Chapter 1, Episode 16

            Stephanie was running at a break-neck pace into the hospital. Years of practice, and she could do it even in high-heels. She nearly took out a police officer before she skidded to the ER desk. Before the nurse could even ask, the supermodel was already talking, “My name is Stephanie DiStazio! I am the contact person for Brent Xenos! He’s here, right? Is he OK? What happened?”

            She was practically bouncing off the walls waiting for somebody. She had called everyone she could think of, but only Alastair and Finn, having no day-jobs per se, could make it as soon as they hung up. Nash and Danilo were wrapping things up. They were on their way. When a doctor appeared, all pretence of being an uppity supermodel went right out the door and the Jersey Girl came out swinging, and she nearly turned into her stone form, which would have made everything so much worse.

            “Miss DiStazio?” a doctor asked.

“What happened to Brent?” She was right in his face.
            “Miss DiStazio,” he looked around her. “Are you his family?”

            “Uh, no.”

            “No offence, ma’am, but I really should be discussing this with kin.”

            Stephanie shifted her weight uncomfortably. “They threw him out when he told them he was gay. That was seven years ago. They’d just blame this on his orientation and be done with it. You people called me. I’m the contact. And besides, his ‘kin’ are in Honolulu.”

            That brought a pause. “I see.”

            “What happened? Is Brent OK? He isn’t…he didn’t—“

“Mr. Xenos has been the victim of a very serious assault.”

            She blinked. “Oh, God. Can I see him?”

            “We have him on a sedative,” the doctor replied. He seemed to be holding something back, and she knew it.

“What. What else?”

            After another pause, the doctor continued. “We believe we are looking at a case of torture.”

She almost didn’t hear the word. It didn’t make sense. Brent? Who? How? Why? “What?”

            “It’s why we called the police. Mr. Xenos was dumped on our doorstep, wrapped up in a plastic tarp—“

Oh, Jesus, they know his weaknesses. Brent could make entire chains of volcanoes blow, but not if he couldn’t touch them. Something as simple as a shower curtain could stop him in his tracks. But who did this?

“—he has had almost every joint in his body dislocated, he has been sexual assaulted, and his entire body has been contused.”

            Stephanie didn’t quite understand all that until she saw Brent. And she screamed when she did. She nearly didn’t recognize him. “Contused” was doctor-speak for “bruised.” He was literally beaten black and blue down every last inch. Even the soles of his feet. His entire face was swollen.

            “Brent?” Stephanie whispered, her voice almost a squeak. Oh. My. God.

            “He can’t hear you,” the doctor supplied. A detective, the man Stephanie nearly ran down in her Manolos appeared next to her.

            “How well do you know Mr. Xenos?”

            Stephanie looked up, dazed. It took her a moment to get the words into her head, and another few minutes to realize she was being questioned by the police. “Why does this always happen to him?”

            “He’s been assaulted before?”

            Stephanie blinked. “Oh. No. I mean Brent has always been…very unlucky. I’ve known him for a few years,” she said, answering the first questions.

            “Do you know who could have done this to him?”

            The woman shook her head.

            “No enemies?”

            “God.”

            There was a pause. “Got an address for him?”