Quinn POV Cont.

Before I have a chance to respond to Molly my phone rings and an unknown number pops up. "Hello?" I say hesitantly.

Upon hearing the voice on the other end her blood ran cold "Hello Dollface."

"Jeremiah.."

"Why Dollface is that a hint of fear that I hear in your voice?" Jeremiah replies a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Don't call me Dollface!" I hiss at him.

Again I can hear the amusement in his voice as he replies "your in no position to be making demands my dear doll. I don't think you understand how much trouble you are in little girl."

"I am only a few months younger then you Jeremiah Valeska! Your insane if you think that I'm a little girl!"

"Now. Now let's not get nasty cupcake."

At this I sigh in frustration this was the last thing that I need to deal with right now. "You know I don't like being called cupcake or sweetheart. Or Dollface, or honey, I'm not your girlfriend Jeremiah. I don't belong to you. Look, I'm dealing with some family issues right now, could we discuss this later Jeremiah?"

To my surprise, Jeremiah seemed to be understanding. "Alright kitten, but don't think that this is over. Both you and Bella are in serious trouble."

Not knowing how to respond I whispered "Thank you. Thank you for understanding..."

"No problem Dollface but my generosity comes at a cost one you will soon discover. Go ahead, have your little adventure. Make amends with your sister, Rescue your mother from Arkham, go on any other small adventures you want but Trust me you won't like the consequences of keeping me waiting and neither will my sister. So if I were you, I would have fun while you can. You have twenty four hours Quinn no more no less."

"What consequences? What are you going to do to us?"

"You'll just have to wait and see now won't you kitten. Oh and kitten, the longer it takes for you to return to me the more dire the consequences will be. Ta ta."

"Who was that?"

"Wrong number. Molly please, let Bella go. We can talk things things over like mature adults."

"Fine. Let's talk about our life at the circus shall we? You were always mom's favorite."

"Yeah well you were dads."

" touché. Why were we always so distant with each other when we were growing up?"

"I don's know... You were always running off with some guy."

"I know when we were growing up that you thought I was selfish always going off with boys but it was the only way that I could escape feeling like the oddball. I never felt like I fit in at the circus. When I read Jorden's profile on an online dating sight he sounded so sweet. We met at a coffee shop while the circus was in town and we hit it off. He seemed like such a nice guy at first. Sure there was a few odd things about him like how overly protective of me he seemed but I just shrugged it off. It was only after we got married that he showed his true colors. He thrived on causing me terror. He told me that I was never going to see you or mom or dad again. He use all forms of domestic abuse/violence. He was extremely jealous and began isolating me from others. He said that I didn't need friends or family because I had him and that should be enough.

"Look Molly, I'm sorry that Jordan abused you. But my relationships haven't been all sunshine lollipops for me either. I know that you won't believe this, but Jerome was quite abusive. And Jeremiah hasn't exactly been a Saint either."

"Your right. I don't believe it. You can't possibly understand what I've been through. Jordan was controlling from day one. I wanted to attend mom's funeral. But he refused to allow me to do so unless I agreed to his demands."

"What type of demands?"

"He wanted you to come live with us. I knew that if you came to live with us that he'd eventually wind up abusing you as he did me. I couldn't let that happen so I remained home and loosing my freedom to leave the house and took another beating.

I didn't realize the extent of the abuse he put me through until later. Which included physical abuse. Hit and slapping me etc. Verbal abuse: he'd call me names such as ugly and b🤬ch, stupid and a wh🤬re. He's continuously tell me how ugly and unattractive I was. Using intimidation: he would often make
Me afraid by the way he looked at me sometimes. He would smash things and destroy my things. And sometimes he would display his weapons. Using coercion and threats: he would threaten to leave me. He would make threats to hurt me and then sometimes carry them out. Including physically beating me. He would threaten to commit suicide if I ever tried to leave him. And sometimes would threaten to kill me. He also threatens to hurt both you and mom. He eventually carried through on his threat to harm mom. Quinn, he's the reason mom originally died. He killed her to punish me. He would often threaten to do the same to you if I didn't obey him. He put me through what's called Emotional abuse. He would put me down by calling me names and making me feel bad about myself. He'd play mind games with me and he would make me feel guilty even if I hadn't done anything wrong. He would often use what's called a gaslighting technique. He'd use my emotions words and experiences and twist them around causing me to question my reality. I saw him hit me he's say it didn't happen. The bruise I thought I got from being hit or beaten he'd say that I fell. I didn't remember falling. I'd ask him about it and he'd repeat you fell. I was confused. I really remember him raising his fists he'd say your delusional is never hit you that hard. Hell, I'd never hit you at all. I began questioning my own sanity. (Based on an actual domestic abuse survivor's story). He would use isolation: he would control what I did and what I was allowed to read. He controlled Who I was allowed to see and talk too. He would limit my outside interactions and He would use jealousy as an excuse to justify his actions. Minimizing, denying and blaming. He would say that I was blowing things out of proportion. Sometimes he'd blame me saying that it was my fault that he abused me because I made him so jealous or angry. Sometimes he'd even deny that he'd even abused me. Saying thing
like come on Molly you know that's not what happened or that's not the way it happened."
Using male privilege he would behave as if he was the master of the house. He would insist on making any and all important decisions alone and whatever he decided was final. I wasn't to argue. He defined what our roles were. What a "good housewife" was and would and He would treat me more like a servant then a spouse. Economic abuse: he'd insist that as a woman money wasn't my concern. He forced me to quit my job and refused to allow me to get another one. He said that it was the man's responsibility to earn the bread for the household. He would give me an allowance but would sometimes take it away and he force me to ask sometimes beg for money when I need to purchase something such as groceries. He's use the Stalking technique. He's follow me at a distance whenever I left the house. He even put a gps into both the car and my phone without my knowledge. He'd hang up phone calls and would take my mail. After we were divorced the stalking only increased. He leaves me cryptic cards and letters, harassing phone calls etc. I am sorry if it seemed like I hated you. I was jealous of your relationships with Jerome and Jeremiah. I knew even back then that they'd never hurt you like Jordan did me. Your my baby sister Quinn, I'll always protect you even if it cost me my life. The same applies to your daughter."

I sighed I'd only she knew how much they'd changed since then. I couldn't believe what I was hearing "you were protecting me? That's why you didn't come to mom's funeral? Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"I didn't want to admit to myself let alone others that Jordan was abusive. So I did what I could to hide the pain."

"Believe it or not, I know what it's like to live in your own personal hell."

"I doubt that. I have suffered years of both physical, mental and sexual abuse at the hands of my husband. What have you had to
ensure that was so terrible?" Molly demands with a slight scoff. I sigh.

"I watched the boy that I once loved die not only once but twice. I have been shot twice one of which caused me to be paralyzed but thanks to Bella I'm better now. The first time I was shot was because I wanted to know more about the man Jerome was working with Theo Galavan. Which wasn't hard because Jerome was holding me captive at the time. I soon discovered that Theo was insane. He had this crazy plan to seek revenge against Bruce for something that had happened between their families centuries ago. He wanted to kill Bruce. I took pictures of his plans and was about to try and escape but I was shot in the side. The first time I watched Jerome die was because her brother pointing to Tabitha murdered him live on stage with thunderstorms applause. When he came back from the dead he kidnapped Bella Bruce and I and took us to a boardwalk carnival where people were either seriously hurt or killed while participating in sick twists on classic games. Or held at gun point on the carousel and other rides. I called it the carnival of terror. I can still see and hear his screams of this one man who was forced to be man in the dunk tank as he was eaten alive by piranhas. I started to fall in love with Jerome. I begged him to leave Gotham with Bella and I and start a new life together but he was hell bent on killing Bruce Wayne. He chose to die. Then after his death the man that I thought that I could love turned out to be even more insane then his brother. After he blew the bridges up he took Bella and I to the dark zone. There he took my phone and held us prisoner. I had no way of knowing if either one of you were alive. By the way, whatever happened to Jordan?"

"I divorced him, well at least I tried too anyway. He refuses to believe that we are over. He won't leave me alone Quinn. Every time I think I've gotten away from him he finds me and the cycle of abuse continues." Molly says with a sigh.

WC 1892