Chapter 3

•FIN•

I paged through the magazine in my hand, not actually reading anything of it.

Checking my watch I looked around the hospital waiting room. If King wasn't someone I was close with I wouldn't have been sitting here. But his daughter was having a bad turn after a car accident and I didn't want to leave King without any support. 

His wife left him a few years ago, and I was the old bastard's only real friend these days.

Probably due to his alcoholism. 

But I wasn't about to tell him that. In the last twenty-something years I was part of the FBI, and he was my partner. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't have lasted as long.

A bunch of nurses rushing by with a young woman on a stretcher caught my eye and I frowned in their direction. All I had been able to see was a badly bruised face.

I shook my head and turned back to my magazine.

"Fin. Do you want some coffee? Doc's given her the all-clear."

I nodded at King, my eyes going over to the two cops standing outside the door where the nurses had taken the young girl into.

"It's not your business, O'Clery." I reminded myself.

I glanced over again, they looked cagey. 

A man rushed into the room, a big guy. One of those typical mean-looking guys.

"Where did you take my girlfriend?!" He screamed in a rage.

The officers spoke softly, trying to calm the man down.

It wasn't working, the man was shouting and screaming, demanding to see his girlfriend.

I got to my feet and walked over, "Is there a problem?" 

"You stay out of this!" He snapped at me. I watched his body language. Definitely an abuser.

I took a step back when the guy swung at one of the cops, who quite frankly seemed out of their depth.

Taking a breath I took hold of him, holding him in a choke hold until he was subdued.

"There, now you can cuff him." I said to the cops, "FBI. What's the story here?"

The one cuffed the guy before looking at me, "We suspect domestic violence. Poor girl is so young, can't be much older than her late twenties. But we see so many of these cases that don't go further so, who knows if she'll press charges."

The other cop scoffed, "Daughter of such a ruthless guy and she ends up like this?"

I frowned, "Who's her father?"

"Gianni Esposito."

My mouth dropped open in shock. I hadn't heard that name since we closed the case of him being charged for Talon's murder. His daughter was only just born then.

"Ripley Esposito is in there?" I asked in disbelief.

The cop nodded, "Yeah. We've had numerous calls out to her place for noise disturbances. Mostly fighting."

I flashed my badge at them, "I'm going in." 

"Fin?" King questioned as he returned with our coffees.

"Ripley Esposito is in there."

He nodded, "I'll wait out here."

I walked into the room, there was a nurse busy with Ripley, although she was looking a little out of it.

I flash my badge to the nurse.

"FBI?"

"Yeah. How is she?"

"Pretty bruised. But no major injuries."

I nodded, but looking at Ripley's face it looked a lot worse than that. Her whole face was purple.

"Could I have a moment?" I asked.

"Sure." I could tell she wanted to ask why the FBI would be involved with this, but she walked out instead.

"Ripley?"

She looked over at me, "What?"

"My name is Fin O'Clery. I'm an FBI agent. I know your parents." 

Her eyes widened in panic, "Look, I don't know what you think is going on here but my parents don't need to be involved."

"Your boyfriend is using you as a punching bag. You should tell your parents-"

"No! My father is sick. And my boyfriend didn't do this to me. Don't go spreading lies that could worsen my father's heart condition. Please."

"If your boyfriend didn't do this, who did?"

"I'm not pressing any charges, so please back off."

I sighed and took a seat beside the bed, "Alright. How about I just sit here with you? I'm guessing the hospital already told your parents that you're here. I'll wait with you till they get here."

She side-eyed me and looked away.

"You mentioned your father is ill? What's wrong with him?"

"His heart," she glanced at me again, "My mom's spoken about you. You helped her save my dad when some crazy chick kidnapped him, right?"

I nodded, "Yeah. A very long time ago."

She looked down at her hands, "I guess I should thank you. If you didn't take that bullet for my dad, I probably wouldn't even be here now."

"Funny how things work out, don't you think?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I guess so."

"What are you going to tell them?"

"It was a burglary. I was attacked."

I nodded, "Right. We both know that isn't what happened, Ripley. But okay, I'm not going to push you. But how about I leave you my card and you can call me in the future if you need anything?"

"You're Sloan's Uncle aren't you?" She asked, avoiding my offer.

"Yeah. She and your brother are getting pretty serious, so you might just start seeing me around." 

"You should leave, Agent O'Clery."

I took out a card with my details on it and placed it on the bed, "Don't forget, call me if you need anything."

When I left her room I went straight over to King, "She's being abused. But because Gianni is sickly she doesn't want to admit it."

King sighed, "Fin, don't get involved there, man. You can't force her to press charges. This isn't what we deal with."

"She's Kinley's daughter. How can you expect me to leave this alone?"

King sighed again and I knew he was getting annoyed with me, "How about I get some info on that boyfriend of hers? If and only if there is a way for us to get involved, you've got it. But if not, you have to stay out of it. You got me?"

I looked back over at her door, "Yeah, I got you." Even as the words left my mouth I knew that there was no way I could just leave it alone.

Not after seeing that helpless look in her eyes.

"I'm going to get home and get some sleep."

King nodded, "Leave it alone."

I ignored him as I walked out, already sending my niece Sloan a text telling her I needed to speak to her.

She had been dating Renato on and off for about three years now, so she had to know something about Ripley.

I also knew I could trust her not to say anything to anyone about this. The last thing I wanted to do was cause problems for Ripley. 

The next morning I sat in a coffee shop with my niece Sloan sitting across from me. Both of us had a cup of coffee in front of us.

"I don't know much, Uncle Fin. She's pretty isolated from all of us. She comes over when we have holidays and stuff like that. But other than that even Renato hardly hears from her."

"And Kinley and Gianni are fine with this?" That didn't sound like them at all.

She shrugged, "Rip is odd. She's been on and off with substance abuse and from what I understand she isn't easily controlled. But I guess that boyfriend of hers got it right. He's a hotshot businessman, the Esposito's cut her off from their money when she was in active addiction and then when Rip was doing some questionable things to support her addiction, he took her away from all of that. She sees him as her savior, I guess."

I nodded my head slowly taking in all of this information, "So he swoops in and saves the day. Only to start abusing her. And now she's in that victim mentality and won't turn on the bastard."

"That sounds about right. But he hasn't really shown any signs of being abusive on the odd occasion when they're around us. I suppose he hides it well," she paused, "Why are you so interested in this?"

"I go way back with your future in-laws as you know. I feel a little protective over her because of that."

"Well, be careful. Bob has a lot of connections."

I scoffed, "I'm an FBI agent. I've got connections too."

"Just don't get yourself into any trouble trying to save someone who doesn't want to be saved."

I knew she was only trying to look out for me, but it annoyed me all the same.

I had seen my fair share of abuse before and I knew it wasn't as clear cut as Sloan was making it out to be.

•RIPLEY•

I winced as I worked in the kitchen making dinner. I was released five days ago, and although the bruising was getting lighter, I still felt some bursts of pain from time to time.

Not that it was anything new. 

"How fucking long does it take to cook steak?!" Bob screamed as he walked into the kitchen.

"I was just about to dish up. Wait at the table?" I hated that my hands still shook when he was angry. I hated feeling so vulnerable around him.

Some days when I had some courage, I would stand up to him, but that would only get me a beating, so it was better for me to try and keep him happy.

I filled the plates and placed them on the table before taking my seat.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better, thank you for asking." Bobby was big on manners. 

"I have a business dinner coming up soon. I want you looking decent, not like some cheap whore off the street."

I nodded.

He cackled, "I mean, I know you were a cheap whore when I met you, but none of that at dinner, okay?"

Again, I nodded.

"That's it, be a good girl and you'll be treated like one," he leaned over to take my hand and I fought not to flinch, "You know I don't like hurting you. You just push me so far. You need to stop doing that, I hate seeing you like this."

"I'm sorry, Bobby. I'll try not to make you angry." I allowed only a slight tone of sarcasm through my voice. Not enough for him to notice.

"Good. Don't eat too much, I don't need you getting fat," he laughed at his own remark, "Why don't you go and get freshened up? Wear that cute little red piece I got you tonight."

I was hungry and my stomach grumbled in protest, but I left the table not wanting to face his anger again. Not while I was still in pain anyway.

I knew what he meant when he instructed me what to wear. He had plans tonight. Again, nothing I wasn't used to.

I showered and dressed in the skimpy red two-piece lingerie set, waiting in the room and silently praying he wouldn't still be in the mood by the time he came to bed.

But no such luck.

When he entered the room he got undressed and climbed on top of me, not caring that the bruises he left on my body were aching.

And I didn't dare to tell him either. That would only piss him off more.

I stared at the ceiling imagining I was anywhere but here as he panted and huffed over me.

When he was done he rolled over, "At least you're still good for something, ey?" 

I ignored him and went to clean myself up before getting back into bed.

But before I was able to fall asleep I found my mind going back to that FBI agent from the hospital room. 

A faint smile on my face as I drifted off to sleep with thoughts of the agent somehow helping me out of this mess I had created for myself.