"How can you be so sure he's not in there?"

Amy Gellar pulled her blue VW bug up on the left side of the round and majestic cobblestone paved courtyard, which sat in front of Victor Bane's enormous, two-story, grey and white victorian mansion. The mansion sat on half an acre of land, surrounded by high fieldstone walls, a large black iron gate--operated like many by a remote, intercom, and keypad system--and numerous firs and oak trees. The house itself sat at the end of a long driveway, paved in cobblestone like the courtyard was. She shut off the engine before turning her head to look over at her best friend, Courtney Price. "I'm sure. I told you, he's at work. He's going to be there for at least another four or five hours." She bit down on her bottom lip apprehensively, her heart starting to beat a little harder in her chest, "unless..."

Courtney blinked her piercing brown eyes, averting her gaze away from the house in front of her and turning her attention on her friend, her thin dark brows furrowing inquisitively. "Unless what?"

Pushing down the huge lump in her throat, a soft sigh escaped her thin lips. "Unless he finishes shooting early for some reason and...comes home."

The corners of Courtney's full pink lips drooped into a deep scowl. Her eyes shifted in either direction of the enormous front yard, "we shouldn't be here." She glanced over at Amy, gesturing to the steering wheel. "Let's just go," she insisted, tossing her long, wavy brown hair over her shoulder. "Come on, let's go before he comes back."

She shook her head firmly, bringing one of her small hands up to tuck a few loose strands of her shoulder-length light brown hair behind her ear, tears beginning to form in her large brown eyes. "I can't!" She cried, exhaling sharply. "I can't, Court. I have to do this. If I don't do it now, I won't get the chance to do it later...that is if I'm still alive." She felt a huge lump forming in her throat at that thought that Victor might put an end to her for this, knowing damn well he would do it and he wouldn't feel any remorse for it whatsoever.

"What?" Courtney's scowl deepened as she shook her head. "Okay, stop it. Just stop! You can't let him do that to you. You have to get away from him!"

"That's what I'm saying! That's the whole reason why we're here!" She insisted, her voice shaking slightly with emotion. Looking woefully down at her lap, a single tear managed to escape the corner of her eye and rolled down her cheek. "Look, I know how much you hate him, even after all the stalking and abuse he put me through just to get me to go out with him, but that first date of ours...it seemed so surreal. You know? Like he was a totally different person. Not the homicidal and perverted asshole he used to be. He was so...charming, and funny, and generous and he told me he wanted to give me the world...on a silver platter. He was a total gentlemen. I never knew he could be like that, which made me want to continue seeing him. Things were actually nice between us. At least for a while." A small smile crossed her face but it was gone just as fast as it had come.

"And then?" Courtney inquired softly.

"And then, after a few weeks...it stopped being nice. He stopped being nice. He was..." Her voice broke with emotion and she stopped.

"The same sadistic bastard he was before," Courtney finished.

Biting down on her already quivering bottom lip, she sniffled, the tears rolling down her cheeks now. "Yeah...I just don't know what happened, why he turned on me, why he had to start..." She trailed off, having realized she hadn't been as upfront with Courtney about their relationship before and the things he did as she was being now, even though it really was no secret to her what kind of man he was.

"Start what?"

She shook her head. "Nothing."

Courtney turned towards her, his brows stitching together incriminatingly. She was quiet for a few long seconds before finaly uttering the question she was dreading to hear, "is he hurting you again? The same way he hurt you before you two got together?"

She sniffled, shaking her head more firmly than before. "Just forget it."

"No, I wanna know. Has he been hurting you this whole time?"

After a long moment of silence, she sighed deeply, pulling her hair away from her neck and turning towards her friend, revealing the purple bruises that had formed along either sides of her neck. With another sniffle, she slipped her black jacket off of her shoulders and pushed up the three quarter sleeves of her silk, low-cut pink blouse, revealing the bruises on both of her arms, which were the same color as the ones around her neck, long sweeping bruises from Victor's large and immensely strong fingers. A few more tears rolled down her cheeks as she stared woefully back at her friend.

Courtney's jaw went slack when she laid her eyes upon those bruises, blinking back her astonishment as she leaned in a little bit more to get a closer look at them. "Oh my God." She ran her fingers along her left arm, her brows furrowing in concern, "do they hurt?"

She bit down on her bottom lip, pulling her arm away and cringing as she pulled the sleeve down, pain throbbing in both of her arms, "just a little, mainly when something rubs against them." She brushed a tear away with the back of her index finger and sniffled softly, pulling her sweatshirt back on.

"That son of a bitch. How long has he been doing this to you?"

Her shoulders rose and fell in a shrug, wiping at her nose with the back of her hand. "A...couple weeks, maybe."

"A couple weeks!" Courtney cried incredulously. "Okay, this shit has to stop now! Otherwise, I'm going to kill the fucking prick myself. I don't care if I die doing it, at least I'll have gone down fighting and beating his ass."

"You can't take Victor out. No one can, and if they could...he would have been arrested a long time ago." She sniffled once more, glancing over in her direction. "I don't want you to die trying to defend me. I won't let..." Her voice trailed off as she caught some movement out of the corner of her eye. Slowly, she turned her head, peering out of the driver's side window and noticing two of Victor's big black rottweiliers had peeked their heads out, and were now watching her intently from the left side of the house. An intentness so fierce, her heart started to pound in her chest out of fear.

"Uhh...Amy?" Courtney called to her in an unsteady tone of voice.

She pushed down the huge lump that had formed in her throat. "What?"

"Does the sadistic bastard have two rottweilers?"

"Four. Why?" Slowly, she turned her head to the opposite side of the vehicle, noticing that the other two rottweiliers had appeared from the opposite side of the house and were staring just as intently at the car as the other two were, only these two bared their teeth and she could have sworn she heard low growls rumbling from them, even through the windows.

"Four? Oh Jesus." Courtney told her, frozen in terror so much that she couldn't seem to turn her head away from them.

"There's two on this side too." Amy spoke slowly, taking a couple calming deep breaths, but her shaky voice showed no sign that she was truly calm. "It's okay. They know me. They won't attack me. V-Victor, I'm pretty sure, he trained them to like me. Or at least...I think they do. They've never attacked me when I've come home. We should be okay."

"You mean you should. These bastards don't even know me." Courtney gasped. "Oh my God. Amy? They're coming closer."

"I think Victor has a code word he uses to take them off attack mode or something." She spoke quickly. "I don't actually know it though. Okay, okay, let's just get the boxes, and hurry up and get inside." She took the keys out of the ignition, thankful it wasn't after sundown, and quickly reached behind her to grab the numerous empty cardboard boxes they had brought with them, handing Courtney a few of them, "here."

Courtney was hesitant but took them with trembling hands. "You sure running is such a good idea?"

"Just," she paused to push down another lump in her throat, "follow my lead. Don't start running yet." Making sure she had the key to the house in her fingers already, she said a silent prayer in her head before opening the door, and slowly slipping out of the driver's side. "Don't be scared, Court. It's okay," she tried to reassure her. Looking in either directions of the house, she chuckled nervously at both pairs of rotweillers, "hey guys, it's okay, it's just me, Amy. You know? Victor's girlfriend?"

The two set of rottweilers on her side of the house came towards her, stopping just two feet short of her, staring up at her with their beady black eyes, their heads cocking from one side to the other, whining and then groaning softly, almost as if they were trying to deciding whether or not she was a threat.

"I'm not going to hurt you guys and I'm not going to hurt your daddy. You know that, right? Victor wouldn't let me come back here all the time and see him...or you if he thought I was a threat. He loves me and I love him. Please don't hurt me."

Both dogs looked at one another and then back at her, groaning once again. One of them stepped towards her, and she froze, watching fearfully as the larger one sniffed at her knees, but that was all it did and after a couple seconds, it whined and backed away. She heard two growls from behind her, which were quickly followed by two loud barks. Quickly turning her head, she looked over and saw the other two rottweilers perched on the sill of the passenger's side window and glowering at Courtney. She cried out in surprise but quickly sank down into her seat, and it looked like she were praying to herself. Dashing over to the opposite side of the car, Amy shouted as loud as she could to command their attention elsewhere, "hey guys, it's me! I'm home!"

The two dogs stopped barking and turned their heads towards the sound of her voice. Her heart pounded fiercely in her chest. Never in her life had she been at the mercy of four dogs, let alone rottweiliers, whom, she hoped would trust her enough to let her go into the house unharmed. Her mind was shouting at her to run, get back into the car and peel out of there, but another part of her, the very small part that still had hope in her heart that Victor loved her enough to teach his dogs to like her, sensed they wouldn't hurt her.

She gave them a small smile and a small wave, the keys she held in her right hand jingling as she did so. "Remember me? Victor's girlfriend? Amy? You remember me, don't you? The girl your daddy always lets come over and see him, and see you?"

Jumping down from the window sill, they slowly came towards her, their heads low to the ground, as she prayed to God they wouldn't bite her feet off. She turned her body slightly, now facing the car, but enough to be able to see both sets of dogs out of the corner of her eye, hanging onto the boxes under her left arm for dear life, hoping they wouldn't make her drop them. The other dogs, the ones she had reassured previously seemed to be staying where they were, and were at a considerable less distance from her than they had been before. Thank God! The dogs closest to the car approached her, first sniffing her feet and then her knees. She remained motionless, her left hand clutching the boxes at her side and letting her right hand remain down at her opposite side, sensing that any sort of movement would set them off, and continuously praying to God they wouldn't attack her.

"Please don't hurt me," she spoke calmly. "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I just...came with a friend to get some of my stuff. I'll be in and out quick, I promise. Okay?" Her eyes shifted towards her friend, who, had sat up a little and was peering over the dashboard at her, staring at her with pleading eyes. Amy knew she was running out of options in getting her friend into the house safely, let alone in one piece. She mouthed the word "wait" to her before her eyes shifted back to the dogs before her.

Both dogs lifted their heads and looked up at her, staring intently at her. The smaller of the two groaned and then turned to look over at the other dog. The larger dog exuded a similar groan and after a moment's hesitation, backed away from her, though not completely. More like a foot. A somewhat allieviated sigh escaped her, hoping that they would at least let her off the hook long enough to get her friend out of the car. After saying a silent prayer in her head, she inched her way towards the passenger's side door of the car, keeping her eyes trained on the dogs as she moved around them. Although they kept a safe distance from her, they watched her every movement in silence, almost as if they thought she would lash out at them without a moment's notice.

"Please don't hurt my friend. I swear, she means no harm. Not to you or your daddy." Well, okay the last part was a lie, but there was no way in hell they would know it. The two rottweilers remained steadfast, and she wondered whether or not they'd heard her at all. Her eyes shifted towards the other couple of dogs, but was astonished and at the same time, relieved to see that they were no longer there. Oh thank you God! Reaching behind her, she placed her hands flat against the side of her car, feeling around for the door handle. When her fingers locked under it, she turned towards the door and looked through the window at a frightful Courtney.

Courtney shook her head firmly, mouthing the word "no."

She stole a glance back at the pair of dogs. No change. "Yes," she spoke softly through the glass, though doubting she had actually heard her. Lifting the door handle, she slowly opened the passenger's side door, and grabbed her friend's hand, urging her up and out of the car, "it's okay. Come on, they're not going to hurt you. Just stay close to me. It's okay. Bring the boxes."

Just as she suspected, Courtney was hesitant. At first, she shook her head in debate, trying to pull her hand away, but after another minute, slowly started to get out of the car, clutching a couple cardboard boxes under her left arm. Her eyes locked on the two dogs, who took a couple steps towards the two of them, a low growl escaping the larger of the two.

Courtney gasped, her eyes widening at the sound. Amy stole a glance over her shoulder before exchanging a look with the other girl and pulling her behind her, "just get behind me, start walking towards the door. Stay close, they won't hurt me, I know they won't." Walking backwards with Courtney merely a few inches behind her, she headed in the direction of the front door, watching both dogs intently as she did so. She attempted to offer the rottweilers an extra bit of reassurance, though doubting it would do any good. "My friend won't hurt you, please don't hurt her. She's with me. She's not going to hurt you, she's not to hurt you, I promise. Please don't hurt her, please."

With each step that they took towards the door, the dogs took one forward, their beady eyes fixed on the girl behind her in a hard stare, clearly not phased by her reassuring words, even if they did have ears.

Stealing a quick glance over her shoulder, she realized they were four feet away from the door. "Watch out, there's two steps behind you. Take my keys," she told Courtney softly. Feeling behind her with her foot, she stepped up onto the first step shortly after Courtney did. "It's the third key. Hurry." It was times like this she was thankful she only had four keys on her key ring.

Without hesitation, Courtney took the keys from her hand, fumbling with them for a minute to find the right one before turning towards the front door and turning the key into the lock. One of the dogs suddenly side-stepped her and reared towards Courtney, sinking its teeth into one of the cardboard boxes she was holding with a ferocious growl and startling both girls. Amy quickly jumped back impulsively out of fright as Courtney screamed, the three cardboard boxes slipping out of her hand on impact with the dog's teeth. Just before the other dog could charge at her, she quickly pushed the door open and disappeared inside.

"Please, don't hurt me, please!" Amy cried, jumping up onto the last step and holding her free hand up in defense as she tried to slip inside the house safely, but not holding it out too far in front of her, for fear they might try and bite it or at least snap at it. Both dogs moved towards her, the larger one of the two stepping up onto the first step and barking. "I'm sorry. I promise, we'll be in and out fast," she spoke as calmly as she could muster, before hurriedly slipping her petite body inside the house. She locked the door behind her before leaning her back against it and sighing in relief, though not really sure how much good it would do if the dogs came crashing through the windows around her. However, she tried not to think of that at the moment.

"Okay, I seriously want to put that sadistic son of a bitch out of his misery," Courtney remarked.

"Shhh!" She hushed her, bringing her index finger up to her lips and gesturing to the door, "they'll hear you." Turning towards the large multi-paned fixed window to her right, she peeked out of it, swallowing hard when she noticed the two dogs padding back and forth outside the door, moving from one direction to the other. Great. Trapped. Trapped like mice. Now how were they going to get out?

"Damn. For being such an evil bastard, I never would have imagined Victor would have such a great place."

She nodded her head, turning away from the window and looking over at her. "Yeah, he does, which was actually one of the better parts about living here." Looking down at the cherry hardwood floorboards, she scowled deeply, "well...until now anyway."

Victor truly did have a nice place. To her right was the dining room, with a large oak wood dining table, matching high-backed oak chairs, and a white crystal chandelier hanging overhead. To the left was the grand staircase, which was upholstered in black carpeting, leading all the way up to the second floor of his house. Just beyond the dining room was his white, modernly dramatic and quietly sensual kitchen, which contained a small breakfast nook, bar, and mini fridge with a glass door, for storing his numerous bottles of wine. The countertops were black granite and the cupboards were oak. His bachelor-esque living room sat adjacent to the kitchen. The living room contained a black leather couch, two red leather arm chairs, a square glass coffee table sitting upon a large zebra print rug, red shaded lamps with white crystal bases, and a fourty-inch flat screen high definition television set along the back wall. At the back of the house sat two sliding glass doors--hidden beneath white silk curtains--leading out to his enormous backyard, which contained his pool and spa.

Sitting off to the left of the living room, and just around the corner of the foyer was a door, which Victor had told her was nothing more than a locked closet, when in reality, it was his basement. Around the next corner, to the left, past the living room was a bathroom followed by the laundry room, which, as most did, led straight to the two car garage. Victor didn't have many decorative things in his house, except of course for the various paintings of womens naked bodies that hung on the walls, both downstairs and upstairs. He had one in the foyer, one in the living room near the basement door, one between the bathroom and laundry room, and one along the wall of the staircase. There were three more upstairs in addition to the master bedroom and bath, another bathroom, two guest rooms, and a study.

Courtney scoffed with a roll of her eyes, "yeah, until now. So what's the game plan?"

"Go upstairs, pack up my stuff as quick as we can and get the hell out of here. Or try to at least." She scowled deeply, her eyes roaming back in the direction of the door, half-expecting the see the two dogs perched at the window beside the door, but...they weren't there.

"Easier said than done. I can't go out there again, not after they just tried to attack me." Courtney exhaled sharply, running her fingers through her hair, "shit."

"Well would you rather stay here and wait for Victor to come home? Because I sure don't. I just want to get my stuff and get out."

"He hates me as much as I hate him. There's not a chance in hell I'm staying here until he comes home. I'd much rather take my chances with his damn dogs than with him. I mean, hey, it's one or the other, right? And we both know what that prick is capable of."

Amy nodded her head gently. "Yeah..." Sighing wearily, she nodded towards the stairs, "let's go. Let's hurry." Together, she and Courtney climbed the stairs up to the second floor. Slipping into the master bedroom to the right, she tossed the cardboard boxes down on the black iron framed, king-sized bed, before walking quickly over to the floor to ceiling red velvet curtains across the room, pulling on the string hidden beneath them to the right. The curtains instantly parted to reveal the sliding glass doors beneath them--which led out to Victor's balcony--allowing the late afternoon sunlight to pour into the room.

"He's got a balcony too? Nice." Courtney remarked flatly, sighing softly and shoving her hands into the back pocket of her dark denim, hip-hugging Lucky Brand jeans. "Nice to know he hasn't tried to throw you off of it."

She whirled around to face her, bringing both of her hands up to her head, "can we just please stop talking about this right now and all the ways he could kill me?"

Courtney fell silent, a deep scowl crossing her face. "Sorry girl, I didn't mean it like that. I'll shut up."

"Thanks." Stepping towards the bed, she grabbed each cardboard box and opened them up, setting them back down on top of the thick faux cheetah fur coverlet on the bed. "Besides, if he wanted to kill me, he wouldn't do it by throwing me off the balcony." Her voice broke with her last words, tears beginning to form behind her eyes all over again. Turning away from the boxes, she strode across the room, slipping into the black and white master bathroom and then into the walk-in closet to the right.

When Victor had proposed that she move in with him, she had taken half of her wardrobe with her, in addition to about five different pairs of shoes. She hadn't moved all of her stuff into his house. In fact, she simply saw the move as nothing more than having her own personal five star hotel at her convience, and only took the necessary essentials with her. Besides her clothes and shoes, she had brought her accessories, toiletrees, a few paperback novels, her iPod, teddy bear, a few knick knacks, DVDs and her laptop. The rest of her belongings were back at the house she shared with her mother and her mother's fiance', Chris. Even being twenty three years old, she still hadn't made or was making enough money to afford her own place. A cashier position only paid you so much, yet she was still saving to buy her own apartment. She was close, but not that close.

Coming out of the walk-in closet a minute later, she walked back into the bedroom carrying three pairs of shoes in her arms. She stole a glance over at Courtney, who, was being unusually quiet, "what?"

Courtney stepped towards her, moving to sit down at the foot of the bed, but deciding against it at the last minute and grimacing. Sighing wearily, she turned to face her, "look, girl, about what I said before..."

"Forget it," she shrugged her words off. "I know you didn't mean it like that." Grabbing one of the empty boxes on the bed, she held it out to her friend. "Could you do me a favor and go pack up the stuff I left in the guest bedroom? It's the first door on the left."

Her brows furrowed inquisitively as she took the box from her hand. "What stuff?"

"My teddy bear, it should be on top of the bed, some books and movies I left in the nightstand drawer, and some little things I left on top of it."

With a nod of her head, Courtney turned on her heels and started towards the door.

"Oh! Don't forget my laptop and the iPod dock," she added quickly.

"Got it."

As Courtney slipped out of the room to collect the rest of her things, Amy returned to the walk-in closet, taking the box with her shoes in it with her. On the left side of the walk-in closet hung Victor's many impeccable Gucci and Armani suits and right beside them, crisp dress shirts by Hugo Boss, Yves Saint Lurent, Armani and Dolce & Gabbana. Both the suits and the shirts were color-coordinated, and on the broad shelf overhead were a neat row of black, brown and white leather shoes. On the right side of the closet hung numerous pairs of slacks, as crisp and coordinated as his shirts were, in addition to a few pairs of dark denim jeans, and dark coats, both long and short, made from wool, leather, and denim. There was also a tuxedo wrapped in a plastic cover. There wasn't much space left beside the tuxedo, but the space that was left over contained her own clothes.

After setting the box down on the floor at her feet, she began slipping her various blouses, T-Shirts, sweaters, long-sleeved and three-quarter sleeved shirts off of the wooden hangers, folding them up one at a time and placing them inside the box neatly. Next, she moved onto the few pairs of jeans that hung up beside them, sweat pants, slacks, her one piece bathing suit, and finally, a couple sweatshirts and jackets. Like Victor, she didn't bother color coordinating her own clothes and she hadn't bothered organizing them in such a manner when she first moved in, but just three days after she had, she was suddenly surprised to walk into the closet to find her whole wardrobe had been color coordinated, just as his were. Although she hadn't questioned him about it, she had always assumed he must have done it on his own when she was away, just to keep his closet neat and orderly. She wouldn't put it past him that he had a slight obsessive compulsive disorder.

The box was almost too heavy for her to carry once she had filled it a few inches short of the top, which made her pause in packing her stuff to go get the empty box she'd left in the bedroom. Since she didn't have that much stuff left to pack up, she distributed some of the stuff from the first box into the second, but just a few things to leave room for her many bras, underwear, and socks, which were stored in the large storage bin beneath. When she had finished and all her clothes were packed, she slipped back into the bedroom to see Courtney sitting in the black velvet arm chair in the far left hand corner of the room, her arms crossed over her chest and her teddy bear sitting in her lap. "Hey, did you get everything?" She asked, setting the second box of clothes down on the bed between the first, and the one that Courtney had brought back.

Courtney nodded her head, exuding a soft sigh, but not yet lifting her chin to look up at her. "Yeah...I got everything."

Her brows furrowed inquisitively, as she crossed towards her. "What's wrong?"

She grabbed the teddy bear, sitting up and holding it out to her, Amy just now realizing there was a red rose attached to one of its arms, and what appeared to be a small white envelope. "I found this with it. I can only assume its from you-know-who."

Taking the teddy bear from Courtney's hand, she stared questionably down at it. The red rose, although the stem had been cut down to two inches, was real. She pulled it off of the bear, bringing it up to her nose and inhaling its sweet aroma, a soft smile crossing her face. Grabbing the envelope--that was fastened to the bear's paw with a safety pin--she took notice of the hand written and printed "Amy" on the front of it. Sure enough, it was Victor's neat handwriting. Her heart beat a little faster in her chest as she turned to set the teddy bear back in the box, and proceeded to open up the small envelope, which was not sealed, but the flap tucked inside. She quickly looked up at her friend, her brows furrowed incriminatingly.

"As tempting as it was, I didn't open it. I swear, it was like that when I found it," Courtney told her.

She averted her gaze back down to the envelope, slipping the small white card out of it and reading the words printed neatly on it to herself.

Sorry about last night, my sweet. I acted like a Goddamn prick. I suppose I should have thought twice before trying to strangle you. I promise, I'll make it up to you. Tonight. See you soon.

-Victor

Feeling her heart constrict in her chest, she bit down on her bottom lip, the tears welling up in her eyes all over again, despite how hard she tried to supress them.

"What does it say? Is it a threat?"

She pushed down the huge lump that had formed in her throat, slowly lifting her chin and looking up when she heard Courtney's voice. "No, it's not a threat. Just...an apology, I guess." Feeling a single tear escape the corner of her eye and roll down her cheek, she quickly brought her hand up and brushed it away with the back of her index finger.

"An apology?" A scoff escaped Courtney's lips. "Since when does that prick know the meaning of the word?"

She sighed woefully and sniffled, suddenly having second thoughts about whether or not she could actually go through with all this. "He's not...that big of a prick. At least not all the time," she spoke softly.

Quickly rising to her feet, she closed the distance between the two of them in two long strides, her brows furrowing incriminatingly. "Not all the time? Are you even listening to yourself right now girl? The guy is a scum bag, he's been hurting you for God knows how long now. You should be lucky to even be alive after what he's done to you since you two got together. The guy is capable of murder! So yeah, he is that big of a prick. Why are you defending him?"

Instead of replying to her question, she looked sadly down at her feet, the tears continuing to stream down her cheeks. She didn't know what to say to her friend. As much hell as he had put her through and as much pain as she'd allowed herself to endure, she knew, deep down, she still had feelings for Victor, and not only because he was so ruggedly handsome. She missed the man he used to be. The charming man that was set on giving her everything, and making her his Queen. At least that's what she thought.

"Are you...you're not having second thoughts about this, are you? Please tell me you're not thinking about staying here, with him."

She was quiet for a long moment before finally replying just as softly as before, "I don't know."

"You don't know? Amy, come on, you can't be serious! If you stay with him, one of these days, he's not going to let you go. He's going to keep hurting you and eventually, you're going to end up dying because of it! Do you really want to let that happen?"

Suddenly, she couldn't hold back the tears any longer. The flood gates opened and before she even realized what was happening, she broke down and started sobbing hysterically.

Courtney scowled deeply, wrapping her arms around her and pulling her into a hug, allowing her to cry on her shoulder. "It's okay, it's going to be okay," she hushed her. "Just let it out. I'm here for you girl. It's okay."

"You're right. Oh God, you're right," she cried between sobs. "I can't stay here anymore. I can't let him do this to me. I don't know why I put up with it for so long. He was just...so different before. I liked him like that...you know?"

"I know, I know, it's okay, but you're so much better off without him, girl, I promise. You don't need him. You don't deserve to be put through that kind of shit anymore. You deserve someone better." Courtney sighed deeply. "I wish you had stayed with Michael. He was so sweet. He was the opposite of Victor. And hey, he was a doctor. Not a former plastic surgeon, but a doctor!"

At the mention of her ex-boyfriend, she started sobbing harder, "oh God, I know...I know!" After a few minutes more of crying, in which Courtney continued holding her and trying to reassure her as best she could, her sobs died down and she gently pulled back, wiping the tears from eyes with the back of both of her index fingers. She stole a glance over at the digital clock on the nightstand, which read: 5:25 PM. "We should go. It's going to start getting dark soon and you know...he'll be coming home."

Courtney glanced over at the clock and nodded her head. "Yeah."

Remembering something she had forgotten to pack up, she sniffled, whirled around on her heels and strode towards the bathroom. "Hold on," she told her, slipping into the bathroom and quickly packing up her toiletrees, placing them inside the small over night bag before returning to the bedroom and placing the bag into the second box of clothes.

"Any idea how we're going to get outta here?"

She froze, a deep sigh escaping her. "Hopefully...like we got in."

"Are you kidding me? Those damn dogs of his already tried attacking me once, what makes you think they won't do it again?"

"We don't have any other choice." She tossed Victor's note and the rose in the first box of clothes and picked it up. "Just stay close to me like you did before. If they want to attack you..." Her voice trailed off, as she pushed down another lump in her throat. "They're going to have to get through me first."

"I don't want them to attack you."

"They won't. Somehow, I don't know how, Victor must have trained them not to attack me. Even when he's not home. Plus, I told you, they've never attacked me when I've come home from work." She set the box back down on the bed for a minute, trying to figure out exactly how they were going to carry three boxes out between the two of them. "If all else fails, just run, as fast as you can to the car," she grabbed the box from the guest bedroom and handed it over to Courtney, "you think you can carry two boxes?"

Courtney took the box, staring skeptically at her, even though in all honesty, she was in better shape and built more athletic than she was. "I don't know. I can try."

"Well please try, for me. Do you still have my keys?"

She nodded her head, "yeah." Setting the box down for a second, she reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out the keys, handing them over to her. "Here."

"Thanks." Shoving them into the pocket of her own jeans, she grabbed the second box of clothes and placed it top of the one Courtney was already holding. Her friend's knees buckled, wavering slightly on her heels for a split second before shifting her weight, attempting to get a better grip on both boxes. "You got it?"

"I think so. I can't say I feel so good about this plan though." She peeked her head over the two boxes, "I can't hardly see anything, and I don't want to end up falling over with all this stuff and breaking something if those things try and bite me, which I know they will."

Amy exhaled sharply, walking over to close the curtains on the sliding glass doors before returning to the bed, picking up the box she'd set down before. "Well, you're stronger than I am. Like I said, just run, as fast as you can to the car. I'll get it open as fast as I can. If it gets really bad, I'll go over there and reason with them...or something. Let's just go. It's okay." Turning on her heels, she walked out of the bedroom and into the upstairs hallway.

"Easy for you to say." Courtney mumbled under her breath, following her out into the hallway. "What's down there?"

She paused at the landing of the staircase, turning her head to look over at her, "down where?"

"Down there," she nodded towards the opposite end of the hall.

"Oh, Victor's study." Amy replied, before turning around and heading down the stairs. "He keeps it locked when he's not here. Don't ask me what's in it. I learned my lesson the first time I snuck into it to never do it again."

A scoff escaped Courtney's lips. "That bad, huh? No surprise there."

"It was more about what happened to me...after I snuck in." When she heard no further comment or response from the other girl, except for the sound of her footfall against the stairs, she thanked God she had the decency to drop the subject altogether. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she cautiously stepped down off of the last step and stole a glance over at the sliding glass doors at the back of the house. So far so good. No dogs there. Not even any broken glass. Approaching the door, she leaned up on her tip-toes to look through the peek-hole, praying to God the two dogs had stopped staking out the front door. She and Courtney had to have been upstairs for at least a good twenty minutes if not half an hour. Her heart lept in her chest when she saw the front walkway and narrow porch was empty. She wouldn't get her hopes up yet though. Doing so would only get her friend hurt, and maybe even her if she wasn't careful.

"Do you see anything?" Courtney murmured, coming up behind her.

"No." She replied in the same tone of voice, stealing a glance over at her, "okay, are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Like I said, stay close to me until we get off the steps, and then, run as fast as you can to the car. The doors should still be unlocked. Just hurry up and get in, throw the top box into the backseat if you have to. I don't care, as long as we can get out of here. They can't be that quick."

Courtney swallowed hard, giving a stiff nod of her head. "All right."

Her heart pounded fiercely against her chest, balancing the box on one of her knees so she she could unlock the door, fearing more for her best friend's life than her own at this point. Very slowly, she opened the door, making sure to lock it again now that she had opened it. God forbid Victor would come home early and find out what she had done. She slipped out first, cautiously stepping out onto the narrow porch steps, her eyes darting from one side of the house to the other, expecting to hear growls, or at the very least to see their beady black eyes peeking out and staring out at her, but they were nowhere in sight. The sun was beginning to set, but even in the amber glow of the sky, she saw nothing but the trees and evergreens. Instead of looking back at Courtney, she motioned quickly with her hand for her to come out.

The girl didn't need to be told twice. Without hesitation, she slipped sideways out of the house and onto the porch steps. Once her friend was out, she turned her gaze away for a split second to shut the door behind them.

"Okay, let's go, on three," Amy murmured, her eyes darting in either direction of the house.

Courtney nodded gently, shifting her weight to get a better hold on the boxes, but remained quiet.

"One..." She stepped down onto the second step, her friend following. "Two..." She stepped down off of the step and onto the ground, the girl behind her did the same. Her eyes fixed upon her car, preparing to take off in a run, but as she opened her mouth to utter the last word, two growls came from the right side of the house.

Courtney gasped, her head whipping around at the same time hers did. Just as she had anticipated, one set of beady eyes was peeking out at them, their lenses glowing red under the amber sky. One of the dogs stepped out into view, baring its teeth and growling once more, though she couldn't be sure which of them had actually been doing the growling before. She'd put her money on it that it had been both. Oh, what the hell did it matter really? They were going to become mince meat if they didn't make a break for it right now. Earlier, their intent and vexated gazes had been fixed upon her friend, but now...she was getting a whole different vibe. She didn't know what it was or why she was getting it, but she didn't like it. Did they know? That she was moving out? How could they know? No. They couldn't. Please God, tell her they didn't know.

"You think they know something's up?" Courtney whispered.

She sighed softly, pushing down a huge lump that had formed in her throat. "They always know something's up. Okay, plan B. Let's walk calmly towards the car." Her friend nodded gently. Her eyes shifted in the opposite direction of the house, but it appeared as if the two dogs were the only ones that posed a threat right now. The other two weren't in sight. Fixing her eyes back on the two dogs, she took quick but calm steps towards the driver's side of the car, her heart pounding madly in her chest. She didn't dare look over at the other girl though, and simply assumed that she was making her own way towards the car, without any problems. "We're just going to leave now, she won't be coming back here again, I promise. Just me. You guys know me, right?" She attempted to reassure the dogs, although doubting it would do much good.

Both dogs took a few steps closer to the vehicle and growled, the sound much louder than before. One of them was staring straight at her, teeth bared and body prepared for attack while the other was focused on Courtney. She swallowed hard, having resorted to continuing her trek backwards. They definitely knew something was up. They must know she was leaving their master and doing it without his knowledge. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Courtney's figure, moving at the same exact pace she was and knew that they were only a good four and a half feet away from the actual doors.

Oh fuck it! She was tired of running. She wasn't going to let his asshole dogs get the best of her. Even if they were terrifying in themselves. Holding the box tightly to her chest, she turned quickly, grabbing the door handle and yanking open the door, jumping into the car as fast as she could. "Get in!" She shouted at Courtney as she threw the box of her stuff quickly over her shoulder into the backseat, and dug into her pocket for her keys, fumbling around for the right one with shaky hands.

The moment that she had jumped into the car, Courtney had already been struggling to open her own door, nearly dropping the boxes she had in her arms when she shouted and the dog started barking at her. Quickly reaching over the car, she opened the door for her friend, shouting at her to hurry up and get in. Courtney jumped in at the speed of light, throwing the top box into the backseat, and dodging an attack from the dog when it tried to bite her ankle. When she went to close the door, she accidentially shut the door on the dog's muzzle, and the rottweiler whined and howled in pain as it tried to pull its nose out from between the door and the jam.

"Shit!" Courtney cried, suddenly realizing what she had done and opening up the door again to let the dog out, shutting it quickly after.

Amy screamed, nearly jumping out of her skin when the second dog jumped up, resting its paws on the door and peering through the window at her, baring its teeth as it had before and looking about ready to crash through the glass. Breathing heavily, she turned the key into the ignition and started the car, instantly putting it into gear and slamming her foot on the gas pedal, peeling out of the courtyard. The rottweiler's paw instantly slipped from the car door, making a sickening screech against the metal. She knew there would undoubtedly be a mark left behind on her car that she would have to pay to get fixed, but it was better her car that got scratched than any other part of her body, and they wouldn't be just scratches, they would be gashes. Deep gashes that would scar her for the rest of her life.

"Okay, I really, really hope that prick burns in hell for this!" Courtney remarked, reaching over the seat to place the second box in the backseat, before turning to face forward and tugging on her seatbelt.

She stole a glance in the side mirror as she raced down the long driveway towards the gate, thankful she had left it open so they could easily get out, but knowing that Victor would be infuriated if he found out, and more than likely would make her pay the price for it. One look in the side mirror and she could see the dogs off in the distance, prancing after the car as fast as their legs could carry them. "I think they knew. Somehow, they must have put two and two together and realized I was leaving him, for good. Ugh! I hate that dogs can sense things like that!"

"Bastards. So what are you going to do now?"

Her heart skipped a beat in her chest. "Now..." She swallowed hard, "I'm going to wait a couple hours, at least, and then..." Her voice trailed off.

"And then what?"

"And then...go to the studio and break up with him."

Courtney blinked back her astonishment. "What? Are you sure that's such a good idea? I thought you just came here to get your stuff?"

Keeping her gaze fixated on the road in front of her, she sighed deeply. "I came here to get my stuff so that I wouldn't have to get it later. Not like I'd be able to after I tell him. If I don't go to him, he'll come looking for me. One way or another, he'll find me. He always does, and when he does, he'll make it ten times worse on me for not being up front with him about it. At least this way he might show some mercy on me for having the guts to tell him in person."

"Mercy? He doesn't even know the meaning of the word. Do you honestly think he'll show mercy to you for breaking up with him?"

After a few long seconds, she shook her head, "no, but I'm hoping, that at least a tiny part of him inside will care enough to go easy on me or by some sheer twist of fate, he'll be willing to change...for me."

"Maybe, if hell decides to freeze over anytime soon."

She exhaled sharply, shooting a glare over at her friend as they reached the gate. "Can you close the gate for me?" Hitting the button on the door, she rolled down the passenger's side window and drove out of the lot, pausing at the intercom and keypad box. She gave her the code, not giving it a second thought that Victor would kill her for giving the code out to anyone else, much less Courtney. All she wanted was to get out of there before the dogs came for them. Leaning over, Courtney punched in the six digit number and the gate started to close.

"You memorized it that quick, huh?" Courtney inquired.

Turning right, she pulled the volkswagon out onto the street and headed down the winding road towards the bottom of the hill. She rolled her eyes at the question, "it wasn't that hard to memorize."

"And why's that?"

She gave her a sideways glance. "Because they're my measurements."

Courtney scoffed. "Why am I not surprised? Fucking bastard."