Returning Red

#40: Rock Bottom.

home is where breakdowns are normal

Isabella

"--And?" Liam asked inching closer to me. "Please tell me you ran away from that precinct." 

Another tear dripped down my cheek and I instantly wipe it away. I shook my head at him and he cursed. He immediately stood up and wrapped me in his arms. He shouldn't have done that because all it did was comfort me. And comfort made me want to cry more. 

"Did you get the video?" He asks me as he places a kiss on top of my head. I nod. "Did they touch you?" He asks and I nod again. He cursed again, "Why did you sell yourself as the price for that recording, Bella?" 

I shrugged because I did it in all consciousness. "If I hadn't I'd have no evidence of it. I don't regret it. I got the most important proof that started this whole mission in the first place. Maybe if Jason had invented that app earlier, I wouldn't have had to go to these lengths." 

Liam kissed the top of my head even though he didn't side with my justification. Everyone was looking at me differently now. I'd told them everything that happened that night. Every fine detail and every aspect of it. About the panic attacks after hiding in the basement of the hospital, how Ryder picked me up, and why I blocked Mia's number because I didn't want to drag her into this mess. I didn't want her to stay connected to me. The more she was around me, the more trouble she was bound to get into. 

"I was supposed to come home that morning. I turned twenty-two, and Lee, I was out of seashells. Jason, your jacket is in my bag. I'm not sure if I'll be returning it. I was supposed to come home, that was the deal, wasn't it? Four years were up. But I was planning a funeral. I had a nine-year-old girl clinging onto me the entire day, week, month, and year. I was all she had. She was my responsibility." I shook my head thinking about how different Lily was back then. 

I told them about how I dyed my hair black before the funeral. I told them how two months went on before I realized they'd nullified Katherine's case as an accident and nothing more. I joined the Fight Firm because I hated how weak I had become. Working out, training, and fighting were the only thing that seemed to distract me from the pain and all the anger. 

I remembered vivid details of how I kept eye on everyone around me. I was so fast at learning how to fight, I even told them about my promotion to fight with Navy SEAL agents. That's when Ryan stepped in. I spied on him until I was sure that he could help me with whatever I was approaching. 

"Ryan was a lawyer by profession but he was also a secret Navy SEAL agent. He got me insider information regarding the law and how things work when there's a crime. We went back to the precinct but by then, the tapes were altered. The accident was completely blotted and they termed it a CCTV glitch. We were coming out of the precinct and that's when you," I eye Mia and she nods. "Caught me again. I was already depressed because we couldn't present the evidence I had recorded on my phone because I'd acquired it on illegal grounds. And the actual footage was meddled with. I was in no mood to explain all of this to you so I did the first thing I always do when push comes to shove." I smiled at her. "I ran." 

Mia scoffs as she bursts out laughing and shakes her head. "And Ryan helped you run." She turns to the others. "She fled on a motorcycle. How was I supposed to chase her?" 

I was laughing too. Of all the people in my life, she's the only person I've tormented, confused, and completely taken for granted. Somewhere in my mind, I knew Mia always had my back.