Chapter 1: Confusion

I can not believe that I am in my closet hiding from my fiancé of three years. We met in high school and became fast friends, while I was in my senior year in high school and he was in his second year of college. I left Chicago, Illinois to be with him, he found a job right out of college we moved to New York a year ago in which that little amount of time he changed and not for the better. I hear him running around our penthouse searching for me. I crouched all the way in the back holding my breath praying and hoping he won’t find me. (Please go to work already, I just healed from the last time you beat me. That was because I was being stared at by a co-worker of his.) As it turned out he asked about me and that is when all hell broke loose on my body from his torture.

“Where are you Jaycee? Come out now!” Bradley said as he continued slamming doors and stomping around out of anger. I tried to bury myself deeper in the back of the closet only to knock over my hard case luggage. (Oh, shit.) I thought to myself as the closet door opened, and he roughly pulled me out and he threw me onto the floor kicking me in the ribs and then pulling me up from the floor only to throw me back onto thefloor getting on top of me and punching me in the ribs and face. The pain was so great that I ended up passing out from it. In between consciousness I felt strong arms grab me from behind the knees and an arm around my back lifting me up into his arms. Passing out again in relief that I am finally saved.

I don’t know how long I have been out for but blinking my eyes open I can see a bury silhouette of a man standing beside me (Oh, God no not him.) when I blinked again I noticed that the man beside me looking down on me is none other than Bradley’s right-hand man Drake Kilburn. “Hey, there welcome back.” “Hey there, how long have I been out for, better yet where am I?” I asked him confused to what had happened to me. “Your in the hospital, it was really bad this time. You have two broken ribs a fracture to your cheek bone not to mention the many scrapes and bruises.” “Wow!!” Is all that I was able to come up with at the time. “You need to leave him, Jay.” “I know Drake, but I can’t he may find me, and I am too afraid to think about what would happen to me when he does. “

“I will help you, le me handle him.” “Really?” “Yes.” “Oh, thank you Drake you don’t know how much this means to me.” “Don’t mention it, I will do anything for you, you know that, besides I hate the way he treats you.” After making our plans and my getaway, he left for the first part of the plan. He called it ‘Free the butterfly!’ I am grateful to him and his friendship for the pas year that I have been here. Now to leave New York and never looking back. Right around supper time he came in. “I took care of your discharge papers, and I swore them to secrecy. Bradley won’t even know that you have been here.” “Where is he now?” “Meeting until eight.” “At night?” “Strange I know, but this is normal for him. I thought you knew that?” “I knew that he worked late but didn’t know with what.”

We left the hospital and went straight to the penthouse apartment in which he rents for the both of us. On the way to the elevators he stopped at the service desk and standing there waiting for him I saw him pass the clerk a wad of bills and them shaking their heads in agreement. I assumied he paid them for their secrecy, he probably paid the hospital for theirs as well. He leaves the service desk and comes over to me taking my hand into his, going over to the elevators he pushed the arrow button pointing up, as we wait I fidget with the ring on my left ring finger (My engagement ring, the one that he gave me once I arrived here in New York the memory of the night that the proposed runs through my mind.

Flashback to the Night of the Proposal

It was a year ago, on a rainy November evening, when Bradley took me to The Carriage House—a restaurant nestled high above the city, where every wall was glass and the skyline shimmered in the candlelight. I remember the soft warmth of the chandelier’s glow, the clink of fine crystal, and how the world outside seemed to dissolve into the golden cocoon of our table. Bradley had reserved a private alcove, away from the other diners. The table was scattered with white rose petals and the waiter, who spoke in hushed, reverent tones, never let our glasses go empty. I was nervous, though I couldn’t say why at the time—only that Bradley was quieter than usual, his blue eyes darting to the small velvet box in his jacket pocket.

After dessert—a delicate lemon soufflé—he rose from his chair and knelt before me, pulling the box free with trembling hands. The restaurant seemed to fade into silence, the other guests fading into the shadows as his voice, soft and certain, filled the space between us “Jaycee, you are my best friend, my heart’s greatest wish. Will you marry me?” The room seemed to spin as he opened the box to reveal a delicate ring, its diamond catching every glint of candlelight. I managed a tearful yes, and as applause erupted from the nearby tables, he slipped the ring onto my finger. It felt, for that fleeting moment, as if the whole world was sparkling, and all the pain and uncertainty that would follow was hidden in the gentle hush of that night.

Back to Present

I would have never guessed in my wildest dreams that one day it would all come down to this. Me running away from him because he was mentally and physically abusing me. As we entered the penthouse apartment I rushed to get all of my things together and into my suitcases before Bradley gets home from work or whatever he does after working hours, for all that I know he could be cheating on me. After getting my suitcases packed and wheeled out from the bedroom I stopped and grabbed out a piece of paper and a pen out of the first drawer of his desk. I quickly wrote a note to him and pulling off the ring on my left ring finger I put it on top of the folded note. If this doesn’t get his attention than I don’t know what will.

Not long after Jaycee and Drake made their way out of the building and to the airport Bradley comes walking into the apartment. Noticing that Jaycee is nowhere to be found the first place he loos is the closet where he found her this morning. He just happened to pass his desk and seen a ring sitting there on top of a folded piece of paper which he unfolded and read. “JAYCEE!!!”