Page 24 of Flashback for the Forward

I ducked into the bathroom to grab my first aid kit before leading Bridget into the kitchen. She struggled to climb onto one of the stools at the island, so I offered, “Can I help you up?”

Her chin dipped, giving me permission.

Setting down the medical supply case, I gripped her around the waist. But the second my fingers dug in with enough pressure to lift her off the ground, Bridget let out an animalistic wail, contorting violently in my hold. I nearly dropped her, the idea of causing her pain making me sick to my stomach.

Instead, I got her set on the stool as quickly as possible, and lifted the hem of her hoodie to survey the extent of her injuries hidden from view.

There didn’t appear to be any damage to her stomach, but when I spun the stool around, my blood ran cold. The entirety of her back was black and blue, with a darker line of bruising across the center of her spine.

With my throat closing up, my words came out gruff. “I’m going to take you to the hospital.”

“No!”

Her cry was remarkably strong for someone so physically broken.

“Bridg—” I couldn’t stop my voice from cracking. “You could have internal bleeding or damage to your spinal cord.”

“It looks worse than it is, promise.”

My eyes slammed shut, her pain becoming mine, and I begged, “Please.”

“I-I can’t. He’ll find me there.”

Swear to God, I was going to kill her piece-of-shit husband.

Hauling in a deep breath, I blew it out slowly. While I might disagree with her decision to forgo medical attention, I silently vowed to support her however she needed. That’s what Russ would have wanted.

Straightening to my full height, I looked Bridget in the eye. “All right. No hospital. What about going to the police?”

With fear in her green gaze, she shook her head. “No.”

I zeroed in on the finger-shaped bruises on her neck, my jaw locking tight as I imagined how they’d gotten there. “He needs to be held accountable. Law enforcement can help make that happen.”

Bridget huffed out a wry laugh. “Doubtful.”

There was no way in hell I was letting this drop. There needed to be repercussions for a man who dared to lay his hands on a woman. “I know you’re scared, but you deserve to get justice for what he did to you.”

“He’s a cop, Cole.”

That information stunned me silent.

“Your heart is in the right place, but justice isn’t in the cards for me.”

Finally finding my voice, I scoffed, “So what? Because he’s a cop, he’s allowed to get away with murder? The laws apply to those who are meant to enforce them too.”

“In an ideal world, maybe,” she agreed. “But not in this one.”

“We have to try—”

She held up a hand, cutting me off. “You don’t know him like I do. Aiden is extremely good at putting on a front. He’s charming, well-liked by his colleagues. And he’s a skilled liar. If I went into the station, claiming he’d roughed me up, I have no doubt he’d be able to convince those he works with that I have psychosis and was off my meds.”

A growl of frustration vibrated through my chest. “How did you end up married to a guy like that?”

“We’re not married.”

My brows drew down. “He introduced himself as your husband.”

Bridget rolled her eyes and blew out a breath. “When we bumped into you a couple of weeks ago, we’d been at brunch with his captain. Aiden was pissed that I’d corrected his boss’s assumption that we were married, and telling you that we were was his way of asserting power over me.”