Breaking Conviction by Greer Rivers
Chapter Two
Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.
The words shouted much louder in Wes’s mind than the whispered curse that had just escaped his mouth. A dark auburn-haired woman sat on the examination table, and Wes couldn’t peel his eyes away. Her face may have been shadowed in swelling and black and blue bruises, but the disheartened—no ashamed—look there was clear as day.
Why the fuck did I open my damn mouth?
Every neuron fired off synapses in his brain, searching for a solution for making this poor woman feel shitty with just a single word. A rewind button to prevent the horror he knew was written all over his face, or hell, even a control+alt+delete sequence, erasing him from the room altogether would be better than standing there like an idiot while she suffered internally.
“Hey, look what I got.”
Bright red curls entered the bottom of his vision just before an iPad was shoved into his stomach. Wes caught the tablet and after somehow managing to balance the boxes with his other hand, he looked down to see the world’s cutest kid. She had the toothiest grin on her round pale face, hazel-green eyes, and what had to be a princess dress to match.
With the red tint in the woman’s hair, he figured she must be the girl’s mother, and found himself wondering whether they looked alike before he realized the child was staring at him expectantly.
Wes examined the iPad to see a paused animated movie of a young woman with fire red hair, just like the little girl. “Oh, wow.” He set his boxes to the side of the room and turned back to crouch to her level. The corners of his lips lifted and matched hers as she pointed to the screen.
“It’s Merida, from Brave. You hafta come watch.” She pulled the long sleeve of his Henley before her mother interrupted.
“Thea, baby, don’t be rude.” The woman’s voice came out as a rasp and Wes swallowed to make the phantom pain in his throat go away. But he couldn’t cool the electric hot anger filling his veins. He knew what caused that type of vocal injury all too well. Whatever son of a bitch strangled her better fucking pay. “What if he doesn’t wanna watch the show? He has things to do.”
She was right, he did have things to do. He was the glorified IT guy for the nonprofit, granted, one who could kill a man in under six seconds with his keyboard wielding hands… maybe even with said keyboard. His current task was nothing pressing, just a little tune-up on the already well-oiled machine that was Sasha Saves security system. And when a child invited you to watch a movie, you watched the damn movie.
“Sorry,” the girl mumbled obediently. “You hafta come watch… if you wanna.”
There officially had never been a cuter kid.
New mission: 1. Make this kid smile more. 2. Make her mom worry less.
He had a feeling accomplishing one goal would achieve the other, and it was the least he could do after making the woman feel embarrassed.
“I think I have some time,” he answered. “As long as it’s okay with your mom. Um…” He looked to the woman for her approval, resisting the urge to outwardly cringe again at her injuries. Instead, he channeled the rage he’d harbored since childhood into his tightened fists and tipped his head in Thea’s direction with the iPad in his hand. “Is this alright?”
At her slow nod, the kid shined a toothy grin at them both and tugged him to a beanbag in the corner, instructing him to sit down beside her while the little queen took her throne.
“We’re gonna watch Merida now.”
“Sounds good.” He chuckled. Wes had every intention of looking like he was going to watch the movie, while also eavesdropping on the grown-up conversation around him. He didn’t know why it was so important for him to know the woman’s story, only that the need to help in some way was overwhelming.
“That’s so strange,” the mom’s whisper grated against his ears. “She’s never taken to anyone like that. Not even her—” She cut off her words with what sounded to him like a feigned cough, as if she was preventing herself from finishing the sentence. But with her injured throat, it turned very real quickly and the painful hacking made him see red.
“You sit by me? ‘Kay?” Thea stole his attention as she patted the floor beside the small beanbag. “Closer, else you can’t see the movie.” Her command had him grinning as he did what he was told. She had all the authority of a CEO tempered by her adorable high-pitched voice.
“You’re a bossy little thing, aren’t you?”
She whipped her head at him and scrunched her nose while pursing her lips. “Mommy says I ain’t bossy, I’m a boss.”
Wes worked his mouth to keep from laughing at the sass rolling off her, since she was obviously very serious on the subject.
“A boss, huh?”
She nodded once with conviction, as if it was information he should already know. “Yup, I’m a boss and a princess. Just like Merida.”
“Fair enough. Well, what should I call you, then? Your name’s Thea, right?”
She nodded. “Mommy calls me all kinds of things, Thea… T… Theresa Jane Ward.” She lowered her voice to a whisper, “but that one’s only when she’s mad.”
“Hm…” He rubbed his chin to make it seem like he was choosing. “That’s a lot to pick from. What about ‘Boss Lady?’” She wrinkled her nose and he decided to try again. “Princess?” he asked, and her lips pursed in thought.
“Which one is better?” she finally asked with a furrowed brow.
He chuckled and draped his arms over his bent knees. “Now that, I don’t know. But officially, you’re the boss and the princess. The way I see it, you can be anything you want.”
She seemed to seriously think over his words before finally nodding with a small smile. “I like princess best. Merida’s a princess, too, and she can shoot a bow and arrow.”
He chuckled back and held out his hand. “I like that reasoning. Well, people call me by lots of names, but you can call me Wes.”
She tilted her head at the gesture, analyzing it before gripping to shake, just barely able to wrap around two of his fingers.
“Nice to meet you, Wes. I am Thea and I am four.” She dropped her hand and held up the other with four fingers. Her deliberate delivery was laced with a touch of excitement, as if she’d practiced all her life to introduce herself and now that she’d finally gotten the chance, she didn’t want to screw it up. Hell, she was only four, maybe that’s exactly what she was doing.
“Good job, Princess Thea.” There was a flash of surprise in her widened eyes right before she preened as Wes continued on. “It is very nice to meet you. Now… what’re we watching?”
She giggled and began to chirp away about her “favoritest movie ever,” even though she “only liked the parts without the bear.” Wes made sure to listen to every word, but he also aimed his hearing to her mother as well.
Years of being in charge of communications and intelligence made it easy to pick out different conversations and acquire necessary information from multiple sources simultaneously. First it’d been with the Night Stalkers in the Army, then the clandestine paramilitary group MF7, and now at the private security firm, BlackStone Securities. He’d never gotten the opportunity to listen to an overview of a Pixar film, though.
There was a knock on the door before a lyrical voice called out. “It’s Nora! And I brought backup.” A whirlwind of dyed gray hair on the woman the size of Tinkerbell entered the room, followed by Jules, the victims’ rights attorney for Sasha Saves. Despite having a noticeable baby bump, the tall woman was still sharply dressed, all the way down to red sky-high heels.
Wes wasn’t there often, but he knew the drill. Jules would speak to the woman about her options—both legal and otherwise—and hopefully, the woman would decide to use Sasha Saves’s services. After all, the nonprofit had a stellar attorney backing her, and she’d be protected by the full force of BlackStone Securities.
His team was heavily involved with Sasha Saves as a pro bono security service. Not only did Wes help out, but one of Wes’s team members, Jason Stone, or Jaybird, as they called him, was Jules’s fiancé and Ellie’s big brother. Hell, Devil volunteered his services as a medic and he was a member of the BlackStone Crew as well.
So yeah, she’d be protected by the best, to the best of their ability. Once Jules explained that to her and judging by the woman’s injuries, surely she’d use the clinic’s resources. Especially since she had a little one to think about.
“I wanna go home now.” The woman—he thought he’d heard Nora call her ‘Naomi’—sighed, sounding depleted. “There’s nothin’ to talk about—”
The words entered Wes’s mind, rustling up memories he’d tamped down for decades and he resisted the urge to groan in frustration.
“Yeah, yeah. I hear ya.” Nora shrugged before seemingly looking at Devil’s clipboard of notes. “Bike accident, hm?”
Fuck. She’s going back to the bastard.
Wes refused to listen to any more. Paying attention to a woman throwing her life away for ‘love’ would just piss him off.
After a moment of focusing on Thea’s chatter, the room grew quieter and he perked up at the mention of his call sign in Naomi’s hoarse voice.
“...Snake, right? He can stay. So long as we whisper. Thea looks so… carefree, right now. I want her to keep that feelin’ for a little while longer.”
Why did the way Naomi said that, as if she was both grateful and heartbroken, make his own chest squeeze with tightness?
Devil, Ellie, and Nora agreed to leave the room, and while in the back of his mind, Wes had heard Naomi mention attorney-client privilege, he also wondered if she just wanted privacy. Something told him it was probably both, but hell, he couldn’t resist listening in.
“I can’t leave him,” Naomi blurted in her rough voice and the words fell like boulders at her feet, rolling toward him until they pinned him to the floor. He wondered if they had the same effect on her. Surely the admission made her feel trapped in her nightmare.
Wes closed his eyes and tightened his lips to keep from yelling. Shouting. Doing anything to prevent her from making such a colossal mistake.
Now see, this is why I never come here. It’s none of my business.
On the side of his brain where he could remain logical, neutral, and detached, he knew he was right. On the other, emotionally charged side of his brain, he didn’t give a fuck.
“M-my daddy was a captain in the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office before he was… before he passed. He’d skin me alive hearin’ me say this right now, but I can’t leave yet. I need to try everything I can first.”
“Naomi,” Jules began with gentle authority. “If your dad was a cop, then you should know how dangerous these situations can get. You’ve been strangled. Do you know how serious that is?”
“I-I know it looks bad. I mean, it is bad—”
“It really is. Strangulation is bad on its own, but your injuries are some of the worse I’ve seen. Petechial hemorrhaging—that redness in and around your eyes—is fuckin’ scary. I’m surprised you can see anything at all.”
There was a soft sigh. “I can’t leave just yet and it’s never gotten this bad before. He said he’s gonna try therapy and honestly, it was all just a—”
“—huge—”
—misunderstanding.Wes’s inner thoughts finished in time with Jules’s and Naomi’s. Tale as old as fucking time, that one.
There was a huff and Wes wished he could look at Naomi, try to assess what she was thinking. Even if he could turn to read her facial expressions, he probably wouldn’t be able to tell from the swelling.
“Naomi, I’m sorry, but the way this has escalated. It’s not a ‘misunderstanding’ anymore. Strangulation is serious.” Jules’s voice had dropped some of its gentleness to match the harsh truth. “A woman who’s been strangled by her significant other is seven hundred and fifty percent more likely to be murdered by the same person—”
“But I’m never lettin’ him lay a hand on me—”
“—with a gun… Now tell me, Naomi. Does whoever did this to you have a gun at home?”
There was a pause, and Wes’s stomach dropped along with his hope for her.
Goddamnit.
“I-I… I hear you. I want all the information, but I need time. I have to try… at least once more. It’s not always this bad and my baby needs her father. Growing up without one…”
Wes’s heart pulsed in his chest at Naomi’s vulnerability and everything left unsaid in her reasoning. She’d said her father had died. When was that? Was it when she was a kid? He knew better than anyone the impact a parent’s death had on a child. That shit twists your soul up until you’re wrung dry.
The need to comfort her was nearly overwhelming. At this point, he’d say anything she needed to hear to prevent her from going back to her abuser. But his words had never worked before. Instead, he waited patiently for Jules to take the reins.
“Listen, I was raised by an addict—”
“He’s not an addict—”
“—I get it, I’m not presuming to know your circumstances, but at least the way I grew up, I had to realize something.”
“What’s that?”
“In some ways, loving an addict isn’t so different than loving an abuser. Your boundaries are stripped down, over and over again, until you feel like you don’t have the right—nor the energy—to keep building those walls back up. They’ll just get torn down again.”
“It’s just… I don’t know what to do. I don’t even want to be with him. But leaving what I know… it’s terrifying.”
Jules lowered her voice and Wes strained to hear her. “You have to figure out your line, girl. How far are you gonna let this go? You need to decide that today. Define your line for yourself, then screw markin’ that shit in the sand. You carve your line in fuckin’ stone, got it?”
“I-I hear you. But you make it sound so easy.”
“None of this is easy. I can tell you all the legal stuff you need to know, give you all the brochures to look over. But your most important decision before you leave today should be what your final straw will be. What will he have to do to get you to leave? In the meantime, pray, send good vibes, or whatever the hell you do that he doesn’t cross your line, but if he does, you have to love yourself enough to escape and take your baby girl with you, alright? We’ll help you every step of the way.”
“But if y’all help me, he’ll get in trouble.” There was a hitch in Naomi’s breath as she muttered. “I don’t love him… and I know I should hate him. But I don’t for some reason, and I can’t send Thea’s father to jail. I-I’m not there yet.”
“I get it, I swear I do. It’s okay. First off, know he’ll be getting himself behind bars all by his lonesome. And we have plenty of different resources here. No one likes to hear it, but prosecution honestly isn’t best for every case. Help doesn’t always mean justice. Sometimes it means escape.”
Wes kept his eyes on the screen as Thea skipped to the last third of the movie. In his periphery, Jules left the room to join the others in the office, leaving Naomi to think with the pamphlets she’d been given.
Thea squirmed in the beanbag beside him and he lifted his gaze to see she wasn’t watching the screen anymore. Wes followed her worried eyes to see Naomi covering her face with a towel Devil had given her. Normally, kids might not notice Naomi’s shoulders shaking silently, or register that she was trying her best not to sob. But he knew for a fact a child who’d grown up in trauma would no doubt understand the signs.
He made to stand up, pausing midway to whisper to Thea. “Hey, keep on watching the movie for me? Your mom’s fine, I promise. I’m just gonna go check on her.”
Her red brows furrowed. “And you will come back?”
Wes grinned before whispering, “Yeah, princess. I’ll be right back. Just make sure to let me know what happens, okay?”
At her nod and small smile, he stood and took deliberately noticeable steps toward Naomi. Her head was bent and he didn’t want to sneak up on her, so he waved his hand low so she could see it. Still, Naomi jolted and groaned, her hand shooting up to her neck, obviously in extreme pain.
“Shit, Naomi, I’m so sorry. I tried not to sneak up on you.”
“Huh, sorry,” Naomi whispered to herself in what sounded like a mocking tone. “Hate that word.”
Wes felt his brow furrow and almost asked her to elaborate, but she took a breath and met his eyes. Her face was damp with tears and Wes stood directly in Thea’s line of sight to prevent her from seeing her mother so upset. She’d probably seen much, much worse that morning alone, but shielding someone from trauma was never a bad thing, especially not a child.
“Thanks for tryin’. I’m just not… I wasn’t expecting you, is all.” An indecipherable look passed over Naomi’s swollen face. “Not to be rude, but I’m kind of busy.” She waved the brochures in the space between them and Wes took a step back.
Her “not to be rude” tone was very much so a rude one, and although he got the picture loud and clear, he didn’t want to sit back down with Thea until Naomi had collected herself fully.
“I didn’t want to interrupt, it’s just Princess T over there was getting worried.” Again with that face. He was usually so good at telling people’s thoughts from their body language, but Naomi’s injuries made it impossible. Jules was right. They were some of the worst he’d seen, too. Her eyes were swollen to slits, but when she peeked out of them, the whites of her eyes were filled with an inhuman blood-red that was painful to see. He couldn’t imagine how she felt.
“Princess T?” she finally asked in her scratchy voice.
He laughed and rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, fits doesn’t it? Anyway, I think she likes it.” He pointed his thumb over his shoulder. “I told her I’d check on you, but she had to tell me what happened with Merida while I was gone.”
“She’ll be able to do that, no problem,” Naomi muttered with a huff. She wiped her face, wincing every time she dried more tears from her cheeks. The muscles in Wes’s arms twitched to take the towel from her and do it himself. It looked like she was being way too rough, as if she was punishing herself for feeling something.
Just before Wes gave in and took control, she finished and sat up straighter on a ragged exhale with her eyes closed. “Okay,” she whispered, whether to himself or her, he didn’t know, but he decided to take it as a cue.
“You okay now?”
Her eyes opened again, but only barely, as she nodded.
“Yeah… I’m fine.” There was a lilt in her voice, like she was unsure of her answer, but he decided to listen to what she was saying rather than look into it.
Because, honestly, it was a stupid-ass question. Of course, she wasn’t fine. Who could be in her situation? If she wanted to pretend to be fine at that moment, then he’d let her. She wasn’t letting them help, so he’d at least give that to her.
“Good. I gotta get back to Her Majesty, but Naomi?”
“Yeah?”
She lifted her face more and it took everything in his power to keep his face neutral at her wince. Instead, he took a steadying breath and told her the words he’d heard years ago, hoping she’d listen better than his mother had.
“Trust your instincts and make sure to put your oxygen mask on first.”
