Note: Domestic violence and abuse is simply inexcusable! This story is in NO WAY intended to glorify or justify it in anyway. It is based on actual events of an acquaintance of mine and hopefully is respectful of the initial awful circumstances that through several twists and turns that ended up in loving activity. This is, therefore, not my usual sex story at least in the beginning.
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A chime rang out on my cell phone and instantly I heard my sister-in-law screaming out and seconds later the screen was filled with the image of her cornered in the kitchen of her home, "NO! Get away from me, leave me alone, Ouwe! Fuck, you're hurting me!"
I could hear a man's heavy breathing and then I saw him slap her several times and then punch her in her chest before ripping open her blouse, "Vicky you are a fucking bitch I told you not to do it but you went and did it anyway."
There was blood coming from her lip and she was a horrible mess. While I made sure this was being recorded I hollered out to my wife, "Linda call the police right fucking now Ray is beating the shit out of your sister. Hurry this looks bad."
I was so glad we lived in a small city as the police were there in two minutes flat putting the cuffs on the scum bag. Linda and I had run out of our house and were only a minute behind the ambulance's arrival. We stayed by her side until she was released from the hospital luckily with no broken bones but with plenty of bruises and lacerations. She did not want to go back to her home so we took her to our house.
Vicky and her sister Linda were both very beautiful. I had dated both in college. Vicky and I had never been real serious, so I thought, as, at that time, we never seemed to have that magic spark or lightning bolt as she called it. On the other hand, wonderful sparks flew between me and her older sister resulting in a very happy marriage. The three of us remained very close and there was absolutely no jealousy between the sisters.
Earlier that same week Vicky had come over to our house and told us that Ray was getting out of control and she was afraid that things might go too far. We urged her to move out right away. She could not bring herself to do it as she hoped she could find some other solution. I had never liked Ray as he seemed controlling and was an alcoholic. He did not seem to like anyone. One example of this was that he said my name Bill stood for Brother-In-Law Loser. He would get mad that no one, including his wife, would laugh at this attempt at humor.
After an hour of back and forth it was decided that I would buy a home camera system and hide the cameras all over their house. The ten cameras were hooked by wi-fi to a hard drive and could send a feed to any cell phone. Also, I set up the system so that Vicky had a panic button on her phone which would connect to my phone and show me what was going on. In addition, I could log in anytime and spy on them. This last feature seemed to relieve Vicky as she wondered if she could always have even a moment to press the couple of buttons on her cell phone.
"Don't hesitate to press the button labelled 'recipes' anytime you feel even the least bit threatened. I don't really want to keep checking in on you as that seems a bit creepy but I'll do it if it helps keep my favorite sister-in-law safe. Our offer to stay with us is always open," I told her as I gathered the packaging to take to my car. She gave me a most wonderful hug thanking me over and over. We hoped by titling the panic button 'recipes' Ray would not think anything of it if he got curious and checked out her phone.
Little did Linda and I realize that Vicky would have to press the button only a couple of nights later. I could not imagine what great sin Vicky could have committed that caused Ray to go off like that. We would find out later that she had bought store brand canned green beans instead of the name brand to save some money as their finances were shaky.
At the hospital, the police took a brief statement from us but wanted Vicky to come in for a complete interview the next day. When we got to our house we were all too wired to go to sleep. We sat together on the sofa silently for the longest time with Vicky between Linda and me.
"Bill, installing that camera system may have saved my life. He was crazy. You are my white knight," Vicky said teary-eyed as she hugged Linda then turn to me and hugged me as well. She kept her arms around me and snuggled up to me. I put my arms around her, resting one hand on her hip and the other on her mid-back.
This resulted in her snuggling even closer. The next thing I knew she had fallen asleep in my arms. Linda got up and got us a blanket which she draped over us. Then she got her own blanket and laid back in the easy chair. We did not wake up for several hours until the sun poured in through the windows. We slowly got up and fixed some coffee knowing this would be a busy day.
We were eating a simple breakfast of fruit and cereal when the phone rang. It was the detective in charge of the investigation. We arranged to have Linda and Vicky meet him at the station while I met one of his colleagues at Vicky's home to show him where the hard drive and all the cameras were hidden and look for other evidence. When I was done with that I would go to the store and get a perimeter system for our house out of an abundance of caution.
Ray and Vicky's house looked like a tornado had been through it. The officer took pictures of the broken dishes on the kitchen floor and the spots of blood on the counter and floor. Then I showed him the cameras and hard drive. In the master bedroom, we found a shredded nightgown which he took a picture of then bagged. We also found their cell phones which he took as well.
I had just finished installing the exterior cameras and motion detectors when the ladies returned home. The police told Vicky not to return to her home until it was safe as Ray might not be held. After the police station, they went shopping for a few clothes for Vicky. We talked again and Vicky agreed to have me handle her divorce as she now knew, for certain, it was over.
"Bill, I guess that Ray will have to revise your name from Brother-In-Law Loser to Brother-In-Law Lawyer," it was a poor attempt at humor but one of the first upbeat things she had said. Just then the phone rang again. It was the prosecutor, who was very upset, telling us that the judge had allowed bail of $50,000 for Ray. Which meant he only had to raise 10 percent of that for a bondsman.
Panicking I had Vicky check her bank account and sure enough he had used the debit card to post bail. There was another big withdrawal a half hour later. Vicky called the bank and transferred the remaining balances to our account and then cancelled all their joint credit cards. But it was too late as Ray was already on the prowl.
We called the detective and he told us they would have a car in the area keeping close eye but there was not much more he could do unless Ray violated the order of protection or committed another crime. Linda and I took turns comforting Vicky while the other kept a human eye out the window with the house phone in hand.
At dusk, it happened the motion sensor went off and the screen showed Ray approaching the house. When he got to the front door he banged on it screaming, "Let me in, I know that bitch is in there.
Linda dialed the police just as Ray must have concluded that we were not going to let him in. At that moment, he raised up a high-powered rifle and began shooting at every window. Obviously, he was hoping to hit his wife. Other than some property damage he did no harm. While he was still shooting several police, cars pulled up and cornered him and eventually took him away and out of Vicky's life.
Of course, this was not the end of it for Vicky, but the justice system, finally, worked like a well-oiled machine. Ray's lawyer convinced him to plea bargain to life in prison as the evidence for attempted murder was overwhelming not to mention that the tapes had shown him raping Vicky one night. The judge, now embarrassed, sentenced him to the maximum which meant he would not be eligible for parole for 50 years.
The mental healing would take a while but Linda and I would be there for her all the way. We did not realize what was slowly happening to all three of us. The first night after the shooting we stayed in a hotel sharing a complimentary suite. That was only one advantage of being in a small town as a cleaning service came in the next day and cleaned both houses and my friend who owned the local glass company had a crew replace the windows so we could go home after only one night away.
The community outpouring of support was wonderful and helped Vicky a lot. Later a couple of women called to tell Vicky that hearing her story had given them the courage to leave abusive relationships. Vicky did not want to leave our sides. We thought it was just because of a natural insecurity after such a traumatic incident but it turned out there was a lot more which went all the way back to our high school days.
When we returned to our home Vicky asked if she could sleep with us in our king size bed that night. We had no problem with the request as we were not in any mood for sexual activity anyway. Linda and I were both surprised when she came out of the bathroom wearing one of Linda's sexy nightgowns. It was silky and clingy and I could tell where her nipples were.