Flashback:
Adam searched the house frantically, looking everywhere, even under the beds, but there was no sign of her. Neither was there a sign of a break in or a struggle.
He grabbed the nearest thing and flung it with all his rage. The lamp shattered in a shower of glittering glass.
She was gone.
She had left him and he had no wayto find her.
Just then he heard someone behind him. In an instant he had slammed the man on the wall, using his forearm to choke him.
"Goddamnit Adam!" Ash wheezed around the suffocating arm Adam had on his throat.
Ash knew the instant Adam recognized him. Some of the rage in his eyes receded and he stepped back, before violently turning away and throwing a table across the room.
Then he turned back to Ash, his look murderous.
"Did you come here earlier? Did you scare her?" he asked in a voice so soft, Ash felt goose bumps.
"I came just now and straight from the airport." Ash said, raising both hands in silent surrender.
Adam ran his fingers through his hair, a nervous gesture that he had not used in years. Then he checked the phone and called the last number dialled. It rang to a cab service. Adam felt himself sag in relief even as he questioned them to find out where she had gone. At least she was not on her feet but in a cab. He finally got the taxi company to agree to let him talk to the cabbie.
She had gone to the train station. She was leaving town.
Adam closed his eyes in frustration before he headed out to the train station. He was going to find her. He had to find her.
For the first time in his life, Adam was afraid. Not for him, but for her.
For five days and five nights, he searched for her tirelessly. He only ate when Ash made him, barely slept, but his worrying kept him alert and on his feet. She had hardly taken any money from his house and he was worried that she would be stranded. He was worried that she would be hurt; that she would relapse into fever; that those bastards who had hurt her would find her again.
She was barely an adult, physically and mentally traumatized. No matter where he went, he could not find her. He knew in which town she had gotten off the train, but then the trail went cold.
Someone must have picked her up. She must be with her family now. He tried to console himself, but it did not help him sleep at night. He woke up in cold sweat, dreading what had happened to her. Dreading that he had missed something, and that she was being hurt again.
The only thing that kept him somewhat sane was that she had taken the 9 mm Beretta he had given her.
He was sitting on a bench in a public park, just watching the people around him. Hoping that by some miracle she would show up. These people were so carefree. He wanted that for her. Freedom, to be whoever she wanted to be. Freedom from the ghosts that haunted her eyes. Those brown eyes should be free of shadows. She was too pure to have been destroyed in such a way.
Adam took a deep breath. As long as the men who had hurt her were out there, she would have no rest. No matter where she was, she would always look over her shoulder, always be afraid. Adam came to a decision. He could not find her, but he would find them.
He would find them, and he would kill them. One day he would meet her again, and then he would be able to tell her that her nightmare was over. That those men were dead and that she never had to worry about them again. She never had to look over her shoulder. This, he would do for her and he would hope that someday fate would let him tell her that she was free.
Present:
"You have the surveillance footage. What in hell is taking so long?" Adam snarled into the phone. His temper had gone from bad to worse as the clock had ticked by and he was still no closer to finding whoever it was that had broken into Ellis's house.
Ellis was working on her laptop in his living room and ignoring him and his foul temper. He knew that Ash was wishing he could ignore him as well.
"We're running that image through the government databases, but it takes time; especially when we're hacking into the said databases." Ash finally snapped back. He was an intelligence expert and he did not like being harassed for information every 5 seconds.
"Hurry." Adam said icily and Ash cursed.
"What is it with you when it comes to that woman?" he said angrily and followed it by more cursing.
"Never speak of her like that. Get me Ash?" Adam said deliberately, coldly, and his friend was silent for a long while before he finally sighed.
"I'll let you know as soon as we get something." Ash sounded exasperated more than put down, but Adam knew that his warning had been received.
...
"Why are you sleeping on the couch?" Adam asked Ellis when she brought a blanket and pillow from the guest room and started putting them on the living room couch. His house, unlike Ellis's, had two storeys. Ground floor had kitchen, living room and Adam's office. The upper floor had the master suite, and two extra bedrooms.
Adam was currently working in his office, trying to come up with measures and counter measures, as well as double checking everything to make sure that he had not missed anything. He had deliberately left the door open so he could talk with her while she moved around in the kitchen and living room.
"I can't sleep on strange beds." She told him as she snuggled into the blanket. Adam stared at her for a moment and then clicked his laptop shut and strolled over to her.
"Don't mouth off lies to me. Just tell me that you don't want to tell me." He said even as he sat down on the couch across from her.
Ellis raised both brows. "Pushy, aren't you?"
Adam said nothing, just watched her steadily and finally Ellis dropped her eyes.
"There will be nightmares tonight. If I wake up in a strange bed... " she shivered but he knew it had nothing to do with the temperature. "So the couch is a better option."
Adam rubbed his eyes tiredly. "My room has a couch. I would prefer it if we were in the same room but I can sleep in the guest room if that would make it easier on you."
"I am not kicking you out of your own room." Ellis snapped and Adam smiled slightly before getting back to his feet with languorous grace.
"C'mon then. I'm exhausted." He extended his hand to Ellis. She looked at the proffered hand and then up at him, before tentatively placing her small hand in his large one and allowing him to pull her to her feet.
...
"Adam, still awake?" Ellis murmured from where she was curled up on the couch in his room.
"Nope, I'm sleeping." He replied with a low chuckle.
"Dummy."
"Brat"
They were both silent again, until finally Ellis threw the covers back and sat up.
"I can't sleep." She declared.
"You don't seem to be trying too hard." Adam observed as he propped himself up on one elbow.
"You don't sound sleepy enough to say that to me." Ellis shot back.
Adam sighed. "What's bothering you?"
"I'm cold." Ellis whispered.
Adam looked at her, and then at the thick comforter pooled around her waist.
"Not the temperature kind of cold. Shock, most likely." He said calmly and she looked away.
"C'mere." Adam said softly and Ellis looked at him to see that he had out stretched his hand to her in a universal invitation.
She drew the comforter around her tightly, slipped off the couch and walked to him. Adam scooted over, making room for her and Ellis sat down on edge of the bed, her back towards Adam.
Adam tugged at her, until she was lying down on her side, facing away from him; still wrapped in the comforter. He just hugged her from the back, and pulled the other blanket over both of them.
He never said a word, but his presence made her relax and finally she fell asleep.
Every time she woke up in the night from her nightmares, he was there to soothe her back into sleep. Adam was a good man to have at her side in a fight, even when she was fighting the ghosts of her past.
...
"Just how long am I going to be staying here?" Ellis asked grouchily on the third day of her stay in Adam's house.
"We have a trap set up at your house for them." He answered, the same way he had answered her for the past two days. Once the shock had worn off, she had wanted to go home. Even Ellis admitted (only to herself) that Adam had to have the patience of a Saint to deal with the way she had been pestering him about returning home.
"It'll work better if I act as bait." Ellis pointed out (again).
"Protecting you is the main objective; not catching them. So you will be staying here, where it's safer." Adam answered in a tone that brooked no arguments. She argued anyways.
"I don't want to allow them to disrupt my life and make me run like a coward. I don't want anyone to have that power over me." Ellis said angrily and she saw Adam sigh.
"Give me one more day. If nothing happens, I'll let you go back to your house tomorrow." He said resignedly.
"Just one more day." Ellis repeated before she walked off to work on her laptop. She had never been as glad as she was now that she was in Computer Science and only had to go to the office once in a while. If she had had nothing to do, she would have truly gone stir crazy while staying here.
...
Ellis was snuggled under the blankets on the couch when Adam entered his bedroom that night. He knew she was still awake but she had her eyes closed, so he stayed silent. After that first night, she had slept on the couch in his room, but she had been feeling more at ease around him.
He changed into a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt in the washroom and then walked back into the bedroom. He had expected to find her still trying to sleep but Ellis was sitting up. Her face was screwed up, but he had no idea what she was actually thinking. He sat down on the bed, facing her.
"What's wrong?" Adam asked.
"I want you to promise me something." She said, not meeting his eyes.
"Kill me if you have to but don't let me taken again." She said, her gaze finally meeting his, and he saw steely determination there.
Adam slowly shook his head. "I'll make you a promise, but not that one. If anything happens, you just have to hold out until I can get to you, and IÂ will come for you."
Ellis dropped her head into her hands. "You don't understand." Her voice was thick with tears.
"Make me understand."
"I was a naive trusting fool." Ellis laughed bitterly. "I thought I was ready for the world. I had just graduated from university, and I had done it in 3 years instead of 4. At 19, I thought I was invincible, and that everything was wonderful." She laughed again and the sound grated on Adam's nerves like nails on a chalkboard, but he stayed silent.
"I came there to see an art exhibition. I did not want to be one of those people who are always cooped up just because they work with software programming. God, I wish I had stayed at home." But after that, Ellis was silent. Adam could see the tears slipping down her cheeks, but she was not looking at him, not acknowledging him in any way.
Adam opened his mouth, though he had no idea what to say when she spoke again.
"I believed in love, you know. The great kind, where you fall completely for one person and he falls in love with you; where you live happily ever after. That's why I wanted to go to as many places as I could, meet new people, because I felt that he must be just around the corner."
A small sob escaped her.
"I was such an idiot."
"Ell..." Adam started but she whispered something that stopped him dead in his tracks. He stared at her, wondering if he had heard right.
"Why didn't I meet you then?"
The words hung between them, and Adam was not even sure he was breathing anymore.
"I wanted everything to be perfect when..." and she raised her eyes to meet his. Adam was staggered by the misery and pain he saw there.
"I was a fucking virgin Adam, and then they... God... why me? What had I ever done to them? To anyone?" Ellis said in a broken voice before she dropped her head back in her hands. She was shaking with sobs, but did not make a single sound.
Adam was next to her before he knew it, his hands hovering over her skin, but he did not know if she would welcome his touch or be repulsed by it. If he had not been so close, he would never have heard her muffled voice.
"It never goes away, no matter what I do, I always feel dirty. Like stains that just don't wash out."
That made the decision for Adam. He picked her up and cradled her against his chest. His arms were gentle, but firm. He was not letting her go, and he made sure that she knew that.
"Why are you doing this?" Ellis asked miserably.
"Doing what?" Adam asked, his voice gentle, soothing.
"Why do you care for me? Why are you coddling me? It's not part of your job. Heck, you did not even have to take this job. Why Adam?" she said swiping the tears from her face forcefully and staring up at him.
"Have you ever seen Discovery channel?" he asked her in a completely normal voice.
Ellis was so taken aback that she just nodded.
"Have you seen how some animals are too dangerous, even to the ones who feed them? They trust no one and attack anyone they can?" he continued and she nodded again.
"That's what I was, what I still am. It was a man like that who found you, and God knows you had every reason to run from me, but you trusted me. Do you have any idea what that meant to someone like me?"
Ellis shook her head, her eyes starting to fill with soft wonder.
"What you see as weakness, I see as strength. You trust people; you make them want to do better than their best. You make them improve." He said softly, and then raised his hand to cup her cheek.
"I would give anything to take back what happened to you, but I will not sit here and let you blame yourself for it. You said you were a naive fool? You were an innocent. Hell, you still are." His thumb stroked her lower lip.
Ellis laughed and it was the same broken harsh sound as before. "You have no idea what you're talking about."
"Oh but I do. There were videos Ellis." Adam said coldly, his temper finally snapping.
Ellis jumped away from him with a strangled cry. Adam stood up slowly, deliberately.
"I know what happened just fucking fine. God knows they did a lot even when you were unconscious." He said in that same deliberate tone that was in his movements.
Ellis looked at him in unadulterated horror.
"How could you watch that?" she said hoarsely.
"I had to make sure they were the right videos, and I was not about to let anyone else watch." He answered taking another step towards her.
"Why are you telling me this?" she said retreating from him. She had no idea that she was moving towards the bed.
"Because I want you to understand that I know it all, and none of it makes a difference to how I see you."
"How do you see me?" she whispered, sitting down abruptly as the back of her knees hit the bed.
Adam shook his head. "You're not ready to know that, and I can't have you running from me right now." With those words said, he stalked out of his bedroom, closing the door softly behind him, even though he really wanted to slam it.