Blakely ducks out the back to call the cops, and that’s my cue to get this thing started. By an act of force that I wasn’t sure I was capable of, I shake off my nerves, roll my shoulders back, and lock everything into a box where it can’t escape.
Each step portrays far more confidence than what I have, but I’m certainly not complaining. When I get to the large, main room, even the sight of his back is enough to freeze me in my tracks. He’s examining the painting behind him. Luckily, since I gave up art so quickly into our relationship, he wouldn’t recognize it as not one of mine. So I tell myself at least. The sweat forming at the back of my neck might say otherwise.
He turns slowly, making my stomach churn with disgust. Aaron has aged ten years since I last laid eyes on him. His once cleanly-shaven face is now sporting at least a week’s worth of growth, filled with more grays than I remember. On purpose, I make sure he can’t speak first. “What are you doing here?”
Amusement fills his face, thrilled to have a participant in his sick games once again. “I couldn’t miss your first gallery, doll. You honestly couldn’t have expected me to.”
No, no, I did not. Though he’s unaware that he will not be in attendance. “I’m not going with you. Not again, Aaron. It’s best if you just leave.”
I’ll walk out this door with him, but I’m damn sure not letting myself be dragged and taken to a second location again.He’ll have to take my dead body with him and three more to get that again. Aaron tuts at me, like I’m the petulant child who’s misbehaving. “Come on, now, doll. There’s no reason to be like that. Not with that beautiful girl just back there. I know you’d hate to have something happen to her.”
If he even attempts to hurt her, good fucking luck. She’s lethal. “I’m done being threatened by you. I’m not scared anymore. Just leave. You’re not welcome here.”
He shakes his head, disappointed. Then he reaches behind him and pulls out that fucking gun, aiming it directly my way. My teeth grind in an effort to not turn and run. “Don’t make this complicated. Come now or I won’t stop with you. You don’t think I know who she is? You really want to be responsible for her death?”
Has he always been this fucking pathetic? Doesn’t get his way, and he’s immediately ready to violently establish dominance? “Don’t do anything stupid, Aaron.” I raise my hands slowly, palms facing him. “Just don’t hurt her, okay?”
“Not if you behave, doll. You know the rules.”
The slimy, disgusting dread sliding up my body to pull at my throat is all too familiar. Soon, it’ll make it hard to breathe so that it’s easier to slip into that place where my brain disconnects to make the pain more endurable. But I can’t do that today. If I do, I’ll never have another chance to ensure he pays for his crimes and doesn’t hurt anyone else.
“Fine. I’ll go willingly. No reason to make this complicated.” The triumph in his face makes me nauseous. He knows without a shadow of a doubt that he’ll be able to follow his routine and kill me, not even having to make an effort to kidnap me this time.
Silently, I beg Chase to not let this happen to me again. There wasn’t anything he could do before, but now he can. I might be able to defend myself so that I could try to run, but I’m not fasterthan a bullet, and Aaron is quick to remind me that is what I’m up against.
Aaron’s hand snaps out, wrapping around my wrist with enough force that my bones grind, and he yanks me closer. I swallow the yelp of pain that I know he wants. His cold, dead eyes meet mine, sending a shiver down my spine. “Good choice. Let’s go. I won’t make the mistake of letting you out of my sight again. Move and make it quiet. No alerting your littlefriendabout your change of plans.”
Well, it’s much too late for that, I think to myself sardonically. But on the outside, I’m the perfectly compliant victim, just as he wants me.
He drags me out the door with an unyielding grip—just like every time I embarrassed him in front of his clients by not being perfectly subservient. That cold, hard touch that made me wonder if he ever loved me at all. He never did, I know that now. But it was moments like this that had me questioning everything when he had me.
How could he treat someone he loved as if they never mattered to him? How could he go from friendly and charming to violently aggressive in minutes?How did no one notice how scared I was when you raised your hand to put your arm around me?
I don’t hear the three of them behind us, but I have to believe that they’re there. I’m dead if they’re not. Aaron hisses harshly at me with each step we take. How stupid I am. How ungrateful. How he’s given me everything and I turn around and spit in his face. Did I honestly believe that I’d get away from him? He owns me.
What happens to a person that makes them so horrible? Was he always like this and no one could see the severity of what he’d become?
When I see that fucking car, my heels dig into the concrete. I don’t want to even be near that thing. Not after being thrown into the trunk the last time. Aaron hates when I resist. The shove isn’t unexpected but still knocks the wind out of me and sends me tumbling.
I trip over my feet as I struggle to suck in oxygen. I’m not used to this anymore.
Don’t let him get you on the ground,I remind myself.
It was Brady’s most repeated lesson. He’d go straight to my throat and could do some serious damage quickly. I don’t need him on top of me. It’s barely seconds but feels longer. That image gives me the dexterity to right myself before it’s too late. This next part scares the hell out of me, but we practiced. Again and again. He didn’t let me stop until I couldn’t get it wrong. So I just do—ignore the pounding of my heart and roaring in my eyes and just hope like hell that my instincts don’t fail me.
The hit lands on his jaw and it’s not until after he’s stumbling back that I realize I did it. All Brady wanted me to do was be able to knock him off balance enough to run, and that’s exactly what I do. Blakely is running towards me. She grabs my forearm and practically throws me behind the nearest concrete pillar.
“Ow. Fuck, that kinda hurt,” I mutter, shaking my hand out.
Blakely peeks out, checking on the boys, but shoots me a grin. “That was badass.”
I’m glad it came off like that because I was winging it. We’re under strict instructions to be invisible until after they get Aaron’s gun off him. He’s too erratic and someone will wind up hurt. When she snorts in laughter, I take a look for myself.
Chase is holding Aaron down by the neck with his arms locked awkwardly underneath him. Brady is standing behind and despite Aaron clearly trying to buck them off, he can’t manage it. This is the person that used to manhandle me?Next to my boyfriend and older brother, he’s weak. Puny, even. “They’re fucking with him now. Smart-asses.”
They really are enjoying the upper hand. When Brady steps back and holds the gun out, we emerge so Blake can take it and keep it out of reach. Chase carefully assesses us with his eyes, ensuring that Blakely has the weapon, that I’m in one piece and finally making sure Brady is ready. After verifying all of those, he releases Aaron’s neck.
It’s almost funny, the way he stumbles and tries to charge like some kind of deranged animal. He comes towards me, his intent shining clear in his dead eyes that he’ll kill me if he gets his hands on me. I don’t even blink. They both move to grab ahold of him but Brady is closest and lands a hit on his jaw that sends him falling backwards on his ass.
