Two days later, Taylor was in the library of her office pulling down a State Reporter from a high shelf when she felt herself become lightheaded. The book fell out of her grasp as she sank to the floor, blacking out. Her assistant came into the room upon hearing the noise, and found Taylor unconscious on the floor with several other books lying around her. Kate knelt down and felt for a pulse, then shook Taylor gently.

Taylor stirred, eyes fluttering open. She saw Kate crouching over her with a very concerned expression on her face, and the phone receiver in one hand.

"Oh my God, Taylor, you scared me to death! I was just about to call 911."

Taylor slowly sat up, still slightly dizzy. "No, Kate, thanks. I'm fine, no need to call. And I didn't mean to scare you."

"What happened?"

"I was getting a reporter down for some research. I must have slipped on something, I don't know." She tried to stand, but was struck by another wave of dizziness. Taylor abruptly sat back down, and tried to center herself.

Kate peered into Taylor's gray face, and didn't like what she saw. "Maybe I should see if your doctor can squeeze you in today?"

"No, that's not necessary, really," Taylor protested.

"Taylor, this isn't like you. And you're obviously not fine, you can barely sit up and your eyes are all glazed over. If you won't go to a doctor or the hospital. . .?" Taylor shook her head no at that option as well, "then you're going home. And that's final."

"Kate, who's in charge around here?" she tried to be gruff, but it didn't sound very menacing to either of them.

Kate smiled, "We both know darn well that I am, and that this office would have gone to hell in a handbasket ages ago without me. And I say you're going home."

"Yes, ma'am," Taylor said meekly, and Kate laughed. Taylor grinned slightly, but was still feeling dazed.

"Good girl. Now you obviously can't drive home, so should I take you?" asked Kate.

"No, the office still needs to be open, I'm expecting a few documents from the court of appeals and some other attorneys today."

"So much for me getting a free afternoon out of this," Kate said saucily. "All right, well, you still need to get home, I'll call Mike to come get you."

Taylor winced at the thought of calling Mike and the potential tantrum he'd throw. "I don't think you need to bother him, I'll be fine in a minute, Kate. Really," she said nervously.

"Nonsense, I'm calling him, he'll come get you, and you're going home. End of discussion." Kate was dialing Mike's work number before Taylor could protest further. After a quick discussion, Kate hung up and looked at Taylor. "I told you, he'll be here in a couple of minutes. Let me get you some water, and you try to make it to the chair okay?"

Taylor gave in, knowing there was no way she was going to win this argument with her assistant. Kate was one of a small group of people who could actually tell Taylor what to do, how to do it, and still get away with it. Kate had been in control of the office and Taylor since the beginning, and she knew that Kate was irreplaceable. Unfortunately for Taylor, so did Kate. So Taylor did what she usually did, grumbled the whole time, but did exactly what Kate asked her to do.

Twenty minutes later, Taylor was sitting by the conference table, sipping a glass of water when Kate walked back into the library with Mike.

"Are you all right?" he asked, kneeling down. Taylor was surprised with the man in front of her. He hadn't expressed genuine concern for her in the longest time, but she figured it was because Kate was still in the room with them.

"Yeah," she replied quietly. "Kate just overreacted."

"No, I don't think she did. You look kinda pale. C'mon, let me take you home, and I'll take care of you." He held out his hand for her, and helped her out of the chair. Wary, she allowed Mike to lead her out of her offices and into his car. On the drive home, Taylor kept shooting sideways glances at Mike, and he finally noticed.

"What are the looks for?"

"Um, well," she hesitated. "I. . . I just thought you'd be angry that you had to drop everything to come get me."

"Why would I be angry?" he asked, puzzled. "You're my best girl, I would do anything to take care of you. I'm not angry at all." Taylor's eyes widened involuntarily. Mike sounded sincere to her, as if the events of the last year had never taken place, and this was the Mike she met and fell in love with. Completely confused by his behavior, she closed her eyes.

Once at the house, Mike shepherded Taylor upstairs and into the bedroom. He made sure she changed into pajamas, tucked her into bed, and told her to take a nap. He would work from home this afternoon to keep an eye on her. Still confused by the apparent turnabout in his behavior, Taylor allowed him to do all of this for her, and nodded when he told her to give a yell if she needed anything. Hearing the bedroom door close, Taylor snuggled down in the blankets and closed her eyes to nap.

Mike was going over some papers in the dining room when he heard a faint ringing noise. Looking first for his own cell phone and finding it quiet, he decided it was coming from inside Taylor's briefcase. Opening it up, he was astonished to find two cell phones inside. Picking up the phone he recognized, then the other unfamiliar ringing one, he answered it.

"Hello?"

Nick, upon hearing a male voice answer Taylor's cell phone, gasped and hung up quickly. He prayed he had accidentally dialed the wrong number, and that the voice on the other end of the line did not belong to Mike. Tentatively, he dialed Taylor's number again, and hung up just as quickly when he again heard a male voice answer the phone.

Mike wondered why there were two phones in Taylor's briefcase, then decided that perhaps it belonged to another attorney, and she had accidentally picked it up without realizing. He started to put it back into her bag when he saw part of the caller ID on the phone. Turning the phone so that he could read the display fully, he stiffened when he saw who had called: "Nick Carter, (407) 555-0128"

Realizing that it wasn't someone else's phone, but Taylor's, Mike got angry. "That conniving little bitch, she just couldn't stay away from him. Well, I'll make sure the whore knows what a mistake she has made." Throwing the phone against the wall and hearing it crack into several pieces didn't satisfy him. He raced up the stairs and threw open the bedroom door, slamming it into the adjoining wall.

Nick started to panic as he pictured Mike going ballistic, remembering all of the horrible things Taylor had described to him just a few days ago. Quickly he dialed Taylor's office number. Kate picked up on the second ring and Nick asked to speak with Taylor.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Brett has gone home for the day. May I take a message?"

"No, thank you," he replied curtly. Nick hung up and dialed the next logical number. The line rang several times as Nick begged for Jamie to pick up.

"Damnit Jamie, where are you?"

Finally he hung up and dialed Kevin's number.

"Hello?"

"Kevin, thank God you're there. Listen, I think something really bad just happened. . ." Nick quickly explained everything about the phone call and Taylor not being at work today.

Nick's voice was shaky as he spoke, "I don't know, Kevin, I just have this really bad feeling that Taylor's in trouble. What should I do?"

"First thing you need to do is calm down little bro. Are you sure that it was Mike that answered her cell?" Kevin asked, trying to be rational.

"Who else could it be? They said she went home and you know Mike never lets her have anyone else in the house. Kev, he's going to hurt her, I just know it."

"Is he really that crazy? I mean, I know what Jamie suspects but. . ."

"Suspects nothing Kevin, Taylor told me everything just a few days ago. If I didn't have to be strong for her I would have lost my lunch." Nick said, vividly remembering that conversation.

Kevin paused for a second to realize just how serious this situation could be. "Okay, I think we need to call the police or something and have them go check on Taylor. That's the only thing I can think of right now. . ."

Taylor instantly awoke when she heard the door crash into the wall, but she wasn't fully alert. Mike stood above her, his brown eyes blazing with anger, his face flushed. Taylor cringed and tried to move off the bed away from him, but he was too quick for her and caught her by the leg. Dragging her back across the bed towards him, he flipped her over and said in a deadly quiet voice, "Where are you going, Taylor? I just came up here to tell you that your boyfriend just called you on your private cell phone."

"My boyfriend. . ." her voice trailed off as she stared at the clock radio by the side of the bed. 12:05 p.m. it read, and her heart stopped. It was her lunch hour, and Nick was calling. . . No, she cried inside, this can't be happening. But it was, Mike had found the other cell phone. Closing her eyes in futility, she waited for his rage to strike, praying it wouldn't be too bad or last too long.

"Taylor, I'm waiting for another one of your explanations. . ." Mike snarled.

One eye opened and she looked fearfully up at Mike. He was one second away from really exploding, and she tried to give him the answer that would make him the least angry. Instead, she was horrified to hear herself burst into tears and say, "Mike, I can't do this anymore."

"You can't do what anymore? Lie to me? Cheat on me? What can't you do Taylor? Tell me."

"I. . . I can't stay here anymore. I don't want to keep doing this, Mike. I want to leave," she heard herself say, not knowing where the words came from. Taylor felt detached from everything, as if she were merely watching the events taking place rather than participating. As she heard the words spill out of her mouth, some part of her brain screamed, "NO! Don't say it, just be quiet a little longer! NO! What are you doing? Oh God, NO!"

The hand that had been on her leg disappeared, and as she kicked free and started to roll away again, it reappeared on her arm, squeezing tightly. "You want to what, Taylor? I don't think I heard you right."

The traitorous words came out again, "I want to leave you, Mike. I want to get out of this place and not come back. It's over between us." Taylor was fascinated by the color on Mike's face. She hadn't thought it was possible for anyone to turn that shade of purple, but obviously it was. She realized that Mike's hand was grasping her upper arm so tightly she couldn't feel the fingers on her left hand anymore.

"Over? You think it's over? Oh no honey, it's not over. Not by a long shot. We will never be over, I won't ever let you leave here." He paused as his rage again spiraled out of control. "Unless of course, it's in a body bag. No one can have you except for me, Taylor, do you understand? No one."

They were both shocked to hear her say, "No, I'm leaving, and I'm doing it now." She started to struggle away from his grasp, but he backhanded her, the force of the blow twisting her neck painfully and throwing her down onto the bed. She tried to sit up again and received another punch. Reeling from the blow, she made a move to the side.

That little movement to escape finally detonated Mike's anger. Taylor couldn't move under the onslaught of blows that fell on her body. He had never been this harsh or this brutal before, and the detachment Taylor felt intensified. It was the only way she could block out the pain being inflicted upon her.

She barely felt it when Mike dragged her off the bed, her head striking loudly against the hardwood floor. Dazed, she was only slightly aware of being pulled across the floor by one foot, and led out into the hallway. Mike stopped at the top of the stairs, and she only faintly heard him say, "If you want to leave so badly, what are you waiting for? Go! Get the hell out of my sight!" Taylor had no time to brace herself for the kick that sent her tumbling down the stairs. Landing in a broken heap at the foot of the stairway, Taylor moved slightly before finally, blessedly, blacking out completely.

Mike walked slowly down the stairs, stepping over her as he reached for his jacket on the hook by the front door. "You can leave whenever you want Taylor," he said as he walked out the door.

The police cruiser slowed as it pulled up in front of the address they had been given. One of the officers looked at the other asking, "Any idea what we're supposed to be looking for?"

"Not really. I guess this lady is an old friend of the chief's and we're just supposed to check to see if she's here, or okay or whatever."

The two officers got out and slowly walked to the door. One was about to knock when they noticed that the door was slightly ajar.

"Looks like reasonable suspicion to me, how about you?"

"You know it." Slowly they opened the door and announced their presence. It only took a second for the first officer to see Taylor's body at the bottom of the stairs. Quickly they radioed for an ambulance and went to check on her.