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“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice this time,” I respond. “I’m not coming back unless you do a lot of changing, and this right here is proof that you aren’t going to change, Mitch. You’re never going to change.”
“You little bitch,” he hisses, his voice going even colder than before.
“Mitch!” I cry, but it’s too late. He picks me up, manhandling me. He all but throws me into his truck. I immediately try to open the door to get out. Yet, before I get a chance, he’s quickly climbing in the driver’s side, his hands latching onto my legs. I try to kick out, to get free, but he’s so strong. He’s always been so strong.
He yanks me back by grabbing my hair, the hold so painful that tears immediately sting my eyes. Still, I fight against it. I pull away, not caring about the pain or the fact I feel some hair tearing from my scalp. Still, Mitch doesn’t let go—doesn’t relent. He’s been bad before, but it’s never been like this. Ever. Fear causes my heart to beat erratically. I feel like my lungs have been seized in cement. It’s painful to breathe. I know this is going to be bad, and I may have been scared before, but right now…I’m terrified.
“Don’t do this, Mitch. We can’t come back from this,” I warn him through my sobs. Now, I’m going from trying to get out of the truck to just trying to calm him and stop some of the damage he’s going to inflict.
“There’s nothing to come back from, Callie. You’re my fucking wife, and you’re going to start acting like it,” he growls.
“Mitch—”
His name stops on my tongue because his fist slams into my face. Pain explodes through me, the world goes fuzzy, and my vision goes white with sparkling fragments instead of objects.
Is this what they mean by seeing stars?
I don’t have time to think about it because I feel his hands wrap around my neck. I gasp, my fingernails digging into the skin on his hands as I try to pull him away from my throat. I struggle as my oxygen is cut off, my eyes go wide, and I look up at Mitch. In the past, I blamed myself and felt I deserved his anger, but then his anger had never gone to this point. Now, when I look up at him, I don’t see a man hurting over the loss of his child.
I see evil.
“You think you can dictate to me, Callie? You’re too stupid to live. I’d probably be doing the world a favor ending your miserable life. You think you have me all figured out, don’t you, baby? You have no idea. I’ve done things you couldn’t fathom, and if you don’t start towing the line, I’ll destroy you and everything you hold dear. Reed, that bitch Katie, and even her little bastard son. Their lives are all in your hands. I’ll destroy them all and make it look like you’re to blame. Those that live will despise you, and those that don’t? Their blood will be on your hands. Do you understand me?”
The world is starting to go dim. I’m trying to listen to him, but I’m wondering if I misunderstood him. Surely, I did. How can the man I married, the man I’ve been living with, was going to have a child with, turn so completely scary?
He loosens his hold on my neck just enough to allow oxygen to travel back through. I gasp, spluttering as I try to drag air back into my deprived lungs. It burns. It all burns… Oh God, how did I miss that I was married to a complete monster? I made excuses for the way he treated me, explanations for why he felt the urge to lash out at me because of his pain over losing Ryan.
“Now get your fucking ass in your car. You drive straight home and go get on our bed. You’re going to move back in there tonight. You be waiting for me on the bed, naked and laid out for me.”
“M-M—” I try to say his name, but my voice is hoarse and hurts to use.
“If you’re not, Callie, so help me God, I will track you down, and I’ll make you watch while I fuck Katie and slit her damn throat.” My eyes go wide. It seems impossible that this is the Mitch I know. Then he laughs as he leans down to whisper into my ear. “I can see my stupid, naïve wife thinks I’m not capable of that. Ask yourself this, Callie. How did Chasity who was nothing more than a broke whore get the money for all the drugs she had in her system? And who would make sure drain cleaner was mixed in with some of that coke she liked to snort up her nose?”
