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“Nothing was a lie. This child’s protection is what is important. Not my feelings or yours,” I sobbed. “Do you think this doesn’t hurt me? I was lost when you left. I don’t want to go through that again but look at you. You leave me no choice. Do you see the bruises coming up on my throat? And now you do it again? Look where you have me. You keep hurting me. I’m the mother of your child.Your child. You saw our baby. You heard her heartbeat. Think back and remember. We made her, Edward. That was our daughter you saw. You know her. You’ve seen her!”
For the briefest moment he slowed, scanning my face. The pain he displayed only had me crying harder for reasons beyond me. It was my mistake. The lapse in my fight had him buckling me in. Harder, I sobbed, knowing wasting my strength was only going to put my body in more stress. I lay there, instead, letting myself cry as I forced my face away from him. That had him buckling me in at a slow pace. Maybe even a hesitant one, and that’s what I needed, to play on his emotions enough to calm him down.
“I can’t believe you’re accusing me of lying when I’m the one strapped down to a table. You said you weren’t going to hurt us, and you want to accuse me of lying?” Harder I wailed. “You’re leaving me no choice but to ask the Main Master for h-help. We’ll all be dead before the month is out at this rate.”
“The month?” Fingers squeezed into my face with crushing force, bringing my attention back to him. His kiss wasn’t any softer than his hold. “The day, wife.”
“You want to die? You want to kill us all, is that it?”
“I let you in.” The statement came out more as a growl as his hand went back to gripping my chin. “I believed you!You feel nothing but survival. In more ways than I want to admit, Mother was right.”
“You’re wrong. She’s wrong.” I jerked my face to the side, trying to break his hold. “I feel hate. Constant panic. Rage! Do you know what I’ve been through? What I’ve seen and lived since I’ve been taken?” I tried going wild under him. “You’ll never know. I hate it. What I hate more is despite what you’ve done to me, or that you even bought me for this sick need of yours,” my lips trembled, “I have this yearning for you. This craving for something more. Not a child,” I spat. “But us. Me and you.”
His stare studied mine looking for a lie. Looking for validation where none existed.
“Us,” I emphasized. “Because regardless of what either of us feel right now, this will pass. The anger. It’ll leave us both the minute we’re without each other. I can’t even bear to think about us being separated again. I only just got you back.”
“You can’t wait to get rid of me.”
“That’s not true. I hate the thought. Why would I want to leave you to go back to bars? Back to a tiny room? Back to a cold bed without your smell or your strong arms around me? You know nothing, husband, but I do, and this is what’s going to happen. You’re marrying me, and you’re going to make it nice. You’re not allowed to be mean to me either. You have to show me your true feelings. The ones you keep trying to run from. Can’t you see mine? Tell me you can’t see how much this hurts me.”
He stayed quiet while my mind continued to race. I had to put my foot down in a way that didn’t push him further to the brink.
“Feelings or not, you’re sending me to the Main Master for this pregnancy. You’re not going to fight me on this. It has to happen. And if you want me after I give birth, you’re getting me fixed so that I can never have another child again. These are my terms. This is me being completely honest and upfront with you. You have me, but only if you’ll agree.”
“You can’t tell me what to do.”
“I just did, and if you want me to love you more than anyone ever could, you’re going to listen.”
Nothing short of what sounded like drums in the distance grew closer, but they weren’t drums, and Edward and I both knew that. The ferocity in his eyes grew and my stomach twisted with anxiety as I tried to diffuse the situation. Without Edward, I’d be forced into breeding again. It’d be a never-ending cycle until I was killed. I wasn’t safe with this monster, but I had a hold on him. I had his child, and I could have his heart. I knew I could.
“You’ve done nothing wrong yet. Kiss me. We’ll tell them our plan. We’ll go straight to trying on dresses, if you want. We can still be happy. We can see each other all the time. Don’t do anything stupid. Just—”
“You have your terms, but so do I, and if I have to pay for your little outburst, you’re going to pay for it too. You’ll never turn your back on me like that again.Do you hear me?I’m your Master above all else, and you’ll never forget it. I’m not going to let you. Brace yourself, wife.”
“Master Nine-ninety-nine, open the door! Mr. Voss. Edward, open the door!”
A guttural roar had his hand rearing back and lights blinding me. My entire body jolted at the blow, but I couldn’t even react before he was sliding around my neck at the Main Master’s order. The pure force in the squeeze had my eyes widening and my mouth flying open. I screamed, hearing my volume fade through the restriction of oxygen. A tight cramping sensation had my throat aching to a degree off the charts. My eyes had to be bulging as I tried twisting and kicking my legs with everything I had. A thumping erupted from what sounded like miles away. Stars were dotting my vision, and my heart pounded in my tingling, numb lips. Tears were leaving me. They tickled my skin, sliding into my ears to further draw my attention from the reality I was trying to escape.
As darkness began to steal pieces of my Master’s face, air returned, but not for long. Pain exploded back in my face, so distant it was as if I felt the blows in third person. My body reacted. Even my emotions responded in bouts of cries and screams of help, but it was like I wasn’t even present. The evil of Edward had me in its spell, hypnotizing me in horror as his focus stayed engrossed on my reaction to every blow. The pleasure narrowing his lids and crinkling his eyebrows played out in slow motion. Despite the craziness in his depths, I knew he was loving this. He was enthralled, hurting me. Captivated and maybe even in love with me as he lowered, finally pressing his lips into mine. They only managed to barely brush over the tear on my lip before I saw arms pull him back.
Strange male faces surrounded me, and two guards were quick to unbuckle the cuffs as others seemed to blur around me. The entire room was chaos, making my head spin worse through the splitting pain marking my face. Hands pulled me to sit, but my eyes only searched out one person. Three guards were holding him down, and the Main Master was yelling at him, but he was inching his way back to me. Keeping his attention on no one but me.
Love.Yes…How had I not seen it before now?
Love.Had the hits revealed a truth I was too blind to take in?
Love.
Guards pulled me to stand from the table. Wetness itched my chin and I wiped it from my jaw, not even looking down at what I knew I smeared across my face. I took a step, feeling myself being pulled back.
“What did I tell you? Master, look at me. You know where you’re going.I warned you.”
“Hell Row,” Edward breathed out, smiling. “I’ll face it for her. How long?”
“The board will decide. Given we were on the phone, and you knew what the fuck you were facing when you hung up on me, at least a week. Maybe two for your disregard of how delicate this situation is.”
The anger was evident to everyone in the room. The Main Master was fuming, but Edward had zero concern as he gazed up at me so lovingly.
