Hi everyone. Thanks for all the reading and reviewing you all do. It means more than I can say. I hope you enjoy the chapter. It's pretty dark but I hope you like it. Love, IJKS xxx

Chapter One Hundred and Fifteen

"What was that about?"

Morag turned to find her husband standing behind her, not looking very happy. He folded his arms and waited to hear what Morag had been talking about and with whom.

"That was Charlie," Morag said unhappily. "I have a horrible feeling she's going to do something stupid."

Ross came to sit beside his wife, anxious to hear everything.


Ruby left Charlie's office, having turned down a lift home. She needed to walk in the fresh air and clear her head. Charlie had said that Joey was out for evening with Aden and she was planning on getting more work done. Heading down to the docks, Ruby sat on the edge. She took her shoes off and dangled her feet in the water. She hoped that she could be true to her word and stick by Charlie now. She hoped that nothing more needed to happen. Perhaps now they could start to move on with their lives, providing they could get rid of Grant for good.


Joey was drunk. Geoff had long since left her and Aden to it and Joey had no intention of sobering up any time soon. While she knew she would seriously be paying for it in the morning, right now, she wanted to get out of her head and stop worrying. Things felt almost impossible at the moment. Perhaps if she was wasted she'd stop holding back and actually beg Charlie not to be so stupid and to forget about the whole plan to sacrifice herself just to make Ruby happy. She wondered if Charlie's daughter would really do the right thing and make things up with her mother.


Charlie remained at her desk. The case against Grant was complete, including the statements from Claire and Claudia. She just needed to submit it. If she wanted to. She did want justice. She wanted Grant to pay for what he had done to her and the other girls. But it meant potentially facing jail. She didn't want that. And Joey seemed heartbroken at the idea. And now Ruby had granted forgiveness, she wondered if she could just leave it be now. If Grant was willing to stay away from them, then perhaps they could put this whole matter to rest.


Angelo was patrolling by himself. He was buried in his mission and getting desperate for a break. While he was absolutely certain that Hugo Austin was behind the human trafficking ring he was investigating, he still didn't have any proof. Martha and Xavier were the two people closest to him but Angelo couldn't get near them. While Martha tolerated him now, Angelo had killed her husband and lied about it. There was no way of befriending her. And Xavier was always with Ruby, who was Charlie's family. And despite his best efforts, Charlie wanted very little to do with him. He blamed Joey for that. He was sure that the trawler manager had some kind of spell over Charlie. If she wasn't around, he was one hundred per cent sure they would have got back together. But Joey didn't like him and Charlie was adamantly spurning his advances. Still, he was going to continue to try. He loved Charlie. He was besotted. He always had been. And he would do anything he could to get her back. As he had once told Aden when Belle had cheated on him, he was a bad loser.


Grant sat on a bench by the beach and sighed heavily. He rested his head in his hands and wondered what to do next. His wife had kicked him out, he didn't know when he would get to see his kids again, Ruby had rejected him and he was sure Charlie would kill him if she got the chance. Perhaps he ought to just leave and start again. Perhaps the decisions he'd made as a boy were finally coming back to haunt him. He didn't want to go to jail. He'd heard horror stories about what went on in a prison, especially to a man accused of rape. Growling in frustration, he felt suddenly overwhelmed with hate for Charlie. When he'd raped her, he should have killed her and been done with it.


"Ross!"

Morag stood and hurried after her husband as he charged out of the hospital and into the car park. She chased after him, calling his name. He looked around and headed over to his wife's car. She'd told him that Charlie was preparing to risk prison in order to make Ruby happy and try for justice.

"Ross! Where are you going?" Morag asked.

He climbed into the car.

"I'm going to fix this," he said.

She reached for the door but he locked it from the inside and sped off, leaving nothing but dust in his wake.


Ruby walked back along the beach with no real intention of going home yet. It was getting late but she wasn't tired. Looking up, she saw Grant in the distance. She glared at him through the dark. She felt sick just seeing his outline. Long gone was her doubt that he had raped Charlie. Now she knew it was true. All those things Joey had told her, all those images she had described of what Charlie had been through plagued her mind. She hated him.


"What's wrong, Joey?" Aden finally asked.

She had been giggling away for most of the night but the fact that it was masking pain was more than a little obvious.

"Nothing!" Joey lied. "Everything's fine!"

"Is it Charlie?"

Joey surprised them both by promptly bursting into tears.


Charlie ignored Morag's phone call. She'd finished work and didn't want to be hassled. She would ring her in the morning and tell her what she'd decided. Pulling up outside the Diner, she glanced at the Surf Club and wondered if Joey was still in there with Aden. She was half tempted to go in and see her, maybe take her home and say everything was okay now. Resisting, wanting to give Joey time with her friend, she headed into the restaurant and ordered some take away for dinner.


Angelo pulled up between the beach and the Diner. He spotted Charlie's car in the car park and wondered where she was. Deciding to sit and wait for her, he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. Looking up, he saw Ruby sitting on the fence, glaring ahead of her. Then he spotted Grant sitting alone on a bench. He looked at Ruby again and then at Charlie's car. Maybe if he got rid of Grant for her, she might leave Joey and love him instead.


With fierce determination, Ross drove Morag's car in the direction of Summer Bay. He wasn't supposed to drive. He wasn't really supposed to be out of the hospital these days. His forgetful moments were becoming more regular and he was supposed to be taking care of himself, or at least letting other people take care of him, not seeking revenge.


In the Surf Club, Joey wiped her eyes and tried to come to her senses. Aden put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. Against her better judgement, Joey had told him the whole story and just hoped that it wouldn't get her into trouble with Charlie. But Aden was her best friend and she trusted him. And she was relieved to finally have someone other than Charlie to talk about it all with.

"What am I going to do?" Joey wondered tearfully. "How will I cope if I lose Charlie? How will she cope? Why is she doing this?"

"I guess she thinks she's doing the right thing," Aden said.

"But she's not!" Joey said desperately. "She's not. She's not. She's not."


Ruby tore herself away from her spot and walked back in the other direction. She couldn't bear to look at such an evil man any longer and was determined to get as far away from him as possible before she did something stupid. Hidden in his car, Angelo watched her go. He turned his attention back to Grant and then noticed Charlie leaving the Diner with a couple of takeaway boxes. He admired her slim form and licked his lips. She really was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life. Studying her, he watched her begin to climb into her car and then turn back, catching sight of Grant. His phone ringing made him jump. Answering, he sighed when he realised he was being called back to the station. Giving Charlie one more glance, he started the engine again and drove away.


Grant looked up when he heard someone shouting his name. He saw Charlie coming charging towards him looking furious. He stood up and attempted to act as if he hadn't just lost everything.

"What the hell are you still doing here?" Charlie demanded, squaring up to him.

"Sitting and thinking," he replied.

"Well get the fuck out of town," Charlie ordered. "Now. Forever."

"Make me."

Charlie put her hands on her hips, her eyes blazing.

"I will," she said.

He smiled nastily.

"And how are you going to do that?" he wanted to know.

"Tomorrow morning, you'll be arrested on the count of three rapes," Charlie said. "I processed the case this evening and I can assure you that it'll be a long time before you see the light of day again."

"Is that right?" Grant asked, not believing her.

"That's right," Charlie said, unamused.

"Then I'm going to be pressing charges against you too, Charlie," he said. "I'll tell your colleagues exactly what you did to me the other week. And a cop in jail? I would not like to be you!"

"You can tell anyone you like about what happened," Charlie said, not missing a beat. "I'd gladly go to jail if it means getting justice for what happened to me and those other women."

He stared at her, unsure of what to make of her threats.


Two hours later, Ross Buckton arrived back at the hospital a little sheepishly to his distinctly unimpressed wife, who had, at least declined to inform the nurses of his departure. Back in Summer Bay, Angelo Rosetta was driving around in his patrol car with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Charlie Buckton finished a long, hot shower and checked her reflection before crawling into bed alone. Aden Jeffries let himself into his house and headed into the bathroom to wash his face. Ruby Buckton let herself in and crept up to her bedroom to try and go to sleep. A few minutes later, Joey Collins wobbled in after her, still feeling drunk and uncoordinated. She poked her head around the bedroom door to find Charlie looking like she was asleep. Stripping off, she climbed into bed and spooned her. On the beach, Grant Bledcoe was dead.