"Mike."
Carrie appeared at the bottom of the stairs, biting her lip. Mike knew the look on her face unfortunately well. She cocked her head back, motioning upstairs.
Madeline lifted her head from Mike's lap, letting him stand up.
"Is everything okay?" Madeline asked, sitting up to turn towards her mom.
"Yeah." Carrie smiled. "Just need to talk to your dad real quick. Court stuff."
Mike followed her up the stairs. When she reached the top, she turned to him.
"I think I found it." She held up a small black flash drive. "I'm scared to look."
Mike wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. He took a deep breath and exhaled deeply. Carrie kept her arms crossed, not returning the hug, but settling into his embrace. Mike kissed the top of his wife's head.
"Do you want me to look?"
Carrie stepped back and shook her head. She tucked her hair behind her ear. "I need to do it."
"We'll do it together." Mike squeezed her hands and smiled. "Come on, let's go."
Still holding her hand, Mike led her into the study where their rarely used desktop computer was. They both sat down and Carrie hesitantly inserted the flash drive into the side.
A single folder appeared on the screen, and Carrie instantly knew that she'd found the right drive. She clicked on it, and 26 pictures began to load on the screen.
Carrie drew in a harsh breath, the air getting caught in her throat. Mike placed his hand on her thigh.
On the screen, bruise after bruise appeared. A large purple bruise on her wrist. A black eye. A bright red hickey on the side of her neck. A dark brown bruise on her stomach.
"Carrie," Mike breathed, unable to say anything else. He was completely taken aback. He felt his heart sink into his stomach. His blood boiled with anger.
"This was only the last four months of our marriage." Carrie croaked, her voice cracking. "My therapist said to start documenting the abuse in case I ever wanted to turn him in. I don't know why I didn't."
"Carrie I'm so sorry."
"I forgot how bad it was. I didn't realize it was this horrible." Carrie bit her lip. She tried to push away her emotions, but they came tumbling out. Tears began to stream down her face.
Carrie opened the first image to full screen. She saw the stitches on her forehead, surrounded by a large bruise and black eye. The night he pushed her down the stairs flashed through her mind and she saw herself fifteen years ago again.
"Baby I'm so sorry." Mike embraced her tightly, his heart aching miserably for his wife. "I wish I could do something. I wish I could take it all away. I wish I could do more then say I'm sorry over and over again."
Carrie cried into his chest, something she seemed to be doing a lot lately. Sam had broken into their house 3 weeks ago and they were working hard with her lawyer to prepare for the case.
"He still has so much control over me and I hate it. I wish I could just forget all of it and start over. I just hate him so much."
"I know." Mike wiped the wet tears from her cheeks. "I hate him too. So so much. I wish I could run him over with my car and send him off a cliff more than anything."
Carrie chuckled through her tears.
"There's that smile that I love." Mike grinned widely, squeezing Carrie's hand. He wiped another tear from under her eye. "I promise, he's going to get everything he deserved. We're going to destroy him. You're going to win this Carrie. He's not going to mess with you again."
Carrie sniffled. "I'm scared to face him again. I don't know if I can do it."
"Yes you can babe. I know you can." Mike held both her hands in his. "You're so much stronger than him. All of the hate and anger and hurt that's built up over all of these years is going to fuel the fire inside of you when you get on the stand. I promise babe you can do this. We have your back."
Carrie nodded. She wiped her face, forcing herself to stop crying.
Mike kissed her forehead and smiled. "We're here for you babe. It's gonna be okay."
