“No, that monster can’t hurt you anymore. Show me where else you’re hurt. Do you have any broken ribs?”
JC gave a small shake of her head, wiping her runny nose on the back of her hand. “My ribs are fine but….” She grimaced with humiliation. “Shit. Oh man.”
Begrudgingly, she unwrapped the scarf from around her neck.
Tom’s mouth gaped open at the sight of her throat, colored purple and black. Closing his mouth, his jaw clenched tight. Every molecule in his body filled with hatred. He climbed to his feet growling, “Where is he? I’m gonna fucking kill him. Where is he?”
“I just want to go home.”
“We’re going to the hospital then the police,” he fumed with a fatherly command.
JC shook her head. “Tom Clemmins, if you love me, you will just take me home!” she demanded.
His lip flared in disbelief. “That is a low blow. You know I love you. That is not fair JC. I would do anything for you.”
She reached for his fingers. “I know you would. That’s why I said it. I am not going to the police and I don’t need a damn doctor.”
JC stood and her face turned ashen white. Tom caught her by the arm and she groaned in pain. Carefully, he rolled up one of her sleeves and then the other exposing bruises down the entire length of her arms.
She clasped her stomach and moaned again covering her mouth with her hands.
Tom held up his hands. “Are you gonna get si…”
JC threw up all over the living room carpet.
She carefully made a pass at her mouth mumbling, “Yep. Whew, I feel better.”
He wanted to ask if she was pregnant, but decided to wait. “We’re leaving in fifteen minutes. Let’s get your stuff.”
She hobbled toward the bedroom. “I only need two minutes. I’m already packed. I’m afraid to go outside. I don’t like looking in the mirror. I sure as hell don’t want to see my face all over some tabloid magazine.”
“JC, no one knows I’m here. Your Mom doesn’t even know I’m here. There’s no press outside. If anything, we’ll need to be careful in Greece, but I’ll take care of it.” He glanced at her suitcases, bulging at the seams, shoved in the corner of the closet. “You’re already packed?”
Her face crumpled painfully as she started weeping again. “I was coming home yesterday and got caught.”
“Got caught? He did this to you because you were coming home?” Tom’s voice raised, igniting into a full-blown rage. JC flinched, staring at him through one jade green eye. On the verge of losing control, he clenched his fists at his side. “Let’s go.”
Tom made two trips to the car with her luggage before helping JC limp down to the car. She covered her face with sunglasses, a knitted billed hat, and a scarf wrapped around her neck. They drove to the airport and he helped her struggle up the steps of the private plane.
Tears slid from beneath her dark lenses. “Thank you for saving me,” she whispered, pressing a gentle lop-sided kiss to his cheek. A long groan of exhausted relief whooshed from her lungs as she carefully sank into the tan leather chair.
Tom handed her ice wrapped in a hand towel. “Keep this on your cheek. I’ll be back in an hour.”
Terror washed across her face. “You can’t leave me! He’s on set right now. You can not go after him. Luca isn’t worth it.”
Tom knelt in front of her, tenderly stroking her hands, speaking in a low inexorable tone. “I’ll give you the choice, JC. Either I’m going to the police or I’m handling it myself. But if you think I’m going to sit back and do nothing—”
“Promise me you won’t do anything stupid?” She held out her pinky. “I don’t want this to cause you any trouble.”
Tom bowed his head and sighed. He’d seen JC and Tracy pinky swear numerous times, and to them, it meant as much as their word. He clasped her finger in his. “I promise I won’t kill him, but that’s all I’m going to agree to. I need to ask you something.”
“Okay.” She winced, testing the cold rag against her jaw.
“Are you pregnant? If there’s any chance that you are, I need to know before I see him.”
Her face contorted and she grimaced from the agony. “No, thank God no.”
Tom dropped his chin to his chest, blowing out the breath of air he’d been holding. “Good. Thank God. I’ll be back.”
Tom jogged down the steps with his phone in hand. Slipping into the backseat of the car, he dialed his publicist. “Andy, I need you to do me a favor right now. I need you to call Luca Santini’s agent. I don’t care what you have to do. Lie, cheat, beg, plead, whatever it takes. But I want a meeting with him in thirty minutes. And I don’t want the little fucker to have any idea it’s me that he is going to meet with.”