What on earth happened to her?

'Halley, I know you're scared. I know you want to put this behind you but we need your statement on what happened when Matt pulled you into the house,' Detective Sam pressed.

'I can't talk about it. I don't want to,' she cried again and hugged me tighter.

Mr. Hollen looked like he was about to explode.

'Where's the driver? Maybe he could describe what he saw when he fetched Halley,' Sam said to Mr. Hollen who began to make a call before Sam could finish.

The police officers stayed out in the living room since Halley was already in a delicate condition and they didn't want to upset her any more.

Luis arrived ten minutes later and inquisitiveness led me to eavesdrop. What Luis described when he entered into the house made me gasp. Tears flooded my eyes as he told them the details. I'd have been better of not hearing a thing.

Poor Halley. How could her 

'Sir, what are you...? Oh my Gooood!' I said between kisses.

'Can I touch you?' he asked as he ran kisses down my neck, giving me goosebumps. His hands were already all over me.

'No, you can't,' I said as I pulled his head away and looked into his eyes.

'Why not?' he leaned in, oh so tempting.

'You're engaged. Plus the police are still here, they'll be looking for us. You have to stop.'

I wanted him but not like this.

'Okay. I'll stop. This isn't over,' he added before he left the room.

I was wet.

Ethan's POV

Why couldn't I just keep my hands off her?

I'd rushed after her as she ran out of the kitchen, looking sad and scared. I'd followed her directly to her bedroom, forgetting about everyone else. When I kissed her she'd stopped me before it escalated any further.

What she said made sense. I was engaged to another woman and there were police officers in the house conducting a

'Halley, Emma, I'm Detective Sam of the NYPD. This here is Officer Ryan, Officer Michaels, and Officer Marshall. They're here with me to get a statement from the both of you.'

Emma nodded.

'Emma, I'll start with you. Can you recall exactly what happened yesterday from the time you two left the mansion?'

'Yes, Detective. Yesterday, around midday, I wanted to cash in my check. I informed Halley since there were only the two of us here at the time. She came along with me-- we are entitled to a half day once a week. Mr. Luis, one of Mr. Hollen's drivers, drove us to the bank. It took about half-an-hour then we went to a store and I bought a dress.'

'So you knew you were going to a party?' Sam asked as she paused.

'No. Not at that time.'

'Okay, continue. What happened next?'

'Afterwards, Halley took me to a hair salon to get my hair done. Then we went to the mall where I got some new contact lenses from a friend of hers who is an eye specialist.'

No more big glasses? I thought to myself.

'Halley said she needed a dress. We went to a store and got one. That's when she told me we were going to a party. I already had on my new dress and I didn't want to disappoint her because she was being nice to me for the first time. We got Luis to take us to her boyfriend's house at Saint...'

'Saint Street?'

'Yes, at Saint Street. When we got there, a guy came over to us and Halley gave him a present.'

'What was it?'

'A watch. A Rolex.'

I quickly looked at Halley. What the f...?

'It was a knock off from Chinatown,' Halley quickly added.

I exhaled slowly.

'Did you get his name?'

'His name was Matt.'

'Okay. What happened after?'

'They started dancing and I was just looking around because the party was outdoors -- the backyard. A guy approached me and started talking to me.'

What fucking guy?  I was ready to kill.

'Who was he?' Sam asked what I'd wanted to know.

'His name was Max.'

'Matt and Max the brothers?' Officer Ryan asked Sam with concern in his eyes.

'Sounds like them,' Sam replied.

'Like who?' I asked angrily, cutting in. Sam told me to calm down and wait for Emma's statement to be finished.

'He was asking me questions like was I new in town, if I had a boyfriend, and so on, just small talk. Then Halley came over with a drink in a red plastic cup.'

'Wait a minute. Halley gave you the drink?'

'Yes, detective.'

'Continue.'

'I'm not a fan of alcohol. I only took a small sip so Halley would stop bugging me.'

'What was her condition at that time?'

'She looked somewhat tipsy but I didn't think much of it because I had never been out to a party with her before. She went to dance with her boyfriend again. I walked over to a tree and threw out the beer, that's when I saw a pill fall out.'

'Did you pick it up?'

'Yes, I wrapped it in a makeup wipe and put it in my purse. Then it dawned on me that it had to be some kind of drug. I went to find Halley. She was a mess; I could tell, then, she was high.'

'What did you do?'

'I attempted to pull her away from dancing with Matt. I whispered to her that I thought we were being drugged but the music was too loud and Matt was standing close by. He pulled her away from me and said we weren't going anywhere.'

'Did he threaten or assault you?'

'No. He began to pull Halley towards the house.'

'What was Halley doing? Was she yelling?'

'She was laughing. She was high, Detective, and Matt was her boyfriend, not a stranger, of course she wouldn't yell.' Emma seemed a bit on edge. I hoped she would calm down. Asking questions were just the routine.

'Okay, Emma. What did you do next?'

'I wanted to yell for help because I knew she didn't look good. I remembered Luis was parked outside on the street, but he couldn't see what was going on because the property had a tall fence. I looked around for the other guy, Max, because I didn't trust him after I saw the pill. He was talking to another girl so I ran out of the gate and told Luis what was happening to Halley. He told me to get in the car and lock the doors and wait for him to get back. He came back with Halley over his shoulder.'

'What was her condition?'

'She looked like she had been crying and she was groaning. She wasn't moving, only groaning.' Emma had tears in her eyes as she recounted; Halley could have died in her arms.

'Then Luis started the car. I gave him the pill I had wrapped up and by the time we got home Halley had passed out. I got angry at Luis because he didn't take Halley to the hospital. But then I saw the ambulance and the doctors took over the situation, and that's about it.'

'Thank you, Emma.'

Detective Sam turned to Halley. 'Halley, is everything Emma said accurate?'

She nodded.

'Can you remember what happened when Matt pulled you into the house?'

'No. I don't wanna talk about it.' She began to cry.

Emma's POV

Halley had broken down into a fit. I cuddled her with a hug and told her that everything would be okay. Something was wrong with her, apart from being drugged.

Matt must have mortified her.

Detective Sam and the others looked on, unsettled.

'Halley, please tell them what happened. You have to talk about it,' I whispered calmly, making sure I didn't sound mean or harsh to upset her more.

'I don't want to. I can't,' she cried.


What on earth happened to her?

'Halley, I know you're scared. I know you want to put this behind you but we need your statement on what happened when Matt pulled you into the house,' Detective Sam pressed.

'I can't talk about it. I don't want to,' she cried again and hugged me tighter.

Mr. Hollen looked like he was about to explode.

'Where's the driver? Maybe he could describe what he saw when he fetched Halley,' Sam said to Mr. Hollen who began to make a call before Sam could finish.

The police officers stayed out in the living room since Halley was already in a delicate condition and they didn't want to upset her any more.

Luis arrived ten minutes later and inquisitiveness led me to eavesdrop. What Luis described when he entered into the house made me gasp. Tears flooded my eyes as he told them the details. I'd have been better of not hearing a thing.

Poor Halley. How could her boyfriend do such a thing to her? No wonder she didn't want to talk about it.

*********

Luis' POV


CHAPTER 19