AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I can’t let them hurt you, Vasya,” he said, his voice as ragged as if he’d been screaming.
“And I can’t let you lock her up again,” Jonathan muttered and—slammed his fist into the back of Damien’s head.
I cried out, jerking forward when Damien collapsed to the floor with a heavy thud.
“He’s fine,” Jonathan muttered when I dropped to my knees, my hands searching slick skin for a pulse, panic like a drumbeat in my chest. Damien locked me up, scared me, made it hard to breathe, but he was my husband. He was the man I loved, and any fool could see he was in the middle of an episode. I didn’t know why, didn’t know what shifted since I was taken to change Damien from a man who’d slaughter a whole ballroom full of people to keep me safe to a man so scared he couldn’t keep me safe that he confined us to the apartment.
I might have been freaked out and breathless, but I didn’t want him hurt.
“Just knocked him out,” Jonathan soothed me, lifting his phone to his hand. “I need a favour. Pretty sure my best mate’s having a breakdown. I’ll text you an address.”
I climbed unsteadily to my feet, my head still spinning but slower, scraps of air hitting my lungs now. I needed to get out, needed air, needed to leave this fucking flat—but the last thing I wanted to do was scare Damien even more. If he woke up and I was gone, he’d fall apart.
I was starting to understand why Damien had been so gentle and understanding when he found a broken girl being abused in front of a hundred people, why he’d been steady and sweet ever since. I wasn’t the only one broken in this relationship.
“Move him onto the bed,” I told Jonathan, the tone of a command slipping out.
He raised an eyebrow, listening to whoever was on the other end of the phone. With a shrug, he slung Damien over his shoulder and heaved him onto the bed. Every now and then Jonathan replied with gruff, reticent answers, and I burned with curiosity to know who he was talking to and what they were saying. It wasn’t Kavan; he would have called Damien by name, and the King wouldn’t have needed an address.
“You’re going to be fine,” I murmured to Damien, throwing the curtains wide so light filled the space and I was able to breathe properly. I brushed messy strands of hair from his face, hating the shadows carved deep into his cheeks. “I’m right here.”
He hadn’t left my side while I recovered from the ballroom and the abuse that had been my whole life. I wasn’t going to leave his side now. This was marriage, messy and scary and unsettling—and unbending. I wasn’t going to run away when it got hard and his demons showed their faces.
I might shoot him the next time he tried to lock me up, though.
I bowed over him to kiss his cold, clammy forehead and told him just that. I waited for his lips to curl at the edges, but he was knocked out and unresponsive. And truthfully, I wasn’t sure he’d have smiled even if he was conscious.
Artur might have stolen me from Damien the night of our reception, but Damien’s demons had stolen him from me. And I wasn’t sure they would give him back.
CHAPTER 21
DAMIEN
Waking up locked in my office with my dad, my best friend, and a therapist wasn’t my proudest moment. My head pounded like I’d been struck with a hammer and I—was cuffed to my desk.
“What the fuck?” I demanded, my voice husky. I tugged on the handcuffs locked around the desk leg, scowling at Jonathan, Dad, and—oh, perfect. Dr. Theodore Korte. The therapist was in his fifties, with silver streaking his brown hair and beard and wear-lines around his eyes. Like always, he wore a severe black suit and crisp white shirt. He was the best therapist money could buy, and I should know; I employed him to help Rose.
I was honestly surprised she wasn’t here to shout at me, too.
“The cuffs were all me,” Jonathan said with a deep frown. “I didn’t know what state you’d wake up in.”
What state I’d…?
Memories hit with the force of the sledgehammer. Oh god, I completely lost it. I locked my wife in our bathroom, for fuck’s sake.
I dragged my uncuffed hand through my hair, tugging at the roots.
“Where’s Vasilisa?” I asked, my voice even raspier. I didn’t look Jonathan in the eye; instead I pinned my stare on Dad. I didn’t like the way he watched me though, with wariness and worry, like he was waiting for me to flip again.
“She’s fine, Rose is with her,” Dad replied, which didn’t answer my question. “So are a handful of guards and Eli.”
I sucked in a harsh breath and glared at the cuffs. I wanted to get up, to set my eyes on my wife. Panic began to form, but I shoved it down. I wouldn’t lose my composure again. “I’m not gonna flip. You can uncuff me.”
“Leave them,” Dr. Korte said when Jonathan moved to unlock them. “Something tells me you’re eager to evade my help, Damien. Again. The cuffs will force you to speak—and listen to me.”
“I’m fine now,” I sighed. “I’ve been under a lot of stress, and my wife gotkidnapped.Anyone would have a minor meltdown after that.”
“Minor,” Jonathan repeated, sinking into the chair across from my desk when it looked like we were here for the foreseeable.
