Nowhere to Run (Stephanie Carovella) Read Online Free PDF

Stephanie’s voice intruded his thoughts.
    “I tried to convince her Steph. I tried to tell her she wasn’t safe there, but she didn’t want to leave. She said she’d been through it before, and she wasn’t going to spend the rest of her life running. She was so much stronger than we ever gave her credit for, you know.”
    Stephanie smiled tenderly. “I always knew it Jess. After everything she went through in her life, I knew.”
    “I killed her,” Jesse said suddenly, his voice almost a whisper.
    “What?” Stephanie asked incredulously.
    “Not the actual act, but I should have been there. I was supposed to be there. I had a photo shoot and I couldn’t get out of it. She said she’d be okay but when I came back…” His voice broke off. “I was only gone four hours.”
    “Jesse, that’s not your fault,” Stephanie whispered, putting her arms around him.
    “I should have stayed with her,” he insisted, leaning into her for comfort.
    “You couldn’t spend every second with her,” she protested, stroking his hair, her arms tightening around him. “Besides, I think, deep down you know this guy would have found a way to hurt Angel. I’d hate to think what could have happened if you’d been in his way. He could have hurt you, could have killed you,” Stephanie whispered.
    “And...”she broke off, a tremble in her voice. “And, I don’t know if I could have dealt with that, with losing you too.”
    Jesse pulled away from Stephanie, standing to pace agitatedly. “I went to the photo shoot, only to find it was a hoax. An elaborate set up to get me out of the house. There was no shoot and I fell for it hook, line and sinker. Whoever set this up, not only, had been planning this for a while but he studied me. He knew my career. The bastard wanted me out of the house and out of the way.”
    “Oh Jess,” she whispered, looking down at her hands.
    Jesse’s voice was gritty, as he spoke. “I knew then something wasn’t right. I could feel it in my gut. I tried to call Angel, but she never answered, so I called Gena. I just wanted Gena to go over and see if Angel was okay. I was over two hours away. Whoever planned the shoot wanted me far away from the house. I ended up leaving a message on Gena’s cell and drove home as fast as I could.”
    “When you got back, Angel was already gone,” Stephanie whispered brokenly.
    Jesse shook his head furiously. “No. She was still alive...barely, but still alive. The guy had really gone to work on her, Steph. She was barely recognizable. He’d used a knife on her. There were so many inflections, so much blood.” He spoke quickly, spitting out the words as if they were soured. “He’d raped her, and then shoved her own panties down her throat-”
    He broke off, unable to speak.
    Stephanie stood, walking towards him. She wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him. Jesse held her tight, glancing down at her.
    “What sick son of a bitch does that? Brutalizes someone like that? He tortured her for hours, Steph. And the blood...the blood, it was everywhere. There was so much blood.” His breathing raspy, he turned pain-stricken eyes towards Stephanie.
    “He brutalized her, and slit her throat, but not deep enough to let her die straight away. He left her battered, exposed, and bleeding out. He enjoyed it. He enjoyed torturing her-”
    Jesse broke off again, tears sliding down his cheeks.
    She reached up and wiped them away, cupping his cheek with the palm of her hand. He leaned into it, grief shadowing his eyes.
    “I called the ambulance, but there was nothing I could do. I watched her die. I held her broken and battered body in my arms, and watched her die. There wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.” He slammed his fist hard against the fireplace mantel. “Do you know how hard it was for me? How hard it was just to sit there and watch another friend die? It killed me. Angel may have been the one to die that night, but a part of me did