"Janine?" Lyse said.
"Help." A weak voice came from over the phone.
"I will be right there!"
Without waiting for any more to be said, Lyse jumped out of her chair and looked around for her bag, stuffing her car keys and wallet into it and ran out the door and into her car and she sped off until she came to a stop.
Lyse's heart pounded in her chest as she raced down the familiar street, she had parked her car a street away so that Max Janine's husband would not know she was around.
She had promised Janine that she would be there as soon as she could, and she knew every second counted. Janine had been living with Max, her abusive husband, for far too long despite how he treated her. Lyse had tried everything to get Janine away from the brute but she had always resisted however, it seemed that tonight was the night she was going to escape.
As she reached Janine's house, she paused to catch her breath. The lights were off and the house was eerily quiet. Lyse took a deep breath and knocked on the door. A moment later, it creaked open and Janine stood there, her eyes wide with fear and relief.
"Lyse, you're here," Janine whispered, pulling her friend inside. "I am so glad that you came."
"I said I would didn't it?" Lyse said as she hugged her and examined the bump on her head and bruises on her face.
She cussed underneath her breath and wondered what other bruises were covered by the clothes but she did not have time for that, the most important thing was to get out of the house first.
"Come one, let's go. We don't have much time." She urged.
Together, they gathered Janine's belongings into a small suitcase. It was filled with essentials, a few cherished photographs and some of her clothes.
Just as they were about to step outside, they heard a familiar sound: the rumble of Max's truck pulling into the driveway. Janine's face paled and she looked panicked. "We have to hurry," she whispered, her voice barely audible.
Lyse nodded, her heart pounding in her chest. She knew that Max with his tendency toward violence would not be very happy to see her in his house, she grabbed Janine's hand and pulled her towards the door. As they stepped outside, they heard Max's booming voice calling out, "Janine! Where are you?"
Panic surged through Lyse as she and Janine scrambled to hide. They ducked behind a couch, their hearts pounding in their ears. The front door swung open, and Max's heavy footsteps echoed through the house.
"Janine?" he called out, his voice thick with anger. "Where are you?"
Lyse squeezed Janine's hand tightly. She knew they had to act fast.
"We have to go," she whispered. "Now."
As Max's footsteps drew closer, Lyse grabbed Janine's hand and pulled her towards the back door. They burst through it, the cold night air hitting their faces. Lyse glanced back just as Max appeared in the doorway.
"Don't you dare take my wife away you bitch!" he shouted, his voice filled with rage. He lunged forward, his fist swinging. Lyse instinctively raised her arm to protect her face, but Max's punch connected with a sickening thud.
Lyse stumbled backward, her vision blurring. Pain shot through her head as she fell to the ground. Janine screamed, her voice filled with terror.
Lyse tried to get up, but her head was spinning. She could hear Max's footsteps approaching. She reached out for Janine, but her hand missed.
"Lyse!" Janine cried. "Are you okay?"
Lyse managed to nod, her vision clearing slightly. She could see Max standing over her, his face contorted with fury.
"You're going to pay for this," he growled, raising his fist again.
Just as Max was about to strike, Lyse heard a sound—the wail of a police siren. Max froze, his eyes widening in shock and Lyse said a prayer of thanks for foresight. She had feared running into Max at the house and had called the police on her way there.
"It's the police," Janine gasped. "They are here."
Max turned and ran, disappearing into the darkness. Lyse lay on the ground, her head throbbing. She could feel tears starting to form in her eyes.
"Are you okay?" Janine asked, kneeling beside her. "Do you need help?"
Lyse nodded weakly. She was in pain, but she was also relieved. They had escaped and Max was gone, for now at least.
A few minutes later, a police car pulled up to the house. Two officers got out and approached Lyse and Janine. They asked them what had happened, and Janine told them everything.
The officers examined Lyse's face, their expressions grim. "You are going to have to get you to the hospital right away," one of them said then he looked at Janine and added. "You both need to go to the hospital."
"I will go to the hospital later, thank you officers."
As they helped Lyse to her feet she shook her head while Janine looked down at her friend with a mixture of sadness and gratitude. Lyse had risked her own safety to help her escape, and she would never forget it. She was a friend indeed.
"Lyse you really have to go to the hospital." Vanessa's voice was filled with concern as she looked at the bruise on Lyse's face.
"I agree." Janine concurred.
Lyse scowled and waved a dismissive hand. "It's just a little bruise, I think that Janine has more serious concerns than I do."
Knowing how stubborn Lyse could be, Vanessa gave up trying to convince her and instead turned to study Janine's bruises.
"I got these a week ago, they might look terrible but they don't hurt any more." Janine assured her.
After that was said, Vanessa called to one of the volunteers, "Please show Janine to her room."
Lyse and Vanessa watched as Janine was led away and when they were out of sight Vanessa turned to Lyse and lowered her voice.
"We have been having problems with some of the girls, they seemed to have disappeared out of the blues."
Lyse frowned and asked, "have you spoken to Callie, does she know?"
"Yes, Callie is on it currently but it has been so hard tracking them." Vanessa answered. "We suspect that it might be the same people."
Lyse nodded while thinking pensively then spoke, "Don't worry, I will have someone to check up on it."
"Thank you so much Lyse, I also don't want to have you worried but we are running low on supplies and need some more money."
"I will get to working on that, see if I can find some of our donors to give us some funds." Lyse assured her.
"If that is all then I guess I will start leaving, I will come back to check on Janine later this week." Lyse said and hugged Vanessa before leaving the house.
It was a nondescript place out in the suburbs, with very few neighbors and none too close. To anyone who happened to come across it it resembled a small farm but it was really a shelter for women in danger.
Lyse and Vanessa had met each other as teenagers after they had survived getting trafficked. The experience led to them coming together to help girls and women who had gone through what they had faced and also abused women and children.
They had worked together and successfully helped hundreds of women escape the dreadful fate. Besides that, Vanessa was unaware of the fact that Lyse had been working behind the scenes.
Lyse was determined to not only help the victims but she was also trying to target the perpetrators responsible for the thousands of missing women who were sold into sex trafficking or killed even. It was her belief that the evil had to be cut off from the root.
As she headed back to the apartment she ruminated on how she was going to get more money for the shelter, the women needed her and unfortunately she did not have a lot of money at that moment except for a small amount which was to be used for rent and utilities.
She realized that she really had no other choice than to return to Levi and take his offer. The pay was sufficient enough for her to give up her savings until she was able to get access to her funds that were currently tied up.
When she got back to the apartment she was glad to see that James was not in, she would have been forced to give an explanation as to what had happened to her.
When she was in her room she opened her laptop and typed out a message and waited. It did not take very long before she got a ping indicating that she had received a message which read.
"Right on it boss, I will let you know the details as soon as I get them."
Lyse signed out and and looked reflectively out of the window. Her mind gone back to the horrifying time that she had been kidnapped and even though she managed to escape it had had impacted her greatly.
She tried not to go down that memory because it was still so traumatizing and it with it came a darkness that stifled every little bit of happiness around her.
It had been years and many leads after but she was still unable to find the mastermind who had gotten her kidnapped, she was however determined to not stop until she found them.
*
Levi was taken aback when he opened the door to his office and encountered the well formed back of a female and as he walked closer he realized that it was Lyse, his wife.
Today she had dressed better than an art student on their way to an evening class, gone were the baggy linen pants and shirt with the too long sleeves. And in their place was a charcoal grey pencil skirt suit that stopped at a little above her knees and molded her model like curves and heels that made her legs look endless.
He walked by her to his desk then he sat down and looked up at her then came to an abrupt stop, taken aback by the sunglasses she was wearing.
As he stared at her, plenty thoughts ran through his mind. Sure she had been dumped at the altar by the man she loved but that did not mean that she could show up at work so hungover that she needed to wear sunglasses.
"What is that?" He demanded curtly.
"What? What is what?" Lyse asked as she looked around as if looking for what had drawn Levi's attention.
His face hardened and his voice sharpened, "What is that on your face!"
"My face?" Lyse asked and touched everywhere on her face except the offending sunglasses.
She had worn the "adult clothes" like he demanded, Lyse wondered why that was not enough for him.
Levi took a deep breath as he looked at Lyse's antics and was determined even more to see what she was hiding under the glasses.
"Lyse, take off the glasses."
"These glasses—"
"Don't test my patience!"
"Yes boss, of course. Whatever you want." Lyse sighed and reluctantly took the glasses off.
Levi jumped to his feet, his jaw hanging open. Lyse grinned awkwardly and said with a flourish.
"Ta-da!!"
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