Healing Rain (13 page)

Kas smiles, his eyes reflecting the same deep feelings. “I love you, too. Now, get to class before you’re late,” he tells her as he playfully smacks her backside.

Raina just nods her head and smiles, realizing that, if she does anything else, his seemingly supernatural ability to read her will spoil what she is planning. She continues to smile and wave as he pulls out of the drive. As soon as he is out of sight, the smile disappears, replaced by anger and determination as she drops her backpack, grabs her purse, and heads to her car to drive to Erik’s.

She uses the fifteen minute drive to come up with an excuse as to why she is there so she can get what she needs. Guilt seeps into her, she hates lying, but she can’t think of another way to resolve this. Refusing to let Kas continue to suffer for her father’s anger towards her, she pushes back the guilt, intent on fixing what her father has caused.

Her white lie goes over easily enough as Erik gives her the earrings with the transmitter inside before she quickly tells him bye as she rushes out his door. She just prays that Erik won’t mention seeing her until she has time to finish what needs to be done. Icy pricks climb up her spine as she slips back into her car, and she tries to ignore the fear accompanying the dreadful chill. Cranking up the heat, she tells herself that it’s just the cold wind outside giving her goose bumps. She turns the radio up loudly, starting to sing, desperately needing to get lost in the music to escape the warning bells ringing in her head.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Raina pulls into the all-too-familiar multi-colored brick driveway, past the matching brick columns, up to the two-story house, beautifully crafted in tri-color stone and elegant caramel brown wood. The eight and a half hour drive was agony, haunting memories kept shooting through her mind, and she is exhausted from her emotional battle of pushing back the painful memories so she could focus on her plan to clear Kas. She forces herself to concentrate on that plan when her heartbeat rapidly increases as she sits looking at the house where she spent eleven years avidly trying to do anything to avoid her father’s cruel punishments.

With unsteady hands, she opens the car door, trying to control her shallow breathing as she steps onto the driveway. She knows she has a little over an hour before her father arrives, if he has stayed true to past routines. Glancing at her watch, she is sure that he is already at the bar with his colleagues. Raina realizes he won’t stay there long, just time enough to satisfy his need for the whiskey to run through his body, fueling him enough to be able to face the home he once happily shared with her mother.

Raina takes a moment to steady her nerves. She forces herself to look at the house, to push past her fear. The porch is deceptively welcoming with the elegantly carved railing and warm lighting that turns on at exactly 8:00 p.m. every night. Slowly, she walks down the stone walkway, daunting memories attack her with every step.

Her already erratic breathing nearly stops altogether as she walks past the hazel tree. The vivid memory from the pain of the hazel branch being repeatedly struck against her skin when she was eight years old rushes back to her. She takes another step, trying to rid her mind of the immense pain, even worse than her father’s belt, when her father had punished her for letting go of her bike when she fell off, and it had hit his car, leaving a small scratch. The anger on her father’s face terrified her when she had mustered up enough courage to go inside and tell him what happened. He had ignored her bleeding, scraped hands and knees and went outside to check his car only to return a minute later with the hazel branch in his hand. Her lip bled from how hard she had bitten it to keep from crying out so he wouldn’t punish her more as he repeatedly struck her, the lash of the branch leaving excruciating welts all over her body. She never saw her bike again.

Walking past the scarlet firethorns and the various plants and shrubs lining the walkway, she muses at how they are still pretty, even in the dead of winter. She has to swallow back the fear threatening to smother her as she gazes upstairs at the shingled A-framed attic. Her gaze doesn’t waver as she forces herself to not look away. Staring at the attic, she faces her fears, telling herself that she is no longer a child, no longer under her father’s tyranny. Reminding herself why she is here, she gives herself the strength and courage she desperately needs right now. Once her breathing calms, and she has regained some control, she walks back to her car, grabbing her laptop from the back, setting up the connection from the transmitter to the computer, carefully and expertly routing it to Erik’s personal laptop.

When she is sure everything will work as expected, she backs out of the driveway and pulls into the nearby park, anxiously waiting and watching for her father’s car to pass. Seventy-two minutes later, Raina watches the sleek black BMW drive by. She slips off her wedding rings and puts in the earrings, doing one more quick check before turning the ignition. Her cell phone rings, and she closes her eyes when she sees that it’s Kas calling again. Swallowing her guilt, she pushes back her fear as she ignores the personal ringtone that reminds her so much of him, and pulls the car out of the park.

Raina steadies her trembling hand and knocks on the door, extending herself to her full five-foot-six frame, somehow miraculously pulling off her poker face when she sees the surprised look from her father as he opens the door. His surprise quickly turns to cold, hard anger as he studies his daughter standing on his doorstep. He looks past her, making sure that she is alone.

“I need to talk with you, Dad,” Raina manages, proud of herself for the calmness in her tone that is polar opposite to the near paralyzing fear spurting through her veins.

Her father stands motionless for a few seconds, his glacial glare cutting into her, before he finally pushes the door open just enough for her to pass through. Raina glances past the entryway and into the living room, swallowing hard when she sees the couch where she suffered many beatings from her father’s belt, the same couch where Brian had raped her. Looking away, she swallows harder, taking a deep breath to steady her nerves.

“What do you want?” the arctic chill of her father’s voice matches the coldness in his eyes.

Raina turns around, forcing herself to finish this, “I want you to call off the investigation you started on Kas. You know it’s not warranted.”

He looks at her, cruel amusement dancing in his eyes, “I have no idea what you are talking about,” he lies, as his wicked smile speaks the truth.

Raina doesn’t waver, sticking to the speech she memorized on the drive here. She expected her father’s games, but she knows how to elicit the truth. If she has learned anything from her father, other than to fear him, she has learned how his twisted mind works, and his weaknesses. “I know you paid someone to send in bogus information to Internal Affairs. There’s no need in spending more of your money to fund the investigation, I’m not with Kas any longer.” His heightened amusement infuriates her but she reins in her emotions.

“He left you?” he chuckles, “I told you he would.”

“No, I left him,” she lies, knowing she has to make him believe she left him so her father can think he has forced her into giving up her happiness, allowing him the opportunity to gloat at her pain.

“You left him?” he scoffs, pondering her words as he studies her.

Raina tries to calm her breathing as her father stares at her, studying her to make sure she is telling the truth.

She passes his scrutiny, “When?”

“Almost two weeks ago.”

“Has he tried to get you back?”

She has to make her father believe that Kas really is out of the picture, she lowers her gaze, slowly shaking her head, “No.”

Taunting laughter fills the air, and she can tell that this pleases her father immensely. “I suppose he hasn’t, why would he?”

“You can stop wasting your time and your money. Your investigation served its purpose, I’m alone again, miserable, that should make you feel your investment was worthwhile.” The satisfied look she witnesses in his eyes gives her hope, he’s buying it. Relief fills her that she is almost done.

“You came here, all alone, just to tell me that?”

Raina stares her father straight in the eyes, refusing to let her gaze waver, “I came here to ask you to call off the wolves. Think of it as a departing gift, after this, you will never see me again.”

“Why should I drop it, what if you go to him, pathetically groveling for him to take you back?”

Raina bites the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling at his admission. “I won’t, besides, like you said, he wouldn’t take me back if I did.”

“You should’ve known he wouldn’t really love you. No one has ever truly loved you. You deserve to be alone,” his menacing words hold a sharp edge that she is too familiar with, and she starts to back away.

“I said what I came here to say,” she starts towards the door, “you’ve won.” Raina sees the cold fury spark in his eyes, and she knows she needs to leave,
now
.

“I’ve won?” he spits out angrily. “I haven’t won anything, not without Beth. I’m just as alone as you are.”

Panic stings every nerve. “I’m going to go,” she whispers, but he grabs her arm. She stops breathing when she sees the fury radiating off of him. “Don’t. I won’t let you do this again.”

“You won’t
let
me,” he laughs, “you stupid, worthless girl.”

The pain from the harsh slap burns her cheek, and she pulls her arm with all of her strength, managing to free herself from his grasp, knowing what is to come. She pushes her father before turning to run, but he catches her at the door. Her whole body goes cold, she knows her father is beyond rational thinking at the moment, and the fear she feels is more pungent than any she has ever felt before.

Managing to side-step his fist, she pushes him again, grabbing the door handle. Pain slices through her wrist as her father grabs it, twisting it viciously as he yanks it away from the door. She can tell she won’t win this, but decides that she won’t just take it without a fight anymore, so she fights back with everything she has as her father’s fist connects this time.

Erik gets up to grab another cup of coffee, rubbing his eyes wearily. He takes a long, slow sip of the much needed caffeine as he sees his personal computer indicating something is streaming. Opening the link, he grows increasingly worried when he hears sounds of a struggle. He listens intently, trying to decipher anything that would give him a clue as to what and where this stream is coming from. A man’s voice is screaming at someone, calling the unidentified person ‘worthless’, ‘nothing’.

His pulse quickens as he turns up the feed and plays with controls, trying to get better reception. He hears pained sounds coming from a girl, then a loud thud before hearing the man grunt from his own pain. More rasping words ring out, the man calling the girl ‘trash’ before another loud, sickening sound of flesh hitting flesh, causing Erik to cringe. He focuses on finding out the source of the feed so he can help this girl. His heart stops when a familiar voice calls out weakly, “Dad...stop.”

The breath feels like it’s been knocked out of him as he quickly pulls up the beginning of the feed, impatiently listening, hoping and praying that it’s not who he fears it is. He thinks back to this morning and how Raina borrowed the transmitter. Rage and panic flood him as he hears Raina’s voice telling her father that she needs to talk with him. He yanks the charger out of the computer and sprints to the door, down the stairs, not wasting time to wait for the elevator. He is out of breath when he reaches Kas’ office and opens the door, rushing by Frank, Russo, and Jake, as he grabs the phone from Kas’ hand and hangs it up.

“What are you doing?” Kas yells, but calms his tone when he sees the horrified expression on Erik’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“You need to call the police to wherever Raina’s father lives, right now!” Erik blurts out breathlessly.

Kas blanches as Erik continues, “Raina is streaming audio to me, and he is hurting her, really badly.”

His heart is pounding through his chest as he grabs the phone, numbly looking for and dialing the number, his mind trying to figure out what is happening, praying that Erik is wrong. Kas barks out orders over the phone, giving Waterford’s address, demanding they send someone there now. Giving them his cell number to call as soon as they get there, he grabs his keys as he asks Erik if he can send the feed to him.

“I’m going with you,” Erik demands. Kas doesn’t argue as he heads out the door, Frank, Russo, and Jake following.

Jake grabs Austin as he walks through the door, “Do you have your keys on you?”

“Yeah, what’s going on?” he asks, worried by the panicked expression he has never witnessed on Kas’ face before.

“It’s Raina.”

That’s all Austin needed to hear, “I’ll drive.”

“Play the feed,” Kas calls to Erik as he jumps into the back of Austin’s Tahoe Hybrid.

Erik turns up the computer, but there’s only silence. He checks the feed as Kas questions what is happening. “It’s not streaming anymore.”

“Why?” Kas asks, not able to repress the panic from seeping into his voice.

“I don’t know yet. I will play it from the beginning.”

Kas swears loudly, viciously punching the seat in front of him, as he hears Raina’s voice talking to her father. He listens incredulously as Raina tricks her father into admitting that he is behind the investigation. Fury surges through him at the sound of Waterford slapping her. Compounding emotions seize him when the sickening sounds of her father hitting her continues. Austin steps on the gas as he hears the blows.

Kas feels like he’s going to get sick when he hears Raina gasp in pain. The sound of his cell phone pulls him away from his murderous thoughts. He puts the phone on speaker and listens as one of the local authorities informs him that Raina’s car is at Waterford’s residence but they haven’t located her yet. Kas closes his eyes, his voice is raw when he says, “Check the attic.”