Behind the Scenes

Chapter Twenty

"Start from the beginning." The officer said with a sigh. He had tried to read all of her case files but it was too confusing. Amanda gulped but began to speak, hearing the recorder click on.

When I was four, my mother killed herself. She walked straight into a burning building after kissing me and she waved goodbye as her hair caught fire.

Father arranged the funeral and paid for it with her mother's money, which my mother had inherited when Gran died. That was the last selfless thing he did.

I kept a diary as a kid, you'll see it in the box. Every time my father did anything to me, I wrote it down. For twelve years. He beat me, he... he raped me. He tried to kill me twice.

Then I met Killian and I forgot everything. I was wrapped up in him. He consumed me and I was his completely. He murdered my father, or I thought he did. I broke up with him and threatened to turn him in. He insisted he had been doing me a favour and that I would see he was right one day. That nobody walks away from him and nobody hurts what belongs to him.

When I didn't go back to him, he came to my house. He killed himself in front of me. I called an ambulance, I called police. He was pronounced dead. I guess they were wrong.

I dated Jackson when I first moved to LA. He was my first boyfriend since Killian and I was smitten instantly. Steel eyes and an adorable smile. Turned out, after a few months, he only smiled when he was drunk and beating me.

I had him arrested and won the court case for him to be locked up.

I saw my dad a couple months ago, for the first time since his fake death. I passed out instantly. I saw him again a few weeks ago outside a restaurant. He tried to convince me to talk with him but I refused and left.

Then I saw Jackson again. He told me his family had bailed him out and that I would regret not coming back to him. Zendaya said she saw him and my dad together.

I got a restraining order on him but Tom didn't. They got into a fight.

And then came the note from Killian that I gave to you earlier. It's his handwriting, perfectly. I'd recognise it anywhere.

The officers looked to each other and back at Amanda, the recording device still turned on.

"And all of this is the solid truth that will line up with everything in this box?" The first one asked, his eyebrows raised and Amanda nodded.

"Yes, officer." She said softly, remembering the recording can't see her nodding. The recording clicked to finish and the officers offered her a friendly smile.

"We're gonna need a few hours to read through everything, you good to just wait here?" The second officer asked and Amanda nodded, following him wordlessly out of the room. Tom was stood waiting for her, tugging her close to him when he saw the tears in her eyes and her wobbling lip.

"W-we need to stay here for a few hours." She mumbled against his chest and he kissed the top of her head.

"Okay. Whatever we need to do to get this sorted out, I'm okay with doing. I want to help you." He murmured against her hair and she smiled shyly, pulling back to look up at him.

"Thank you, Tommy." She said sweetly, kissing him gently and following him to sit in the waiting area.

A few hours passed, four, Amanda guessed, and Tom had ignored all the calls and texts he was getting so he could continue to comfort her.

"We've gone through everything and we are convinced. Can you describe Killian to us?" The first officer asked upon returning and she sighed in relief, nodding and letting go of Tom to follow  him back into the interrogation room.

Killian is... celestial. His skin is the whitest I've ever seen, and his eyes a dark blue colour. He has a slightly uneven jaw, his hair is black and he always used to have it cut short. He has a slightly crooked nose from me breaking it when I learned he had killed my father. He's around 6'2, and is sort of in between stop and athletic. His mum was Canadian, his dad was German. His accent is somewhere in between those two and London English.

She stepped back outside when they thanked her and Tom called them a taxi to go back to his place, paying before Amanda could even reach for her purse. She collapsed onto the couch in exhaustion as soon as the door was shut, a hand over her chest to try and calm her heart rate.

"It's gonna be okay, Angel." Tom promised her, leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead.

"You can't promise me that Tommy. I wish you could, I wish you could just wrap me in bubble wrap and protect me from my father, from Jackson, from Killian, but you can't." She whispered, her voice cracking. "You're just one guy. They're three! Two of them faked their deaths and one got bailed out of prison before. We'll never win against them." She mumbled, rubbing her eyes and wrapping her arms around him. "You're amazing, Tommy, but you're not a superhero. No matter who you play in movies." She added, her voice getting quieter with each word.

"I wish I could. I wish I could protect you." He said, staring straight into her eyes and grabbing her wrists so she couldn't hide her face from him. "I'm going to do everything I can to help you, love. I swear." He murmured and kisses her, tenderness radiating from the way he moved to hold her and the way his lips molded so perfectly to hers. "Always."