AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Governor.”
“Governor.” She clucked her tongue and shook her head. “My, my, but aren’t we ambitious.” She didn’t mean to sound scathing, just concerned.
His eyes crinkled a bit at the corners, but he wasn’t laughing. “I suppose we are. We’d both go through hell and back to get what we wanted, wouldn’t we?”
She ignored that little dig. “You could use the adverse publicity to your advantage, if you’re smart.”
“How?”
“Welcome her with open arms,” she said, and Nelson stared at her as if she’d suddenly lost her mind. “I’m serious, Nelson, think about it. You, defender of the downtrodden, you, seeker of truth, you, the one-day politician—listen to her story, try to help her and then…well, when she’s proved a fraud…you don’t even denounce her, not really, just explain to the press that she was an opportunist.”
“You’re not serious.”
“Something to think about.” She added cream to her coffee—not too much, as she prided herself on working out and keeping her body in shape, then watched the clouds swirl to the surface. “Come on now,” she encouraged, blowing across her cup before she took a sip. “Tell me about her.”
Cradling the warm porcelain between her fingers, Eunice waited. Nelson would tell her everything. He always did. It was his way of trying to be special to her. After the divorce from Witt, all the children suffered and she felt an incredible sense of guilt for their pain. She’d never wanted to hurt the children—they were her most precious possessions. Never would she intentionally wound any of them. It had been Witt she had hoped to cripple, but he seemed to have survived the divorce, even thrived as a businessman, and had taken that slut of a young girl for his second wife. Suddenly her special blend of French roast seemed to curdle in her stomach.
Nelson scraped his chair back and stood near the windows. Throwing out a hip, he gazed through the glass. Though he’d called her, begged to come by and unburden himself, she sensed that he regretted his decision to open up to her. He’d always been volatile—not so openly hostile as Zach had been—but energized by a pent-up anger just under the surface, a blasting cap primed to explode. She wondered if he even had a clue about how he’d been conceived, but held her tongue.
Nelson was the child who should never have been born. She and Witt were estranged when she’d gotten pregnant. Witt had finally found out about her affair with Anthony Polidori and all hell had broken loose.
“You stupid, stupid bitch!” Witt had roared when he’d discovered the truth. He’d sensed that Anthony had been in his house, his room, his bed, though Anthony had slipped away minutes before.
Witt had slapped her so hard her head had snapped back on her neck and she’d stumbled to fall back on her bed. He was on her in an instant, pinning her to the mattress with his enormous bulk. “How could you?” he’d yelled, straddling her and crushing her face between his meaty hands. She was a big woman, a strong woman, but no match for him. “You lying, cheating bitch, how could you?”
She was crying, tears streaming down her cheeks and through his fingers, and she knew that he might kill her. His palms squashed her cheeks and she stared up at eyes bright with rage and hatred. Saliva collected in the corners of his mouth and his lips were pulled into a snarl of malice.
“I…It just happened,” she’d choked out.
“Like hell! You’re my wife, Eunice, my wife! The wife of Witt Danvers. Do you know what that means?” He gave her head a little shake and she mewled a protest. She could barely breathe. “You may not like me—”
“I detest you!” she spat.
“So you go crawling to Polidori. Taking off your panties and spreading your legs and screwing his brains out. Why? To get back at me?”
“Yes!” she screamed, not daring to utter that she loved Anthony as she’d never loved Witt and the hands around her face pushed harder. Pain jolted through her brain.
“You’re unbelievable.”
“At least he’s a man, Witt! He knows how to satisfy a woman!”
He roared back and this time the hand that came down against her cheek landed so hard she heard bones crack. A moan escaped her throat.
“A man, eh?” Witt thundered. “I’ll show you a man.”
She’d shivered as he’d held her down with one hand and undid his belt with the other. He’d never beaten her before, but now she was certain he was going to flay her until her skin was raw. Swallowing all of her pride, she whispered, “Don’t, Witt…please…”
“You deserve it.”
“No.” She got one hand free and held it up to protect her face. “Don’t—”
He hesitated, his shirt undone, his breathing hard and fast.
“You’re a whore, Eunice.”
“No—”
“And you deserve to be treated like one.”
