The Strip

Chapter 40 (Just revised)

(Sienna's POV and also what she will be told happened later)

The bass was pumping as we walked in through the VIP entrance.  Me and Lisbeth were both looking forward to dancing our asses off but poor Roan and Cade both acted like they were on high alert the whole time.  I wasn't sure if they would be able to enjoy themselves at all!  We all knew that Taylor Jason's men were among the bodies at the club but to be honest they did a perfect job of staying incognito; I couldn't even pick them out. 

 I stood up and went to give Roan a peck on the lips when he asked me where I was going.  "Lissy and I are gonna dance baby.  That's all" I said trying to reassure him.

  "I don't like this at all" he said, the worry consuming his usual handsome features.  "You guys are out there in the open.  It just makes me feel uncomfortable" he said frowning.  I hugged him hard and asked him to please not worry, that we'd be fine.  I would later come to regret going anywhere that night.

Me and Lisbeth met Ginny and some other girls on the dance floor and we were getting into the groove, laughing and having fun.  We had just made it into the third song when I said I needed to go to the bathroom.  I was busy humming to myself as I walked into the empty two-stalled bathroom when I heard the door open.  I didn't think anything about it until I stepped out to wash my hands and what I saw next made my blood run cold.  

The hair was different but the face, I would never forget his face. 

 "I told you bitch that I would be back for you!"  Parsons face was pure evil as he cornered me in the bathroom.  This is it, I thought.  I will fight to the death I told myself.  I wasn't going to go down without a fight!  

"William, there isn't anything else that you could do to me that you haven't already done" I told him, my voice strangely calm.  "You tried to take everything that you could from me but what you didn't count on was me being stronger than you" I told him vehemently.  

He kept advancing towards me until my back was against the wall and I had no other choice but to fight and fight I did.  I kicked him in the groin as hard as I could and tried to run past him but he grabbed my ankle and I fell hard to the floor, knocking the breath out of my body.

Parsons rolled me over and sat on top of me, his fists pounding into my face, upper body and lower body.  He picked my head up and slammed it into the floor a couple of times until I went into darkness.  

I had no idea what else he would do to me but I thanked God that I wouldn't be awake to feel it or hear his voice anymore.  Apparently he would try and break my fingers on my right hand, he took a box cutter and cut my arm diagonally and was in the process of trying to rape me when a club patron walked in and then alerted security.  

They were able to tackle him in the parking lot but he wouldn't stay down and tried to wrestle with a police officer, grabbed for his gun and was shot to death.  No one would miss this evil man, no one.

Roan was beside himself with grief as he, Cade, Lisbeth, Ginny and many others from Addison Tech had to stand by and watch paramedics work on me.  I would find this out much later and also apparently at one point I had stopped breathing and they had to do CPR, finally getting me back and getting a pulse they loaded me into an ambulance.  

Thankfully they let Roan ride with them; Cade loaded everyone into his SUV and they followed the ambulance with Taylor Jason and his men in tow.  Roan couldn't even recognize my face as  I had been beaten so badly; he just kept holding my hand, squeezing it, and telling me that he loved me and to please not leave him.  It seemed like a lifetime before they finally pulled into the ER bay and then everything started happening very quickly.

Roan just stood there, in shock, as they wheeled my limp body into the ER.  I was surrounded by doctors and nurses, yelling out orders, hooking me up to machines; it just felt surreal to my friends and family as they watched.  

While in the car on the way, Lisbeth called Kathleen and the twin's mom and sister.  They arrived not too long after I was taken back,  then Lisbeth had to make that dreaded call to our mom.  Roan looked like he was in living hell.  

"Lisbeth, tell Rachael that my plane will be waiting on her, I will have a car in route to pick her up and take her to the airstrip and then another car will bring her here.  Tell her...tell her I'm so sorry" his voice dropped off as he walked to a near by window to collect himself. 

 Kathleen consoled the girls while Roan and Cade's mom engulfed both her boys with a loving hug.  She grabbed Roan and looked him square in the eyes.  

"You cannot blame yourself for this darling.  He was evil enough that he would have found a way to get to her not matter what.  You need to be strong for her.  Her recovery depends upon you being strong Roan" he knew his mother meant well but he did feel to blame.

It seemed like it took forever for anyone to give them some news, and update, anything but finally a doctor in scrubs came out; his scrubs were bloody too.  

"Are you the family of Sienna Harper?" he asked gently.  Lisbeth and Roan stepped forward. 

 "I'm her sister and this is her fiance.  Our mom is on her way here from Detroit" Lisbeth said, her voice hoarse from crying.  The doctor stuck his hand out and introduced himself.  

"I'm Dr. Stevens.  Ms. Harper suffered a bevy of injuries.  She was cut, up her arm, rather deeply which just barely missed tendons and arteries.  She took twenty stitches for that.  She had four fingers on her right hand that were almost broken.   She suffered massive contusions, bruising if you will, to her abdomen, upper body and face.  Thankfully no broken bones.  

What does concern me is the blows to her head.  MRI confirms that there is some slight swelling to the brain, therefore, we have placed her in a medical induced coma to get the swelling under control and hopefully it will go down in the next 24-48 hours.  We will know then if she sustained any brain damage or permanent memory loss.  I wish I had better news, but time will give us the answers we need.  

She has been moved to the ICU.  A nurse will come and get you to take you to the family waiting area.  I suggest you all try and get some rest, if you can.  The nurse will have all of my contact information should you need me for anything.  I will be popping in frequently to check on Ms. Harper.  Do any of you have any questions for me?" he asked.  We all shook our heads no.  We were just in shock.  Now all we could do was wait...