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Curtis was several feet away from me now, only the framework of the porch separating us. “I’m protecting you.” He said it so easily, but protecting me shouldn’t have involved blood, a gun, and dragging a lifeless body toward the back of the cabin.
“Wh-what?”
“I know you’re not deaf, Belle.” He blew out a breath as if he was tired of the conversation—tired of me. “I’m protecting you, just like I always do.”
I glanced over at where he’d been standing, catching sight of bright material—a waistcoat to be specific. “From Leopold?” I looked back at him, finally finding my voice. “You were protecting me from Leopold?”
“Yes,” Curtis answered immediately, and he shot forward. I squealed, and my instincts kicked in. I spun around to get back into the cabin, but his hand gripping my hair stopped me. He slammed my side into the wall between the front door and the kitchen window, knocking the breath out of me. “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked in my ear, his voice merely a whisper.
“You’re hurting me,” I gritted out, trying to push him away, but it was no use. He had the upper hand, and he knew it.
“Good.” He crushed his body against mine. “You hurt me every day I see that baby growing inside of you, but you don’t hear me complaining, do you?” He growled and gripped my hair tighter. He yanked my head back, and a pain shot up the side of my neck, and then he slammed my face into the side of the cabin. My cheek throbbed from the impact, and I called out, but I knew no one could hear me, not here.
“Stop!” I screamed.
“Or what? You gonna call Daddy on me?” He laughed, the sound unhinged. “Daddy can’t help you hear, Belle. Daddy doesn’t know where you are, I made sure of that.”
My breaths sawed in and out of me at his words, and the truth to them hit harder than anything. He was right. My dad didn’t know where I was. He wouldn’t be able to come and save me. But I wasn’t sure what I needed saving from. “What did you do?” I asked.
He twirled me so my back was against the cabin and his hand was around my throat. He applied enough pressure to keep me still, and as soon as my gaze met his, I knew this wasn’t the Curtis I’d met. His shoulders were straighter, his face darker, causing his expression to be one I’d never seen on him before. But above all that, his eyes were pitch black, no light in sight.
“I already told you, I’m protecting you.” He paused and gripped my throat tighter, causing my instincts to kick in. I grabbed his arm, scraping my nails across his skin, but he didn’t even flinch. It was as if he couldn’t feel it. “He was trying to take you away from me.” His eyes were like a vortex h
e couldn’t escape. “I didn’t have a choice.” His hand flexed and then let up a little, letting me catch a breath. “He wouldn’t leave.”
“Who?” I gasped out. “Who wouldn’t leave?”
“All of them,” he ground out, his eyes focusing on me again. “They can’t come between us now, Belle.” He pressed his body closer to mine, but my bump separated us, and he looked down at it, sneering, “Especially not that.”
I swallowed and bucked my body, trying to get away from him, but it was no use. He overpowered me in every way possible, and there was nothing I could do. It wasn’t just me I had to protect, but my baby too.
“I waited and waited. For so fuckin’ long.” He pressed his face closer to mine. “You have no idea how patient I’ve been. I’d thought I’d taken out all the obstacles, and then that happened.”
“Please, Curtis. You’re hurting me.” I punctured his skin with my nails, not preparing to go down without a fight, but he was calm. So calm it was frightening me more than his body pressed against me, keeping me in place. “Let go, please.”
“I’ll never let you go, Belle.” He leaned his face closer to mine, his lips only centimeters away. “All we have to do now is wait until this spawn is here, and then we can finally be alone.” He paused and smiled at me like I’d just confessed my love to him. “Then we can be together. Just you and me. No one else around to get in the way.”
“I…” I didn’t know what to say, how to act, how to process everything he was saying. It was all too much at once. And when he slammed his lips down onto mine, it took me several seconds to realize what he was doing, but when I did, I clamped my teeth down onto his lip, causing him to howl out in pain, but I didn’t let go until I tasted blood.
A punch to my stomach had my breath escaping me, and I let go of his mouth. He stumbled back, blood flowing down his chin. “You put up a fight.” He grinned, and I darted to the left. “I like that.” He swiped his hand over his mouth. “It was more than Stella did.”
I halted, my eyes widening. “What did you just say?”
He laughed, the sound echoing, and I knew I should have taken my escape, but something was keeping me in place. Something told me not to run and turn my back on him.
“She screamed at first, but once I slit Justin’s throat, she gave in.” Curtis shrugged, acting as if he was talking about the weather. “She had no fight in her. It was disheartening if I’m honest.”
My heart raced in my chest, and I moved another step away, causing my back to hit the screen door. “You’re a monster,” I whispered. I couldn’t believe what he was telling me. It all felt like a dream—a nightmare.
He lunged for me, and I threw my hands up to protect myself, but he grabbed my wrist and yanked it aside. I heard something crack and pain exploded down my arm, but that didn’t mean I’d stop fighting. He’d confessed to me what he’d done to Justin and Stella, and knowing Leopold’s body was only a foot away from us had me more on edge. He wasn’t afraid to take what he wanted, and he’d decimate anything which stood in his way.
“You’re mine, Belle.” He leaned lower, his face coming level with mine. “You’ve been mine from the first moment I saw you.” He stared into my eyes and pushed his knee into the side of my stomach, and gone was the fight. All I could think about was protecting the baby inside of me. For the first time in my life, I wondered if I’d make it out of here alive.
This wasn’t the Curtis I knew. This was the real Curtis. The one I’d spent all of that time with was a fraud he’d put in place to fool me. My eyes were wide open now, and I knew if I wanted to get out of here alive, I’d have to take drastic measures.
“Please, just let me go,” I begged. I didn’t know what else to do other than appeal to him, giving me enough time to get away.
I spotted his shoulder moving out of the corner of my eye, but I hadn’t expected his fist to make contact with my face. Agony nearly knocked me off my feet, but I managed to stay upright until he threw me down onto the wraparound porch.
