Page 146 of Healed

There was nothing he could give me that would help.

A drink would be a welcome relief for my hoarse throat. Food may stop my stomach from lurching and growling at me. A bath and a blanket may freshen and soothe my body, comforting me with warmth.

But none of it could dull the pain. I could take all the painkillers in the world to try numb it, but the memories would never be erased. And so long as they were free to roam in my mind, I would never be at peace. Never be pain free.

“Is Rachel okay?” I asked, because I didn’t want to focus on me anymore. I didn’t want to think about myself at all.

“She’s fine. They took her to the station, and Dante had her out within the hour. She was singing Aqua to them by the time he arrived.”

“Which song?”

“Doctor Jones.”

“Of course she was,” I replied with a hollow chuckle.

“I heard the man arresting her was reprimanded and given a disciplinary. Not for the fact they got the wrong person, purely for arresting Rachel and exposing the staff to her shit again.”

My stomach lurched. I know he was trying to be funny, to make light of the situation, but I couldn’t help but focus on what he had said.

They arrested the wrong person.

“Shit, Gabriella,” Vienna swore. “I wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry.”

I guess my face must have looked as stricken as I was feeling.

“It’s okay,” I said quietly, twisting the blanket on my knees. “So Nico… Nico got away then?”

“Yeah. Rachel saw Nico enter the store and rushed to the car for her gun. She didn’t want to face him unarmed. She ended up hitting the security man in the temple when he tried to stop her at the entrance. She rushed around looking for you, and it was only when someone pointed to the changing rooms that she realised what was going down. She raced in there and shot Nico in the back of the shoulder. She’s kicking herself for missing her aim.”

“It wasn’t her fault. It was a stressful situation.”

“She’s still blaming herself. She thinks it’s her fault Nico escaped.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I wasn’t telling you to make you feel bad, princess.”

“I know. But I’m sorry anyway.”

Vienna sighed heavily. “Do you want to talk about it? Do you want to tell me what he did?”

A flash of the changing rooms flickered behind my eyes—Nico pressing himself into me. The phone playing. The noises.

I squeezed my eyes shut tight and shook my head. “No,” I said, trying to smother my sob. “I can’t, I—”

“I’ve seen the footage, Gabriella.”

My head snapped back with shock. “W-what?”

He had seen me?

He had actually seen what Nico had done? Where he had touched me?

“Hacksaw had it before you’d even arrived home.”

“Why do the changing rooms even have cameras? Isn’t that illegal?”

“Yes,” he replied simply. “But that shop is on our territory. Crash had cameras installed everywhere a long time ago, and we’ve always kept them up to date. We never look at the footage unless we need to—reports of drugs being taken in changing rooms, or people using it for private meetings thinking they’re safe there. It was a contingency plan.”