-Chapter 2-

When Lauren came to that night, Nadia was passed out on the bed and Lauren had had 2 fractured ribs and bruises to her face and abdomen. Lauren had to take 2 weeks off of work to allow the bruises to disappear. She told her boss that she had a biking accident while out riding the trails on her mountain bike. The couple never spoke about the incident that night. Nadia never apologized; instead she went out and bought Lauren a house in Calabasas. Lauren assumed that was her way of apologizing. Lauren was so unhappy and tired of her relationship. But she didn't have the strength to get out. She had no friends, Nadia made sure of that, no one she could talk to at work, and she rarely spoke with her mother. She wouldn't tell her about the abuse anyhow, Lauren was too embarrassed and ashamed to admit that she was a victim of domestic violence. The last thing she wanted was for her colleagues or neighbors to find out about it.

They moved into the new house during the summer of their 6th year together. That's when Lauren discovered that Nadia was using cocaine. One afternoon while Lauren was preparing a load for the laundry, a small baggie of cocaine fell out of Nadia's pant pocket. Lauren picked up the bag and stared at it for a while, not sure of what to do with it. Lauren was furious with Nadia. Things began to make sense now. No wonder Nadia was up at all hours of the night, taking on a ridiculous amount of overtime, claiming she needed to in order to keep up with the mortgage payments. The other noticeable change was in their sex life. Up until the move to the new house, the couple rarely had sex, going sometimes as long as 2 months without intimacy. Lauren just chalked it up to their demanding work schedules.

But recently, Nadia had initiated sex almost every night. The sex was rough and painful for Lauren. There was no kissing or any type of foreplay at all. She would just go for it, when she was done she'd take a shower and go downstairs and watch TV, usually falling asleep on the couch, Leaving Lauren frustrated and unsatisfied. But she would accommodate to Nadia just to avoid a fight, which always led to physical violence. Sex with Nadia had always been okay, but not great. Lauren didn't have a whole lot to compare it to, since she had only slept with one other person before Nadia. It took months of sleeping together before Nadia brought Lauren to an orgasm.

In the end, Lauren decided not to confront Nadia about the drugs; she opted instead to put the pants back on top of the laundry basket hoping Nadia would retrieve the drugs later. Lauren laughed at the irony of a Narcotics detective using narcotics. Nadia's job was to keep the drugs off the streets, not use them herself.

Lauren was once again pulled out of her thoughts as the bus driver made another announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen we are about 20 minutes away from our final destination. Those of you transferring onto another bus to continue your journey, please take a look at your itinerary's for the bus number of your next bus. The buses leave on time all the time so make sure you are on board for departure, they will not wait for you. I hope we provided you with an overall good experience, have a great evening and thank you for choosing us for your travel needs. Welcome to Seattle."

Upon arrival, Lauren exited the bus and immediately found her next bus. It was departing for Vancouver, British Columbia in 20 minutes, so Lauren rushed over and stood in line to board. As she approached the front of the line Lauren handed her ticket to the bus driver. He looked at before making eye contact with Lauren.

"Ms. Lewis do you have the necessary documentation to cross the border into Canada?"

"Yes, right here in my backpack." Lauren patted her bag with a smile on her face.

"Excellent, welcome aboard." The driver smiled and handed Lauren her ticket.

Lauren quickly found a seat and settled in. 'Just a little while longer and I'll be home free.' Lauren thought to herself. Lauren couldn't wait to cross the border into her native country of Canada. Lauren hadn't been home in over 10 years. She didn't think she'd ever go back, but here she was on the bus, running back home. As soon as she arrives in Vancouver, which would be sometime in the next 3hours, she would be on the first flight out to Quebec. Lauren mentally calculated that she could be at her mother's door step in 9 hours and 32 minutes.

"Excuse me miss, is this seat taken?" Lauren was deep in thought and was a little startled by the interruption. The elderly woman chuckled a little bit before apologizing. "I'm sorry to have startled you dear; you must have been lost in thought."

"Uh, yes, yes I was. But no need to apologize, please sit, this seat is unoccupied." Lauren motioned to the seat next to her. As the woman took her seat Lauren was silently hoping that woman wouldn't strike up a conversation. The less she interacted with people the better it would be just in case Nadia tried tracking her. To ensure that the woman would get the message that Lauren didn't want to talk, Lauren put on her headphones once again and closed her eyes, as the bus slowly pulled out of the terminal. The woman must have gotten the unspoken request because she simply looked forward and left Lauren alone.

As the bus ventured down the road, Lauren drifted off into a restless sleep. As soon as Lauren entered into a deep sleep she began to dream. Her subconscious mind took her back to the scene of her most brutal beating at the hands of Nadia. It was also the final straw for Lauren. After that beating is when Lauren formulated a plan to leave Nadia once and for all.

-Flashback-

It was midday on the afternoon of Lauren's birthday. Nadia surprised Lauren by taking the day off to spend the day with her. They spent all morning in bed together having sex and much to Lauren's surprise, it wasn't half bad. Nadia was gentler than she had been lately and they stayed wrapped up in each other for a while afterward until Nadia decided it was time for a shower. She planned on taking Lauren for a champagne brunch followed by a trip to the Getty museum to celebrate Lauren's birthday. Lauren joined Nadia for a shower where they had another round of sex, that was over far too fast for Lauren, but she wasn't going to complain, this had the nicest Nadia had been in ages.

"Head on out and start getting ready for the day. I'll be just a few more minutes." Nadia stated.

"Okay, do you want me to put out your clothes for you?" Lauren asked.

"Yes, that would save us some time. Can you grab my phone from the office; I left it charging there last night." Nadia said as Lauren exited the shower.

"Sure," Lauren responded.

Lauren got dressed quickly, put clothes out for Nadia and headed to the office located across from their bedroom to retrieve Nadia's phone. Lauren unplugged the phone and was headed back to her room when she felt it vibrate. She looked down at the phone noticing that there were 4 text messages and 2 voicemails all from a person named Tori. Lauren's stomached dropped. She stood frozen for a few moments contemplating whether or not to read the texts messages. Lauren walked back into the bedroom with the phone firmly in hand as she took a seat on her side of the bed. The shower was still going so she decided to look at the texts.

Tori: Hey lover, had a great time last night:)

Tori: I didn't think a person could cum that many times back to back.

Tori: I have to ask, u said that has never happened to u b4, doesn't ur GF know how to please u?;)

Tori: Hurry up and do ur GF duties then drop the bitch off so we can fuck the rest of the night away!

Lauren continued to scroll through the texts between Nadia and Tori. Lauren discovered that they have apparently been sleeping together for months. Lauren also came across pictures of this woman's breasts and vagina. Lauren was livid. She couldn't believe how stupid she was to not see what was going on. Nadia was constantly accusing Lauren of cheating and here she was fucking some bitch behind her back.

Lauren heard the water to the shower shut off, so she placed Nadia's phone on top of her clothes and sat back down on her side of the bed. Lauren sat there patiently waiting for Nadia to exit the bathroom, trying desperately to hold her tears back.

"Hey, so are you all ready to go?" Nadia asked as she started to get dressed.

"Yes." Lauren responded in her Dr. Freeze tone, taking on her Dr. Freeze persona. "I was thinking maybe we could go to NoBu for dinner tonight."

"Tonight? I can't I have to go to work." Nadia responded as she zipped up her pants and adjusted her shirt.

"I thought you said you had the day off?"

"Uh ya, the day, not the night." Nadia's tone was dripping with sarcasm. "I swear, for supposedly being a genius you sure can be stupid sometimes. Besides, I already disrupted my entire schedule just so I wouldn't hear you bitch about me not spending some time with you on your birthday."

Lauren shook her head in frustration, her tears cascading down her face. Nadia looked at Lauren in disgust.

"Oh god! Here we go with the water works! What the fuck is the matter with you?" Nadia spat out.

"I know Nadia."

"You know what Lauren!?" Nadia narrowed her eyes at Lauren.

"I know you've cheating on me with a woman named Tori." Lauren said tearfully.

"Who the fuck told you that!?"

"No one told, I read the texts."

"You what!?" Nadia growled. "I asked you to get my phone, not search through it like some psychotic clingy bitch."

"All this time Nadia you have accused me over and over again of cheating, and you are the one cheating." Lauren was now sobbing. "I can't do this anymore, it's over, I'm moving out."

Nadia walked around to Lauren's side of the bed, staring at Lauren with an evil look in her eyes. Lauren was instantly terrified, a chill ran down Lauren's spine. "That's where you're wrong Lauren. It's not over until I say it's over. You aren't going anywhere, until I allow you to go. If you run away I'll find you and I'll kill you."

Lauren tried to stand up but Nadia wasn't having it. She pushed her back down onto the bed and began punching Lauren repeatedly in the face. She grabbed her by the hair throwing her to the floor. Nadia moved to sit on top of Lauren, pinning her down. "I tried to give you a good day, but you had to go and ruin it. Now I have to teach you to never go snooping through my phone again!" Nadia proceeded to choke Lauren until she passed out.

Lauren was awakened by a bucket of cold water thrown in her face. When Lauren's mind recovered from the initial shock, she realized she was still lying on the floor in her bedroom. Nadia was standing above her staring down at her with a menacing grin. Lauren tried to sit up but the pain that engulfed her entire body was too much for her to handle.

"Now, this is how it's going to go down Lauren. You aren't going anywhere. You can go to work but that's it. You will remain in this house unless I say otherwise. You are going to call into your work and tell them you are taking a leave of absence to take care of your dying mother. That should give you enough time to heal without them asking any questions. If you speak about this to anyone I'll kill you. Remember I'm a highly decorated detective; I can get away with it. Well, since we got that all straightened out, I'm off to get fucked into oblivion by a real woman who knows how to satisfy me. I'll be home tomorrow morning by 8am, have my breakfast ready." Nadia put on her jacket and headed for the door. "Oh, and clean yourself up, you're a disgusting mess and you're bleeding all over my carpet."

After Nadia left Lauren lay on the floor of her bedroom crying until she had no tears left. After she was all cried out, Lauren got to her feet and made her way into the bathroom. What she saw in the mirror horrified her. Lauren didn't recognize herself; her face was badly bruised and extremely swollen. She also had dark bruises on her neck where Nadia's hands gripped her. That was it for Lauren, she couldn't take any more, and she wouldn't take it anymore. She decided then, in that bathroom of her master bedroom that she was getting out. She stayed up the rest of the night formulating a plan to leave Nadia for good, to run away and never look back.

-End of flashback-

Lauren opened her eyes, startled a little from the dream she had. Even though that incident took place almost a year ago, she can still vividly recall how she looked. Lauren shook her head to try and clear her mind from the mental picture that was still lingering around in her mind.

"Good morning travelers, we are pulling up to the border please have your documentation out and ready to go so we could be on our way as quickly as possible." The driver turned on the interior lights of the bus as he spoke.

The process at the border was fairly quick; they were back on the road in no time. Lauren gazed out the window, sighing in relief. Now that she crossed the border it would be harder for Nadia to track her. Nadia had a lot of contacts through the LAPD and Lauren knew she would exhaust all of them to try and find her. The one thing that Lauren had on her side was Nadia had no connections in Canada; she had no idea where Lauren was raised or where her mother lived. For once Lauren was grateful that Nadia was too self-absorbed to learn those details about her. Lauren looked at her watch; it would be at least another 3 hours before Nadia discovered she was gone.

Lauren got ready like normal to go to work. She informed Nadia that she would be working an 18 hour shift at the hospital and would be home around noon the next day. As soon as Lauren got to work she headed straight for the locker room and grabbed her backpack that she had kept in her locker for the last 6 months. That's where she stashed some money away. After the last beating she received from Nadia, Lauren contacted her mother and told her mom everything. Needless to her mom was shocked and told Lauren that she would do anything she could to get Lauren away from Nadia. That's when Lauren's mom started sending Lauren money to help speed up Lauren's plan. She even paid for Lauren's plane ticket home.

Nadia started work at 10am so Lauren figured she would have at least 26 hours before Nadia found out she was gone, 28 if she stopped off at Tori's before going home. By that time Lauren would be on a plane to Quebec. A small smile crept its way on Lauren's face, it was the first time in months, maybe even years, that she had a genuine smile on her face, albeit a small smile, but a smile nonetheless.

"Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to Vancouver." As the bus driver announced their arrival became excited. She couldn't wait to board that plane home to start her new life, far away from Nadia and the hell she came to know as her life. After exiting the bus, Lauren hurried to a cab and took off for the airport. When Lauren arrived at the airport she checked in and headed to the restrooms to change and freshen up before she boarded the aircraft. 5 hours later Lauren arrived at the airport in Quebec. When she exited the plane, her mother and older brother were there waiting for her. Lauren ran over to them hugged them both tightly, never wanting to let go.

"I'm so glad to see Kar-" Lauren cut her brother off before he finished.

"Lauren" She reminded him.

"Right, Lauren. It's so good to see you little sis. But I am pissed at you for not telling me what was going on. I would have flown out there to get you in a heartbeat." Lauren's brother looked at her with sad eyes.

"I know you would have Jake, but I was too ashamed and embarrassed to ask for help. Also she has a ton of contacts in Law Enforcement; she would have made sure I couldn't leave with you. This was the only way I could do it. I am sorry for not telling you. I really just want to put Nadia and that part of my life behind me and start over." Lauren hugged her brother once more.

"Let's get you home sweetheart, we will figure out the rest as it comes. You're safe here." Lauren's mother hugged her for reassurance before taking Lauren's hand and leading her out of the airport and into the beginning of a fresh start.