Chapter 2

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Chapter contains rape and violence.

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It had been five days since she stood bound to a table in the granary and forced to watch Lewis put a bullet into his own brain and showering her with his blood. Last spring he'd tortured her and horrendously scarred her body; this time he made sure he'd finished the job of scarring her soul.

"Say goodbye Olivia…this is the last thing you're gonna think about before you die…the last thing you're gonna see"

She shook the memory out of her head and tried to focus on the work in front of her, noticing her phone screen lighting up as yet another call from Brian came through. She knew that he meant well and that he was concerned about her, especially with how she left things with them a week ago. She hadn't meant to be so callous with the way she said goodbye to him but it was all she could do with the emotional state she was in. Sorry Bri, right now it's not you, it's me. she thought as she stared at the screen before declining his call.

Benson. Leave a message.

"Liv hey, it's me again…Brian. Listen, I don't wanna be a pest or anything but this is like my tenth call in a week and I just wanna know if you're alright considering…I shouldn't have let it go that far, I came to you to be a friend and I feel like I took advantage; I don't know, maybe you feel it too which is probably why you won't talk to me… look, Liv I know that we're not together but I care about you; please, just call or text or tweet… considering neither of us have a twitter that's probably not the best idea but just let me know that you're okay; that we're okay – after that you can tell me to fuck off!" he said with a small laugh. "Okay…bye."

He ended the call and stared at his phone wistfully before putting it back in his pocket and leaving the locker room.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Back at the sixteenth, Olivia typed out a quick text to Brian, deciding that he deserved at least that much.

I appreciate the concern but I'm fine. No need to keep calling.

She quickly hit send and tossed the phone onto her desk as Murphy came through the squad room totally surprised to see her.

"Sergeant what the hell are you doing here?" He asked

"Working?"

"I don't mean…you're supposed to be resting, taking it easy"

"I did that, I'm bored"

"After 4 days?"

"You don't know me very well do you?"

"Benson, go home. Watch TV, sleep, take a class I don't care just get out of my squad room before 1PP accuses me of overworking the city's newest hero."

"Murphy…"

"Come on, a week, I gotta at least look like I'm taking care of you"

"Fine!" she relented, tossing her pen and shutting her laptop. She had begun gathering her things when the squad room doors opened and a uni walked in escorting a young woman. She looked to be about 25 was dressed casually in black leggings and a long sweater and she was covered in visible bruises to her face and neck, the most prominent being the black and purple swelling to her left eye that left the young woman unable to even open it.

"Sergeant, we got a spousal rape, wants to file charges" the young officer informed Olivia. Olivia in turn looked over at Murphy as if asking permission and since Neither Fin, Amaro or Rollins were there, he sighed, rubbing his temples.

"Go" he said, the word barely having left his mouth before Olivia was striding across the room to make her way to the victim.

"I'm Sergeant Benson but you can call me Olivia" she said softly to the woman as she led her to the interview room.

"I'm Faith" the young woman said nervously, looking around as if she expected that at any minute someone would be coming after her.

"That's a very pretty name. Faith, why don't you sit down, get comfortable and when you're ready you can start by telling me what happened. In the meantime can I get you something to drink or…?"

"No…no I'm fine" Faith had chosen a seat at the table in the room, wrapping her arms around her thin body upon settling in the chair, Olivia taking the chair facing her. "I just…I don't know if I should be here, what if he…" she said almost in tears as she looked over her shoulder at the door.

"Faith…Faith listen to me okay? He cannot hurt you here" Olivia assured her "You're in a safe place. And if you let me help you, I promise he will never hurt you again."

"Nobody can protect me from him"

"I will" even if I'm not so good at protecting myself…

"You sound so sure"

"I'm pretty good at what I do" Olivia said with a soft smile "will you trust me?"

There was a long silence in the room as Faith sat with her head down, nervously chewing her already split bottom lip as Olivia sat patiently waiting for the young woman to agree to let her help. Finally, Faith took a deep breath and looked up at Olivia with her eyes full of tears.

"My husband…he has so many rules…too many to remember"

"Rules?"

"…on how I should look, things I should do, say…he has rules for everything and he gets angry when I forget"

"Is that how you got these?"Olivia asked, gesturing to the bruises that covered the young woman. Again, Faith simply nodded as the tears she'd been holding back broke free.

"He likes his dinner on the table at 6pm when he walks in the door…I was ten minutes late and…" she stopped as her phone pinged in her purse. Nervously she removed the device from her purse and read the message that had come through. "This was a mistake" she said as she practically jumped out of her seat.

"Faith, was that him?"

"I shouldn't have come here…I'm sorry to have wasted your time. I gotta go!" Faith cried and ran for the door, throwing it open and fleeing down the hall.

"Fuck!" Olivia seethed and quickly went after her. She was nowhere in sight by the time Olivia made it to the hall outside of the squad room and Olivia figured that she must have already gotten an elevator as she turned toward the exit to the stairs and ran down.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

By the time she'd reached the lobby, she saw Faith running from the building and followed her outside.

"Faith, wait!" she called, catching up to her just as she was about to cross the street.

"I have to go!"

"Faith please, just let me help"

"I told you before, you can't" Olivia hated these cases the most, the ones where she knew she cold make a difference but the victims were just too afraid to cooperate. She couldn't keep the young woman here and force her to give a statement so she had no choice but to let her go.

"Please, take my card" she said as she scribbled her number on the back "I'm giving you my cell number, if you change your mind, and I pray you will, you call me any time day or night, I promise I'll answer." Faith stood staring at it for a brief moment before quickly taking the card, again looking over her shoulder.

"If he finds this…"

"Memorize the number and throw it away but I pray that you'll use it"

"I have to go" she said again before running across the street and disappearing down the block. Olivia stood and watched until Faith was out of sight then hung her head and let off a long sigh before heading back inside.

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Later in the squad room, Olivia sat at her desk absently going over case files but unable to get Faith off her mind; she still hadn't heard from her since she went running from the precinct this morning and now as it neared midnight, she couldn't help feeling that she wouldn't.

"Still here?" Nick asked as he walked in carrying a bag of something that smelled divine to Olivia

"I didn't want to go home" she answered quietly "What's in the bag?"

"Well, I figured you'd still be here and if you were there's a pretty good chance that you hadn't had dinner"

"I'm actually starving!"

"I figured that too so I stopped by Vinnie's and got some of your favorites" he said as he put the bag down on her desk and pulled up a chair "mind if I join you?"

"Nick, you are a godsend, of course I don't mind!"

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

"Good to see your appetite returning"

"You and me both!" she smiled as she dropped her napkin onto her almost empty plate "But I seriously cannot eat another bite I'm so full!"

"Same!"

"Thanks again Nick"

"You're welcome; It's good to see you smiling."

"I'm moving toward a good place"

"You and Cassidy? – if you don't mind me asking"

"No; that's still…what it is and I don't see us going back to…no."

"I'm sure he's just worried about you; we all are. None more than me"

"What do you mean?"

"Liv…at the granary, I saw…your clothes were undone and you were so out of it I just…I didn't mention what I saw to anybody but I've been going crazy wondering…"

"He didn't rape me"

"Then what…?"

Suddenly she was back there in that room and she could feel him behind her, his breath on her neck then his lips on hers; roughly twisting her head around to force his kiss on her – his greedy, violent kiss before his hands were everywhere and she wished she were anywhere but there, complete panic setting in when he undid her belt and she felt him tearing at her jeans…

"Just a failed attempt" she said near a whisper, her mind suddenly back in the present "But it's over. All of it is behind me and that's where it stays – behind me!"

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"You know what to do?" he asked. Everything had to be perfect if his plan was to work.

"I got this far didn't I?"

"You did, and I'm grateful"

"Just be grateful with my money when the job's complete! And you wanna tell me again why you need me?"

"Not really"

"She's your ex girlfriend, I mean why don't you just call her up and tell her you miss her?"

"It's complicated…this way is better" the man said

"As long as you got my money I don't give a shit!" she said as she held out her hand

"Always the bottom line with you whores" he scorned as he put an envelope full of cash in her eager palm. "twenty five hundred…you get the rest if and when she shows up"

"Oh she'll show up; and when she does, I'm thinking bonus!"

"Sweetheart, the bonus I got for you…you'd never expect it even in your wildest dreams" he smiled

"That's what I like to hear" she grinned.

She had no idea the man she was dealing with.

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"I should get home" Olivia said as she stacked the files on her desk. After their impromptu dinner, she and Nick spent another two hours getting paperwork done and now half past midnight, they were both exhausted and ready to call it quits. "Can't believe he's making me take a week"

"This time I won't argue with Murphy, you should take a little time off. You just be sure to pick up when I call in the morning, you know the drill"

"Call every morning and at night; yeah, yeah" she grinned, rolling her eyes "It's not necessary you know, Lewis is dead in case nobody told you"

"Better safe than sorry; shit happens!"

"Preaching to the choir, Nick"

"Come on, I'll drive you home" he offered as he got up. she didn't have a chance to answer him, her phone suddenly ringing.

"Hold that that thought… Benson" she answered and as met with the sound of heavy breathing from the other end "Hello?"

"Olivia?" a woman's voice cried from the other end "You said I could call any time" she continued sobbing, Olivia's heart filling with fear and relief all at once

"Faith?"

"He said he'd kill me…he wouldn't stop beating me. I hit him with a lamp, he staggered and I ran!"

"Honey, where are you? Are you safe?"

"I'm in a diner…I don't know where, I'm in my pajamas I…I just kept running until I couldn't!"

"You did the right thing. Faith ask a waitress where you are, I'll come get you"

"Okay"

Olivia waited while faith got the information she needed and quickly jotted it down.

"Smokie's, I know where that is, just sit tight, I'm on my way" she assured Faith before ending the call

"What…?" Nick asked

"Young victim came in this morning, husband raped and beat her but she was scared to death and ran back to him before she could tell me everything."

"And let me guess, he attacked again?"

"Thankfully she managed to get away…I need to go to her"

"I'll come with"

"I think I should go alone, I'm trying to get her to trust me and if she sees you it might scare her off"

"Liv…"

"Nick, I'll be fine"

"So help me; you lock the car windows…and the doors and you call me the second you get there!"

"Okay dad. Go home, stop worrying" she said as they left the squad room together.

Downstairs in the parking lot, he got into his car while she took the brown SUV that belongs to the department.

"Call" he sternly reminded

"Goodnight Nick" she grinned before they drove off in separate directions.

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Olivia arrived at the out-of-the-way diner twenty minutes later. After calling Nick, she got out of the car and went inside, showed her badge to the waitress on duty and asked about the young woman who had come in; the waitress, happy that someone would be helping the girl, gladly escorted Olivia over.

"I got here as fast as I could" Olivia apologized to Faith who sat curled up in a booth, nervously sipping a mug of tea that the waitress had been kind enough to give her on the house. She was sickened when she sat down and Faith looked up at her, her long red hair falling away from her face to reveal a barrage of new and worse cuts and bruises.

"I can't go back there" she wept silently

"And you never have to again" Olivia promised, her heart breaking for the young woman "Come on, I'm parked out front."

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They had driven about fifty yards from the diner when Faith gripped the door handle and began taking deep breaths.

"You okay?"

"Pull over, I'm gonna be sick!" Faith cried. Olivia quickly slowed the car and pulled over to the side of the road that housed a vacant lot. Faith sprang from the car the moment it stopped, running about 10 feet into the lot before she dropped down to the ground on all fours and began retching violently. Olivia got out of the car and ran over to her, kneeling down beside her to hold her hair back as she continued heaving.

She was saying something to Faith about going to the hospital when it happened, she never heard his footsteps as they softly approached and never got a chance to turn around before he whacked her hard on the back of the head, knocking her out cold and sending her limp body falling to the freezing ground.

"How the hell did you manage to throw up?" he asked as he knelt down and began securing Olivia's hands, legs and feet with duct tape.

"Ipecac" Faith grinned as she stood up and wiped her mouth with the back of her sleeve. She was disturbed at seeing him tie Olivia up; they hadn't discussed anything like that but she figured it was none of her business and said nothing

"Darlin, you are one dedicated girl" he mused, impressed at how well she'd performed "Even took two beatings like a pro!"

"Had to be convincing! You know how many tricks I'd have to turn for five large? Hell, I'd have let you actually rape me if you needed to!" she laughed but was quite serious.

"If only they had Oscars for whores…"

"Performance of my life" she gloated

"Truer words…" he'd placed the final piece of tape over Olivia's mouth and picked her up, carrying her to his vehicle a few yards away where he put her body in the trunk. He took her radio and badge, her phone, wallet, cuffs and gun into a bag and carried them back to the department SUV she'd driven and placed them on the front seat before turning off the engine, taking the keys out of the ignition and locking the doors then threw they keys far into the dark lot, all while Faith stood watching.

"Okay well, it's been real but I gotta go…unless you wanna sample what you paid for" she offered

"I'll pass"

"Whatever. Where's my money? …and that bonus we discussed? she asked while leaning back against Olivia's vehicle.

"Hold your horses darling, I got it right here" he said with a sly grin as he reached into his back pocket. But instead of the envelope full of cash that she was expecting she got a knife to the stomach, her mouth agape in shock as he stabbed her twice more with hard, quick thrusts before letting her drop to the ground beside the SUV.

"Dead whores tell no tales!" he mocked, smiling down at the dying girl with his perfect white teeth "Give El Diablo my regards!" he winked as he closed her eyes and released her final breath and the man turned and went back to his car, shut the trunk and drove away without a second thought just the rain started.

Inside the SUV, Olivia's phone rang for the final time before it went to voicemail…

"Liv it's me again. I got your text and I tried to be okay with it but I can't because…well I can't. I tried the whole 'us being apart' thing and I miss you a hell of a lot more than I realized, especially after…we need to talk, I'll stop by after work tomorrow. I love you."

With a pained sigh, Brian hung up the phone. He had no idea why it took almost losing Olivia again to make him realize what he had let go. She loved him but he hadn't been willing to give her the one thing he knew she wanted most in the world – to be a mom. He remembered a few months back when she thought she was pregnant and how when she found out that she actually wasn't, he practically jumped for joy. He hadn't realized how much he'd hurt her then and now he'd give anything to take it back and to have her take him back and he swore to himself there in his office that if she did he would do whatever she wanted to keep her happy - even give her the child she wants so desperately.

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A few hours later Olivia began to stir, pain quickly registering and she groaned, attempting to reach the throbbing that came from the back of her head but her arm couldn't move and she tried the other one only to be met with the same result.

"What…" she grumbled slowly opening her eyes to realize that she was in a very dimly lit bedroom that she didn't recognize. She tried to sit up but only managed to rise a few inches before she sank back down. It took her a few more seconds to realize that her arms and legs were secured to the large, plush bed on which she lay and that her clothes were gone, replaced by a sleeveless cotton nightgown. Panic immediately set in and she began pulling at her restraints while taking such deep and quick breaths, she could feel herself becoming lightheaded.

"No…no no no!" she cried as she squeezed her eyes shut. "This is a dream…it's just a dream. Do not panic, Olivia, you're only dreaming! Any second now, Lewis will walk through that door and you'll wake up" she tried to convince herself, now trembling in absolute terror as a deluge of tears tumbled down her face and her breathing became even more erratic.

"God, please, please, please" she prayed in a frantic whisper, suddenly feeling hopeful when the door creaked open and a man walked into the room, his footsteps heavy on the floor. She'd wake up any second now, safe in her own bed or wherever she'd fallen asleep but it would be okay.

"Afraid he can't hear you darling!" she heard a voice say but it wasn't the voice she was expecting and her heart began beating even faster. "I can see why he was so obsessed" the man said as he reached out and caressed Olivia's tear stained cheek and she recoiled from his touch. This was real.

"Who are you and why am I here?"

"Who am I?" he took a seat beside her on the bed, his face now in clear view, smiling that same toothy, creepy smile that she had become entirely too familiar with, only on a face that was 20 years older and cold fear gripped her. "That's right, where are my manners? Harlan Lewis and as for why you're here, well, it's simple; you killed my Billy…my only son and I want him back!"

Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?

…I think you miss the point. See, my daddy got up, pulled up his pants, put me in the car and took me to Dairy Queen…it was best day of my life!

"How? He's…"

"See I'm glad you're asking questions…means you're payin attention" he responded as he let his hand trail up her leg but she was too frozen with fear to even move and instead locked her eyes on his hand crying uncontrollably while her body continued to shake and his hand rose higher, raising the gown she was wearing until he was between her thighs and cupped her there.

"Please…don't" she begged and was relieved when he took his hand away and stood up.

"That's right, you wanna know how I get my boy back. it's not rocket science" he said as he as he took off his shirt then began undoing his belt and pants. Olivia pulled at her restraints even harder; she'd escaped this fate twice, this could not happen.

"I'm gonna fuck you seven ways to Sunday until I put one in you and then after you squeeze him out of that pretty little pussy, I kill you! He said and climbed onto the bed, on top of her and pushed her gown up, settling himself between her thighs.

This isn't happening, this isn't happening, this isn't happening… she told herself again and again even as she felt his hardness at her entrance.

"I don't want this, please!" she sobbed, realizing that there was no way out this time. Harlan angrily slapped her across the face with the back of his hand and grabbed her by the throat.

"Rule one, what you want don't matter; now open up for Daddy!" before her next thought could register, he forced his entire length into her and began moving brutally, viciously while she screamed, begging him not to but he only got rougher.

"Let it out baby, that's just the way I like it…music to my ears!"

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I… hell, I won't even try.