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CHAPTERONE
Judd was laughingwith two women on either side of him as well as his men all lounging around in the back of the restaurant, where they always were. I'd had just about enough of this bullshit. I stood across from the guard keeping me out of the VIP area.
"Move, Kristoff," I said to him. "I'm in no mood to play."
"It's best you return home," he said in his rich accent. "Mr. Gallo is busy."
"Fair warning, I'm not going anywhere and I'm not going to ask again," I told him, as I looked up into deep blue eyes. He knew I was serious too, but this guy hadn't come across angry Brielle yet. I'd only ever been cordial with him before.
"Go home, Callie."
He turned his head back to focus on anyone behind me and I felt my anger rise. Without further warning, I shifted my weight to my other leg so I could bring my knee up and crush his dick and balls against my patella.
Kristoff tried to remain upright but instead he fell to his knees, a pained look on his face as he clutched at his crown jewels. I moved past him just as someone else came to stop me. Judd was no longer laughing and enjoying his time. He had dismissed his bitches and looked over at me with a thunderous look that sent chills down my spine. I'd seen him like this before.
And that had been the last time I'd seen him before I woke up in my bed with fractured ribs and a black eye. I knew I should back up and run but something in me couldn't do that. I didn't want to end up like my mother and be pushed aside while Judd's new woman raised my child.
No way in hell I would allow that.
"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked me, his fists already balling at his sides as he pushed up from the booth.
"Come home," I told him. "Christa is asking for you."
"Isn't that your job to look after her?" Judd asked me. If he'd never taken over the Gallo crime family, and he had been able to be the man he was when I met him, he never would have said that. "You don't tell me what to do, woman. Now get home. I will be home when I choose to come."
"Judd, please," I said. The women who had been lounging over him were all waiting on the side, waiting for me to go. But I didn't want him to resume whatever he had been doing with them. I wanted him to come home with me. I was no fool, the long nights, the days where he would be gone with no contact, I knew he was running around behind my back, but I didn't want to be that woman. I didn't want to bow down and lose my husband because I didn't fight for him.
"Get in the goddamn car," he said through gritted teeth. I turned and followed him out of the restaurant, smirking at Kristoff just getting up and standing gingerly. As we neared the front door, I felt Judd grab my arm and haul me up against the wall. His hand wrapped around my throat and squeezed. I could feel myself start to panic as breathing became hard. Judd's fierce eyes looked directly into mine.
"You willnotembarrass me, Callie. You do as I say, and you will respect what I say."
I tried to nod, so he would release me, but his fingers were pushing into my neck. My lungs were burning, my fingers trying to pry his hand off me so I could breathe. I was slowly becoming weaker than I liked and had no idea how much longer I would be conscious. I couldn't speak, I couldn't beg.
Was this it? Would I die here and now?
Finally, Judd removed his hand from my neck, and I fell to my knees, sucking in air until it stopped burning. The skin around my throat was burning from his squeezing, I would have a mark there. Luckily, it was cold out. I could hide the bruises behind a scarf or turtleneck.
Kristoff picked me up from the floor and pushed me out the door and into the cool night air. He took joy in having me weak and hanging off him for leverage.
"Put her in the boot," Judd said. I could only just barely understand what was happening when I felt Kristoff push me backward. I hit my head on the side of the boot, my entire body feeling sluggish as he closed the boot door, and I was in complete darkness.
I tried to push my hands against the roof, but I was weak. The car started and sped out of the carpark. This wasn't good.
He rarely took this kind of violence publicly which is why I had decided to come here tonight. Something had pushed him over the edge. Something that may just mean I'd not see the sunrise again.
* * *
I feltmy stomach burning with nausea as the car came to a stop. I tried everything to stay awake. I knew I had to have had a concussion. The back of my head throbbed where I hit it, and the skin of my throat burned from where Judd's hand had squeezed. I heard the boot door open, and Judd's face hovered over mine.
"Get out," he ordered. I struggled to move, but my entire body felt like it was weighed down with concrete. Judd was impatient, I knew this was going to end bad. I just prayed Christa stayed in her room.
Judd's hand reached out and grabbed my hair. Pulling, I felt my scalp burn as he tried to pull me out. My body magically moved, and I tumbled over the edge of the boot and onto the hard gravel at his feet. He pulled me along the driveway, by my hair. I reached up, screaming, trying to remove my hair from his grip as he pulled me up the stairs to the front door. No one would come to my aid. They knew better than to do anything to anger Judd Gallo.
He finally let my hair go so he could open the door. Once he did, he moved to grab me again, but I crawled inside with every ounce of energy I had left. I was crawling for my life as I tried to get down the hall to the closest room, I could lock him out of.
He closed the distance between us just as I got to the doorway. I grabbed the doorway and tried to stop him from getting me. He pulled me so hard, I thought he may pull my leg off my body. My grip lifted and I was being dragged through the house, toward the dining area. We kept knives in there and given his mood, there was a high likelihood I'd end up stabbed.
I had to keep him away from me. He dropped my leg and grabbed my arm, hauling me to my feet. I was unsteady, but when I saw the darkness in his eyes, I felt a chill run down my spine. I couldn't let him kill me, I couldn't leave Christa in his care.
