*Trigger warning: physical abuse.

Song for the mood: Love The Way You Lie by Eminem, featuring Rihanna. Here's a snippet:

And right now there's a steel knife in my windpipe
I can't breathe, but I still fight, while I can fight.

Sapphire

January 1, one a.m.

"Go away, Cameron," I muttered, before returning his text message with a simple reply.

Happy New Year, Cam! Wish you all the best.

He responded with another text:  Can I come to you? I miss your beautiful face.

Booty call. Nope, I was not going there.

I'm kinda with someone tonight. See you at church on Sunday.

Okay then. See you on Sunday, he wrote back.

Like the prodigal son, Cameron returned to church life after his accident. His folks and mine were close friends, so it was inevitable that I would see him from time to time.

I meant it when I wished Cam the best. He and I once had something special, but that was over. We rekindled a friendship, but he wasn't particularly important to me anymore.

"C'mon, let's take the elevator down," Mindy prompted, reminding me that we needed to get some sleep.

"Sure, let's go," I replied.

Our heels clicked on the marble tiles toward the elevators. We had just missed the last lift, which Julian and Jessie had taken. I caught a glimpse of them as the doors closed, and couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy.

A few exhausted partygoers were waiting for the lift with us, including one barefoot, inebriated woman who boisterously complained that the fairies stole her shoes.

"Is there a mirror in your panties, babe? I think I see myself in them." Some boozy slimeball suddenly grabbed me from behind, who whispered the corny line into my ear.

In response, I instinctively swirled to face the perpetrator and stomped on his foot hard with my stiletto heel.

"Oww, you frigging bitch! You're so ugly no one would touch you anyway!" Slimeball yelped in pain, hobbling away.

"Are you alright?" Mindy asked me, frowning with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You know, the princes of this party turned into pumpkins after midnight." I rolled my eyes at the pitiful sight of drunkenness.

Just as the elevator doors opened again, I noticed Vera storm out of the club with Ace following her, shouting obscene profanities.

"Mindy, you go ahead. I'm going to help Vera," I instructed.

"Sure. Make sure Vera's going to be okay." Mindy stepped in the elevator, eyeing the quarreling couple before the doors closed.

"I was right there! I saw you feeling her bum!" Vera cried, turning at Ace in defiance as he tried to grab her arm.

"What about you, you hypocrite? You've been quite the filthy Jezebel, flirting with half the club tonight." He sneered, attempting to grasp her arm again.

"Flirting with half the club? I was there by your side the entire time! Stop deflecting! I saw you feeling that girl's ass," Vera protested.

"You snide, little bitch! Don't you talk like that to me in front of these people!" Ace snarled, seizing her wrist.

"Let go! You're hurting me!" Vera screamed at Ace, who twisted her arm with an inflamed aggression.

"LET HER GO, ACE!" I stepped in, not giving a fuck that a new batch of people who arrived at the foyer to wait for the elevator stared at us.

"If you touch her like that one more time, I swear I'm going to call the cops, or worse—Julian," I shouted, pulling Vera's arm from Ace's tight grip.

Ace stepped away from Vera and stalked toward me, ready to unleash a negative attack with his raging hostility.

The russet-haired brute towered over me, balling his fists in an attempt to appear dominant and intimidating. I smelled a concoction of ale, wine, and stale cigarettes on his foul breath.

"YOU fucking stay out of it and mind your own bloody business, church rat!" Ace spat in my face.

I held my position and did not cower from the abusive bully. I refused to remove my eyes from his perforating glare.

Deep inside, I was terrified that he would hit me, but I refused to cower from the oppressor. I did not show my fear.

He took one step back, then masked his aggression with a charismatic smile, while straightening his collar. He was the devil in disguise beneath the mask of handsomeness.

"Shit, Vera, I'm sorry, darling." He shook his head with bitter remorse.

"I've had too much to drink. Let's go to bed," he spoke calmly, gently stroking Vera's head and kissing her golden caramel hair.

"I've got this." Vera tapped my arm, and together, she and Ace took the next elevator down. I joined them and a crowd of retired partygoers who left the club to go home.

When we arrived at our floor, I walked in pained silence behind Vera and Ace until we reached our hotel rooms.

"Goodnight, babe! Happy New Year!" Vera hugged my body and kissed my cheek, as Ace opened the door to their room.

After sliding the keycard into the slot near the knob, I opened the door to my room and was only too glad to be surrounded by the serene quietness.

I changed out of my clothes, washed the makeup off my face, and removed my jewelry before slinking into a pair of comfortable pajama pants and a grey t-shirt.

"Happy New Year," I muttered aloud, crashing into the soft double bed.

---

Two a.m.

THUD!

THUD, THUD!

Holy shit, what the heck was that?

I woke up in a state of shock, hearing a trail of screaming abuse drilling through the wall, coming from Vera and Ace's room.

"You were eye-fucking that guy tonight! Don't lie to me, you fucking cunt!" Ace screamed.

"You're blind, Ace! You did all the eye-fucking and feeling up another woman tonight, you bastard!" Vera defended herself.

I realized that the nightmare was real when I heard another bang and Vera's scream coming from the other side of the wall.

"You fucking bastard!" I heard Vera cry.

"You know what? You deserve this, you little whore!"

"STOP IT! PLEASE! I beg you, stop!" Vera's defenseless voice screamed.

Thank God that the walls in the hotel room were thin because I knew now exactly what was going on and what to do.

Vera needed help!

I took my keycard, dashed to the hallway, and knocked on the door to Vera and Ace's room.

Knock, knock.

I tried again and heard muffled voices before the door slowly opened.

"Vera, come!" I pushed past the door, where Ace stood and gently pulled her to me, hugging her tightly.

Vera was a complete mess.

Blood oozed down her lower right lip, which was swelling rapidly.

Her hair was disheveled, and a red mark was imprinted on her right cheek below her eye. The bruises wouldn't show up until the following day.

I had never seen a woman so strong become so broken and vulnerable in a matter of minutes.

The bastard hit her.

"You did this! How could you?" I blurted.

"Mind your own bloody business, church rat! This is between Vera and me," Ace threatened.

"You deserve to burn in hell!" I retorted, quickly moving toward the door, taking Vera with me.

We raced back to my hotel room, after I quickly used the keycard, and slammed the door shut to ensure the monster wouldn't come after her.

THUD, THUD, THUD!

Ace banged the door several times and yelled out a series of menacing threats, before retreating to his room.

Then, everything went quiet.

The rapid beating of my heart and Vera's soft sobs were the only sounds that followed, infiltrating the room with fear and sadness.

Vera, who was shell-shocked, cried in my arms as we sat on my bed. I rocked her gently, attempting to calm her down.

"Everything will be alright. He's gone now. He's gone." I hugged her and cried with her as she wept a flow of tears.

Our tears became one, as we grieved and lamented over the damage that the psychopathic monster created.

"Where's your phone?" Vera slowly pulled away as her eyes searched wildly around the room.

"Here." I reached for my mobile phone on the side table next to my bed, unlocked the screen, and handed it to her.

She then called a number and handed the phone back to me, commanding one word: "Julian."

I placed the phone to my ear and heard his voice.

"Hello?"

"Hi, it's Sapphire. Vera needs you—it's an emergency. Can you come and see her now?"

"Is she hurt?"

"Yes."

"Where is she?"

"She's in my room, 817."

"I'm on one floor above. I'll come straight away."

The next few minutes felt like an eternity.

Ace was at it again, banging my door, then begging Vera to come back to him, claiming that it was all a mistake.

"Ace is a mistake," Vera whispered as I cleaned her face with a wet cloth.

"It's not your fault, honey. He's a psychopath, and they're smart at hiding their flaws," I said.

The hallway was quiet again after Ace gave up and returned to his room.

Only then did I notice that Vera's right ear bled when she pushed her hair away from her face.

"Shit, what did he do to your ear?" I gasped in shock.

"He bit me." Her eyes widened in fear. No doubt, she was reliving the sequence of events.

I rushed to the bathroom to grab a hand towel and dampened it with water. I was furious at the motherfucker for hurting my girl and hoped that Julian would teach him a lesson or two.

"Here, let me clean the sore." I gently wiped her bloodstained ear with the cloth and checked that the bite didn't warrant stitches.

Thankfully, the wound appeared shallow.

There was a light knock on the door.

"Vera? Sapphire? It's me," Julian's voice resonated from the other side.

I quickly got up from the bed, and opened the door, letting him in.

He looked over my shoulder, moved past me, and hugged Vera tightly, soothing her, while she nestled her head into his chest, breaking down in sobs of tormented pain.

"Who did this to you?" Julian asked.

Vera's espresso eyes stared at her brother with a silent plea for help.

"Ace?"

Vera nodded in response.

"I'll fucking kill him," Julian growled. "Where is he?"

"In the room next door, to the left," I answered.

"Get a cold bottle of Coca Cola out of the mini-fridge to numb the pain on Vera's lips and give her some water to drink," he suggested.

"Of course," I replied, taking Vera's hand.

Julian's eyes flashed a hot blend of distress and vengeful hate before he let go of Vera and stepped out into the hallway.

In the next few minutes, we heard Julian's voice raised at Ace, followed by a heavy bang against the wall.

I only hoped that Julian was not hurt.

"NEVER hit a woman, you fucking piece of shit!" Julian roared.

"If you ever lay a hand on my sister or any woman again, I'll hunt you down and make you wish you were never born!"

A moment later, I opened the door for Julian after he had knocked. He stepped inside and glanced at Vera, who winced in pain as she took a few small sips of cold water.

His left fist was swelling fast, and his knuckles were bright red, while he held Vera's half-opened travel case and handbag in his right hand.

"Pack your stuff. We're going now." Julian threw the travel case, strewn with clothes hanging out of it.

Vera hobbled to the bed and grabbed her handbag, opening it to check that her mobile phone was tucked inside. She carelessly rolled the clothes that fell out of the travel case, stuffing them back inside.

"I'll take you to the medical center to make sure you get checked first thing in the morning," Julian vowed, stroking his sister's forehead.

"What about Jessie?" I asked.

"What about Jessie? She's not your concern," he retorted. His eyes flashed a signal of dark annoyance.

As Vera slowly lifted her travel case, Julian stepped toward me.

"Thank you for looking out for my sister tonight." His eyes softened and expressed gratitude.

"Don't thank me. Nobody deserves abuse," I replied.

"Saph, I won't forget what you've done for my family."

He then looked over to Vera, who walked toward him. His eyes were clouded with heartache.

"Thanks, Saph. I owe you one." Vera smiled weakly.

It was evident that it hurt for her to smile, with her busted lip. The lip would heal, but the emotional scars would never be forgotten.

"You don't owe me anything, Vera," I reassured her.

Vera nodded, and Julian took her in his arms, walking her out the room.

Before he left, he turned and gazed at me. He nodded his head, then gently closed the door.

We had an unspoken and implicit understanding.

In Julian, I had a friend.

After that night, I learned that Julian had broken Ace's nose and knocked out a tooth.

It's incredible how news traveled fast.

A/N: This was a difficult chapter to write. When Sapphire cried with Vera in the hotel room, I wept. Parts of the chapter are based on real events. Like Saph, I have stood in the firing line, facing abusers who have hurt people I love. Unfortunately, not everyone walks away from abuse as quickly as Vera did. She's blessed to have Julian and Saph.