Chapter 63: Chapter 63

Chapter 63:

Damien’s P.O.V

“Tia!”

I’d heard the strangled cry for help just a second ago and it momentarily frozen me on the spot. She was hurt and I had no doubt that her ex was in there with her, torturing her as I stood and wasted my time ringing the doorbell. I couldn’t see anyone else in the apartment next to hers and I didn’t have time to call for help. I looked around the door, trying to find a rational place where the spare key might be since it wasn't under the welcome mat, but my mind wasn't working properly. So I did the only thing I could, I took a few steps back and ran into the door with all my strength.

The door jerked but it was strong, it came back to its original position and wouldn’t budge. So I tried again, and again. Fear and anger had gripped me in a chocking hold at the fact that while I was wasting time trying to break down the door, something bad was happening to Tia. On the fourth hit, I managed to rattle the door off its hinges. Finding a ray of hope, I walked back several feet until my back hit the elevator door and then I was running at full speed towards the door, intent on breaking in at all costs.

I felt the impact to my bones, through my entire body, but it was the least of my problems. The door knocked off its hinges and fell to the floor, taking me with it. It took me a few seconds to get back my footing, but I knew when someone tried to run past me and out the open door.

Instinctively, I kicked out my leg just in time to trip him so he fell face first onto the floor. Turning around rapidly, I caught the man with the hem of his pants before he could make an escape and pulled him towards me. He kicked out to distract me, cussing at me to let him go, but I kept my hold strong.

It wasn't an easy task, the man might have been half my size but he was faster, his movement’s jerky. He turned around midway and threw a punch at my face, catching me off guard. His fist connected with my jaw, making my teeth rattle, but he wasn't fast enough to escape while I recovered. I caught him by the back of his hood and threw a punch straight at his nose before he knew what hit him.

Blood instantly poured out of his nose and he cursed and fell to the floor screaming. But when he brought his hands up to clutch his face, my heart sank to the pit of my stomach. There was dried blood on his hands. Tia’s blood. I just knew it.

Anger churned along with horror, but I couldn’t dare to make myself look inside the room, not yet. So I stood up from the floor and with all my strength, brought my foot down on man’s stomach and kept kicking him until I felt someone wrench me back from the man.

“Damien! Damien stop!” It was Daniel who was had pulled me away “Stop it! You’re about to kill him!”

“Let go, Dan, I-“

But I never got to finish because a woman’s scream tore through the night. Both our heads whipped towards Tia’s apartment and before we know it, we were moving in...And then I was froze on the spot.

Nothing could have prepared me for the sight that greeted me inside the house. My entire body was frozen and numb, my heart clutched in icy fists that just kept on squeezing harder and harder. It felt like I was chocking on thin air.

Tia was sitting on a chair next to the kitchen counter, her hands and legs tied to the arms and legs of the chair. Her head had fallen back on the back of the chair and her eyes were closed. And there was blood everywhere. Her hair was plastered to her face and blood was running down her forehead, a shade darker than her hair. There was blood running down her leg from a painful looking stab wound that looked like someone had taken off a chunk of flesh from her leg. And finally, there was blood running down her chest from where a knife was embedded on her shoulder.

It felt like everything had stopped moving around me. Like the world had frozen and I couldn’t do anything to make it start moving again. But in reality, I was the one who had stopped moving, frozen in a state of shock.

I watched as Grace and Kendra moved to their friend’s side and started to untie Tia from her bonds. I watched as Daniel called 911 and told them there was an emergency, that they had to immediately send in an ambulance. But when Grace’s hand went to the knife, that was when I finally snapped out of my trance.

“Stop!” I told her harshly. “You pull that out and she’s going to bleed to death.”

I rushed to her side and picked her up from the chair carefully, there was an ache in my shoulders, from when I’d broken down the door, but I ignored it carried Tia to the sofa. Her weight felt heavier than before and it worried me. She was unconscious and in really bad shape. She had lost a lot of blood.

“How long before the ambulance get’s here?” I asked Daniel as I set her on the sofa, making sure her head was set correctly.

“Ten minutes,” he told me curtly before turning towards the door. “The police are here.”

But I paid no attention to the commotion outside as the police dragged off the man and called Dan for questioning. “Grace, get me a few pieces of cloth.” I asked Dan’s wife who looked two seconds away from a nervous breakdown. If I was honest with myself, I wasn't doing much better either, but I was holding on for Tia’s sake.

Grace got me the cloth and I carefully tied one around Tia’s leg, stopping the blood flow. But my main concern was the knife and it would be difficult to remove without proper medical support.

“Excuse me, Sir,” Someone tapped my shoulder from behind. “We need to take photos of the victim.”

“What?” I snapped as I turned to face the insensitive jerk. “She’s bleeding to death and you want to take photos?”

The police officer, a man in his middle ages, looked at me in understanding. “It’s so the charges against the assaulter sticks. After what he’s done to her, he’s going in for attempt to murder charges and this time it’ll be impossible for him to get out. Please, we’ll need proof and there’s no proof without photos.”

I hated that the man was right, and I hated it even more that so much time was being wasted while Tia kept bleeding.

Fortunately, the siren of the ambulance reached my ears then and within a few seconds, the paramedics were inside Tia’s house with medical supplies and a stretcher.

We all followed Tia to the hospital and the police wrote down our complaint and dragged Connor off to prison. He won’t be getting any treatment for now and I will try my hardest to keep him behind bars for the longest time possible. No one messes with my Tia and gets away with it!

My Tia.

The words rang over and over in my head and it felt just right. How big of a fool was I that I didn’t even realize that I was in love with her? But it had taken me to see her on death’s door for me to come to my senses. What a fool I’d been thinking that a casual no-strings was all I needed from her.

It had always been more with Tia, she had my heart since the first time I’d seen her walk down the church hallway. There was no one for me and there never will be. She had to make it back! She just had to! I’d beg her on my hands and knees to take me back after, but she just had to make it back to me.

I love you, Tia. Please, hang on to that.