Intertwined - Tangled series (Overprotective famous brothers)

How do we end it?

ALISHA

I stayed up almost all night chatting and talking to everyone who I knew trained under Mason, or who may have known somebody who did. The entire night, I kept sending messages to everyone, to girls in the three gyms he had coached in, to the participants in training camps he had hosted.

By seven in the morning, I had total of six girls admitting Mason had dared to abuse them too. Two of them quit gymnastics, three of them went into psychological disorders and had to seek therapy. Only one of them had decided to fight back, but her case had been ignored too. Now she was almost eighteen, and bulimic. All due to Mason.

Emily had been a fighter, I remembered seeing her perform as a kid too. She never cribbed, ever. She never complained. But the one time she did, it didn’t work out- she was convicted by the society to be the culprit herself. Mason was God for the law to punish, because she didn’t have proof or family support. She was all by herself. Now her blush cheeks looked hollow, her bright eyes were lightless and her smile buried deep inside the wounds Mason had caused. Even through Skype, I could see she was broken inside.

“I thought nobody would believe me.” She whispered, almost inaudible if it weren’t morning.

“I do, we all do. We need you to fight, one last time. We’ll have a strong case, the best lawyer in town. Please, this once.” I begged. I wouldn’t be surprised if she refused, I wouldn’t be mad. She had been through a lot, her being unhelpful was understandable. But somewhere inside I knew that if she stood up to him once again, Mason would be inside the bars. He would never, ever harm Lauren, Emily, Cristina or any other little gymnast ever again.

“Would they believe me too?” she asked, shame crossing her features.

“Of course, they will. Emily, he abused six more girls, excluding you. If you all come together…” I trailed off, because she knew what I meant. Nobody, not even the most corrupt judge in the world could refuse to imprison Mason with six of his victims standing up and demanding justice. If they came together, this battle was ours to win.

“Alright.” She nodded once, and I gave her a smile.

“Can I ask you something?” she said after a long pause and I nodded,

“Anything.”

“Why was justice denied to me and everyone else in the first go?” her eyes like bore into me, seeped into my soul. She logged off, only a blank screen staring at me now. Her question hung around in, poking me. Why?

“Sorry, I…I had a long night.” I reached the jogging trail late and looked at Dimitri who was having an apple.

“I know.” He just sighed instead of making me run a mile for every minute I was late. Lauren had whatsapp-ed me saying she would be at her home today, settling everything out and Dimitri gave her an off. She needed it. We all needed it after yesterday. But I had no intention of breaking my training schedule apart due to a jerk like Mason.

Dimitri looked horrible. A black eye, and I bruise on his arm I hadn’t noticed yesterday night. Mason was hurt too, but I couldn’t care less about him. It was Dimitri who mattered, it was he who fought for us and not against us. He was the guy we could trust, the guy who stood up for us and believed us when nobody else did.

“You could take it easy today too.”

“I can’t bend down in front of Mason.” I spat, beginning to jog. Dimitri caught up with me, Mike and Tyson in the car following us. There was no way my brothers were about to let me travel alone anywhere without a security detail especially after what happened last night.

“It’s not called bending,” he held my hand, “it’s called facing. Everyone needs their time off.”

“Not me, I’ve had worse.” He chuckled and let me have it my way. I had always turned up for training, no matter what the drama was. Whether it was paparazzi or family drama, or school drama, or just an emotional day, I always turned up for training. Hard days shaped the champion in you. It was the days when you wanted to give in, but chose to fight, that made you a winner.