Shattered

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Stephanie and Rob made their way as discreetly down the hall as they could manage.

They were on their way to Adam's locker room. The blond man was still spending all his time with the redheaded diva, as though acting as her full-time bodyguard - therefore, they knew Amy would be with the Canadian.

Van Dam shook his head as he walked alongside his girlfriend. In actuality, he was completely against this impromptu meeting...

After the horror scene in which they'd witnessed the EMTs taking away that poor young attack victim, Stephanie's mind had been made up. She'd immediately insisted Amy and Adam be told of Paul Levesque's latest act.

Rob thought it a bad idea. In his eyes, now couldn't be a worse time for his red-haired friend to learn of such a horrible thing. Her own attack was still so fresh, it wasn't fair to bombard her with this news.

Stephanie's feelings on the subject were one-hundred and eighty degrees removed from those of her boyfriend. She believed firmly that her friend and her tall Canadian savior deserved to know. That way, they could take whatever steps - whatever precautions they felt were necessary.

RVD suddenly reached out and grasped her arm firmly - not enough to hurt, but enough to grab her attention. Stephanie turned to eye him questioningly, though she didn't stop walking. This was far too urgent...

"Steph...Honey, this isn't right..."

"Not only is it right, Rob..." the brunette said firmly. "It's mandatory..."

Van Dam let go of his girlfriend's arm, his mouth instantly closing on her last word. Damn it... She was right. As much as his gut told him to spare Amy, Stephanie was right.

Then, as they were rounding a corridor and nearing the locker room their friends were sharing for the night, something unexpected happened.

Stephanie stopped in her tracks, staring at the two individuals just before them.

"Miss McMahon..." It was the same police officer from the scene earlier in the evening - the officer whom she'd practically begged to check for the scrawled initials 'PL' on the victim's lower back.

"Miss McMahon," the man resumed. "We need to ask you a few questions..." The officer glanced at his partner beside him.

Stephanie exchanged glances with Rob, then eyed the policeman, slightly fearful.

"Q-questions?"

"Yes...You knew about the victim having those initial carved into her back...We believe you know something and can provide us with some information that can help us in this case..."

The brunette's mouth went dry. On one hand, being a witness and providing the police with information pertinent to this case would be a good thing - it could possibly, hopefully, get the man responsible behind bars - where he belonged - never to harass or accost another woman again. On the other hand, Stephanie was scared. If she spoke to the police, if she told them what she knew - how could she be completely sure justice would prevail? What if Paul Levesque somehow managed to get off scot-free? The man had a ton of power in the company - power he did not deserve but which he definitely abused at any given chance. If the latter should occur, what was to say that she wouldn't be next? He'd already spent a couple of months tormenting her in the not-so-distant past.

"Steph?" Rob's concern-filled voice, face and his hand gently on her shoulder suddenly brought her back from her reverie.

"Oh...yeah...sorry..." The brunette straightened her shoulder, head held up high as she met the dark eyes of the police officer.

"Okay - I'll do it...I'll answer any questions you have..."





Part 12

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