AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Please,” I begged, coming closer to him, but only so that I could make sure Ace could hear me. “I just want to talk to Kian. I miss him.” I paused, my hands in front of me in a prayer motion. “Please just let me say hi to him.”
Travis shook his head, his anger flashing over his features and staying there. I’d pay for this, but if it meant I got to hear Kian’s sweet voice, then I didn’t care.
He pulled the cell away from his ear, taking two steps toward me as he held it out, then whispered, “That was a mistake, Peyton.” I swallowed, my hands starting to shake in terror for what would come after this. “A big fuckin’ mistake.”
I swallowed against the lump in my throat as I took the cell out of his hand, wanting to look away but not able to because his stare had me caught in his web. “Hello?” I croaked out down the line.
“P?” my big brother’s voice murmured. “How you doing?”
Blinking, my muscles ached to turn around, to put my back to Travis, but I couldn’t. He stepped closer, making sure he could hear both sides of the conversation. There wasn’t more than an inch between us. His body was imposing, towering over me, his chest twice as wide as mine, the outline of the muscles he’d built over the years showing through the material of his T-shirt.
“I’m okay.” It was a lie, but then, I was used to lying. The one time I’d told the truth I wasn’t believed, so what was the point? At least the lies were taken without a second thought. “Can I talk to Kian?”
There was a pause, some shuffling, then, “Sure. One sec.”
I heard murmuring in the background, then a new voice said, “Mommy?”
My heart skipped a beat in my chest, my lips instantly pulling into a huge grin. “Hey, Kian.” Tears sprung to my eyes, but I knew I couldn’t let them fall. I couldn’t let him hear that I was upset. There was no way. “Are you having fun with Uncle Ace?” I tried my hardest to sound upbeat, to put on a front to the only other person in this world that knew what I’d gone through—had witnessed it.
“He lets me eat cookies before dinner.” He sounded disappointed at that fact.
I laughed, the sound forced. “So you’re having dessert before dinner?”
“I guess…” He trailed off, someone saying something in the background. “Mom?”
“Yeah?”
“When are you coming to get us?” His voice sounded so sad, and it immediately broke me. We’d never been apart, always joined at the hip.
“I…” My gaze set on Travis, trying to figure out whathewanted me to say, but also what the answer would be. I was desperate to see my boys, even more so now that I’d heard Kian’s voice. “I’m not sure.” Travis didn’t give anything away. “Soon, okay?” Kian was silent for so long that I pulled the cell away from my ear to double-check that the call hadn’t dropped. “Kian? You still there, bud?”
“I’m here,” he whispered. “I just want to see you, Mommy.”
I hiccuped a sob, hoping to hell that he hadn’t heard me. “I know. But Mommy is…Mommy is sick at the moment.” It was the only thing I could say, the lie that the men around me had been telling.
“You’re sick?” I could hear the concern in my gentle six-year-old’s voice, and I cursed myself, realizing that I shouldn’t have said that to him. He was the one person that would take it to heart, but also, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d overheard someone talk about me.
I had no idea what was happening outside of this hell—otherwise known as the house Travis had moved us into when I was pregnant with Kian. He was sheltering me, keeping me locked away, all so that he could do what he wanted, when he wanted, and there was no one around to stop him.
He was having the time of his life, especially when he ripped the cell out of my grip, ended the call, then pressed closer to me. His patience was gone, snapping like a tree in the middle of a storm.
“You shouldn’t have done that.”
“Done what?” I backed up a step, then another. If I distracted him…
“That.” He rolled his shoulders back, preparing himself, loosening up. Fuck. “I didn’t give you permission to talk.”
“I know but—”
“I’ll teach you to keep your goddamn mouth shut,” he roared, his hand grasping me around my throat. His force caused me to slam into the wall, the back of my head hitting off the hard surface. “I’ll put a goddamn muzzle on you if I have to.” He pushed himself against me, his entire body plastered against mine. “You’d have thought you’d learn your lesson by now.”
“Travis!” I screamed as his grip tightened, taking all of the air out of me. I clawed at his hand, needing some kind of relief, to simply inhale a breath, but it didn’t matter what I did, he continued on.
“Never do that again, do you understand me, Peyton?” I nodded, so fast my head spun, or maybe that was the lack of oxygen. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take for you to get it.” He shook his head, tutting at me. “But…” He pressed his face closer, the edges of my vision turning black. “You’ll learn your place once and for all, even if it takes an entire year.” He slowly unfurled his fingers from around my neck, sure to leave bruises behind. “And until you know how to behave, you can kiss goodbye to ever seeing or speaking to Kian and Reed. Your privileges are revoked.”
I gasped, my hand moving to my throat, rubbing at the soreness. He was breaking me apart piece by piece, not caring in which direction I shattered. All that mattered to him was having ultimate control. And he was getting it more and more every day.
But as I slid down the wall, my blurry eyes on him, I knew I wouldn’t survive. I’d take my last breath in this house, whether at his hands…or my own.
