Enjoy, thanks for the interest

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Grace had been called almost immediately when they got back.

Jess had shut down completely after she'd stopped crying. After that she hadn't said a word, shutting down and saying nothing.

She'd stared vacantly out the front of the car as Christian had drove, and at Escala she had shrugged off his offer of help, limping slowly up to the elevator as he trailed behind her.

Jess had limped slowly and painfully through the apartment, going into her huge green and white bedroom, lying down exhaustedly on the bed, holding her leg in crippling pain.

Grace arrived with Carrick fairly quickly, Grace walking off to find Jess in her bedroom to examine her knee.

Christian was sitting on the couch, elbows on his knees, leant forward with his fingers steepled under his chin and looking deep in thought as Carrick sat opposite him on the sofa,

'Son, where are Taylor and the others?'. He looked up dazedly 'uh…I don't know…I wanted to get her back…I don't even know where they are at the moment'.

Carrick glanced over his son 'You need to stop blaming yourself Christian, you saved her today, and at some point she will start to believe that you, Taylor and the others are able to protect her…she's safe with you…just give her time'.

Christian glanced up, sighing 'she's just a kid, Dad…she's so sad and so angry, I can't let her just go back into care or back with those men…those men who made a child take her clothes off for money and nearly killed her today…'.

Carrick didn't say anything and Christian continued 'I can't let her go, Dad…at this rate the only place she is going is where my mother ended up'.

It wasn't long after that Grace came back into the main room, pulling off a pair of medical gloves, looking over at the two men.

'Her knee is pretty bad, I don't think there's any damage to the bone, which is good. The damage is pretty severe though, you can almost see the bone through the wound. I've bandaged it up but she'll be limping for quite a while, get her some crutches and make sure Jess keeps weight off the injured leg for as long as possible. I'll clean it and check the stitches as often as possible'.

With a sigh, Grace sat down opposite him. 'I've told her to get some sleep, I think she was a bit shook up still but it looks like there was no physical or lasting damage, she'll definitely need counselling though'

Christian nodded, not fully listening 'yeah…I've already got her some, that's where we were before this all happened'.

Carrick nodded and sighed 'I'll let her sleep for now, contact social services in the morning-they won't like this'.

Christian cut him off, shaking his head 'no, no, she'll stay here. That's what you'll tell them in the morning, she stays here. Until the fostering documents are put through, she stays here'.

Carrick and Grace glanced at each other 'Christian…are you sure?'. He nodded 'if she still wants, then she'll stay here…She cried into me today, and I didn't flinch, I didn't push her back, I didn't even realise till later, that's got to mean something…surely?'

Hours later, Jess woke up, covered in a cold sweat, breathing heavily and her heart racing. After a few seconds she remembered where she was and began to calm down. She felt stiff and uncomfortable and tried to swing her legs out of the bed, forgetting the knee injury.

The pain up her leg was crippling and she fell sharply, falling heavily onto the desk beside her. She glanced down, forgetting she'd changed into her pyjama shorts and seeing the heavily bandaged section of her leg and groaning in pain as she righted herself.

Jess grabbed her blanket from the bed and limped slowly out into the empty main room.

Ana had come home early from work after Christian rang her to explain what had happened. Christian was on the phone to his lawyer in his study as Ana woke up from a nap, wandering out into the main room to get a drink.

She saw that Jess was sitting shivering on the sofa, a blanket draped around her as she stared forward. Ana sat on the small coffee table just in front of her, forcing Jess to look at her.

Ana's voice was quiet and soft 'Jess…Ryan and Christian have told me what happened today. The men, they were from the Club weren't they?'. Jess nodded, looking distant and Ana continued, taking Jess's hands gently, looking her in the eye 'Jess…who's Marcus?'.

There was a long pause before she spoke quietly 'He's the man who ruined my life'.

Please please please -Let me know what you think

So, who do we think Marcus is? What happened? What do you want to see happen?

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