Chapter 39 - Tom

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The next few hours passed by quickly. We had taken Maia out of the room and downstairs to the lobby where we waited for the police to arrive. I explained things to the manager and they allowed us to take a private lounge area and supplied us with whatever we needed until the police came.

The police were excellent. They were sensitive and careful with Maia, not pushing or prying too hard, although most of the time I had to answer for her. She seemed to keep drifting in and out of the room; her gaze was completely distant. I felt it for her deep inside of me. She had been through the hardest times I had ever seen any single person go through and she had been handling it all, taking on one knock down after another until the one she couldn't withstand any longer. The one that tied everything together.

I blamed myself. This was my mess. I found myself thinking, if I had never gotten involved with her she would never have went through this. It hurt me to think this. I had so many strong feelings for her, such serious feelings and I had always been so thankful for her coming into my life, now I was wishing she hadn't, for her own sake.

The police took the best they could from Maia, Lola and I. Our statements gave the accounts of everything; Maia's relationships with Rachel and Lexie, the break-ins to the apartment, the events of tonight. The relationship between myself and Maia had to come out too. The police didn't react, but I couldn't help but wonder if they were secretly judging me.

I managed to clean up Maia's face and hold her wounds with some butterfly stitches after the police had taken photos of her. I held her face gently as I did so and she winced at the touch of each part and I just wanted to grip her tightly and promise I would never let anything like this happen to her again.

After we were finished, we waited while the police investigated the room and took the photos they needed and collected the drugs and other evidence. After leaving the hotel, we had to follow the police elsewhere so Maia could supply blood and urine samples to show the drugs in her system supplied by Lexie. They convinced her to get checked out at the local hospital, which we took her to, where we were told there was no serious underlying damage after hours of being there.

Once we were allowed to leave, it was the long drive back home and Maia and Lola both slept in the car the whole journey. I dropped Lola at home and returned back to the apartment with Maia. I had to support her weak body through the building and up to the apartment where she needed to lay down. I removed her shoes and clothing and tried my best to get her pyjamas onto her before carrying her to bed.

She was awake but she was completely drained and I lay down beside her and held her the tightest I ever had. This was the moment she cried; not tears of anger or fear but simple, soft cries while I held her tightly. I didn't speak. She didn't need to hear anything, she just needed me close.

We lay as Maia cried for over an hour before her sobs stopped gently and she fell into a deep sleep. I breathed a sigh of relief as I felt her body relax and knew she was out for the night. She could gain her energy back and figure things out in the morning, right now I just needed to hold her.

I had never imagined in my wildest dreams that Lexie Price would have taken things to this extreme. The girl had never crossed my mind when I'd known someone was after Maia. She needed psychiatric help.

I knew when I had seen her lingering outside my home the first time she accused me that she was unstable. I should have reported it as harassment. Maybe something would have been done to stop her continuing this psychotic behaviour. I had failed Maia in not saying anything, but I would make sure I didn't rest until she received justice.

Rachel surprised me even more. She was the kindest, most professional, genuine person I had known, yet she was almost as crazy as her sister. Rachel had known about the investigation because she had been called in by the board to answer some questions about my character and practice. I knew now that this had been a lie. This was the story she had told me, and she had continued to be there in support of me after I had opened up to her about it all, but obviously I knew now that the reason she'd known about the investigation was because it had been her own sibling. She knew Lexie had been lying, and I knew now that she'd had feelings for me too. The thought made me feel uneasy and think about all of the times I had been kind to her or shared something with her...maybe I had led her on.

It was no good thinking about the past now, I had to focus on what I had to do next and that was to get Maia back to her happy, beautiful, perfect self. It was over now, and she could get her life back on track. I knew she was probably going to have to go through the legal system with this and the idea that I had to prepare to convince her to go to court nerved me. I knew she was going to find it all hard, but I would remain by her side until she came out the other end and those two were punished for what they had done.

Maia had been through the wars since she had gotten involved with me so it was now my duty to bring her out of it. My feelings for her had only grown each day and every moment I spent with her were moments of complete joy and serenity. She had changed me. She had given me purpose and I had found myself slowly becoming the man I hadn't been for a long time; I was happy. I owed everything to her after everything she had done for me without knowing. I would make it my purpose to bring happiness and peace in life back to her.

She had given me my life back, and now I had to get her hers.

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