que no." He whispered as he caressed her face and brought his lips so close to hers, she could smell the hint of Brandy on his breath.
"Nick…"
"Nick what?" He asked as he lightly skimmed her jawline again, planting searing kisses to it.
"He's… My fiance-" She whispered, urgently as his hand slid a strap off her shoulder, taking one of the straps of her sports bra with it, partially exposing one of her beautiful, full breasts before she stopped him, just before her nipple was uncovered.
"Think of this as a last hurrah before the wedding!" He spilled kisses down her neck and to her breast as he said this and she melted when his mouth touched the skin that was exposed, gently nipping her before he kissed and sucked. She was losing this battle; the pleasure she was feeling was so...great, so...
"Manny?" Amanda called to him as she stood with a glass of ice water for him and he seemingly came out of deep thoughts. They must have been happy ones because he was grinning.
"I'm sorry. Thanks." He took the water, taking a long sip before he sat the glass down on the coffee table and turned to her. "So…"
"Where'd you disappear to just now?"
"Just thinking of happier times. I'm gonna use your bathroom, I'll be right back." He said and got up.
The bathroom door had just closed when Amanda opened her robe, revealing her very see through black lace bra, so glad she had time to shower before he got here. She tousled her hair and tweaked her nipples which were already shockingly hard! She was already so turned on, she could literally feel his dick inside her, and her juices started to flow in the seat of her thong. "Thank you god!" She prayed as her phone rang. "Fin, make it quick!"
"Captain needs you here."
"What?" Her mood was literally ruined.
"Sorry, but we got one on the loose and we need everybody in on this one."
"He must have attacked someone important."
"He did. Amanda it's Liv."
"Liv? Wait, she's awake?"
"Woke up this morning and gave quite a statement to Casey. We gotta find this Manny-"
"Manny?"
"Turns out, they arrested Nick for the rape his brother committed."
"Arrested? What are you talking about?" She had no idea that Nick had been arrested and she suddenly felt her stomach drop as she nervously closed her robe. Whispering now, so as not to alert him. "and rape?"
"It's bad. And Cap is dead set on findin him!"
"I can help. Fin…he's here." She said fearfully, going to the bedroom for her gun.
"What is he…? We'll talk about it later, we're on our way, don't let him leave!"
"I'd rather he did. Hurry." She screeched, opening her lock box, then hung up the phone and took off her robe, in search of clothes.
In the bathroom…
"No no, I just let my luggage go on, but I could really do with you lending me that private… Yeah, of course. I'll explain it when I touch down. Yes, thank you… Leaving now, I owe you. Farmingdale Regional, got it!" He said and hung up. As he came from the bathroom calling for Amanda, he saw that she had gone into the bedroom and that the door was closed.
"I'll be out in a minute… Shit!" She said to herself as she pulled on her jeans.
"No hurry." She heard Manny say as she buttoned her pants and threw on a tee shirt. She then tucked her gun in her waistband before she left the room minutes later, only to find the living room/kitchen area empty.
"Manny?" She called out, searching the bathroom. He was gone. "Dammit!" She said as she ran and opened the front door, stepping out into the hallway. She looked around and went to the elevator and then the stairway before she took out her phone and dialed. "Fin, he's gone!"
They lay in Olivia's hospital bed with her in Nick's arms, his hands wrapped around her, caressing her belly.
"I can't tell you enough how sorry I am." Nick told her as her kissed her hand.
"I'm the one who's sorry. If I had never given in and allowed the affair-"
"Don't."
"I hurt you, and I will never forgive myself for that."
"Listen to me, all I care about is that you're here, and you're okay. And these babies are okay. We can get past everything else, and we will."
"How can you forgive me for what I've done?"
"Because I love you, and I love our family, and it took seeing you unconscious to make me see that nothing else matters! I thought I'd lose you that day and it put everything in perspective for me. I don't care about the affair, I care that he hurt you. I care that the second time he almost killed you, and I swear to you, he won't get away with it!"
"Nick, I have to tell you something." She said, as the door opened, and Nurse Lynn came in with her thermometer and the blood pressure monitor.
"Hi, sorry to interrupt, but we need stats." She said as Olivia looked at her. "I'm Lynn, by the way, it's nice to finally meet you, formally."
But Olivia said nothing. Instead, she appeared to be thinking; more like remembering something.
"Liv?" Nick called to her, but her mind was elsewhere.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize…" The lady began as Olivia heard the door to the room open, and felt Manny pulling his hand from under her blanket as her gown was undone and her breasts were exposed. "What the hell is going on in here?" The woman asked.
"Um, Nick Amaro…he's my brother and, well we- I just wanted to come, see how she's doing." He said. There was a long silence before Olivia could hear Manny speak again. "Look, how about I lay some money on the table, and all you have to do is go away for thirty minutes." He said, and she could heat him counting out the money. "I've got $1000 here, all yours if you just walk away and forget what you saw!"
"I'm calling security!" The woman, and Olivia thought she was saved, but…
"1500!" She heard him counter. "You'd have to work a whole week to earn that, but you can have it right now. All I'm askIng is a half hour!" He didn't know her story, and he didn't care. All he knew was that she took those hundred dollar bills, stuffed them in her pocket and then Olivia heard the lady tell him he had 'exactly' a half hour for whatever business he had with Olivia.
"Okay, all set. If you guys need me, just call. Welcome back Mrs. Amaro."
But still, Olivia just looked at her, this time with shock on her face as she realized that this was that woman! "Thanks Lynn, she's just a bit tired." He said, uneasily, before Lynn walked out the door, closing it behind her.
"Baby" He whispered, looking into her eyes as he gently touched her hair, putting a loose tendril behind her ear. "Que es?"
"You'll think I'm crazy."
"Liv, I'll never think you're crazy, okay? What's going on?"
"You'll think I'm crazy; but I know what happened. I could hear everything around me; and I could...I could feel e…" Tears started, and she took a moment to collect herself. "...everything. I could feel… Manny came into my room; and he; Nick, I could feel him…kissing me, and touching me. I could feel his mouth; and his hands all over me…in me!"
"What are you talking about?"
"He tried to rape me while I was lying in this bed, in a coma. That bastard came into my room and he undressed me! He put his hand between my legs and forced his fingers into me. And that nurse came in…"
"Lynn?"
"...she asked him what he was doing and then threatened to call security but he bribed her. And when she left, that nurse, he got on top of me and he did things to me; I could feel him remove the diaper I was wearing and then he tried to force himself in…
He remembered the day he talked to the her; she told him that she hadn't found anything, that there was nothing. How can Olivia be here telling him that… "That can't…" He said, in somewhat of a daze.
"I can still hear his zipper; the rustle of his clothes. He took advantage of me and I couldn't do anything. I couldn't scream, or call for help, I just had to lie there, feeling every disgusting touch until he finished and I thought when she came in that day that I'd be safe, that she'd stop him-"
"Don't tell me this!" He said as he got up, having reached his breaking point, and stormed out of the room, leaving Olivia calling after him.
"Nick? Where are you- Nicolas…!" She cried.
...
Outside, at the nurses station…
"Misha, you'll need to check Mrs. Konach in 318B, she complaining again." Nurse Shanna said as she checked over a file. Misha was standing, having just come from another patient, while Lynn sat behind the desk, eating granola.
"That woman is gonna make me me kill her!" Misha joked.
"Or just get Lynn here to ignore her." Nick said as he came towards the nurses station. "Get up!" He said to Lynn as he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of her chair, dragging her down the hall while Misha and Shanna protested and Shanna called security.
...
"Get your hands off me!" Lynn protested while Nick was busy lugging her down the hall to Olivia's room, but he was not letting go and spun her against a wall.
"I trusted you! I asked you to check my wife for signs of assault, and you told me that you didn't find anything!"
"I-I didn't, I…"
"Then explain how she remembers!" He yelled as he hit the wall behind her head, causing her to jump. "You allowed my brother to stay in her room?"
"I… I don't know what-"
"Don't lie to me!" He said as he pulled her into the room. "Tell her." He said to Olivia as nurse Shanna came into the room. "Tell her what you just told me!"
"You were in my room that day." Olivia said as Lynn stood there.
"What day? Mrs. Amaro, y-you must be mistaken. I-" She stammered, lying, but Olivia wasn't about to relent.
"I'm not crazy, it was you! I remember your voice; your accent!"
"You-" Lynn began but she knew she'd be best to shut up. There was no other nurse at the hospital with the deep Staten Island articulation. And as much as she wanted to deny it, she knew it was futile.
"I called security!" Nurse Shanna said as she ran in. She was standing at the door, but Nick didn't even turn to respond, instead he kept his gaze on Nurse Lynn the entire time while he spoke.
"Good, call security! And while you're at it, get the Hospital Administrator down here, NOW!" He roared as Shanna jumped and left the room.
This; these last few hours; hell, this whole last day, they couldn't be real. Caesarea thought. Nick is arrested, only for Olivia to wake up and accuse Manny, as if he could ever hurt anyone.
"Did you ever stop to think that maybe, I don't know, he won't hear it it because something in him knows that she's telling the truth?" It was Marisol who spoke up and Caesarea and Vida went momentarily mute!
"He's your little brother, Mari." Caesarea said.
"And so is Nick! But you're so ready to throw him under a bus!"
"Manny didn't do this!"
"And Nick did? Mami, Nick would never do ANYTHING to hurt Olivia, I know this. Not Olivia, or any woman for that matter!" and she was so angry that they could even suggest it.
She hadn't realized until now what this looked like. She hadn't even considered Nick in all of this but what was she to do? She loved both her sons, but she knew that Olivia had to be lying to protect Nick. He spent more time with his father, fifteen years as opposed to Manny's five.
"Right, and Manny could?" Vida said.
"I'm sorry, but am I the only one who's noticed his behavior over the years? Do I wanna believe he did this? No, I don't but do I? Hell yeah!"
"And the affair; that means nothing to you?"
"An affair that she didn't need to tell us about to get her point across! She could have denied the whole thing and just focused on the rape, but she didn't. She chose to come clean about everything because-"
"But he couldn't have."
He'd made it. He'd gotten to Farmingdale Republic Airport, and boarded his private plane with no problem. And now, he was in the air and sipping champagne on his way to Miami.
"Shame I had to leave so fast." He said out loud to himself, turning up his drink. "But there's just no telling what big brother was up to, and I am far too good looking for prison."
Just then, his phone rang and he hurried to get it from his pocket, seeing that it was his mother. Again. "Mami, hey."
"Oye. Es todo lo que puedes decir "hey?" He estado muy preocupada por ti! Are you alright? Where are you?"
"I'm on a flight to Miami, mami, why are you worried?"
She told him about Nick; how he was arrested yesterday and how Olivia woke up this morning. She basically told him that Olivia had fed the court a story of him raping her and then causing her accident in order to free Nick, and that the police were now looking to arrest him. To say that Manny was shocked….
"She did what?" He said. Feeling himself growing angry.
"She also told me about the affair. Emmanuel, how could you? She's your brothers wife!"
"I know, and it just happened! We were alone, and one thing led to another but this nonsense about raping her, that never happened."
"I knew it couldn't have."
"Yeah, mami listen. I gotta take this call but I'll get back to you tonight once I'm settled… Okay, I will. I love you too!" He said before he ended the call and banged his fist hard, several times against the table before he dialed.
...
In Olivia's hospital room...
"It'll be okay, you trust me?"
"More than anything."
"That's what I like to hear. I love you, so much!" He said and kissed her head as the room phone rang. "You want me to get it?"
"It's okay, but thank you." She said as she lifted the receiver and put it to her ear. "Hello?"
"You fucking bitch!" Manny yelled. "After everything I've done for you; I pledged my love to you, I gave you my babies and you take his side?!" She immediately dropped the phone onto the bed as Nick looked at her.
"Who is that?" He asked as he picked up the receiver and heard Manny still bitching.
"...fucked you better than anyone-"
"Where are you?" Nick asked, in a calm voice.
"You'd like to know!"
"You raped my wife, you endagered her and my babies and that little shit you pulled last week; I'll tell you what, you'd better hope and pray that the police catch you before I have a chance to, because if not, Mami's gonna hate me for what I do to you, you little shit!"
"Well, it's a good thing that neither of you can get to me, isn't it? Tell your slut of a wife I'm done!" And he hung up.
Nick began immediately beating the phone against the bed rail until the cheap handset fell apart, then threw it on the floor and turned, pulling Olivia into his arms and both of them in tears. After all they'd been through the last two and a half years, this was without a doubt the thing that would test their relationship, and they both knew it, and prayed that they could withstand it!
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