Chapter 7
Three days had gone by since she had seen Emma Nolan in her office. Her father took the house calls for the next two afternoons to allow Regina time with her friend. She actually found herself slightly disappointed not getting to see the Nolan blonde. However, she knew Kathryn needed her more.
They made a little progress with her blonde friend. Her father had an acquaintance that happened to be a counselor. His name was Archie Hopper. Kathryn had been extremely nervous to meet him. She told Dr. Mills that she thought she would prefer to talk to a woman. Dr. Mills convinced her to meet him first and get a feel for him. If she still felt that way after their first session, then they would look for a female counselor.
Regina sat stiffly in the waiting room chair, her legs crossed at the knee. She flipped mindlessly through the magazine in her hand. She felt nervous being here, but she had tried hard to not let her friend know. Kathryn had been a nervous wreck and the last thing Regina wanted to do was add to her anxiety.
The brunette glanced down at her watch. Her friend had been in the man's office for forty-five minutes. She didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. She assumed it was good or Kathryn would have bolted a long time ago.
The door opened making Regina drop her leg as she sat up towards the front of her seat. Kathryn emerged with what looked like a smile on her face.
"Thank you, Mr. Hopper. I will see you next week." The blonde said.
The man smiled softly, "Please, call me Archie, and if you need to talk before then, you have my number."
Regina stood up and joined her friend as the man disappeared back into the office, "So? How did it go?"
"Good, I guess." She said with a sigh. "He is was very nice and he seems easy to talk to."
Regina licked her lips and let an apprehensive smile cross her face, "That's a good thing. So I take it you won't be looking for another counselor?"
Kathryn headed for the exit as the brunette followed, "Umm. Not one hundred percent sure, but I'm thinking he might be the one."
Regina smiled as they stepped up to the elevator and pushed the down arrow button, "That's great. I'm happy to hear that." She felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She had no problems listening to her friend, but Kathryn needed professional help as well as someone who wasn't directly affected by the situation.
"I hope so," Kathryn said in a low tone.
The elevator pinged and the doors slid open. Both women walked inside. Once she was sure they were alone, Regina took the other woman's hand, "You know you doing a very brave thing, right?"
Kathryn sighed and rolled her eye, "I'm only doing this because you and your father won't leave me alone about it." She smiled slightly showing the brunette that she wasn't upset.
"We won't leave you alone because we love you. Kathryn, you're my best friend. Hell, you're more like my sister than my friend. I don't know what I would do without you." Regina said hoping to convey every emotion through her eyes and the squeeze of her hand.
A tear slipped passed the blonde eye and she nodded, "I know, and I am thankful." She reached out and pushed the button for the first floor then said over her shoulder, "And I love you too."
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Emma had been in a bit of a sour mood for the last couple of days. She was still in pain, and working the floor wasn't helping. The thing that was bothering her wasn't the pain or the way the short haired blonde, which she had found out her name was Tink, would grab her ass as she passed her behind the counter. It wasn't that the woman was unattractive, because she was, but she was the same as all the others. She found herself not missing that part of her life. No, her mood sucked because she didn't understand why Dr. Mills had replaced Regina. She did miss the old man, and she didn't want to bother him about the whereabouts of his daughter. She thought everything had gone well at their last meeting, but she must have been wrong.
The pain meds were helping, but she could tell exactly when they were wearing off.
"Hey boss lady," Anton said walking up beside her as she sat on the last barstool.
"Hey?" It came out a little more sarcastic than she had hoped.
"Tonight, I thought it would be a good idea if you switch over to the security side. You seem to have the bar and drink part down, and I figured you could use a slower night." He said glancing down at her ribs.
She would have argued, but the truth was, she did need an easy night. The club had been packed for the last two nights and helping get drinks and bussing tables was a killer on her side. She nodded her head in his direction, "I'm all yours." She stood up from the stool carefully. It was very hard to not let people see how much pain she was in.
She followed the giant to the back, towards the bathrooms and down a small dark hallway. She hadn't even realized this area existed. The only time she had been down this way, even after that night with the idiots was only to use the bathroom.
She followed the man into a secluded room, approximately ten feet by ten feet. A large desk sat along one wall holding two flat-screen monitors and the wall behind it held twelve more monitors. Each one displayed a different area of the club.
"This is my office," Anton said as he pulled out one of the chairs for his boss.
She sat down glancing around at all of the shots from the club, "Wow. There are a lot of cameras in here."
"There's more on the way. Ever since that night, I want to make damn sure it doesn't happen again." He said sitting down next to her. "Killian will be in for a bit, but then he has some errands to run."
Emma nodded but didn't say anything. She thought back to the other day in her office when Tink had come in. She had yet to hear from her father, so she assumed word hadn't gotten back to him, but she didn't know how she felt about Tink. Well, except for the sexual harassment the woman was dishing out. To be honest, Emma wasn't sure about anyone so far.
"So, give me an update on the device and the phone lines." She said glancing over at the man.
"Leroy said the device that was found was a recording device, so good thing we found that. I sweep the place twice a day to ensure no more have been added. As for the phone lines, it doesn't appear that they are bugged. There is no software connected to it so everything seems clear." He explained.
Emma nodded again. At least she had not been eavesdropped on. She looked back up at him, "What about the other issue?"
"The other?" He asked, but then caught on, "Oh, right. Mulan and Graham are working on that now, so until I hear from them, we're still in the dark."
Emma glanced over at the monitors. The staff was preparing for the doors to open. She hoped they were able to find the pieces of shit that hurt Regina's friend and of course the ones who jumped her.
"You've been lucky so far this week," Anton said.
"How so?" She asked.
"Your father had to fly to Liverpool for a client meeting. That's why he hasn't been around lately." He answered, clicking some buttons on his keyboard causing screens to switch.
"I hadn't noticed." She said dully. Emma wanted to laugh. Other than not wanting the man to find out what happened, she hadn't given him a single thought.
Her attention was drawn to one of the monitors pointed at the bar. Killian had walked in and was leaning against the counter. She watched as Tink brought the man a drink and then leaned in kissing the man. If the kiss broke off after a couple of seconds, she would have thought less of it, but they continued kissing. The man looked as though he squeezed one of her breasts with his hand before pulling away to take a drink of his beverage.
She glanced over at the giant, "What the hell was that?"
"That's Killian's main squeeze." He said nonchalantly.
Emma was confused, "I thought she was gay."
Anton laughed, "Tink is any sexual. I think she's more of a nympho than actually having a label. She hits on nearly everyone. Killian and her fight about it sometimes. He's one of those types that believe he can do it, but not her."
It was still a bit odd to the blonde, but she nodded, "Ahhh." If she still were doing things the way she had before she came here, she would have slept with the short pixie-haired blonde just to piss him off.
Movement from another monitor caught her eye. An Asian woman was coming through the back door and headed for them. Anton shot up and hurried to the door to let her in. Emma stood to see who this woman was.
"Mulan, this is Em, the boss, Boss this is Mulan." The giant said quickly.
Emma didn't have time to acknowledge the introduction. The Asian woman nodded, but then said, "We have them."
"Where?" Anton asked.
"In the warehouse." She said as her eyes looked cautiously at Emma.
The blonde's eyes widened, "What are we waiting for?"
She started for the door but the big man put his and on her shoulder, "Maybe you should wait here."
Emma glared, "Fuck that. I want to see them."
She heard the giant sigh, but he let her pass. Emma didn't care how big the man was, she was going to be part of this come hell or high water.
Anton talked with a few of the bouncers and put one of them in charge of security. Emma told Ruby she was in charge while Killian was out and that she would be back in a bit. She just found herself wondering what she would say to her father or brother if one of these people were the mole. Something told her it would be a long night, but she was suddenly feeling better.
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Henry thought that it was his lucky day when he had heard Mr. Nolan was going on a business trip for a few days. To his unpleasant surprise, his father spent nearly all of his time locked up in his study. Henry was sure that in the past couple of days, he had actually seen his father less than when they had to go to his office.
Tonight, however, his father was going to have dinner with some woman. Normally, Henry would have been sad, but not this time. Now, he would be able to snoop while he was away. He hadn't had a chance to talk much with Emma, and he hoped that when he did, he would have some news.
"Now Henry, you will behave while I'm gone." The man waited for his son's acknowledgment. When Henry nodded with a small smile, he continued, "Tonight you will be staying with Mrs. Eugenia. Don't give her any trouble." He warned before walking out of the house.
Henry smiled sadly at the old woman, but then dropped his eyes. The old woman was sitting in an armchair looking very relaxed. He could tell that it would only be a matter of time before the old woman was asleep.
Sometimes he found himself wishing his dad would go away altogether, it wasn't like he was around much anyways. Then he remembered seeing his mom stress over bills. She needed the child support to help cover the costs. He sighed slightly as he watched his father close the door behind him.
He glanced over at the old woman who was flipping through the channels on the television when she asked, "Do you want to watch a movie with me? I'm sure there is something good on with all of these channels."
Henry shook his head and smiled, "No thank you. I have some other stuff to do, but you can."
The old woman nodded as she looked back at the TV and continued flipping channels.
Henry chewed lightly on his bottom lip. He knew it would take a little while for the old woman to fall asleep, so he decided that he should check out his dad's room first. He would be able to hear her if she came up, but he knew she would be reluctant to climb all of those stairs.
He left the room and started up the stairs as he heard the theme to In the Heat of the Night playing from the TV. He shook his head with another smile. His grandpa loved that show.
His father's bedroom was the first one on the left and he quickly made his way into the darkened room. His father's cologne hung heavy in the air.
Henry went straight to the closet. His dad was a very untrusting person and would never keep his things in the usual places. He opened the door and flipped on the light. He had come to the conclusion that his father wasn't as smart as he wanted people to think. The boy reached up to a painting on the wall. Yes, that's right, a painting in the closet. He pulled the edge and it opened like a cabinet door. Inside was a small safe that the nine-year-old had figured out ages ago.
He quickly put in the number and it popped open.
He reached in past the usual passport and money stash and pulled out an envelope that was folded in half. Henry carefully unfolded it and looked inside. There were a few photos and a piece of paper with something scribbled down in messy handwriting. He pulled them out and looked through them. The first few pictures were of his mother. It looked like someone was following her around. In the first one, she is dropping Henry off at school. The second one looked like it was from the same day, his mother was crying while she sat in the car.
His thoughts went to his mother as he stared down at the picture. She looked so sad. His father had broken her heart too. He swallowed back a lump in his throat and the urge to take the photo with him. Instead, he pulled out his cell phone and snapped a picture of it.
He glanced at the piece of paper. It was hard to read, but Henry took a snap of it anyways. All he could make out on it were times and dates. His father must have been trying to catch his mother doing something he didn't or wouldn't approve of.
He heard a loud noise from downstairs which caused him to drop everything onto the dark hardwood closet floor. After a moment of listening intently to ensure the old woman wasn't coming up the stairs, he bent down to collect all of the fallen objects.
His attention was pulled to another photo. This one must have been at the bottom. It was of a pretty short dark haired woman. She was kissing a man, but Henry couldn't tell who it was due to the angle the picture was taken. All he could see was the back of the man. There was something familiar about him and the woman he was pretty sure was Emma's mom. He had seen a picture of her in an old magazine his mother had boxed up in the garage. He snapped another picture and then put the things back into the folder. Henry put the folder back into the safe and closed it.
He slowly crept back down the stairs. Henry saw that the old woman had passed out as he arrived at the bottom of the stairs. Now was his chance to see what his dad had in his study.
The boy hurried as quietly as he could to the pocket style doors. They were locked, but Henry had watched enough YouTube videos on picking these simple style locks that this was a piece of cake.
Using his Swiss Army knife his father gave him for his birthday, which his mother still knew nothing about because if she did he wouldn't have it, the lock clicked open. The doors made a distinctive sound when they rolled to open or close and he hoped it wouldn't wake the old lady. He pushed the door open just enough for him to squeeze through and then he closed them back.
Looking around the room, he wondered where he should start. He opened a file cabinet and thumbed through a couple of files. He really wasn't sure what he would be looking for in there and his dad was really good at hiding files inside other files. This would make it nearly impossible with his short amount of time that he had to find anything. He gently closed the cabinet drawer and looked around for another place. His eyes rested on his father's laptop. He was sure it would be locked, but he wouldn't be much of a spy if he didn't at least try.
Walking cautiously up to the desk and opened the large black computer. When the screen lit up, Henry frowned. He moved his finger over the mouse, to his surprise and confusion, the screen went straight into his father's usual Windows screen. He was happy it wasn't locked because he wasn't sure he could guess what his father's password would be.
Henry shook his head and continued. He pulled up his father's web browser and clicked to see the search history. Most of what he could see was just everyday searches, online stores, bills and of course porn sites. This was the downside of being the only kid in a sea of adults. Adults tend to forget that he is even there when they talk, so when they said something he didn't understand, he would Google it. Unfortunately, it opened up doors the boy's brain would never be able to close, plus now he just saw most adults as perverts in one way or another.
He closed the browser window and looked around at all of his father's icons. There were a lot, but only one caught his eye. Double clicking on it, he waited for it to open. At first glance, it seemed normal. It looked like invoices from his father's law firm for services with Nolan Enterprises, but as Henry scrolled through, he found some files labeled only by date and the letters EN.
Henry double clicked on the first date which was only a few days ago. The folder opened and there were some camera stills of Emma at the club. Then there was one with his mom and Aunt Kathryn. They looked like they were laughing and having a good time. The next picture was of his aunt Kathryn leaving with some man. He narrowed his eyes when he saw his mother looked like she was leaving with another man, but she looked like he was dragging her out of the club. Then he saw Emma leave right after.
That was all of the pictures, but there was a sound clip. It looked like someone had recorded a conversation. He clicked it and it started playing. It was Emma talking to Anton about what was going on, and then he leaves. He hears a man tell Emma that he is sorry for letting Mrs. Locksley passed him and then there is a loud slap. After that, his mother goes off at the blonde about how her best friend had been gang-raped.
Henry was confused. He clicked the stop symbol for the recording. What happened that night? Did someone hurt his Aunt Kathryn or his mother? He suddenly felt sick to his stomach. Henry felt like he was intruding on someone's personal business, but he let it go. He was angrier that if something had happened to either woman, why was his dad recording and spying on them? Why wasn't he helping them?
There was probably more on the laptop, but Henry was suddenly not in the mood to know anything else right now. Part of him wanted to know more about what happened, but the other part was scared of what he would find out. He needed to find Emma. She would tell him. There is no way that even if his mother would share that kind of information, which he is sure she wouldn't. Did he want to hear how someone hurt her from her own lips?
He closed the dark computer and walked out of the room, making sure to lock the door. The old woman was snoring loudly and he took that as his cue. He had to find Emma.
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Regina had just finished going over every patient file to ensure that all of the paperwork had been signed and properly dated when she picked up the stack off her desk and headed to the front receptionist area to give them to Millie to file away. It had been a long shift. She accompanied Kathryn to the counselor that morning, and then she came straight to the clinic. She went from working only a couple of days a week to almost every day. She wasn't complaining really, she was glad to have her brain occupied, but she was tired.
As she rounded the corner, she nearly dropped all of the folders. She almost ran into Robin, "Shit. Robin, you scared me." She noted the relaxed smile the man was wearing, but then passed him to continue on her mission, "What are you doing here? You are supposed to be with our son."
He followed, "He's fine. I hired a nanny to sit with him."
Regina rolled her eyes as she passed the stack to the awkwardly waiting Millie, "Thank you." She said as the woman took the load out of her arms. She turned back to her husband, "You are supposed to be spending time with him."
"Calm down, he's nine, what could he possibly want to do with me? We will have plenty of time when he's older." Robin said as if he truly believed that.
Regina fought the urge to scream at the man, especially in front of Millie. His stupidity dumbfounded her, "What do you want Robin?"
He looked over at Millie and then back to her with a near shy smile, "I wanted to see if you wanted to go have dinner this evening."
Her jaw would have fallen open had she not been clenching it together so tightly, "I'm sorry, did I miss something?"
The man knitted his eyebrows together but kept his smile, "No, why?"
Regina closed her eyes as to not lose her composure, "We are going through a divorce Robin, in case you had forgotten, and just last week you were threatening to take my son from me and calling me names. Oh and hitting me. You do remember hitting me, don't you?" She asked sarcastically.
The man adjusted his jaw, "Of course remember. I apologized for that. I just thought we could have a nice evening together."
Suddenly it dawned on her what this was, "Your date stood you up I take it, and you came here thinking I would forgive you for the night. I am not one of the little sluts that you like spending so much of your time with, Robin."
"I never said you were. Jesus Regina, can we not fight for one fucking night?" He asked raising his voice.
Regina was losing her patience pretty quickly, "No, Robin, we can't. I can't stand to be around you and I hate that our son has to spend time with you. Not that he actually gets to spend any time with you."
"What do you want from me? I have to work. What do you think pays for the school he attends, or those expensive shoes you like, or the vacations we've taken? What about the cars and jewelry I've bought you? Jesus Regina, I love you." He asked unbuttoning his coat and sliding his hands into his pockets.
"I didn't ask you for any of that. And you don't love me. You loved the idea of me staying at home, cooking and cleaning. You had your clothes cleaned and ironed. Your son waited excitedly every single day for you to come home after work, but it was the same story. Sorry I have to work late. Sorry, I can't make it, work is calling."
"What part of, 'I had to work' do you not understand?" He shouted.
"I'm not an idiot Robin. Do you know how many times I washed lipstick out of your collar or how many different perfumes I could smell on your jacket? You were working late, but it wasn't on your career." She said with tears in her eyes.
Robin rubbed his forehead and smirked, "You think you know every fucking thing, don't you?"
Tears were not far from falling and the last person in the world she wanted seeing them was glaring daggers at her, "Please leave."
To her surprise, the man adjusted his jaw once and then straightened his jacket. She could see he was angry, but something was keeping him from going off on her like he had a couple of weeks ago.
He walked toward the sliding glass door and turned back to her, "You could have made this easier on yourself, but you had to be a bitch." He gave her a tight-lipped smiled and then walked out.
Why did she always get blamed for everything? When he didn't spend time with their son, it was her fault because she didn't remind him that he was supposed to. It was her fault that he cheated because she had become boring in bed. There was no winning with this man. She swallowed the lump in her throat, but the tears finally fell as she stood staring at the dark glass of the door.
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The ride had been excruciating. It wasn't because of her pain, but because of how much she wanted to see these fucker's faces. To be honest, she had almost completely forgotten the pain. Adrenaline was kicking in and making her heart beat faster, but her body felt numb.
The car came to a stop outside the abandoned warehouse across town. It was large and had a ten-foot fence that went around the entire property. The building was made solely from tin and had the words Feed Store painted in a fading blue across the big doors. It must have been a livestock feed store a long time ago.
Mulan climbed out of the car and the other two followed. Emma watched the Asian beauty as she opened the building door for them to enter. She was a woman of few words it would appear and she didn't seem to take any shit. She somewhat had an intimidating factor about her.
The building was filled with shipping crates stacked on top of one another. Whoever placed them made sure to do it so it seemed to be a maze as you made your way through it.
After what seemed like unnecessary miles through the maze, they finally reached the center of the building. Six men stood with their hands tied above their heads draped over hooks that hung from chains. A few of them, including the guys who had jumped her in the alleyway, sported new bruises.
Emma couldn't help the cocky smiled that crossed her lips when she saw the dark haired man who led the attack on her, "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" She said, reminding him of what he had said to her in the alleyway.
He looked away with a glare, which made her smile even more. She let her eyes move from man to man until she met the eyes of the man who had taken Regina's friend. He looked scared, but she didn't give two shits about his feeling.
A stool sat off to the side and she walked over and grabbed it, ignoring the sting of pain in her side. She slowly slid it across the cement floor deliberately making an annoying scraping sound. She pulled the stool to a stop right in front of the lead rapist. Emma calmly sat down on it and stared at the legal age man, however with him near tears, he showed that he had yet to fully grow up.
"What's your name?" She asked in a sweet tone.
The boy looked from her to Anton and then back to her, "Bryan."
Emma nodded her head, "Hi Bryan. Do you know who I am?"
He attempted to shrug his shoulders, "I'm not sure."
She snorted out a laugh and looked over at Anton who was smiling, "I am Emma. I'm sure you know of my brother Will or August or perhaps you've heard of my father, David Nolan?"
The boy closed his eyes and let out a sigh as if he had just caught on to her identity.
"The club you shitheads," She made sure to look over at the dark haired man, "Decided to play your perverted and highly illegal sex game in, is mine." She paused.
"No one gives a shit." The dark haired man sneered.
Mulan calmly walked over to him and punched him in the stomach causing him to grunt in pain as the air left his lungs.
"Anyways, the women you drugged were friends of mine. Luckily for that stupid fuck, the woman he targeted got away with my help. However, just so you are aware, she is the wife of David Nolan's attorney. The woman who did not get away," she glared over at Bryan, "she was Mrs. Locksley's best friend."
The boy began to sob. She knew anyone with sense would realize what a huge mistake they had made. They should have realized that before they had actually done the heinous deed, but sadly that's not what happened.
Emma stood up from the stool and walked up to the other two guys who had had their turn with the doctor's friend. The two boys were not far from tears themselves.
She looked down the line at each man. The only one who didn't show any remorse or even fear was the dark-haired man. She ignored him for now and looked back at the actual rapist's, "What do you all have to say for yourselves?"
"You are nobody!" The dark haired man laughed out.
Emma put up her hand to stop Mulan from hitting him again. Instead, the blonde walked up to him, "You know you sure are ballsy, or stupid, the same thing really."
"Suck my dick." He said with a pull of his lips.
She stepped closer so she could see his face better. The tape was over his nose and both of his eyes were black, "I'm going to make sure that after tonight, you will never use your dick again." The same smile he had was now on her face. He fought hard to hide it, but she saw a slight flash of fear wash over him and she loved every second of it.
