Well, that countryman officer wasn’t wrong when he said Rowan was about to get the beating of his life. I’ve never watched or seen anyone get beaten up so brutally before. More than six officers with strong builds and their batons in hand, kicking and whipping the living light out of him.
At a point, Duke leaves the beating to the officers and cos to hold , but not before obviously breaking or dislocating both of Rowan’s legs. One hit to his knee and the other to his ankle.
Down on his knees in front of with his hands confused on what part of my body to hold on to, I can just tell by the look in his eyes that Duke wants to turn around once again and join his hands in beating up Rowan.
"Aren’t—", I pause as I feel a sting inside my mouth. "Aren’t you going to ask how I’m doing?" I ask him.
Silently, he stares at and I know he’s probably thinking, ’I don’t need to ask to know this ti. It’s obvious.’
"Co here." He finally wraps his hand around and I don’t think Duke has ever held this gently before. It’s like he fears I’d break if he holds a little tighter. Soothingly, he strokes my hair and as I breathe in the scent of eucalyptus mixed with the sll of sweat, I can feel the fast beat of his heart, I can almost hear it so I wrap my arms around him and hold him stronger than he’s holding .
The crazy strong beat of his heart combined with the wetness of his body from all the sweating tells how much he’s searched for , how much he’s worried, and this hug shows how scared he’d been to lose and grateful he is to find.
Even though he’s not saying a word and just hugging , I feel at peace because I know all he’s feeling without him even telling .
And I’m grateful to God he found .
At so point Rowan passes out and I have no idea where they bring water from but they revive him by dumping water on him then the beating continues without rcy.
By the ti they are done with him, he is covered in cuts and bruises, his face and body is more swollen than mine, stained with blood and he can only moan in pain. He can’t move a muscle.
It’s safe to say that he’s in a far worse state that I’m in.
"Thankfully there is a cliff around here. So for the record, this handso young man here rolled down a cliff and broke almost every bone in his body." The countryman officer announces as they pick Rowan up unceremoniously.
Damn, that was one serious beating, I can’t even see his eyes. His entire face is swollen.
Slowly, Duke helps rise to my feet but it’s like now I can feel all the strain, all the pain, from running, cutting and hitting my leg as I ran earlier and it all hurts so bad.
Without a word, Duke crouches down in front of then pulls my hand. Silently, I climb onto his back and wrap my arms around his neck while thinking, ’I’m certain I ran quite a distance. Does he plan to carry the whole way back?’
"Does anyone have a problem with that statent?" The officer asks his other mates.
"No sir!" They all chorus.
"Good, now you can call the ambulance and make sure he’s cuffed to the bed," He says as he collects his hat back and places it back in his head. "We don’t want that one running away from the hands of the law." He walks towards , and, "Ma’am" he tilts his cap in a simple acknowledging greeting. I mouth a thank you and he gives a big bright fatherly smile.
"We’re gonna need to take your statent, but I’m sure you must be tired. How about you co over to the station tomorrow with your husband?"
"Alright officer." I say and I feel a sharp pain inside my mouth. That bastard slapped so hard over and over again. Funny how I didn’t even feel the pain earlier when I was screaming for Duke to punch him harder.
...
The walk to where the cars are parked was a silent one. Alan and so officers were ahead of us and so others behind. By the ti we got there an ambulance was already there to take Rowan to the hospital for treatnt, accompanied by so officers of course.
I was treated by the dics before they took off with Rowan. After cleaning my wounds and wrapping my feet with bandages, Duke picked up again and set down in the front seat of Alan’s car.
I quickly realized that Duke had co with a bike, since Alan was on a short business trip today he must have headed over here the instant Duke told him the news.
I’m so glad I now have people who’d run to my rescue in my ti of trouble. No matter where they are.
So Duke hands over the keys to his bike to Alan and takes Alan’s keys.
He exchanges so words with Alan for a minute then with the officers and finally walks back to . He closes the door at my side, walks round the car, silently sets himself in the driver’s seat and starts the car.
For long minutes, the only sound to be heard in the car are our breaths.
"H_" He’s about to finally say sothing but pauses, "How are you?" He asks and a soft smile crawls over my lips as I hear those words.
"I was scared. I was very scared. I was scared J wasn’t going to see you again. That the twins would forget and not miss . I wondered if you’d miss if you never found again. Then I was worried that it’d break your heart too much if I was never found. I was scared I’d never get to read another of your mom’s comics. I was scared I’d never see your dad, or your brothers. And—"
"And?"
"I was very hungry." I say and he stares at and my smile morphs into a laughter and a soft chuckle finally escapes his lips.
"Co here." He stretches one hand to and I wrap my arms around that hand and lean closer to him, resting my head on his shoulder.
"I’ll feed you whatever you want." He says and places a kiss on my head.
I’m glad I made him laugh a little.
...
"Oh dear God, Champagne." Emily screams as we enter. I can see Alan still got ho before us.
"Oh my goodness, look at your face! That horrible human being! Look what he did to you." Mary says with her eyes scanning my entire body.
I look up at Duke who has in his arms bridal style, with a sigh, he sets down on my feet and damn it hurts, but I hold it in and hold onto him.
"Co here." Mary says and hugs . "You’re safe now, you’re ho. That is all that matters." She says.
"Don’t worry my dear," Frederick says. "Now that we got him, I’ll personally make sure he never sees the light outside the walls of the prison." I can see the determination behind those words and sothing tells they are not empty words.
"Oh thank God they found you." Mary takes my hands in hers.
"Mary, I’m sorry you couldn’t go ho because of ." I say.
"Champagne, what are you even talking about?" She asks. "How could I go anywhere without hearing from you? I can’t believe that man had the guts to co after you! Oh if only I could just lay my hands on him, I’d—" I chuckle as she says those words.
"Oh thank you Mary, but you wouldn’t have to. Trust ." With the beating he received today, Rowan will take months to recover.
My head turns to the couch and I see the twins asleep there. "Why are—"
"Oh they were even more worried than us." Mary says. "I don’t know how but they understood the concept of kidnapping."
Oh no. Then they must have been really worried.
"When they heard you’d been kidnapped they cried for hours thinking you were not coming back." Emily explains further. "They refused to go to sleep until they saw you with their own eyes. That’s why they are here on the couch."
Tears well up in my eyes at their words. I look around and I still can’t believe I’ve been so blessed. After all I’ve been through, who would have thought I could receive such warmth from people?
Oh God, thank you. Thank you for sending help. Thank you for bringing back to this warm ho.
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