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At least I managed to have something that was mine. I had a few magical nights with a man who wanted me for me, not because of what I could bring to the table. That means everything to me. Luke means everything to me.
Darkness creeps into the edge of my vision, shrouding the colours of the room in black. I’m close to passing out, hanging on by a thread to life.
The pressure on my throat is suddenly released. My body instinctively sucks in air, taking a huge gasping breath, chasing the blackness from my sight. Dizziness washes over me and my head rolls.
“See what you made me do,” Declan hisses.
He lifts off me and paces the space in front of the sofa, raking his fingers through his hair as if I am a disobedient child who has dismayed him. That’s precisely what I am. He thought I would just be the good girl doing everything she was told. He thought my fear would keep me paralysed, and maybe it would have if I hadn’t met Luke.
For a moment, I just lie still, trying to drag air into my aching lungs and calm the roiling of my brain. I feel like I’m on the waltzers, spinning around and around. The room is moving.
I try to swallow, but my throat is burning. My stomach is churning and my body feels wrung out.
I sit up, my arms trembling as I do, and I rub at my burning throat. It’s like shards of glass have been pushed down my windpipe.
I raise my eyes to find Declan’s. “You can kill me, but I am not your puppet. Not anymore.” My voice sounds ravaged, raw as if I have eaten razor blades. It feels like it too. No doubt I will wear a ring of bruises around my neck tomorrow.
If I make it to then.
My body is sluggish, my awareness slow, so I don’t see his fist coming towards my face until it slams into my jaw with enough force to send me sprawling back amongst the sofa cushions.
My already dizzied head swims more from the blow, my ears ringing. My face burns and the skin already feels tight.
Declan grabs me by the hair, fisting his fingers into the roots and dragging me up. My scalp burns as if a thousand pins are stabbing into my head. I cry out in pain as I’m forced to my feet.
“You are just like your whore mother.”
Those words hurt more than the assault that follows. His fists lash out, over and over, smashing into every part of my body. I try to protect myself, but I’m still weak from my near-death experience. I feel the anger, the rage in every punch, every hit he lands. He means to break me, and this time he just might.
I can feel blood on my face, warm, thick, and dripping. I don’t know how it happened. It doesn’t matter.
Declan grabs my bruised face between his fingers and forces me to look at him. The look in his eyes scares me. I’ve seen him lose control before, but this is something else. It’s like the lights are on, but he’s checked out completely. The beast within him has come out to play.
“If you ever threaten me again, I will end your fucking life.”
He releases me with a hard shove. I sprawl backwards, my body unable to hold itself together any longer. I can smell the wood floor beneath me, the scent infusing my nose as I lay against it, unable to move.
I hate myself for lying there, helpless and pathetic, broken and bruised.
The sound of the door opening and then slamming shut makes me jolt. I’m alone. It’s only then I let my tears fall. I’ve never felt so desperate in my life. This can’t be my path.
But he will never let me go, and Jeremiah will claim what he owns. I want to have the fairy-tale ending where Luke and I ride off into the sunset, but reality doesn’t work like that.
I can’t drag him into this mess. Declan would kill him for touching me, and he doesn’t deserve that. No, this cross is mine alone to bear, and I won’t drag an innocent man into this. What Luke and I had was good, but it’s done. It has to be.
My trembling fingers move over my lips, and I taste blood on them. Crimson droplets stain the wood beneath me, sinking into the grain. A tactile reminder of what happened here.
I don’t move for a long time. I just keep still and focus on trying to breathe through the pain, but I know I eventually need to get up. If Declan comes back and finds me where he left me, he’ll beat me again—worse.
I push carefully up to my knees. I can’t stop the cry from escaping my mouth as I move. White hot pain lances through my chest, causing me to gasp.
Fuck.
Every inch of my body is on fire. I’ve never felt anything like this before. It is not the first beating I’ve taken from him, but this is the worst. It feels like something is broken inside me. My ribs ache as I move, and I gasp out a breath as I manage to move to the edge of the sofa.
“What did you do, Declan?” I whimper.
I manage to hoist myself onto the sofa. I lean carefully back against the cushions, holding my ribs as I do. It relieves a little of the pressure, though not enough. Every movement is fire.
Declan wanted to kill me. It’s a hard truth to realise, but he meant to end my life. I felt it in the anger of his attack.
Why am I still breathing?
Because I am promised to Jeremiah, and Declan won’t break that deal. That is all that stayed his hand. He is a monster who wants to ruin me for his own benefit. He can try, but I will make it my mission to bring him down for the death of my mother.
