Page 3 of Wounded Hearts

Chapter 1

10 YearsLater

Mara watched as Drew was pulled on to the dance floor by his sister and smiled. He’d walk through fire for those he loved and for just a few hours, she’d been part of that group. That protection, that feeling of safety while she’d been a hostage. She’d never felt safer than she had then.

Her attraction to him had grown as she watched him fight back from his injury all while keeping the spirits of the kids she helped high with his jokes and encouragement. The fact that he was tall and gorgeous, with muscles for days, and a drool-worthy ass didn’t hurt at all.

Yes, she wanted to jump his bones, but more than that, she wanted to be around him. His sweetness, his shy unaffected nature called to her. This man who stayed on after his sessions finished to work harder at getting his mobility back, and who’d go to the children’s rehab facility and read to the younger kids so they didn’t feel alone, had no idea the catch he was.

Sadly, a man like Drew wasn’t on the cards for her. She’d never know the tender touch of a man who loved her. She was the possession of a man who was so powerful nobody could save her.

This holiday with her friends had been her last rebellion before the hell that was her life became more of a prison. She felt prickles at the back of her neck and knew he’d found her. He’d always find her, he owned her. Her body and freedom were his now, but she’d never give him her love or her soul.

Those were all she had left. The sting in the back of her head as he grabbed her hair and dragged her back towards the limo made her eyes well with tears that she fought to blink away. She didn’t want him to see her weakness, knowing it turned him on.

“Mara, Mara, what am I going to do with you?” he asked as she was shoved onto the floor of the limo.

Brayden Wells assessed her as she tried to ignore the sting of the grazes on her hands from landing on the limo’s carpeted floor. She saw him remove his three-thousand-pound suit jacket and remove the diamond cuffs from his sleeves. She knew this was going to be a night she’d want to forget. At fifty, Brayden Wells was one of the richest men in the world with a fortune of over twenty-five billion pounds. He was also a sick, sadistic bastard who hid his real evil beneath the veneer of charity and philanthropy.

He was also the man who’d taken one look at her when she’d attended a charity function for people with spinal injuries and decided she’d be his wife. She hadn’t seen the evil hidden under the handsome cloak of charm and kindness at first. Not until it was too late had she seen the real man who now owned her.

Her mind went to Drew and the way he made her feel—safe, cherished, worthy of kindness. She blocked out the verbal assault on her character until the first blow landed and then she went to the only place in her mind where she was safe. A locked box where he couldn't find her, a place she could see the happiness she craved and would never have. Because if she did, Brayden had made it clear who would suffer for her insubordination. The people she loved, and she couldn’t allow that to happen.

Her parents and her nieces and nephews were the reason she allowed this man to degrade and hurt her. Her family believed that she’d changed, that she’d become a snob and didn’t want to associate with them any longer, but that wasn’t the truth. She was trying to keep them safe.

It broke her heart that they could think that of her but if it kept them from the evil reach of the man she was engaged to, then she’d accept it. Bury the pain and hurt deep so she could survive and maybe one day she’d escape him.

She’d never stop dreaming of that day or give up hope that a miracle would send her a saviour. Her mind went to Drew Preedy. He was a real hero, a real man who loved and protected those he cared for. How she wished she’d met him first, had the chance to see if she could be enough for a man like him.

Maybe they could’ve been happy, had a life together—a future. He’d never use his strength and power against someone weaker. But this was her own doing. Brayden Wells had flaunted his wealth and power and she’d been drawn to it. Seeking to stand in his circle, to bask in his aura. Not until it was too late had she realised his aura was as black as the night.

As she felt him land another blow to her stomach, she acknowledged that she deserved this—all of it—for desiring such shallow things in life. Her vision swam, her womb contracting as ripples of excruciating pain hit her.

Mara felt the car slow as they turned towards the private airfield where the plane sat waiting to take them back to the UK. Back to her new home—a beautiful gilded cage. Set in one-hundred acres of land, the country estate that nestled close to the Cotswold town of Winchcombe was stunning.

A long, winding driveway bordered by English Elm trees on either side formed an avenue approach. The main house was 18th century, grade II listed with six bedrooms. The original style of sash windows, gabled dormers, and Cotswold stone had been maintained so the house kept all its original charm and beauty. A separate two-bed coach house lay within the grounds, as did two tennis courts and an indoor pool. It also had a large paddock and stables and even a small vineyard.

There was no doubting the property was beautiful, and Mara had loved it initially, spending her time reading in the library, surrounded by old, first edition books. Sitting by the large Inglenook fireplace or walking the grounds with Berry and Bracken, the two Jack Russells.

But it hadn’t been real, and she’d missed working. Brayden had been fine about her job at first but then a few months in he’d changed, and the mask had fallen but by then it was too late. She was trapped and the threats to her family had started, veiled at first until she’d agreed to give up her job at the end of her contract.

That had seemed to satisfy him until she was late home the night Drew had first come in. He’d been working so hard and she’d desperately wanted to help him heal, so she’d stayed late to finish a training programme for him to work with. That was the first time Brayden Wells hit her. He’d been waiting for her when she’d come through the door, pouncing and dragging her by her long, dark hair up the stairs to the room they shared. He’d beaten her until she could hardly move from where she lay on the floor beside their bed.

He’d left her there on the cold floor as he readied himself for bed, stepping over her as he pulled back the duvet and climbed in. She’d lain there in shock and pain not knowing what to do, terrified to move in case she angered him and yet worried that if she stayed where she was, he’d find that annoyed him too.

Finally, she’d dragged herself to the bathroom and cleaned up, noting he’d only hurt her in places nobody would see. Her face, apart from being pale, was devoid of any sign of the abuse she’d suffered.

The next morning, he’d brought her breakfast in bed and told her he’d called into work sick for her and she was to rest. He’d be staying home to care for her after her mishap. His demeanour was sweet and caring but she knew if she stepped out of his invisible lines again, she’d suffer.

“You’re mine now, Mara, and I take care of what belongs to me. See to it that you don’t let anything like yesterday happen again. I would hate for the lessons I had to teach you to spill over into your family’s lives. Those nieces of yours could certainly do with a firm hand.”

The memory of those early days and the words he’d said replayed in her mind as Brayden helped her up the stairs to the plane that would take her to the home that had become her hell.

He smiled at her as he strapped her into her seat belt and dropped a kiss on her lips. “I hope this nonsense is behind you now, Mara, and we can begin planning the wedding. I would like us to have a child soon. You’re not getting any younger you know.”

Mara nodded, forcing her face into a smile that she hoped fooled him. She prayed she’d never bring a child into this nightmare that was her life, and an hour later as she sat on the toilet of the luxury plane and saw the blood in her underwear and felt the intense cramps, she knew she’d got her wish.