Freeing Her (28 page)

Gabby’s hand covered her mouth as she cried
out, “Oh, God! Oh, God!”

Kolson tore the pictures up but not before
he saw the bruises across her ribcage. What haunted him the most
was the absolute terror in her eyes. He recognized that extreme
fear and empathized with it. The note said:

This is all mine. Every single bit of it,
precious.

Kolson knew they were dealing with a sick
son of a bitch. “Come here.” He pulled her into his arms and held
her, while she cried. He tried to calm her down.

“
When did he take those? I
don’t remember him taking those. He could have all sorts of
pictures of me. What if he puts them on the Internet or
something?”

“
Sshh. He won’t. He
doesn’t want anyone to know he took them. It makes him look guilty
as hell. From now on, you’re going to have someone in here with you
at all times. I don’t want you in here alone. And in two weeks,
you’ll be moving in with Case, so you won’t be so
isolated.”

Kolson could feel the tremors lessening in
her body.

“
I’m such a pain. I’ve
been nothing but trouble to you.”

“
Nonsense. It’s not like
you’ve asked for this. Now let me see that beautiful smile of
yours.”

“
Kolson, the last thing I
feel like doing right now is smile.”

“
You’re right. That was
insensitive of me. Why don’t we go home and have a relaxing
evening?”

“
I was going to go to the
medical library at the hospital tonight to catch up on my journal
reading. I’m so far behind. And now I won’t be able to
concentrate.”

“
It’s my fault you’re
behind, isn’t it?”

“
No! I’ve been busier than
usual.”

“
Gabriella, you don’t have
to soften the blow. I know I’ve been occupying more of your time
lately. Come on. Gather your things and let’s get out of here. You
need food and maybe after you eat, you’ll feel like doing a bit of
reading.”

On the way home, Kolson did a little probing
on how to make it easier on Gabby to read her journals. The next
day when she went to work, an iPad was delivered to her office and
on it were all her subscriptions to her medical journals.

Hands fumbling for her phone, it took her
three times to hit Kolson’s number because of her excitement.

“
Hart.”

“
Oh my God. Oh my God. I
can’t believe you. You crazy man. You are amazing!”

Kolson leaned back in his chair and found
himself smiling at his phone. “I can only assume by your erratic
sentences that you received the iPad.”

“
Yes! Thank you! You’ve
made me the happiest woman alive.”

“
Well, damn. If I’d known
all it took was a mere iPad, I’d have done that long ago. But wait.
I thought my amazing finesse in the sack did that.”

Gabby giggled. “Stop. You know what I mean.
And you went a little crazy on the journal subscriptions, didn’t
you? That’s a lot of money. Those are expensive.”

“
Kea, you’re worth way
more than that. I see how hard you work and it’s important for you
to stay abreast of things. This will make it easier for you. I
wanted my favorite girl to be happy. Besides, this means she’ll be
able to spend more time with me. Ulterior motives and
all.”

“
Oh, so that’s how it
works. But damn.
Addiction, American
Journal of Psychiatry, Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Archives of
General Psychiatry, Neuropsychopharmocology, Evidence Based Mental
Health.
That’s some kind of reading stack
you have for me. I’m impressed.”

“
It’s not that much. If
you need more, let me know.”

“
Oh, that’s plenty. Trust
me.”

“
Gabriella, I do trust
you.”

“
Thank you, Kolson. I, uh,
I think I would be in deep trouble without you.”

“
The feeling’s mutual.
Listen, I need to go, but I’ll see you in a little
while.”

# # #

Two weeks passed in a blur and it was moving
day. Since Gabby’s office was so tiny, the move was a cinch. Kolson
had two men from HTS take care of it for her. The biggest issue was
her personal office, which consisted of her desk and file cabinets.
The rest was only a few chairs and kitchen items.

As for her apartment, Kolson and Gabby
argued over it. He insisted on buying her new furniture. He wanted
her to have new bedroom furniture since the things she currently
had were old, from her college days. He thought it was time to move
on. She disagreed. She liked her shabby chic things and wanted to
keep them. In the end, she won, and he sent his men to move them.
He had to agree; her things were cute. She’d painted and sanded
them, giving them a rustic, stylish look.

Gabby smiled all day long as she set up her
new living quarters, and Kolson sat in her only chair and chuckled
at her. He couldn’t imagine living in something so cramped again.
He had at one time, when he’d left his father and started out with
nothing, but to go back, he knew it would be difficult. But
watching Gabby gave him a new appreciation for things. She
literally was giddy. And it made him happy to see her happy. It
also made him want to give her things. Lots of things.

“
If you could have
anything in the world, anything at all, what would it
be?”

“
World peace.”

“
What?”

She laughed. “There was a movie a while back
where this girl was an undercover FBI agent posing as a beauty
pageant contestant and when it came time for her to answer the
million-dollar question, that was what she said.” Gabby giggled.
“It was hilarious because the character was so not a pageant type
and she didn’t know what the hell she was doing.”

“
Oh.” He looked positively
confused.

“
Oh my God. You don’t get
it, do you?”

“
Not a bit.”

“
I was kidding. I don’t
know. You’re asking me something I can’t answer. The question’s too
out there for me.”

“
Well, think about
it.”

“
Why?”

He stood and moved to her. She was standing
next to the bed so he grabbed her around the waist and she tumbled
down on top of him.

“
Because maybe I want to
give you the world, kea.” His lips touched hers softly. “You are so
overjoyed by the smallest things. It makes me happy to see you
happy.”

“
I don’t need
things
to make me happy.
This, you and I being together, makes me happy. Moments such as
this make me ecstatic. Materialistic things don’t make me happy.
Touching you is what brings me joy. For most of my life, I didn’t
have any of this.” Her fingers danced over his cheeks and then into
his hair. “Or this.” She kissed him. “
You
make me happy,
Kolson.”

“
Say that
again.”

“
You make me happy,
Kolson
.”

“
God, Gabriella. No one
has ever made me as happy as you have. Some days I want to walk out
of my office and come straight to yours, grab your hand, and do all
sorts of crazy shit. Act like we’re twelve. Do things we should’ve
been doing when we were teenagers but never did because we were
living fucked-up lives. I want to do so many things with you. But
then I stop myself because I’m afraid I’ll scare you off. Or that
you’ll think I’m a freak. Or that I’m moving too fast. I’ve never
wanted anything like this before or anything this
badly.”

She laced her fingers with his and held on
fiercely. “Do them, Kolson. Do every one of them. I won’t run. And
you won’t scare me off. I swear you won’t.” Her eyes burned into
his as she spoke and his heart expanded like it never had before.
It was in that moment that Kolson knew he was falling in love with
Gabriella Martinelli. And he prayed she was falling in love with
him.

Chapter
Twenty-Two

Kolson and Gabby
met with the attorneys to discuss the avenues
regarding Gabby’s case against Danny.

Stan Harrison, the lead attorney, said, “Dr.
Martinelli, I have to be honest with you here. Even though you can
get those X-rays and a psych evaluation and there is the fact that
you tried to take your life, I’m not sure how far that will take
us.” Stan paused and hated what he had to tell her next. “The
problem we have is that you never filed a police report on the
rapes so if that wasn’t done, technically, a crime was never
committed in the eyes of the law. We may be able to file a civil
suit, particularly against your parents, but I think that’s as far
as we’ll be able to take it. I do recommend you have the X-rays and
the evaluation done, in case your cousin tries something, since he
is stalking you. You’ll be one step ahead of the game.

Kolson was one gigantic stretch of
unyielding steel. He watched Stan with interest but was not pleased
with his statement. Danny would always be an issue for Gabby,
blocking her ability to move freely without fear.

“
So what you’re saying is
she has no recourse at all.”

Stan looked at both of them and nodded.
“Unless she wants to file a civil suit against her parents.”

She sighed. “I don’t know if this is all
worth it.”

Kolson leaned forward and grabbed her hand.
“It would be a start, kea.”

“
He’s right, Dr.
Martinelli. And considering the fact that your parents abused you,
this is truly the best way I see. The other thing, and I hate to
bring this up, is if he ever acts, we’re already ahead of the game,
like I said before.”

“
Absolutely,” Kolson
agreed.

“
Okay, if you think this
is my only option.” Gabby wasn’t altogether comfortable with this,
but everyone else was advising her to do it, and as a psychiatrist,
it was what she would advise her patients to do.

“
So do you want me to
arrange the X-rays?” Stan asked.

“
Please. Can we use Lenox
Hill?”

“
Certainly.”

“
I want this to stay away
from my professional interests.”

“
Dr. Martinelli, I need to
mention this. You do realize that if this goes to court, it will
most likely catapult your career.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
You were sexually
molested as a young girl by a family member. The act was ignored
and denied by your parents. You then tried to commit suicide, and
they still turned the tables on you. But you persevered. Not only
did you persevere, you went to a very prestigious medical school
and became a psychiatrist to aid the kinds of patient you once
were. You will become a media icon. I’m only telling you this
because once this trial hits, you are going to become the darling
of the news. The beautiful, tragic story of the girl who rose from
the ashes.”

“
Oh hell to the fucking
no!”

Stan and Kolson looked at her and then
Kolson laughed.

“
How can you laugh?” she
asked, indignant.

“
I’m laughing at your
choice of expletives. ‘Hell to the fucking no?’ I don’t think I’ve
ever quite heard it put that way.”

“
Well, I’ve never quite
felt this way, so yeah, hell to the fucking no. I don’t want to be
in the media or the news.”

“
Welcome to my world,
kea.”

“
What will I do? Is there
any way to stop it?”

“
We can try, Dr.
Martinelli. But this will be pretty damn big.” Stan looked at
Kolson.

Kolson leaned closer to her and took her
hand in his. “First things first. Let’s take this one step at a
time before you start worrying about the news.”

“
Yeah. You’re
right.”

As they walked to Kolson’s car after the
meeting, he said, “I think it’s time we set you up with a full-time
bodyguard. I’m not comfortable with you on your own.”

“
But I have Sam, Ovaltine,
and Eddie.”

“
And they’re fine, but
they drive you around. I want someone with you in your office and
someone escorting you; I think it’s wise so you’re not alone. Just
being safe. And please allow me to satisfy myself here. That will
make it easier on me so I don’t spend my days worrying about
you.”

She was thoughtful for a moment. “Okay, but
when I’m at work in my new office, I’m good. With Case and the guys
around …”

Kolson turned to her and put his hands on
her shoulders. “Gabriella, it’s not Case’s job to guard you. I know
he loves you, but he has a business to run. He shouldn’t have to
make sure someone is there all the time to keep an eye on you.
Besides, he has a receptionist out front to worry about. It’s
comforting to know there’s a professionally trained guard taking
care of you.”

When stated like that,
Gabby almost felt guilty
not
letting him hire one.

“
Fair point. So when will
this start?”

“
Today. We have plenty at
the company. You’ll use one of them.”

“
Okay, boss.”

“
You think you’re funny,
don’t you.”

# # #

Two weeks later, Kolson was in his office
when a call came through from Stan Harrison.

“
Mr. Hart, I have all the
X-rays and the radiologist’s report. I’ll send them to your home so
you and Dr. Martinelli can look over everything
together.”