Free Justice For Abby by Cate Beauman

my alterations for Fashion Week, I have to cart my stuff over to Ethan Cooke Security and inconvenience the models. Now you’re telling me I can’t attend a simple dinner party? What else, Jerrod? What else are you going to ask of me?”
    “Whatever I have to,” he said with a hint of apology.
    She dismissed the tone of regret. “I’ve gone along with everything you’ve asked. Everything since day one.”
    “I know.”
    “Don’t you get it? Don’t you understand that every time we take a step back he wins? Renzo never gets to win again.”
    “I don’t—”
    “I didn’t ask for what I got.” She walked to the fridge and shoved the leftovers away. “I didn’t ask to be thrown into the back of a van and have everything change. I’m trying to pick up the pieces of my life.”
    “They’re trying to end your life, Abigail. Their goal is to see you dead.”
    She swallowed, knowing he was right. “If I spend the rest of my life hiding, I might as well be dead. I’ll meet the models at the office. I’ll even miss Saturday’s show, but I’m going to Lily’s party tomorrow night and to the mentoring event Wednesday afternoon. If I have to attend on my own I will.” She shoved passed him and walked to the windows across the room, staring out at the sun starting its decent, trying to find the reins on the temper she hadn’t set free in so long. Spewing her frustrations had been somewhat liberating, but even more, it had been wrong. “I’m sorry,” she said, turning, but Jerrod was gone.
    Lily’s heels echoed on the flooring as she joined Abby. “Feel better now?”
    She shook her head. “No.”
    “You look a little lighter without all of that on your chest.”
    “I don’t like being unkind. I know he’s doing this for me…” She closed her eyes, again on the verge of tears.
    “He’s a big, strong man. He can take a little heat from time to time.”
    “But he doesn’t deserve it.” She crossed her arms at her chest, attempting to rub away the chills she felt despite her navy blue sweater. “I’m so done with this. All of it. I’m a survivor, yet everyone still sees me as the poor, fragile woman who was abducted into the sex trade.”
    “Bullshit. Since when do you let other people define you? You and me, we define the world. You remember that.” Lily kissed her cheek. “Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow night if Jerrod thinks it’s safe enough after all.”
    “Yeah. Okay.” She nodded as Jerrod stepped into the room, shoving his phone back in its holder.
    “Ready, Lily?” He looked at Abby as he spoke.
    “I am.” Lily put on her coat and Jerrod walked her to the door.
    Abby slipped away to her room, too raw to do anything more than lie on her bed and close her eyes against her throbbing headache.

Chapter Six
     
    Abby sat among fashion’s biggest names in Lily’s  luxurious dining room, certain she was having some sort of over-the-top, awesome dream. For surely that’s what tonight was—a step onto the pages of one of Livy’s enchanted storybooks.
    Dashing princes and princesses laughed and chatted while feasting on the land’s top fares. White roses in simple crystal vases and dozens of creamy tapers decorated the long table, adding to the magic of the fairytale-like atmosphere. And here she was among the gentry, feeling like the queen in the golden hewed halter dress Lily surprised her with earlier in the afternoon.
    Ethan brought by a Lily Brand box containing the stunning, barely there dress with its short silky skirt, cinched waist, and ornately beaded top that plunged deep in the front and left her back bare. She’d matched it with three-inch heels and dangling earrings, and had curled her hair, twisting the shoulder-length black up in a loose updo. The end result was jaw-dropping.
    Abby glanced to her right, still struggling to believe she was seated next to Tyler Maxfield, one of her biggest idols. She wasn’t a stranger to fashion’s elite. She’d posed for