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“Yes.”
“And that’s how you got pregnant?”
She nodded. “We’d been married maybe a year at this point. It was before I knew what he was doing. Was actually how I learned what he was doing. I hadn’t been feeling well. Constantly tired. Nausea. Stuff like that. If we’d been sexually active, I would have taken a pregnancy test. But in the few weeks prior, we hadn’t been. At least not to my knowledge. So I went to the doctor.”
“And you learned you were pregnant.”
“I lost it, Lachlan. When the nurse came in with a smile on her face and congratulated me, I absolutely lost it. I’d always wondered if Nick had something to do with all my lost time.” Her chin quivered as tears streamed down her cheeks. “Now I knew.”
I pulled her body to mine, kissing her temple, trying to reassure her that I was nothing like him. That I’d never hurt her. That I’d always respect her.
“Did you confront him?”
“Of course. And he did what he did best. Manipulated me into believing I was an overly amorous drunk. That I’d initiated things several times.” She pushed out a disbelieving laugh, pulling back to look at me. “Do you want to know the ironic part?”
“What’s that?”
“He made it sound like he was the one who didn’t consent to sex. That I forced him. Then he casually stated he hadn’t told anyone because he didn’t want to embarrass me. Didn’t want to ruin my reputation. My family’s reputation. After all, the Bradfords were prominent in Atlanta society. Something like this could have destroyed them. Could have destroyed Wes.”
“So you stayed quiet.” My muscles stiffened, anger burning in my veins over the manipulative games that bastard played with her.
“He had me so brainwashed, I thought even if I did say something, nobody would believe me. He was my husband. I was supposed to want to have sex with him. Not cringe in response to his touch. Even back then, even before I knew the truth, it always felt…wrong.”
I pinched my lips into a tight line, jaw twitching.
“There was one good thing about being pregnant, though,” she muttered.
“What’s that?”
“No more lost time,” she answered, a sadness in her tone. “He stopped drugging me.”
I peered at her, my chest rising and falling in a quicker pattern, nostrils flaring as I attempted to push down the rage…to no avail. I shot up, digging my hands into my hair. I wished I were at my house. Then I could lock myself in the gym for an hour and take out some of this aggression on a punching bag.
Even though I’d really love to use Nick as a punching bag.
Or target practice.
“I want to fucking kill him, Julia,” I stated, looking her way, fighting to keep my emotions in check. Something that was growing increasingly more difficult. “He doesn’t deserve the air he breathes. He deserves to die the most sadistic death possible. Even then, it won’t be enough.”
“I did stab him in the balls.” She ran a soothing hand down my arm. I should have been the one comforting her, not the other way around. “Well, not directly in the balls. Sadly, I missed hitting anything important. Pretty sure he’s just shooting blanks now, though.”
“But he can still shoot?”
“Yes.”
I nodded, taking a moment to process just how depraved this asshole truly was. Then I recalled something Julia had said in Hawaii. Something I’d forgotten. Something I didn’t even care about, since I was able to reap the benefits of it.
Now I wondered if there were more to it than I originally thought.
“In Hawaii, you mentioned you couldn’t get pregnant…” I lifted my gaze to hers.
I didn’t even have to ask. She knew what I was getting at.
“Nick taught at a college in New York for the first year of Imogene’s life. She was born with a heart defect that required surgery mere weeks after birth. She’s fine now, but because I wanted to keep her near her team of doctors, I stayed in Charleston, where we were living at the time. Since Nick was out of my life for an extended period of time…”
“You were able to have surgery without him knowing.”
She nodded. “I had to go through quite a few doctors to find one who would do a tubal ligation for me. It’s not as easy as it sounds.”
