AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But it’s not me.
I’m smiling. I’m much younger than I am now, and I’m the groom in a wedding photo. Except I’ve never been married. And just as I open my mouth to say that, a slideshow starts, filled with photos of me with a woman I’ve never met.
Retouched photo after retouched photo paint a picture of a perfect life. Smiling, vacations, work functions, birthdays, then a baby. A son. Then a second. The slideshow ends with a family photo that remains on the screen.
A happily married man who moved on without her.
A man who had a family and forgot about her while she fought to stay alive.
A man who didn’t care where she was or what happened to her.
Except it was all a lie.
A lie she believed. Tears roll down her face in the video.
“He got what he wanted, and he moved on.” Disgust laces his words as he releases her hair, and she drops her head back onto the bench as he continues, “And now I’m going to show you how much you’ve disappointed me, because since that day, I stopped waiting for you to come to me, and I decided my father was right. If you want anything in this world, you just take it.”
The threat in his words lands, and Jessa jerks to life.
“What? Maxwell, please! You wouldn’t do that. You’re better than your father.” She tries to look at him, but he’s directly behind her.
The Max we knew in school was never real, and Jessa somehow doesn’t realize it yet.
Maxwell picks up a belt and doubles it over in his fist. Then, without warning or further conversation, he steps to Jessa and brings the belt down across her back with such force that it makes her whole body go rigid for a moment. As the shock of impact sinks in, she chokes out a low scream.
“You knew I wanted you, Jessa.” Unhinged, he spits his words, and he wastes no time in pulling his arm back for another strike as the beginning of an angry red welt forms along her upper back.
“NO! WAIT! DON’T!”
The crack of the second hit causes Logan to shift uncomfortably in his seat, but neither of us will look away as her screams echo through the laptop.
Logan nervously taps his fingers on the desk near the volume button. This is affecting him as well. He has always taught me the importance of self-control above all, and I know seeing this is distressing for him.
Jessa was right.
Maxwell had no intention of learning more about Zane. His love for her crossed all lines and pushed him deep into darkness.
There is no negotiating with madness.
More strikes land across her back as she wails into the room. Her shrill cries will haunt me for the rest of my days. Then Maxwell takes a moment to step back and look at his work, and his chest rises and falls with strained breaths.
She is being punished for all of her choices.
She’s being punished for me.
Jessa’s back, buttocks, and thighs are covered in welts, and her once pale skin is now bright red, almost purple in some spots and screaming with fury. Draping the belt over the curve of her ass, he bends over and grabs something I strain to see.
He hovers his hand over her back, as though the warmth of her wounds is radiating upward. “This is your lesson, Jessa. You will not search for Jack ever again. He is happy, and he’s moved on with his pathetic little life. If I ever find out you even typed his name into your computer, this will feel like a tickle. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes,” she whimpers through trembling lips. The fear sparking off her is like nothing I’ve seen before. Even before Logan sedated her, her panic was never this intense. This is beyond her fight level, and it’s crippling her.
“I don’t think you fully understand, Jessa. But you will.” Widening his stance, he raises his arm back above his head, and before I can mutter my disgust, he brings it down with force. My stomach turns over at the sound of the switch cutting through the air before it makes contact with her inflamed skin.
White creeps into the corners of my vision as Jessa releases a shrill scream into the room. The localized impact on her already reddened skin would have been like nothing she could have imagined. The searing heat and sharp pain cutting through tender flesh would be unbearable to even the toughest guys here on base.
Maxwell steps back to watch Jessa’s body process her new level of pain as she lifts her head weakly off the bench. Her eyes are filled with confusion as she squirms. It’s like she’s trying to hide from what is coming next. Then, with a heave in her binds, she lets out a desperate gurgle before stretching her neck forward to vomit the food Maxwell overfed her earlier.
Logan bolts up from his seat and takes a quick stride over to the window of his office as the sounds of her retches fill the room.
