THE FORGOTTEN HEIRESS-Chapter 317: Do You Really Want To Die?
"Then what, my dear?" Rhoda urged, afraid to hear what her daughter was unable to say.
She feared that was the part that made her want to commit suicide.
The last I remembered was when one of the men threatened to make me completely useless if I don’t say the truth. He.. he.. went on to remove his... his belt and.. that was the last I remembered before waking up in this hospital.
"I’m afraid I’ve been ...."
"No, no, my child, don’t say it out. That is not possible." Rhoda shook her head vigorously, almost going hysterical as she held Benita in a tight embrace almost crushing her in the process.
’Come on, Rhoda, you can do this. One. Two. Three," she took quick short breaths as she counted in her mind. ’You nust be strong for her. Benita needs you now," she kept saying to herself.
When she had been able to calm herself down to a reasonable extent, she asked hesitantly,
"Do you, do you feel sore at your ...?" Rhoda trailed off, unable to say the word.
"When I woke up I felt sore all over and didn’t take note of the particular part of my body where the pains were coming from."
"Did you try to walk around when I wasn’t around? How did you feel, especially down there?"
"I’m not sure again, mother."
"It’s alright, my child."
There was a light tap on the sooor before it was opened and Randy entered the ward exuding a commanding aura.
"Hello, I am Randy Edgerton, from Central District Police station.
Rhoda’s head shot up instantly and there was a fiery glint in the glare she threw at Randy.
"What have you come to do? As you can see my daughter is still traumatized and in no shape to cooperate with you," Rhoda attacked as soon as Randy introduced himself.
Benita who also heard that he was from the police station cringed and held on tighter to her mother. "I don’t want to go there again, mom. Please don’t let them take me away," she whimpered.
"Dont be scared, my child, mother is here and will not let anything happen to you. Nobody is taking you away," she comforted.
"Ms Dawson," Randy who was used to issuing commands and rarely spoke in a gentle voice forced his voice to sound as gentle as possible.
"I’m only here to help you," Randy said.
"No!" Benita yelled hystericallly, tightening her hold on Rhoda.
The people that came to get her from the wedding venue also came in the guise of the police. After what happened to her she would not be able to trust any police officer again.
Seeing that she was not going to get her attention, he applied a different approach.
"You said, the gun you carried was empty and there was no bullet in it when you got to the church? Are you not interested in finding out how the bullet suddenly got there?"
Sure enough as soon as he finished speaking., he saw some calm come over Benita’s tensed body.
"I need you to help us get the person that framed you and brought you to the point where you nearly took your life."
"How did you know she almost took her life?" Rhoda asked. It’s barely been three hours since it happened.
"That’s not hard to find out." As a matter of fact the moment a scream was heard from Benita’s ward after a nurse discovered her, the information had already reached him and he has been receiving updates on her situation since then.
"Do you really want to die and let that person succeed?" Randy asked.
"Yes, I really can’t bear the shame," Benita said.
"Of what?" Randy asked, but when Benita refused to talk, he directly asked,
"Why do you think you were violated?"
"I saw the man pull down his trousers after removing his belt in that room and then...,"
Randy clenched his fists in anger but his face was as calm as water on the outside. "And then what?" He prompted,
"I lost consciousness, the next thing was that I found myself in this hospital."
"Was it when he forced himself on you that you lost consciousness or before then?"
"Before then but I don’t know what happened after that."
"Do you feel any sign indicating that you were violated?"
"What signs was I to feel?" Benita asked genuinely clueless.
Randy was speechless. "How does a woman feel after having rigorous sex?"
Benita’s face was as red as crimson when she heard Randy’s blunt question and quickly lowered her head to hide her embarrassment.
"I don’t know," her voice was barely above a whisper, but loud enough for Randy to hear.
Rhoda could not keep still as she shouted immediately. "Officer! What’s with all these questions? Are they in anyway going to restore my daughter’s lost dignity?"
Without bothering to respond to Rhoda’s outburst, Randy’s gaze lingered on Benita who has not been able to lift her head after speaking.
’Has she really not done it before?’ If those men really took her first time, he swore he was not going to go easy on Killian and his men.
But if she is still innocent how did she come up with the idea of threatening someone with a gun? Or was she just pretending to be pure?
Isn’t that the more reason why this test must be done?
"What do you say if we do some tests and find out if you were actually molested or not?"
"Is there really a way to find out?" Benita asked, finally raising her head, though shyly.
"Of course. I just left the doctor’s office and he said they can do a comprehensive body examination to check for bruises or injuries around your private part."
Randy who had handled several cases of this nature didn’t shy away from the topic and explained it as explicitly as it was.
"We can even take a swap from your private part and see if there are any traces of semen. From there we can do a DNA test to know the rapist, that’s if you were actually raped," he finished.
"But it’s been three days since the incident, is it still possible to get any results?" Rhoda pointed out after hearing Randy’s explanation.
It would be good if the results turn out that her daughter was not assaulted, that way she would not be thinking of committing suicide all to time.
But she was also scared if the result turns out to be the other way, so she wasn’t sure whether to persuade her daughter to go for the test or not.
"Yes, three days, though a bit far is still within the timeframe to get some good results."
"I’ll do the test, mom," Benita said while Rhoda was still undecided.
"Are you sure, dear?" Rhoda asked, her eyes filled with worry as she peered into Benita’s eyes. But contrary to the hopelessness and fear that was there before, she could see determination.
That means Benita had made up her mind and when she makes up her mind about something, there is practically nothing anybody that do about it which was what led them all here today.
The moment she made up her mind to be Steffan’s wife, she refused to give up even when it was obvious he didn’t give a hoot about her.
Rhoda sighed helplessly but still said,
"I can see your mind is made up, but you must promise me one thing, if not I won’t allow you take the test."
