“I hate you for making me do that!” Francesca cried as she limped inside Joe’s room when she got home from the hospital.
She had a fractured arm and broken nose.
Joe shut the TV off in the guest room and sat up on the bed, patting it down for Francesca to sit.
She shook her head no.
“How are you feeling babe?” He smiled.
“How am I feeling? You’re the one who did this to me and now you’re making me lie to the police.”
“You said yourself that you hate him.”
“I do.” That wasn’t true. Francesca wasn’t sure about her feelings at the moment towards Harry, but no matter how much she convinced herself that she hated him, she knew that deep down she was still in love.
“Then what’s there to worry about?”
“I can get in trouble for lying.”
“You think that they’d believe him over a beaten up, hurt girl?”
It was true; Francesca probably would win against Harry if she testified against him, even though he was innocent.
Before answering, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. It was Niall calling her.
She noticed Joe was aware she was staring at something on her phone.
“I don’t know why my mom’s calling me if she’s downstairs, I’m gonna answer it.” She lied.
She shut Joe’s door and whispered into the phone.
“Hello?”
“Francesca, what the hell is wrong with you!?” His Irish accent echoed through the phone.
She quickly ran to her room, locking the door behind her.
“What are you talking about?”
“Harry’s in jail! They said you reported him for beating you. I know he wouldn't do it, so who did? And why did you lie?”
“Niall, I had to.”
“You had to what? Blame him for something he didn’t do? You have no clue what you’re doing. He can stay in there for a while, it can ruin our band! If the press finds out, he’ll never hear the end of it. Chris Brown is still hated for hitting Rihanna.”
“I’ll fix it.”
“You better. Harry really loved you; you betrayed him. First you cheated on him and then you got him arrested? I didn’t think you could stoop that low.”
Not saying anything back, she hung up.
What had she done?
She got Harry arrested?
It was only to protect him, but now he's in complete danger.
“It’s not safe for you here, Harry’s in the jail cell in the back until we take him to the county jail.” The officer said when he noticed Francesca limping into the police department.
“Listen, officer, I need to talk to you.”
“Sit down.” He led her to his desk, and they both took a seat. “What do you want to talk about?”
“Harry didn’t do it.”
“What do you mean?”
“It wasn’t him.”
“You do realize that’s a felony, lying?”
“I know, I understand. It’s just…I was threatened to.”
“In what way?” He seemed confused.
“I was forced to tell the police that Harry did it. The man who did it and forced me to lie, he’s not dangerous anymore.” She lied. Joe was always going to be dangerous, but she figured that as long as Harry was out of jail she didn't care how Joe treated her.
“I’ll talk to my boss about releasing Harry, but it’s going to be an ongoing investigation, you understand?”
She didn’t want it to become an investigation, or else the police would discover other things, perhaps her secret.
Then it hit her, there was an excuse she could use.
“I was in the city the other night. I was with Harry. He’s a major celebrity, as you know. I passed out at one of their meet and greets, so Harry thought it would be a nice thing to do to help me feel better when I got out of the hospital, even though when this happened it had already been a couple weeks since I left the hospital. We were chased by fans, and the only option was to go down a dark alley. Men with guns came up to us, trying to hurt us. They beat me up, and Harry. We gratefully got away, but they told me that if I reported them to the police, they would find me and kill me. They forced me to report Harry.” It was the truth…..but mixed in with lies.
She wished this wouldn’t have ever happened.
She wished she didn’t have to do everything Joe said, including reporting Harry.
“Okay.” The officer stood up. “Can you come in and meet a sketch artist to draw the faces of your attackers? We’ll release Harry as soon as possible.”
“Yes, thank you.” I shook his hand and dragged myself home.
To Harry:
When you get out of jail, call me. I really need to talk to you and explain this all. Please, Harry. There’s a reason behind this, and you deserve to know.
She sighed, hoping he would answer and understand.
Finally realizing she was still deeply in love with him, she just wanted to be with him at this time and stay in his arms forever.
