Glass

"You both are night owls," A voice pulled Matt away from his computer screen. Matt raised an eyebrow at Brian as he stood in the doorway, "I could see the television on upstairs through the window. She isn't asleep yet either," He continued, referring to Violet sitting wide awake in the guest room above them.

"I kind of didn't expect her to," Matt shrugged, "What are you doing here?"

Brian chuckled, "Michelle's having a hay-day with Jane. That poor girl is her personal Barbie doll now... So I escaped the world of shoes and handbags to come over here," He explained before Matt noticed his eyes darken.

"What's wrong?" Matt asked.

"I came to talk to you," He said softly before stepping into the room. He shut the door behind him before sitting down at the desk across from Matt, "An hour after you left two black cars pulled up down the street. Las Vegas license plates with blacked out windows."

Matt's eyes widened, "What about Jane?" He questioned.

Brian shook his head, "She's fine. They haven't seen her and we don't plan on taking her outside anytime soon. Michelle's been distracting her. We don't want to scare her by telling her anything."

"Are they still there?" Matt asked.

"No. They waited around for the day before taking off. Jimmy said he saw similar cars outside his house as well. No doubt they've stopped by your old house and Zack's."

Matt sighed, running a hand through his hair, "We need options, Brian. We need options and time, and neither seem to be in the near future."

"This place and Zack's beach house are the safest at this point. We can always use the cabin up in Big Bear if we have to," Brian suggested.

"This is all temporary, Bri. We can't just hide them forever and hope Craig eventually gives up."

"I know," Brian said softly, "At this point we need to start looking deeper into Craig."

"What are you talking about?"

"He's a business man in Vegas right? Well, he's got to have done at least some dirty business in the past. Illegal deals... not to mention beating the shit out of his employees."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Matt questioned.

"He won't be able to do anything if he's in jail," Brian said and Matt finally understood. "Violet can confess to the beatings, show her old scars to prove it. I think-"

"She won't do it," Matt cut him off and Brian raised an eyebrow at him, "You can try, but I doubt she'll agree to that."

"Why wouldn't she?" Brian questioned.

"Because she's fucking brainwashed, that's why. She's so confused about everything. She's torn between remaining loyal to him and loving Zack. She doesn't even have a personality. She's been molded to Craig's needs. She's..."

"Broken," Brian finished and Matt nodded, "We have to bring her back to reality, Matt."

"It's gonna take a while, but we're gonna need Zack. I think he'll be able to make her realize who she is."

"Zack's a little preoccupied at the moment," He scoffed, "I cleared out his cabinets of all the alcohol. I also warned him to stay inside as much as possible. I don't know if Craig's guys are driving around the city or not. The last thing we need is them following Zack to the beach house."

Matt nodded, "I'll take her back there tomorrow."

"You sure that's a good idea?" Brian questioned, one eyebrow raised at his friend. Earlier that same day Matt was questioning if Zack was ever going to be good for Violet, now he was encouraging it.

Matt gave a subtle but firm nod, "She needs him. She needs him now more than ever."

-

Jane sighed deeply, closing the curtains to her room. She frowned at the sight of the black SUV once again pulling down Brian's street. It drove slow, but brought no attention to itself. The neighbors wouldn't think twice about it, "Hey, you up for a movie?" Michelle's voice called from behind her.

Jane spun around, "They're back," She stated suddenly and Michelle raised an eyebrow at her, "The black trucks. I know it's Craig's team looking for me and Violet," She said.

Michelle sighed, "We didn't want to worry you," She said softly.

Jane smiled, "Thank you for that, but I'm pretty observant. It's part of my job."

Jane followed the older woman out of the guest bedroom she was occupying. They ventured down into the living room where Michelle already had a few DVD's picked out. Jane was eternally grateful for her hospitality. Despite Violet being cold and menacing most of the time, she imagined that she was more like Michelle before returning to Vegas. She always thought kindness suited her.

They propped their feet up on the coffee table as Michelle started to play The Devil Wears Prada on the screen, "What was it like working for her?" Michelle suddenly asked.

Jane shrugged, "She was extremely nice at first. Always grateful when I turned up to clean up after Craig. That first month was very rough for Violet."

"I can imagine," Michelle sighed.

"She was strong, you know," Jane turned to her, "I had never seen anything like it. She took the pain without protest. Craig would come in after my shift ended. I knew Violet disobeyed practically everything he said. The next morning she would be black and blue, but she did it with a smile on her face."

"What happened then?" Michelle questioned further.

"She stopped smiling," Jane answered, "Craig got worse and worse. He threatened me not to tell. I was under legal confidentiality, and he promised to hurt my family if I told. Violet was also very adamant that I didn't tell. I began to watch her grow weaker. Her armor was cracking, you could say. Finally," She sighed, "She gave up."

"And then she changed?"

Jane nodded, "Slowly at first, but it happened. She began to listen to Craig. She wore what he wanted, did what she was told, said what he wanted her to say. It made me sick," She scoffed, "Slowly Violet turned more into the woman she was rumored to be, instead of the woman I had first met."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Violet has a reputation around the hotel. Bossy, rude, bitchy, demanding. The staff was practically terrified of her return. It was like a city kneeling before a queen. In fact," She shrugged, "Violet was a queen."

"I'm sure Craig treated her like it," Michelle scoffed sarcastically.

"He did, actually," Jane corrected her, "Once she became obedient, it was like Violet accepted her crown. She was the face of an empire again. She was always on Craig's arm, always ordering people around. She was much nicer to me than to the other staff members, but we had our moments."

"Why her?" Michelle asked suddenly, "Of all the people in the world, all the people in that city... Why did he choose her? He could have found someone else after she left."

Jane shook her head, "It wouldn't be the same. Craig has a terrible spoiled-child complex. He's always gotten everything he wanted. He wanted Violet and couldn't have her. It's not about her. It's about control," Jane bit her lip and turned to Michelle, "If I told you something, would you promise not to tell Violet?"

Michelle eyed her skeptically, "I guess".

Jane sighed deeply, "One day I was cleaning out Craig's office on his orders. He wanted me to clean up the office because some big clients were coming in for a meeting. As I was leaving, I passed by another room in the club where Craig was talking to a friend about Violet."

"What did he say about her?"

"You know about her father, right?"

"Brian's told me some of the story about her growing up," Michelle nodded.

"You know he was a business man. A wealthy one at that?" And Michelle nodded again, "No one really knows what business he was in, neither does Violet. She was too young to understand."

"But something tells me you know," Michelle said softly.

"Mr. Kennedy was a partner of the Stevenson empire. He too owned tons of clubs. They were hand-in-hand partners," Jane confessed, "Richard Stevenson, Craig's father, went to Mr. Kennedy one day. He said that one strong family should marry another."

"Oh no," Michelle shook her head.

"Mr. Kennedy agreed," Jane stated softly and Michelle's eyes widened, "He assured Richard that when Violet was older, he would introduce her to Craig and they would eventually get married. Their fortune would be combined."

"He did that to his own daughter?" Michelle asked in disbelief.

Jane nodded, "He did, but he did it without telling Violet's mother first," She explained, "Her mother was furious. She didn't think it was fair to Violet."

"So what happened?"

"Well, Richard had already promised Craig that Violet would be his one day. Craig, of course, is older than Violet so he already understood the business and what was happening. It was Violet who didn't know. So Violet's Mom did the only thing she could do to make sure her father didn't have control over her."

"What did she do?"

"She filed for divorce," She revealed, "After she filed the court granted her full custody. Richard was furious at Mr. Kennedy for not going through with their deal. Craig was even more furious, because he was already promised Violet."

"So that whole story about Violet's father walking out on her was a lie?"

Jane nodded, "According to Craig the entire story was made up so she wouldn't have to explain to Violet what the deal was. In return, she was left with absolutely nothing. Her mom got depressed and I guess regretted her decision, because that's when everything changed for Violet."

"So then what happened after that?"

"By sheer coincidence, and some poor parenting," She added, "Violet snuck into Craig's club. He instantly recognized her, and did everything he could to make sure he got what he wanted. As for Violet's mother," Jane sighed, "I don't know why she would pressure Vi to get into a relationship with him. That's something she would have to explain.

"She only helped Violet get out because she realized what being a Stevenson meant. It wasn't worth watching Violet get beat up for it. So Violet took off, and it drove Craig insane. He was promised something, and he kept losing her. That was the second time Violet slipped through his grasp. This isn't about Violet at all. This is about Craig not getting what he wants."

"Wait, so Violet doesn't know any of this?" Michelle questioned and Jane shook her head.

"I'm not even supposed to know about this. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time," She shrugged.

"Why wouldn't you tell Violet this?" Michelle asked.

"I wanted to," Jane confessed, "I thought if I told her then maybe she would understand and try to leave Craig again. But I was scared what she would think. I have absolutely no solid evidence against Craig, and I'm sure her mother would deny everything. I just didn't know how to tell her."

Michelle nodded, "You're right," She sighed, "But at some point everything is going to have to be revealed."

Jane felt much better now that she had told one of her best kept secrets to someone. She wasn't sure how, but she felt it could help. Maybe somewhere down the line the information would be useful when trying to get rid of Craig. All she knew was that Violet was home, where she needed to be.

That's all that really mattered.