Three years ago

"Kevin, why are we here?" Kate asks her fiancee as thy enter the sleazy hotel.

"A surprise, babe. Come on," Kevin answers. Kate isn't comfortable right now, something is wrong. She's never felt like this around Kevin before, but she's more than a little scared of him. She can smell the alcohol on his breath, but what really hurts her is the perfume she also smells and the lipstick smears she sees on his neck.

She's been dating Kevin for over a year and last month he asked her to marry him. It was about that same time that something changed in him. Instead of being happy with her and wanting to spend time he's short tempered and never has time for her any more. She fears that he no longer wants her and is cheating on her.

That's why, although she doesn't like the looks of this place she follows him inside.

After going in the room that Kevin opens for her she wants to throw up. Why in the world would Kevin want to come here? Normally they go to a five star hotel if he wants to take her to a hotel.

"Kevin, what's going on?" Kate asks nervously.

"Shut up, bitch!" Kevin responds, shocking Kate speechless. He's never talked to her like that before. "I am so sick of your questions."

Kate is beginning to see. She loves Kevin so much, but he doesn't love her like she thought he did. This is all part of a merger between Kevin's mafia and her brother's gang. Well the gang her brother is second in command of.

Kevin never loved her.

The realization breaks her heart and makes her sick.

"I'm not a bitch. I've done everything I could to make you happy. I've put your wants ahead of my needs and never once have I complained.

"But I won't tolerate this disrespect to myself. I won't tolerate you cheating on me." Slowly and sadly Kate removes the ring from her finger. She sets it on the nightstand table. 

"I'll see myself out. Goodbye, Kevin." Kate says, but before she can open the door she feels something painful hit her back and her hair pulled painfully.

"Did I say you could leave, bitch?" Kevin says pulling her back to him by her hair. His words hard to understand due to the alcohol he'd consumed and talking through his teeth.

"You obviously don't want me, Kevin, so just let me leave and I'll never bother you again."

"You'll leave only when I'm ready to let you go. You owe me and I mean to collect."

His words are menacing and dark. Fear races along her spine. He can't possibly mean what she thinks he means can he?

A slap hard across her face brings her back. She's only upright due to him holding to her hair so tightly. She feels blood from where his ring cut her face.

"I'm going to have some fun before you will be allowed to leave, Kate." Kevin says even as he slams his fist into her ribs.

For the next hour Kevin beats her and hurts her before he finally takes her.

Once he falls asleep Kate picks herself up. She dresses herself the best she can with the knife wound in her shoulder and her clothes torn. She staggers from the hotel and along the street until she comes to a more occupied street. 

Her energy spent, she falls down exhausted. As the darkness overcomes her she hopes that she never wakes again.

Kevin wakes up several hours later with a hangover and few memories of what happened the night before.

He looks over the room and sneers in disgust. He really needs to stop drinking so much if this is where he ends up.

He looks over and sees the purse he bought Kate for her birthday a few months ago. Then he sees the ring next to it. He feels sick. What the hell did he do last night?

Where's Kate?

He looks around the room and finds her torn underwear and a bloody knife. His knife.

What the hell did he do?

Kate wanted to wait for their wedding before they had sex and he was okay with that. But, now...

Memories of the night before flood his mind.

He was with another woman. 

He brought Kate to this place and beat her.

He stabbed her.

But what makes him the sickest, he raped her.

It's that memory that has him racing for the toilet.

She'll never forgive him for that, for any of what he did to her the night before.

Dustin sits at his sister's bedside, hoping that she will survive. When he finds out who did this to her he's going to kill him or them.

He takes out his phone once more and tries to contact Kevin, his sister's fiancee, to let him know that she's in the hospital. Once more the phone goes to voicemail.

Dustin makes another call and has his men go out searching for Kevin. He knows that Kate would want him there.

Two hours later he gets a call.

"Sir, he just entered a hotel. You aren't going to like this, he has two women hanging off of him, kissing him and he's kissing them back."

"Follow and tell me which room. Which hotel?" Dustin orders. He can't say that he's too surprised. He wasn't happy about Kate going out with Kevin, but she was happy and his boss was hoping to grow due to the association, so Dustin kept his mouth shut.

He's noticed however, that the happiness Kate had when she talks about Kevin isn't there anymore. She puts on a fake smile. He sees fear and sadness that Kate tries to hide, but isn't able to.

If he finds out that Kevin has anything to do with her being in the hospital he'll kill Kevin. He doesn't care what happens.

Kate might not survive.

She was going on a date with Kevin last night. Why was she alone in the bad part of town?

Those are just some of the answers Dustin is going to get from Kevin.

Dustin gets to the hotel where Kevin checked in with the two sluts. His man whispers in his ear and hands him a  key card.

Dustin nods once shortly and enters the elevator.

Opening the door to the room he finds Kevin making out with both females.

Kevin, slow to react looks at Dustin but doesn't recognize him at first. Then fear slams into him. 

"Get the fuck out of here." Dustin orders the two females. The females hurriedly gather their things and leave. They don't even bother to do up their dresses first.

"I've been trying to get a hold of you all day to tell you that my sister is fighting for her life at the hospital and I find you here about to cheat on her with two sluts. Give me one good reason I shouldn't kill you right now?" Dustin has never been so angry in his life. Not even when his father killed his mother. Killing his father had been so satisfying, but he hadn't felt this anger.

"What do you mean, Kate is fighting for her life?" He didn't think he'd hurt her that badly. He blanches, he didn't kill her did he?

"Sometime last night, when she was supposed to be with you, she was taken and beaten, stabbed and worse. She made it to where people called an ambulance for her. She survived surgery, but she's now in a coma. The doctors aren't sure that she'll live.

"I thought, that since you are her fiancée, that you would want to be there for her. Guess that I'm wrong." Dustin says angrily.

Fighting nausea, Kevin replies, "We had a fight and she left. I couldn't find her." Not that he tried very hard once he remembered what he did to her. He couldn't face her. Now she might not live because of him.

"Listen here, Kevin. If I find out you had anything to do with my little sister being in the hospital, I'll kill you myself. Nothing will stop me from doing so, understand?" Dustin demands and Kevin could only nod miserably.

"She was raped, are you going to throw her away because of that?" Dustin demands.

"No. I don't care what happened to her, I love her." Kevin is unable to stop the tears. He'd been drinking steadily at the memories of what he did and no longer can keep the tears away.

Dustin is disgusted, "Yeah, I can see that."

"Where is she?" Kevin pleads to know.

"ICU at General. You will not be allowed to see her until you clean up and get the stench of whore off of you. You will not be allowed to be alone with her until she can tell me that you had nothing to do with her attack." Dustin tells him, his tone final and although Kevin is more powerful he nods his acceptance of Dustin's orders.

Now he just has to figure out how he's going to get Kate to forgive him.

Kate wakes up to the sound of beeping and bright lights. At first she doesn't understand but as memories flood her mind she starts to panic.

The beeping gets faster and louder and an alarm goes off.

"Shh, Kate, you're safe now." Dustin says and reassured Kate calms down. She turns and sees her brother at her bedside.

"Dustin?"

"You're safe, Kate. You'll be here a few more days for observation, just to make sure you're okay."

"How long have I been here?"

"You've been in a coma for three days now." Dustin says softly not wanting to upset her.

"Three days?" Kate couldn't believe it.

Just then Kevin enters with a huge bouquet of flowers.

"Get out! I never want to see you again, get out!" Kate orders then presses her hand to her head. Damn that hurt.

Seeing her reaction to Kevin, Dustin is more than happy to order his removal from the room. Once he's gone, "Did he have anything to do with the attack?" Dustin asks intently. He just needs one excuse and he'll kill Kevin for what happened with his sister.

"I don't remember who did this, but I broke up with Kevin because he was cheating on me. I never want to see that bastard again." Kate had learned how to lie with the best of them. She's only protecting Kevin because she doesn't want her brother killed.

Dustin suspects that Kate is lying to him, but he can't prove it. His lips thin down in anger. "He won't be allowed back in your room, I'll make sure of that."

"Thank you, Dustin," Kate says with tears in her eyes.

"Kate," Kevin shows up at her house, he looks like shit.

"Go the hell away, Kevin. I meant it when I said I never want to see you again." Kate says angrily when she sees who's at the door. "Now leave before I shoot you."

"Please, I just want to talk to you." Kevin pleads with Kate and sticks his foot in the door.

"I have nothing to say to you. And your actions spoke very clear on how you feel about me. There is nothing more to say." Kevin has never heard Kate's voice so cold and empty before. He looks at her face and notices the life that once filled it was gone. Her beautiful eyes once filled with life and laughter are now empty and dead. He'd done that to her. It makes him sick.

"I'm so, so sorry, Kate. Please forgive me? Let me make it up to you?" Kevin pleads with her.

"What? allow you to finish the job you started? No thanks, leave and never bother me again." Kate orders but her attention is captured by a strange car that has come onto their street. She knows everyone's car, mostly gang members, and she knows the cars of the gang members that don't live here. She doesn't know this car though.

She watches in slow motion as she sees the gun come out and aim in their direction. She sees the muzzle flash of the bullets that are fired. The faces in the car are forever imprinted on her mind, and they are strangers to her.

Kevin jerks several times as his body is riddled with bullets. 

His body falls and Kate waits for the feel of the bullet to hit her. Instead she hears the car gun and tires squeal as it leaves the area.

Kate, in relief faints.