I called Caleb and asked if she took her purse and he told me she hadn't taken anything. She left her keys and her money in my house and now she was wandering the streets of New York alone in this raging storm.
Fuck. I fisted the steering wheel as I turned down yet another road, scanning the grey slabs of concrete in the distance. All the while, I prayed she was okay and still alive. All I could think about was someone finding her and hurting her...maybe even her stocker. Why the hell hadn't I had someone posted outside my penthouse? Why had Caleb allowed her to wander into the night alone? It was fucking New York, and she was a beautiful woman...where was his brain?
My phone rang. Trisha's name lit the screen.
"Is she there?" I answered, skipping the technical formalities.
"What did you do to her?" Trisha growled low under her breath.
"What do you mean?" I demanded. "Is she all right?"
"She is bloody and soaked to the bone, Jace. If you hurt her, I will kill you." Her words cut. The thought of Olivia in pain had my heart throbbing. "She doesn't want to see you. Don't come here. She won't even talk to me."
"I have to come, Trisha. She needs to know what happened. She needs the truth."
The line went dead. She hung up. But, it didn't matter. I was already on my way.
Chapter 27
The dripping of my hair on the tile of my bathroom floor was constant. I stood before the full-length mirror, trying to induce an emotion aside from grief. I was a horror to look at. Trisha had taken one look at me and threatened to call the police. When I said I did it to myself...without knowing what she was staring at, her eyes had grown wet and she lunged for me. But, I'd dodged her arms. I couldn't handle the thought of affection. Not right now.
I wished I hadn't spent all my tears. I desperately needed to cry, to feel something aside form this debilitating despair curdling in my stomach. But, I couldn't.
I could only stare at myself in the mirror. Frozen.
And, what an image I was.
My eyes were rimmed in a bruised shade of red, fringed in a dark purple...the color rivaled black. My cheeks were pale and puffy from incessant crying and my lips were thin, positioned in, what I feared, might possibly become a permanent frown of sorrow. There was a streak of blood against the side of my face where I'd rested my cheek against my cut knee, making me look more a wreck than expected.
My skin was an appalling shade of blue that made me think of death. It was not all that surprising through...the fact that my body would begin a slow death, now that I couldn't have Jace.
Of one thing I was certain. There was a monster within the man I loved. And, for reasons far beyond my ability to comprehend; I sated him.
The bathroom door burst open and Jace stood there in his suit. His blue eyes blazed as he took in my image. Trisha slammed into his back, but he didn't react. His eyes didn't sway from mine.
"Please listen, Olivia." He begged. "Let me tell you my side of the story."
I shook my head. "I can't, Jace."
Trisha wrapped a hand around his arm, trying desperately to tug him from the room. "You heard her. She can't."
"Olivia, I'm begging you." And, he was. I could see his pleading alight in his eyes. My heart wrenched in my chest as I stared hard at him, my resolve weakening.
"You will tell me everything?" I asked.
"Everything." Hope echoed from his tone.
"And, if I decide I want you to leave, you will respect me enough to walk away?" I stared hard into his blue eyes and I knew we were close to an end. If it was not the death of me...I didn't know what would be. Because, I was certain there would never be a more painful moment.
"If you listen and decide you don't want to see me, I will leave." He agreed, but his words sounded pained.
I thought for a moment, and all the while, Trisha stood holding to Jace's arm. He didn't fight her, though I knew he could have with ease. Instead, they both waited for my reply.
"I will listen." I said stiffly. I looked to Trisha and she nodded, releasing Jace's arm. I could see in her eyes, she didn't think this was a good idea. And, maybe it wasn't...but, I needed it. It would be closure.
I needed closure.
Jace pulled the bathroom door closed and stepped closer to me. His eyes were alight with fire and worry. "You should get yourself out of that dress, Olivia."
I shook my head sharply, ignoring my shivers. "Talk Jace." I commanded. "It's what you came here to do."
He nodded. "What did Lexie tell you?"
"Her side of the story." I shivered again, and his eyes flashed.
"Please change." He begged.
"If you don't tell me what I want to know, I'm going to ask you to leave and never come back."