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The doorbell rang and I heard my mum’s voice as she answered whoever was at the door He pulled out ofin He usedhi ain Fivewent black

I OPENED MY EYES and tried to screa came out because I couldn’t breathe When I realised that it was O’Connell, I stopped trying to screa I was hyperventilating, and I didn’t knohat to do about it Searching around for one My lungs were sucking in oxygen too quickly I knew that I was going to pass out soon, when O’Connell lifted me onto his lap and wrapped himself around ently whispered, "breathe, baby Just listen toin and out and do the sa is going to get to you without getting toand anyone who tried to hurtwas under control, I collapsed in his embrace with a sob

"I’m so sorry," I cried into his chest

He wiped awaylove that triggered it, wasn’t it?" he asked, sadly

"That, the fight, your ht up withor rockingelse had because everything that he said was right He was the scariest person that I’d ever ainst him O’Connell loved me, but I knew that for him to really love me then he had to know all of me That included my last deep, dark and dirty secret If he still stayed after knowing the ugly truth, then I could finally believe that this was forever

WITH A DEEP BREATH, I toldthe look of revulsion on his face I feared I’d see when I was done

"What happened afterwards? How did you escape?" he asked quietly

He was still stroking my hair, so I took cohbour heardand called thees on Frank’s cheek They arrested hied up He’d fractured my cheekbone, cracked two of s that I needed stitches The hospital gaveelse they could do except give hteen while I was still in hospital, so I was able to dischargeturned over to social services I already had an escape plan set up with one of my teachers, so I took it and never went back I stayed with Mrs Wallis recovering for a couple of h to buy some cheap clothes and left for university"

"Why didn’t you press charges?" he asked, but I couldn’t detect any rebuke in his voice

"I gave the police my statement and told them truthfully what had happened, and they had the results of the rape kit with Frank’s DNA I guess I didn’t trust the systeh If I stuck around, I knew he’d find a way out of the charges Either that or he’d killbecause I couldn’t risk hio, and he must still have connections They took the university acceptance letter with her address on as evidence and apart fro me to this place For the first couple of weeks, I was terrified that he’d memorised the address on the letter, but he never showed up at her house Mrs Wallis found out a little later that he’d been remanded in custody for a while, but she doesn’t know any more than that"

"Do you still speak to her?" he asked

"Not often, but she likes it that way She thinks the less contact we have with each other, the less chance there is of Frank findingfor you?"