Chapter 1: Enough is Enough

“I can’t believe this!” Autumn yells at her cell phone while throwing any clothing she can get her hands on into her suitcase.

The open text application shows messages that had been sent between her long-time boyfriend, Dustin, and his apparent side-piece from work. The conversation had been making the rounds after Dustin’s “work wife” sent the chat to a friend. That friend then shared it with a co-worker at their office who just so happens to be Autumn’s cousin. Blood isn’t thicker than water in this case, but family drama trumps all.

It won’t be too long before everyone knows about Dustin’s betrayal. Her entire family has, at one point or another, told Autumn that Dustin was all wrong for her. Now there’s no arguing with them.

“You’re too smart and beautiful for such a lousy excuse of a man,” her dad had told her once. He never liked Dustin, and that may have been one of the reasons Autumn started dating him.

She expects her phone to start ringing at any moment. There’s no way her parents, or her brother, are going to ignore such devastating proof of Dustin’s “work activities”.

She throws some more of her belongings into another bag. “You selfish…piece of…” she mutters under her breath.

Autumn jumps as ‘You Don’t Own Me’ blasts from her phone’s speaker.

“Speak of the devil,” she says while ignoring the call. She has nothing to say to Dustin right now. She would rather throw her phone out the window than answer his call. She pulls out a third suitcase and starts loading it with her shoes, books, and jewelry.

Tucked in the back of her underwear drawer she finds her wedding envelope. Autumn has been saving money from every paycheck for the last two years. She had hoped to use it to buy her wedding dress, but no need for that now. She stuffs the money into her purse and looks around the room.

She can’t fit everything, but she doesn’t want to forget anything that could be hidden or pawned in her absence. Dustin’s ringtone goes off again, causing Autumn to see red.

She picks up her phone and squeezes it tightly. “No!” she screams while swiping the red reject button, sending Dustin to voicemail.

She grumbles the whole time she drags her bags out to the car. Autumn knows she is going to be forgetting a few things, and that bothers her. She remembers her bathroom stuff and her electronics, but she can’t possibly pack up seven years of living with someone in a matter of a couple of hours.

As she hauls the last suitcase into the trunk of her vehicle, Dustin whips his car into the driveway behind her.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he yells while jumping out of his car.

Autumn slams the trunk shut and takes out her keys while walking to the driver’s side door. “I don’t ‘think’ I’m doing anything,” she yells while swinging her door open aggressively.

Dustin rushes up to her and grabs her wrist. He starts squeezing it, keeping her from dropping down into the driver’s seat. “You can’t leave,” he growls.

Autumn hides her panic as she looks up into his eyes. There is rage there and a hint of something else, madness maybe? She tries to wrench herself free of his grasp, but that only causes him to tighten his hold.

“You will let me go, now!” she snaps.

Dustin smirks, making him look even crazier than before. “I don’t think I will. First, you don’t answer my phone calls and now, you’re leaving without telling me where you’re off to,” he says matter-of-factly, his temper becoming more apparent with each passing minute.

“You know exactly why I didn’t answer your calls. It’s the very reason you also felt the need to rush home,” Autumn yells while still trying to free herself. “I would gladly show you the texts between you and your co-worker, but you already have them on your phone to look at whenever you want.”

He loosens his hold a little but doesn’t release her. “Awe, now see. You almost ruined what we have because you wanted to buy into the hype. Why are you like this, Autumn? My friends always told me you were a flake, but I thought they were wrong.”

Autumn doesn’t hide the surprise on her face. “You can’t deny your way out of this, Dustin. I’ve seen the messages for myself. Now, let me go!”

The sudden blast of a police siren causes Autumn to jump and her stomach to do a flip. A cruiser pulls up in front of the house and an officer is quick to jump out of the driver’s seat. Autumn rolls her eyes and inwardly groans. Her little brother, Brett, always did have good timing.

Brett hurries toward the two of them with his partner in tow. “What seems to be the problem here?” he asks in his official policeman voice.

“Brett, it’s nothing, please don’t,” Autumn says as her brother stops about four feet from them.

“It looks an awful lot like something,” Brett says while looking down at Dustin’s iron grip on Autumn’s arm.

The glance causes Dustin to finally release her, and Autumn brings her wrist up to her chest and starts rubbing it. There will be a bruise there. She shakes her hand a little to get her blood moving again and tries to ignore the pins and needles feeling as she wiggles her fingers.

Dustin narrows his eyes at Autumn. “So, you thought calling your brother was necessary?” he hisses.

“I didn’t call him,” Autumn retorts while shrinking away from his stare.

Brett tries to get Dustin to focus on him instead of Autumn. “The station got a call about a domestic dispute. I happen to be the responding officer. Is there a problem with that, sir?”

Autumn’s sure her brother heard her address come across the call and decided it was his job to protect her. Brett has wanted to beat Dustin to a pulp for years now, but his badge kept him from doing so. Her little brother likes to act like her big brother even though she’s three years older. Autumn figures it has something to do with him being the only son in the family.

Brett looks over at his sister with concern in his stair. “May I take a look at your arm please, ma’am?”

Autumn doesn’t want to allow it, but he’s a police officer. She holds out her arm and Brett studies her wrist and then reaches for his cuffs.

“Sir, you’re going to have to come with me,” her brother snaps at Dustin. “This is a clear case of assault during a domestic call. Put your hands behind your back,” Brett instructs while spinning Dustin around and shoving him into the side of the car.

Autumn tries to protest, but her words fall on def ears. This feels so unnecessary, and now her entire family is going to get an extended version of an already ugly story. Brett reads Dustin his rights as he walks him toward the police car.

“You won’t get away with this,” Dustin screams. “I know people, you have no right to detain me!”

Brett gets him in the car and leaves his partner to babysit as he walks back over to his sister.

“I don’t know what’s going on, Autumn, but you need to find somewhere to stay. We can hold him for 24 hours, and since no judge will be in the office till Monday, we may keep him over the weekend. That will give you enough time to figure things out,” her brother instructs.

“I’m already packed and leaving,” she huffs while pointing to the bag in her backseat.

“Look, I’m not saying this is your fault. The family just worries about you, sis. Get some ice on that wrist as soon as you can and call me when you get somewhere safe. I’ll let you know when Dustin gets released,” Brett says and walks back to his car.

Autumn wants to thank him, but she doesn’t dare. Anytime she’s gone to her family for help, they’ve taken it as an invitation to remind her she chose that life. Brett was doing his job, even if he did take pleasure in detaining her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend.

Part of her wishes she was closer to her parents so she could stay with them, but Autumn has limited communication with them over the years to the point she doesn't want to ask. They hadn’t approved of her getting a Bachelor of Science degree or of Dustin. They wanted her to lead a simple life, raising their grandchildren and marrying someone who would take care of her.

Autumn chose to pay her own way through college and is happy with her career. Her B.S. in Wildlife Conservation is exactly what she had hoped it would be. No, she doesn’t have children for her parents to fawn over, but there’s still time.

Autumn slides into the car and slams the door. She doesn’t think Dustin would ever hurt her, but she can’t help but question that while rubbing her wrist. She pulls forward and then maneuvers around Dustin’s car, backing out of the driveway.

She drives slowly past her brother’s parole car, stealing a glance at Dustin in the backseat. As she does so, he moves his face close to the window as she comes into view.

“I’m going to kill you,” he silently mouths as she passes.