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The clock rhythmically warned me to get moving.
Wiping my hands on my clothes to clean away Andraius’s blood as best as possible, I pushed to my feet. Immediately, I gritted my teeth as a shot of pain radiated down my leg.
The fucker always knew how to land those sneaky kicks when I least expected them. But then again, I hadn’t expected tonight’s attack at all.
I closed my eyes and breathed through the dizziness.
I could handle this.
I’d lost count of the number of times I’d borne the discomfort of his abuse, hidden the bruises, and pretended indifference. Knowing the public knew damn well it was all a fucking lie.
I could admit he’d eased up on his lessons, as he liked to call them, over the last two years. It had nothing to do with him becoming a better man and all to do with me refusing to give him the reactions he craved. It wasn’t as much fun for him when I acted the cold, calculating bitch he accused me of being.
By locking down my emotions and acting as if nothing hurt me, I forced myself to die inside, to become the epitome of the venom-filled whore that he’d named me.
It wasn’t a part of me I relished. I never expected to develop the persona of a bitter, unhappy woman.
Yes, I’d always spoken my mind and fought for what I believed was right. But that girl, the one from five years ago, saw a future of possibilities.
Who I’d become held a rage that festered and unleashed at specific times and usually in the direction of the newly departed bastard on the floor.
My undisguised hate had kept him away from me.
Well, for the most part. The only exception was when it came to impregnating me.
He hated me but had no problems fucking me. However, when I made the experience as miserable for him as it was for me, he decided to turn to science.
I smirked.
Not anymore, asshole.
With ginger steps, I moved to Andraius’s lifeless body and loomed over him.
“All I wanted was one fucking night of peace, without having to think about you, and you couldn’t even give me that. Surprise, surprise. I learned a few skills from the very person you thought would teach me how to be a proper wife. She taught me the exact moves I used on you tonight, fucker.
“I believe her husband’s version of proper and yours are vastly different. You deserved this and more. I wish I hadn’t waited this long to be the person Papa raised me to be. I was never stupid or as weak as you believed. I am ashamed that I let you take so much from me.”
The urge to kick him, punch him, mutilate him overwhelmed me. I craved to chop him into tiny pieces as I’d heard he’d done to my baby brother, Linus, and my papa on the day he’d staged his coup.
My heart ached for the eight-year-old boy who’d never been able to live because of this bastard.
Everyone assumed since I had a brother, Papa planned to groom him to take over the family. And because of this, Andraius had targeted a defenseless child.
Fucking bastard never knew Papa wasn’t one to follow traditional gender roles, especially since Linus’s birth was a surprise. He’d raised me to fill the position of heir. Papa taught me everything about running the organization, informing me of every secret passed down through the generations to how to access all assets. Most of all, he taught me how to be ten times as ruthless as any man since women rarely got a seat at the table.
How could I have forgotten all those lessons? Why had I waited five years to act?
I was an idiot for giving Andraius power over me. I let him rule my life, all because he dangled the lives of my mother and sisters in front of me. Challenging him as a bitter, cruel wife was never enough. It hadn’t stopped him from raping me, destroying the legacy Papa created, or spending millions that never belonged to him.
I released a deep exhale, pulling back every instinct to mutilate my disgrace of a husband.
I would survive. I would make it to the other side of this lake of poison I swam in. Logic and a thought-out process was the key.
Touching him would leave evidence leading back to me. The last thing I wanted was for anyone to suspect me. Too many people I loved would pay the price for my mistakes.
No one could ever know. I’d have to take this secret to my grave.
Oh God, but my prints were on the knife he held in his hand.
