“The police didn’t…but I found out the truth last year and believe me it’s worse than the actual violation.”
“How could anything be worse than that? Bella, honey, what is it?” Quinn asked brushing the hair being blown into her face away from her eyes.
“My twin sister, and believe me she’s no longer my sister, was mad that I’d been getting so much attention. It was early summer, so she didn’t have a curfew and she convinced her boyfriend and another friend to take me down.”
“Holy hell…”
“Yeah, she knew I’d recognize David, but Xavier started after I’d left. They didn’t think it would take quiet as long as it did to get me out of it, but I wasn’t drinking so they kept adding more to my glass. I could remember Xavier but that was it and then I didn’t want to remember anything about it. It’s why I left the runway…modeling.”
“But that was seven years later Bella?”
“I saw Xavier once; I was about eighteen and he came to one of my shows. I recognized him and he disappeared.”
“Wait…so you’ve seen him since then?”
“That’s where the story really gets twisted,” she said with a humorless laugh. “Xavier wasn’t the one who raped me. He’d wanted to help me because he realized how wrong Izzie had been about me. He was trying to get me to the bathroom and find my friends, but Izzie and David convinced him he’d get in more trouble by helping than by simply leaving me there. He didn’t know that they’d gone through with the plan until I confronted him last year.”
“So, the entire time you were thinking it was him, scared that he was coming back after you, and that’s why you stopped modeling?”
“I started having panic attacks whenever I went to do a runway show. I’d see him everywhere…in the crowd, in the crew, in the photographers, and it was too much. I eventually left the rest of the world behind only sticking with Angels because I knew I could trust the people there. I was hiding the truth from everyone including Ty.”
“What was his reaction when you told him?”
“Horrified…it was when we realized things between us had changed. I’d been seeing someone, and he’d wanted more than what I was offering.”
“The attack you’d talked about in that interview?” Quinn questioned.
“Yeah, it was before I’d uncovered the entire truth and it sent me reeling. After I told Ty, it was like this weight had lifted and I wasn’t scared anymore. That’s why I agreed to do the runway show for Angels and then fell in love with it all over again, and Ty even more than what I already did. His support through those first few months showed me how much I could love him and start to love myself.”
“I can’t even imagine what you’ve went through, Bella. How did you find out the truth about what your sister did?”
“Before I started working for Ty, just after I’d graduated with my masters, Izzie and David got married. A few friends had seen him from their engagement photo and told me what type of guy he really was and when I told Iz, she didn’t care. She said she wasn’t going to listen to her promiscuous sister who paraded around town naked.”
“Obviously they don’t have a clue about who you really are.”
“They don’t, never have actually. Right before I made my return Izzie and David divorced and she returned to town from London. Last year, just before the engagement announcement came out, I saw Izzie and Xavier arguing. I don’t know why I did it, but I followed him home and went up and rang his bell. I wanted to know why he’d done it and how he knew Izzie.”
“He told you and you believed him?” Quinn asked cautiously.
“At first, I didn’t because I didn’t want to think that my own sister could possibly hate me that much but the more, I thought about it, put two and two together, I knew he was telling me the truth. David was the one who raped me and then my sister marries him. How utterly insane is that?” she asked trying to block the emotions that were threatening her.
“Have you confronted her and David?” he asked pulling her into a hug.
“Iz and the parents showed up at Tyler’s parents place demanding that they admit that the engagement was a lie, and I couldn’t stop myself from tossing it out there when Maria claimed I’d had an abortion when I was fourteen. They all knew, Iz of course because she was there when it happened, but Maria and Jonathan…and Ty went ballistic. I think it’s why David hasn’t come back from London to see the kids…yeah, they had two kids.”
“Good lord, no wonder you didn’t like Chrysler hanging around.”
“He was a leech and not being truthful at all; believe me he was no more into me than Oliver is,” she said with a light smile as she mentioned the makeup artist from their film.
“He’s…”
“Oh yeah, and if I’d outed him, I’d have come off looking like a bitch and it did help his career, the image of a determined admirer got him plenty of exposure. For me though it’s always been Ty,” she said with a sigh, shaking her head at him.
“Bella, what does that mean?”
“It means that until I’d told Ty the truth, I’d never let anyone close enough to really touch me. I’d had dates over the years and wasn’t completely clueless as to the whole mechanics of it but whenever someone would try to take it to the next step I’d shut down. I was called a tease and a cold-blooded bitch enough that I let that persona stand out when I would go out with someone new. It was safer than risking the panic that attacked me whenever it happened.”
“Are you saying that Tyler’s the only person…”