AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Just get here,” he mutters, disconnecting.
“Dante?” asks Callie, and I nod. “You think he’s got some work for you?”
I shrug. “I only left them a couple of hours ago, but maybe.”
* * *
Dante is in his home office when I arrive. There’s no sign of Tessa. “Everything good, Boss?” I ask, closing the door and stepping closer to his desk. He throws a white plastic stick on the top and glares at me. I take the stick, turning it to see the word ‘negative’ in the window. “Is this a pregnancy test?”
“It’s been six weeks,” he snaps. “Why the fuck is it negative?”
I place it back. “These things take time, Boss. She took a while to open up to me.”
“Every day, you’re with her and you tell me you’re fucking her. You tell me things are going well, and yet here we are with no fucking pregnancy.”
“I was supposed to be spending the day with her today, remember,” I ask, “but you surprised us by coming back.” I sigh. “I’ll keep trying, Boss. Relax.”
“Relax?” he yells, slamming his hands on the table. “I’ll relax when she’s pregnant. Work harder. I’m going out of town today for two nights. I suggest you spend them in the bedroom.”
* * *
It’s been two hours since Dante left for his trip and Tessa still hasn’t appeared. I go upstairs and gently tap on her bedroom door. “Tessa, it’s Nero,” I tell her. “Are you okay?”
The door opens and Tessa stands before me in her underwear. I gasp, not because she’s practically naked but because her body is covered in bruises. She’s been crying, her cheeks are red, and her eyes swollen. “Jesus,” I whisper. She falls into my arms and breaks out into fresh sobs. I walk her backwards into the bedroom, kicking the door closed. “Tessa, what the fuck happened?”
“We’re trying for a baby,” she sniffles. “Every morning, every night . . . I hate it. I hate him,” she cries. It’s the first time she’s told me how she feels about Dante. Usually, she makes excuses, and she’s never told me about the abuse, not really. “And today, my birthday gift was a pregnancy test. He wasn’t happy it was negative.”
“Fuck,” I mutter, stroking a hand down her back. “Tessa, I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise.” And I mean that in a different way to how she’s taking it. Because what I really mean is I didn’t think about him taking this shit out on her.
“Ask me,” she says, sitting up and looking me in the eye.
“Ask you what?”
“What everyone wants to ask. Why am I still here? Why haven’t I left him?”
“I’m sure you have your reasons.”
“If I left right now . . . if I packed my bags and just walked away, what would happen?”
I think about her question. “I guess he’d kill me.”
“Exactly. There’s always someone he can hurt, someone he can hold over me. I can never leave because he’ll kill people I love, then he’ll come for me. He’ll track me down and end my life in the worst possible way imaginable.”
I choose not to go into the details of that last statement. “I thought there were no friends or family, so who could he hurt apart from me?”
“I had two friends before. We went to school together and were inseparable. We witnessed something, Dante threatened them and their families, and then he told me I had to move in with him or he’d kill my friends.”
“So, what happened to them?”
“I’m not sure.” She looks away, and I sense that she’s lying. “But I have a feeling Dante would still find them or their families and he’d make sure I knew what he’d done.”
“You ever witness him hurting people before, Tessa?”
She scoffs. “You’d be surprised at the things I pick up while hiding in the background.”
“Like?”
“I wanted to kiss you before,” she blurts out. “After you gave me my gift.”
