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The dryness in her throat made it hard to breathe. Her bare feet were bloody from the pine needles and broken twigs that covered the forest floor. Excruciating pain shot up both of her legs. None of that mattered, though—Crystal only needed to escape. She had to get as far away from him as possible before she dropped from sheer exhaustion.
Besides, the pain was nothing compared to what he’d do if he caught up to her.
“You’re only making it harder on yourself, sweetheart!”
Oh God, Richard. How had he found her so fast? Just the sound of his voice was enough to send shivers up and down her spine. That slick, mesmerizing baritone that had lured her in from the beginning now made her sick to her stomach. She heard his voice in her nightmares. Would hear it in her nightmares for years to come, no doubt.
Crystal ran faster, panicked now with the knowledge her husband was closing in on her. Her sweaty, long brown hair whipped her face in punishment. The belt he’d used on her earlier had left her thighs bloody and her nightgown a shredded mess. Somewhere in the dark recesses of Crystal’s tortured mind, she knew she’d never leave the forest of trees that so completely enveloped her now.
“Ah, my sweet wife,” Richard called out as he caught her by the arm and yanked, hard, pulling her to a stop. “You ran from me. You’ll pay for that, I’m afraid.” Then he raised a fist and punched her in the jaw. Her teeth rattled in her head and her vision blurred. The warm trickle of blood from a fresh cut at the side of Crystal’s mouth went unchecked. “Please, don’t,” she shamelessly begged. Her words fell on deaf ears, though, as Richard hit her again.
When had things gone so wrong? She didn’t know. One day he’d come home from work and flown into a rage because she hadn’t washed the sheets on their king-sized bed. As a result, Crystal had received her first beating. It’d been so violent that it had hurt to sit down the next day.
These days it took so little to rile his temper. After dinner, he’d yanked off his belt and whipped her. Crystal wasn’t even sure why this time. When it seemed he had finally finished his tirade, Crystal had tried to stand, but he only started on her again, blow after blow until she’d finally passed out from the pain. When she’d woken, Richard had been gone from the room. Crystal had taken the opportunity to run. Just run. She had no real destination other than away from him. She’d reached her breaking point. But Richard had been quicker than her, and he’d easily caught up to her.
He would make her pay for leaving him. The terrifying knowledge that she might not live through another of his beatings tore at the forefront of her mind. As Richard hit her once more, Crystal felt her body go limp as the black void of unconsciousness stole through her.
Richard wasn’t sure why he didn’t just leave Crystal there in the woods. She was useless to him. She’d been a huge disappointment practically from the first day, but he’d thought he could teach her how to be a proper wife. But nothing had worked, and he was just about done bothering with her. Still, there was something so tempting about Crystal. His fascination with her baffled even him. Hell, she didn’t even take good care of herself. Since their wedding, she’d put on weight and had let herself go. She didn’t even take pride in their home. He was constantly reminding her of her household duties. But some softer part of him kept him from abandoning her. As he picked her up and carried her back to the house, Richard knew that their time together had come to an end. He’d wasted enough time and energy on her as it was.
Crystal had been like a lost lamb when he’d met her at a New Year’s Eve party two years earlier. She was the sweet to his bitter, and he had known he had no business anywhere near her innocence. But in one thing, they were the same—they both longed to be loved, and in that, they were a kindred spirit. So he’d swooped in, and it hadn’t been long before they were married. God, if he’d known what a colossal waste of time she’d be he never would have given her the time of day.
Crystal woke to a splitting headache. As she opened her eyes and tried to focus, the room tilted and the pain intensified. She touched her lip and realized it was swollen. She’d have bruises on top of bruises this time. Richard had outdone himself. The room he’d put her in was dark, but she knew where she was. The guest room. He always put her there after one of their fights. It was where he liked to discipline her. Crystal’s stomach knotted as she thought of all the horrors that room held.
As the fuzz in her brain began to ebb, Crystal became aware of a heavy weight across her belly. Tentatively, she took her hand on an exploration to see what it was that kept her immobile. It was as she skated her hand down her body that she felt an arm, strong and firm, holding her in place. Richard. Oh God, would this night never end?
Another hand clamped over her mouth, and Crystal winced at the pain in her already swollen mouth. “Why’d you try to leave? Don’t you love me anymore?” When she only lay there, eyes wide in fright, he went on. “Cat got your tongue, sweetheart?”
Still, Crystal didn’t move, didn’t dare. She knew this was the calm before the storm. Once again, she wondered why Richard didn’t just kill her and get it over with.
“If you promise to be good, I’ll remove my hand.”
After a few moments of debating her options—which were few—she realized she was going to have to obey him if she had any chance at an escape. She nodded her acquiescence. True to his word, Richard removed his hand. He stood, but before she had time to think of her next move, the glow of a single candle lit the room. What did he intend to do with her? Crystal shook her head, not even willing to consider any of that right now. She would not panic, not again. She had to keep her wits about her if she was to get away from him with her life.
Her gaze wandered around the room. When she saw him sitting in a chair on the other side of the room, Crystal took a chance and sat up. Richard stood, then crossed the room. Oh God.
He tilted his head, as if baffled by her actions. “You’re terrified of me, aren’t you?”
What was he up to? She took a chance and nodded.
He snorted. “You are so pathetic. If I wanted to, I could have you on your knees in front of me, begging.”
She kept her breathing at an even tempo, praying she wouldn’t do something to send him into a rage again.
“You seem to get under my skin and push all my buttons,” Richard said after several beats of silence. “I have no excuse for being so brutal, except that you just never seem to learn,” he said.
The only thing Crystal could think to do was nod. He was being strangely kind, but Crystal knew better than to trust his current mood. Until the right opening arose when she would be able to break away from him, for good, Crystal would just have to bide her time. God, she didn’t even know how long she’d been knocked out. Had it been just a few hours? Days? Focusing on the on
e thing she could do without arousing his anger, Crystal said, “My nightgown is mostly shredded. Can I change?” He laughed and Crystal’s humiliation intensified. She wished she had the nerve to tell him where he could shove it, but he put an imperious hand in the air and stopped her before she could utter a single syllable.
