Betrayal: Kyle's Revenge (The Betrayal Series) (23 page)

Chapter XIV

A year later, Abby’s and Brianna’s relationship was still going strong. After Abby graduated from NYU and Brianna ended her commercially and critically successful run as Roxy Hart in the musical
Chicago
, they left New York and moved to a modest home outside of Los Angeles. They led a quiet life away from the prying eye of the paparazzi and the Hollywood glitz and glamour.

Abby was spending her days penning her first book-a novel loosely based on Brianna’s life story-and working as an assistant editor for a small but prestigious book publisher.

A few weeks after Kyle’s sentencing hearing, Abby took Brianna home to Michigan and presented her as her girlfriend to her family. Abby had not told her family anything that had transpired since Kyle visited them to ask for her hand in marriage. To say they were shocked by the turn of events would have been the understatement of the century.

Abby’s mother cried for days, but when the tears dried up, she told Abby she was still her little girl and that she would always love her and support her no matter what.

Abby’s father was a different story. He stormed out of the house the day Abby and Brianna arrived and refused to return until they were both gone. Abby’s mother begged Abby to be patient with him and give him time to come around. A year later, he was still refusing to answer Abby’s calls and emails. Abby still held hope that her father would accept hers and Brianna’s relationship one day. She missed him and wanted him to walk her down the aisle if she and Brianna ever decided to get married.  

As for the rest of Abby’s family, most of them, including Abby’s brothers, were in complete shock after meeting Brianna. But in the end were okay with Abby being in a relationship with another woman. The members of the family who disapproved of the relationship were very vocal about it. Their rejection hurt Abby and made her better understand what Brianna had been going through all those years that her family had shunned her.

Abby didn’t just suffer the rejection of family members. Some of her long-time friends also decided to distance themselves from her after they found out she was in a relationship with another woman. Abby was deeply surprised and hurt by their intolerance but didn’t let it get her down. Besides, she ended up gaining a lot more friends than she lost.

When people asked Abby whether she was gay, she simply replied that she did not believe in labels. She told them she was in love with a wonderful person and just wanted to be happy.

As for Brianna, playing Roxy Hart on Broadway ended up being the best thing that ever happened to her. Because of the commercial and critical success the musical achieved, Brianna’s phone had not stopped ringing since she returned to Los Angeles. The day of her final performance in the musical, she was offered a movie role she couldn’t pass up. The independent, coming-of-age film, which was about to start shooting, had Brianna playing a schizophrenic junkie who escapes a mental institution.

She had also been cast as one of the leads in a very promising TV pilot-a period drama about the life of a very famous sixteenth century English queen. Brianna was starting work on the pilot right after she finished the movie. Brianna was really excited about both projects.

Brianna’s career was going just like she had planned. She was doing work she enjoyed and had substance, and she was doing it all while keeping her face off the tabloids. Kyle had kept his promise of not leaking her arrest record to them. Brianna was thankful for that even though she had claimed she didn’t care. She really loved her career, and as much as she liked cooking, she didn’t want to do it for a living.

Abby’s brave and kind gesture of keeping Kyle out of prison inspired Brianna to stop holding grudges. As soon as she returned to The Golden State, she started to make an effort to forgive, forget, and mend some relationships. She had started to communicate with her mother regularly and was even helping her financially. Mrs. Garrett did not lose her house and become homeless because of Brianna’s compassion.

Mrs. Garrett still did not approve of her daughter’s “lifestyle”, but Brianna did not want to see the woman who gave birth to her lose her home and become destitute. Kyle was helping her, but it wasn’t enough.

Mrs. Garrett had recently had surgery on her back due to a car accident and couldn’t work. She was drowning in medical bills and the bank was threatening to take her house. So Brianna began to send her money every month so she could pay her mortgage and her many medical bills. Brianna still held hope that one day her mother would accept her and they’d have a normal mother-daughter relationship.

One day…maybe…

As for Kyle, he graduated with honors from NYU and moved to San Francisco to work for a top computer manufacturer in Silicon Valley. Over the course of that year, he kept his promise of staying away from Abby and Brianna. He had zero contact with either one of them and deleted all of his social media accounts. A day does not go by that he doesn’t regret what he did to them. He completed his domestic violence counseling but kept attending AA meetings.

A few months after arriving in San Francisco, Kyle met Beatriz at a party. Beatriz, a stunning marketing executive from Brazil, was in the country on business and was only going to be here for a few days. Even though Beatriz was a bit older than Kyle, she and Kyle hit it off immediately. They exchanged numbers and kept in touch after Beatriz returned to Brazil. Thanks to technology and their ability to visit each other regularly, a long distance relationship flourished. Things were going so well between them that both Kyle and Beatriz were seriously considering relocating to be with one another.

Every once in a while, Kyle looked back at the things that happened over the previous year. He learned some very valuable lessons from that whole ordeal. He took the domestic violence counseling sessions he was court-ordered to take very seriously. When he was done with them, he made a promise to himself to never raise his hand to a woman again. He was grateful for the second chance he had been given in life and was determined to make the most of it.  

****

One morning, Abby and Brianna were at the gym of their Los Angeles home, running on side-by-side treadmills and chatting animatedly about everyday things. Working out with CNN in the background had become their everyday morning ritual. Brianna was in the middle of telling a funny story when the news anchor uttered a name that made her stop talking mid-sentence.

 She snapped her head towards the T.V., so stunned at the images flashing on the screen, she lost her footing and almost fell off the treadmill.

Abby also snapped her head towards the T.V. while jumping off her treadmill and rushing to check on Brianna. After turning Brianna’s treadmill off and making sure she was okay, Abby returned her gaze to the T.V. screen and stared at it in disbelief. She had heard the name the news anchor had spoken so many times before, but she had never seen the face of the person that name belonged to. The split screen showed the anchor reporting the news story on one side while images and videos related to the story played on the other side. Abby and Brianna held each other and listened intently:

“Youth pastor Patrick Miller of Spring Valley, Nebraska has been arrested on suspicion of sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist,” the news anchor reported while Miller’s somber mug shot flashed on the other half of the screen. That side of the screen alternated between flashes of Miller’s mug shot and footage of Miller, in handcuffs, arriving at the police precinct surrounded by uniformed police officers and detectives.

The news anchor went on to report that one of the girls Miller had allegedly abused videotaped one of their encounters and that’s how Miller got caught. CNN then showed an interview with the lead detective on the case who said they were investigating other sexual exploitation claims made against Miller by other girls. The detective ended the interview by encouraging other victims or witnesses to come forward.

The images of Miller in handcuffs and smiling smugly were too much for Brianna to handle. She began to hyperventilate and shake but wouldn’t take her eyes off the T.V. screen. Her knees gave out from under her, and she had to sit down on the treadmill belt.

“Are you okay, honey?” Abby asked. “Do you want me to turn the T.V. off?”

Brianna shook her head and kept her eyes on the screen. Still convulsing-partly from the shock of seeing that evil man again after so long and partly from relief that he had finally been caught-Brianna pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. While Abby rubbed her back, Brianna rocked herself back and forth, just like she had done eight years earlier every time Miller left her room after another one of his special
therapy
sessions.

It broke Abby’s heart to see someone as strong and fearless as Brianna looking so scared and vulnerable. “It’s okay, honey. It’s over. They got him. You’re safe. He can’t hurt you or anyone else anymore,” she whispered in Brianna’s ear. With her arms wrapped around her, Abby rocked Brianna as if she were a little baby.

Tears began to pour down Brianna’s face while CNN continued with the news story. They showed an interview with Miller’s wife who, in spite of all the irrefutable evidence, doubted the allegations were true. She kept insisting Miller was an outstanding husband and father and was not capable of doing the horrible things he was being accused of doing.

Members of Miller’s church in Nebraska were also interviewed, and they all vouched for Miller’s supposed integrity. It was the worst case of denial either Abby or Brianna had ever seen. They both agreed that fanaticism can be a very dangerous thing.

By the time Brianna had calmed down and the tears had dried, CNN had moved on to other news stories.

“Hand me the phone,” Brianna sniffed, still sitting on the treadmill belt, her eyes red and puffy, her voice hoarse and shaky.

Abby stood up and grabbed Brianna’s phone sitting on a nearby table. After handing the phone to Brianna, Abby sat back on the treadmill belt and wondered who Brianna was going to call.

Brianna pressed a couple of numbers on the digital keypad of her iPhone and waited. “Hello, operator? I’d like the phone number for the Spring Valley Police Department in Nebraska please.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Abby asked while Brianna waited to be connected to the number she had requested.

Brianna nodded. Within seconds, a dispatcher at the Spring Valley Police Department came on the line. Brianna told the female dispatcher she had information on the Patrick Miller case and needed to speak to someone in charge. The dispatcher told her to wait on the line.

While Brianna waited, Abby made one final attempt to get Brianna to think through what she was about to do. “Look, I love you and will support you on anything you decide to do. But I must remind you that you are a famous person. If you get involved, it is going to be a media circus. You don’t have to come forward. They already have him. He will go to prison for a long time even without your testimony. Are you sure you want to put yourself through all that scrutiny?”

Brianna replied without a shred of hesitation in her voice. “Yes, I’m sure. I’m not doing this for me, Abby. I’m doing it for all the girls out there who may be going through the same thing with Miller or someone else. Yes, the press will hound me, and I’m going to hate it, but I have to come forward. I have to do this…for them.”

Abby sighed. The resolve she saw in Brianna’s eyes told Abby she was not going to change Brianna’s mind. “Fine then. If this is what you want to do, I will be with you every step of the way.”

“Thank you. I don’t think I could do this without you. I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” Abby grinned and pressed her lips against Brianna’s temple.

When Brianna was finally connected to the lead detective in the Miller case, she gave him a condensed version of her story over the phone. The detective asked her to come to Spring Valley to give a statement. Brianna agreed, and the next morning, she and Abby got on a plane to Spring Valley, Nebraska.

By the time Miller’s trial started, a total of fourteen girls, including Brianna, had come forward. They all told similar stories of how Miller had convinced their fathers that letting him have sex with them was going to cure them of their homosexual tendencies. The girls’ fathers had also been arrested and were going to be tried separately from Miller.

Brianna too told the prosecutor her father gave Miller permission to rape her repeatedly over the course of a month. She did not, however, implicate her mother who also flew to Nebraska to attend the trial. Brianna no longer believed her mother was at fault for what happened to her. Brianna knew how scared Mrs. Garrett had been of her husband and felt she was just an unwilling accomplice in the whole thing. So she spared the sick woman from the shame, scrutiny and possible jail time.

The case against Pastor Patrick Miller received nationwide coverage, not only because of the heinous nature of the crime, but also because one of the victims was a fairly famous actress. Just like Abby predicted, the press hounded Brianna, both during and after the trial. Everyone from Oprah to Barbara Walters wanted to do a story on her, but Brianna refused to give any interviews and kept her focus on the movie she was shooting.

Brianna hated how the media sensationalized and trivialized her suffering and the suffering of those other thirteen girls, but she still felt she had done the right thing by coming forward. She needed to stand up for all those young boys and girls who were not famous but were going through the same abuse she endured eight years earlier. She didn’t want them to feel like she had-worthless, helpless, alone, and feeling like they deserved what was happening to them. Yes, the media exploited her tragedy for ratings, but their endless coverage also got people talking and brought much needed attention to a very serious problem.

Miller’s trial did not last long. The monster eventually confessed to abusing every one of the girls that came forward, including Brianna. His confession, and the video evidence, made it a very easy verdict for the four men and the eight women that made up the jury.