Havyn didn't bother looking up from what she was reading. "Yo, Levesque. Stephanie ran off with Tori to shoot a promo, Vince and Shane had some last minute details to take care of, and Brian and Sean are obviously in the ring."
"Thanks," he replied and turned to leave but stopped. "What are you still doing here then?"
"Reading mail. While you're here, can I get your opinion on something?"
"Sure," he said, sitting on the couch next to her.
"Okay, um, have you ever gotten fan mail that was...I don't know...weird?"
"Well, I've gotten lingerie and marriage proposals. Those can be weird, but mainly they're entertaining." He chuckled to himself. "Why do you ask?"
Havyn handed him the letter. "This is a different kind of weird."
He examined the black paper. A message had been neatly printed in silver pen. "My sweet Havyn, I wish for you to be mine," Paul read aloud. "That's not too bad. Some marks just get a little carried away with angles and characters."
"The first letter I totally shrugged off, but..."
"Wait, you mean you've gotten more than one?"
"Yeah...this is the third or fourth I think. They all say the same thing basically, someone loves me and wants to be with me." She shrugged.
He paused to think for a minute, pulling his hair out of his ponytail. "So, if you're getting a little freaked out, tell Shane."
"I can't. He's so busy with work and I don't want our time together to be shrouded over with this. You're the only one who knows now. Maybe you're right and it's just some crazy mark."
"No, crazy marks only send one letter. Stalkers send more. C'mon, we'll go find Shane and you're gonna tell him what's up." He stood and pulled her up.
"But the main event is in ten minutes, Levesque," she protested.
"But nothing. You have time. Now grab your belt and let's go." He dragged her out of the locker room, only giving her time to throw the women's belt over her shoulder. "Hey, Shane, we were just looking for you," Paul said when they found Shane talking to the newest additions to the superstar roster.
"Oh yeah?" He dismissed the girls and wrapped an arm around Havyn's waist. "You look fabulous."
"You say that all the time," she replied, smiling.
"It's true all the time."
"Thanks. I wanted to talk to you about something," she said slowly. "Shane…"
Before she could get any farther he cut her off, "I'm sorry, but can we talk after the match? We have to get out there."
"Of course. It's not that important anyway."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive." She forced a smile as they joined the rest of the Regime at the entrance curtains.
The letters kept coming. Havyn never did tell Shane, or anyone else for that matter. She put them all in a shoebox, which she kept under her bed where he wouldn't find them. If he did stumble upon the box, she hoped he'd ignore it and not ask any questions. She'd tell him, just when she found the right time.
She opened her front door to get the morning paper and found a long flower box. Her stomach lurched. Something wasn't right. She took the box inside and placed it on the kitchen table, taking a deep breath before opening it.
Inside was a bundle of red roses, dead and wilted, the petals falling off. The stems were lined with sharp thorns and they'd been wrapped in shredded black ribbon and barbed wire. A simple black card rested on top of the gift and the same thing was written in silver.
"You will be mine," she read aloud. Chills moved down her spine as tears trickled down her cheeks. She had to get away from this and fast.
Two hours later Havyn was walking the halls of Titan Tower, nervously, not sure what to do with herself. Shane was in a meeting and as much as she wanted to, she couldn't just burst in. She turned to pace again and smacked into a large warm mass. She looked up to see Rodney. "Hi," she said quietly.
"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, noticing the redness of her eyes and the dried tears on her cheeks.
"Nothing, I'm fine," she replied, not really wanting to talk to him about it. "I'm just waiting for Shane."
"He's going to be a while still. C'mon, you can tell me."
Havyn sighed. "I, well, to put this in the nicest way, I have a fan who's a little infatuated with me. I keep getting scary letters and this morning I got a box of dead roses in barbed wire."
"How creepy. I know you want to tell Shane, but you should go straight to Vince with this. He can tell Jim Dotson to keep security on the alert. Hey, maybe you can even have your own bodyguards. That'd be cool, right?" He nudged her, trying to get her to smile.
"I suppose so. I think I'll go see Vince." She nodded slowly at her decision and hugged the tall blonde. "Thanks, Rod."
"No problem. I'm always around if you ever need anything. You know that." He watched her walk down the hall with a purpose.
Havyn entered Vince's office and sat down across from him. "Can I talk to you?" she asked.
"Of course, Havyn, what do you need?" He removed his reading glasses and folded his hands in front of him.
"Okay, well, I've been getting stalker letters for about a month now and this morning I got dead flowers. This has got me thinking that I might like some extra security around if it isn't a problem."
"That would never be a problem. I'll tell Jim right away and we'll have the team on the look out for anything suspicious at all events."
"Thank you, Vince," she said sincerely, getting up.
"Oh, Miss Edwards," he began.
Uh oh. She looked down at the tone he was giving her. It was a fatherly voice. "Yes?"
"Why didn't Shane come to me about this?"
"Because I haven't told Shane yet." He opened his mouth to say something else but she cut him off. "I was going to, just now, but he's in a meeting and I ran into Rodney. He told me that I should tell you and get it off my chest. As soon as Shane's done, I'm going to tell him, no matter what. Don't worry about a thing." She gave him a weak smile and left.
"I worry about you enough as it is," Vince muttered under his breath.
If Havyn was to learn at least one important lesson in life, she guessed it was to never keep something from Shane McMahon. Or maybe it was to never tell him anything. He gave even more explicit instructions to Jim Dotson than Vince, and he went so far as to write a storyline that required Havyn to be surrounded by numerous wrestlers at all times.
She thought it was a little overboard at first, but the letters continued. The latest was a large manila envelope containing black and white photos. Some were of Havyn in the ring alone, with Shane or with her newest escorts, the Mean Street Posse. Others were more personal. Those were the disturbing ones. Photos taken of her sleeping in her own bed beside Shane. He was disfigured in each one, burned out or scratched over harshly with a pen.
Havyn wasted no time moving her belongings into the McMahon household. She couldn't stay in her own home; it wasn't safe. At events she hung close to the ring apron, afraid to go too close to the crowd.
Vince absolutely refused to get the police involved because it would cause too much commotion and make the company look bad. Havyn wanted to take his statements to offense, but she couldn't. She knew he cared; he'd just always been a businessman before anything else. And so business went on like it always had.
Shane climbed into the ring to face his opponent...well, actually, to get the crap kicked out of him...again. Havyn sighed heavily as she watched from his corner. She knew it was fake, but why he kept doing this to himself was crazy. Boy Wonder or not, he could maybe plan something that wasn't so horrible to watch. The Posse stood around her casually, cheering hopelessly for Shane.
Rodney slid towards her, not taking his eyes off the match. "Don't worry," he assured her. "Joey interferes after the GTV segment."
She nodded, but then stopped to think. GTV segment? No one had said anything to her about a video clip. How odd. She grimaced as Shane received a chokeslam. He was trying to stand in the middle of the ring when the Titantron came to life.
A hand was neatly writing something, it was unreadable at the camera's angle. The camera zoomed out a little to show the table the person was sitting at. It was cluttered with photos. Havyn shuddered when she realized the photos were all of her. Then the camera zoomed out again to show the person sitting at the table.
Rodney.
She shrieked and backed away, only to be grabbed aggressively and thrown over the fan barricade. Rodney picked her up and ran with her through the crowd. Tears streamed down her face as she tried to fight him without any luck. Where the hell was security? She kept screaming and crying as he shoved her in the back of a van and drove away from the arena.
Havyn opened her eyes to look at her surroundings. It took a few minutes for her eyes to adjust to the room's only dim light coming from a shaded window. Her hands were cuffed to the headboard of a bed and her head felt so heavy she could barely move.
What did she remember? Not much. Rodney had taken her, driven for a long time. Then what? Her mind was so cloudy. He slapped something over her mouth, a cloth. It must have been chloroform. He must have drugged her too.
Note to self, she thought grimly. Beat the hell out of Dotson if you ever get out of this.
The bed moved beside her and she turned her head, wincing at the painful effort it took.
Rodney looked at her with a delightful facial expression. "Don't worry, baby. You're safe with me." She tried to move again. "Be still, I'll take care of you." He leaned forward and kissed her softly on the lips. His mouth moved down her neck while his hands began to unbutton her shirt.
She cried harder than ever before.
"Calm down, Son," Vince repeated.
"I will not calm down!" Shane yelled. "I can't sleep, not without knowing if she's all right. How can you even expect me to calm down at a time like this?"
"Shane, I'm as concerned as you are about Havyn, but for the sake of your own sanity, please."
"Yeah, take a valium," Steph added.
"Why didn't security stop him?!"
"They thought it was a gimmick being that Rodney is a wrestler and a family friend. Look, I'm sorry. How was I supposed to know it was him?"
"You weren't. Sorry, Dad. I gotta get out of here," he mumbled before ducking out of the makeshift office in the arena in Worcester, Massachusetts. They'd been there for hours after the show, trying to decide what to do.
Vince didn't want to publicize what had happened. He figured it would be better if the fans all believed Havyn's kidnapping was an angle. Instead of calling the police he called some undercover detectives to see what they could find out.
"Wake up, Havyn," Rodney cooed, stroking her cheek. "My dear sweet Havyn..."
Her eyes fluttered open. She could move again, but she was still handcuffed. "Why?" she asked. "Why did you do this?"
"I love you, and I only want to be with you." He paused. "Trish was close, she was blonde and beautiful, too, but she's not you, baby. I only want you, not an imitation."
"There are betters way to be with a person than stalking and abducting them," she grumbled. "And I don't love you. I love Shane."
"Don't say that name!" he roared. "It's always been about Shane. Ever since we were younger, he's always gotten everything. We grew up together, but things were so different. Every day I saw him get gift after gift, whatever he could possibly want. My parents never gave me anything!"
"I'm sorry that your parents didn't spoil you like the McMahons," she replied sarcastically.
"You should be sorry! But now I have what Shane doesn't. You're mine."
All the detectives knew after nearly three weeks was that Rodney was nowhere to be found. Unfortunately the WWF had to keep traveling, so Shane couldn't stay. There was still work to be done and matches to be booked despite all that had happened. There wasn't a moment that she wasn't being thought of by the whole roster and crew though.
Rodney wheeled a food cart into Havyn's room, the door swinging shut behind him. "Dinner time," he said cheerfully.
Havyn looked up at him as he showed her what he'd brought to eat. She had to admit he did take care of her. He made sure she got three meals a day and whatever she needed, but nothing made up for what he did the rest of the time. He barely let her sleep some days.
When he took her she did the only thing she could. She pictured herself in another place. She even made intricate escape plans in her mind. How do you deal with a psycho? Go a little crazy yourself.
She cleared her throat. "Rodney, I'm not very hungry."
"Oh. That's okay. I'll come back later," he responded, turning to leave.
"No, wait."
"Yes?"
Havyn sighed; she couldn't believe she was going to start this. "I've been thinking about what you told me...about growing up with Shane. And I know how you feel...it was the same with Stephanie. Could you...please, stay with me."
He nodded in understanding. "Of course. You do love me then?"
"I- I'm learning to." She shivered as he lied down next to her and wrapped his arms around her tightly.
The more Havyn pretended to be falling for Rodney, the nicer he was. He moved her to a better room with more light and he got her a clock so she could count the minutes she was without him. Sometimes he let her look outside, but only when he was with her. She took in the surrounding woods with an optimistic perspective. She'd be out there again and soon. He started visiting only once or twice during the day, but then spending the night. Each night she gave herself to him, hating herself for it more and more each time. As a result of her good behavior, he took her handcuffs off when they were together.
She slept otherwise and dreamt of what life used to be. She wondered how Shane was holding up.
Stephanie padded down the long hallway and stopped at her brother's room. She knocked softly. "Shane, you have to eat something." No response. "Shane, come on. The detectives are doing everything they can."
"Well, it's obviously not good enough," he finally said. "Go away, Steph."
"Fine," she muttered. She couldn't deal with him, no one could.
This is it, she thought confidently, watching Rodney enter. It was exactly nine o'clock. "Rodney, baby, these handcuffs hurt so bad," she purred, trying not to choke on her words. She squirmed as he unlocked them and placed the keys on the nightstand next to the bed.
He stood her up and kissed her roughly. "What have you been thinking about all day?"
"You, baby," she lied through her teeth. "Your touch and how you treat me so good." She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. He completely trusted her now. He believed everything that she told him.
In one swift movement she took advantage of that trust. Her knee slammed into Rodney's groin.
He moaned and fell over.
She kicked him as hard as she could while he was down. "Bastard!" she screamed. Before he could get up, she grabbed his keys and ran out of the house.
Havyn ran. She had no idea where she was going, but she ran without looking back. The night was dark and the trees' leaves shrouded most of the moonlight in the sky. Her legs ached from barely being used. "Don't stop. Stop and die," she told herself.
Her legs finally gave way as she collapsed under some brush on the side of a dirt road.
The next day...
Vince waited for his secretary to patch the call through. She said it was important, not that everything else wasn't just as important. "Hello, Vince McMahon," he said, picking up the receiver.
"Mr. McMahon, this is Detective Farrelly. We've found Miss Edwards."
"Where the hell was she?"
"New Hampshire, sir. A local patrol officer was doing his rounds when he found her lying in a ditch off the road. He brought her in and ID'ed her. We're on our way down there now, should be arriving in about two hours. We're taking her straight to a hospital."
"Why? Is she all right?"
"Yes, she appears to be fine, she just has some minor injuries that should be taken care of."
"Good, good. Thank you so much, Mr. Farrelly. I'll see you soon." He hung up with a smile and strode out of his office. "Maureen, hold all my calls," he told his secretary.
"But Mr. McMahon, what about your three o'clock?"
"Reschedule. I have to find my family," he replied, leaving to get Shane, Stephanie and Linda.
"Havyn," exclaimed Shane as he rushed to her side. She was lying in a hospital bed. Bandages covered the scrapes she'd gotten from running through the woods and she'd changed into clean shorts and t-shirt. "You're okay now, it's all right." He reached to hug her and she pulled back.
"I-I'm sorry," she stuttered. "I-I'm still sore and all."
"What did he do to you?"
The doctor standing by the doorway cleared his throat. "I'm afraid Miss Edwards shows signs of rape, multiple times from what she's said."
Shane growled. "I'm gonna kill him."
"A few questions before we go," Detective Farrelly said. "Can you tell us anything about where you were so we have a better chance of finding Mr. Leinhardt?"
Havyn stared ahead for a minute, thinking. "There were woods everywhere, all around the house. The house though, I didn't see much, but it was…it was old and small. He's probably been looking for me…"
Vince sighed and pulled the detective out of the room. "How quickly can you find him?"
"Well, to be honest Mr. McMahon, we don't have much to go on. However, the house he's at is probably one of the old farmhouses. There are only a few in the area so it shouldn't be all that difficult. If I were you, I'd keep an eye on her, especially after what she's gone through. She really should see a therapist, but she may not want to. Being a rape victim is not easy and it'll take a while for her to emotionally heal."
"I understand. You'll keep me updated on Rodney?"
"Of course, Sir. I'll get my men on it right away." He shook Vince's hand and headed down the hall.
The McMahons brought Havyn home later that day to stay with them. She was different despite her efforts to deny any change in her behavior. She jumped when anyone touched her and she stayed in her room. She looked pensive whenever anyone saw her, having much to contemplate, but she refused to see a therapist. Vince had expected it knowing how headstrong she had become. She'd figure it all out on her own. Rodney had been caught within days of Havyn's return. He was at the request of the McMahons being committed to a mental institution instead of prison. Whenever he became healthy, he would then be tried for his crimes, but until then he was locked away with nice padded white walls.
Vince looked up when he heard timid footsteps coming down the hall. Havyn gave him a crooked smile and sat down across from him. "How are you?" he asked her.
She shrugged, tugging on the sleeve of her sweatshirt. "Why do you work at home sometimes when you have an office at Titan? A really nice office."
"In case anyone needs me, I'm here. I like to be here." He raised an eyebrow and before she could say anything else pulled a folder from his briefcase.
"What's that?" she questioned.
"I had a feeling you were going to talk to me sooner or later about this so I've kept it here." He opened the folder and turned it upside down so she could read it. "This is your contract. It expires in March of 2005. You were always going to be in important storylines whether as a main player or a minor one. You have potential and the crowd loves you. However, after everything that's happened to you..."
"I want to be released," she rushed.
"I figured you would. I'm fine with that, Havyn. If you were anyone else, I'd be a little more than upset, but you've been through a lot. I don't want you to have to do anything you don't want to, so here's the deal I have for you." He paused. "I will release you from your contract, but if you ever want to come back and I mean ever, don't hesitate to call me."
"Vince, that's too much, really," she replied.
"No, I insist. You are always welcome in this business even if you don't get in the ring again, you can announce or something. Does that sound good to you?"
"Very. Thank you." She smiled. "Now, just to write me out."
"That might not be as hard as you think. Right now your character could really go either way. When will you be ready to go on screen again?"
Havyn thought for a moment and stood again. "Two weeks. I just need some practice."
Vince had her start the night by being thrown out of a van and found in the parking garage by himself, Shane and Triple H. Not Havyn's idea of a good time, but she was getting out of this. She just had one more thing to do.
She walked down to the ring to her usual music in black track pants and a t-shirt that had been created for her, but hadn't been marketed yet. It would never be sold now. It was black with neon green print on the front that said "The end of an Era..." and on the back was "Time to play a new Game." It also had a picture of her and her signature.
She took a mic from Lilian Garcia. "I'm sad to say that although I just got back I'm leaving. I'm going home where I belong. Hunter was right; I got hurt. This is my final challenge to anyone who wants the women's title. If I win, it's vacant. If my challenger wins, congratulations to her." She threw the mic down as Amy Dumas entered the arena.
When she'd suggested dropping the title to Amy, Vince had agreed whole-heartedly, saying that she had worked hard for it. She'd do the belt justice, not like Terri or the Kat.
The match wasn't very short, but it wasn't very long either. The crowd was impressed by Amy's highflying moves and even more so when Havyn gave her a Pedigree. However Amy won it with a hurricanrana.
One...two...three. There was a new women's champion.
Shane leaned against the doorframe of Havyn's room. She was looking at herself in a full-length mirror, making faces. "What's wrong?" he questioned, shutting the door and moving to stand behind her.
"I look horrible," she said.
"No, you don't," he argued. "You're beautiful. You've always been beautiful." He put an arm around her and he could feel her flinch at his touch. He sighed in frustration and backed away from her.
"I'm sorry, Shane. You know I love you...it's just what happened..."
"It's okay. I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at him, at what he's done to you. I wish it had never happened and I wish you would let me help you."
"I want..." her voice trailed off, tears falling freely from her eyes.
Shane reached out and wiped the wet drops off her cheeks, looking into her eyes the entire time. She didn't flinch. "You cry too much."
"I want things the way they were. Rodney, he did that, and I'd never..."
He shushed her. "I know, but it doesn't have to be that way."
"But I never told you..."
"It's not important. What happened happened so let's leave it in the past. Do you trust me?"
She nodded slowly. "I've always trusted you."
He embraced her, kissing her softly and pulling her down towards the bed.
The Heir Apparent woke up the next morning to sunlight streaming through the window. He reached an arm out to his side. Nothing. He shrugged and got out of bed, heading across the hall to his own room to take a shower and get dressed.
Stephanie was downstairs in the kitchen when he got there. "Morning, Steph," he greeted her. "Have you seen Havyn?"
She looked at him sadly, sliding an envelope across the counter to him. "I'm sorry," she said before walking away.
Shane's smile faded as he opened the envelope and read the contents.
Dear Shane,
Last night was wonderful and it felt terrific to have you near me again without being afraid of you...but I can't stay here anymore. I should've left a while ago, right after everything happened, but I didn't and I still don't want to leave you. I need to get my life together and I need to do that on my own. I don't know how long that will take. Don't worry about me. Stephie has my pager number in case anything happens, but even she doesn't know where I'm going (partially because I'm not sure yet) so don't beg her to tell you.
I wanted to tell you last night about what really happened when Rodney took me. He raped me numerous times, but I had to get him to trust me so I could escape. I pretended to love him and I was with him voluntarily. I felt horrible doing it, really I did, but I couldn't think of any other way. I've thought about it for a while now and realized that because of what I did, I really am no good for you. You don't deserve me, Shane, you deserve so much better. Someone else can make you a lot happier than I can. Don't let me keep you from that by waiting around for me, please. I'll always love you and I hope you can forgive me for this. Goodbye for now.
Frances 'Havyn' Edwards