“I tried so hard,” I force out. “I tried to be what Arron wanted me to be. But he couldn’t pretend, not forever. And he was…unhappy. I wasn’t what he’d had in mind, I think. He just went along with his father.”
“Unhappy how?” Jared’s voice turns low. Dangerous. “Violent?”
“Not at first.” I look down. My hand is hidden beneath Jared’s. His fingers are huge, little knicks and scratches covering them. Working hands.
Arron had smooth hands. Smooth hands, and a smooth personality. “He used words, to begin with. And he could be cruel. He started criticizing my wardrobe, so I had a new one delivered that he liked more. Then he started picking at my words, my conversations, and I started staying quiet. I felt like I was living on the edge of a knife, and I never knew which way he would fall. But he never hit me. He’d bang around in the bedroom. Throw things. Push past me, so I fell into things. I think we’d been married for around a year when it turned physical. Not often, but when he did… It was bad.”
“Did anyone try to help you?” Jared sounds livid. “That’s abuse, Em. All of it, I mean. Not just the physical.”
His voice drops at the end.
“I know.” And I do. “I think I knew then, too. But I didn’t know what to do about it. I tried to explain it to my mom. My dad. Even Arron’s mom. But he’d smile, and give an excuse before I could even open my mouth.”
“What did they say?”
This part hurts more. “They told me I was seeing things. Stressed. Overworked, even though I barely did anything. I needed rest. Relaxation. I spent more time in spas than I did at home for a while. And it did help, because he wasn’t there.”
“They gaslit you,” he says grimly. “All of them.”
“We had an argument at a dinner once, because I saw him going into the cloakroom with someone else.” I play with the sleeve of my coat, tugging on a loose thread. “In frontof everyone. My friends stopped talking to me. My mother wouldn’t take my calls. My father was furious. All because it was public.”
I couldn’t leave the house for a month.
“It got better for a while. I kept my head down and did as I was told, and Arron was pleased. He was working on this deal – a big one, worth a couple of million. It would have secured his position with his father, really set us up for the future.”
I stop there.
“It’s okay,” Jared says raggedly. His thumb strokes across the top of my hand. “You can stop, Em. I get the picture.”
Not the full picture. But enough, maybe. Although there’s one more thing I need him to know. “I ran away. And now he’s here, Jared.”
My husband is here.
“I won’t let him near you.” His words are grim. “Can we file a report? To give you an extra layer of protection?”
“I tried that before. Nobody listened. The local chief was a friend of my father’s, friends with Arron’s father. The reports vanished.”
The wonderful corruption of the wealthy and connected.
“Nobodybelievedme,” I say finally. I stare up at the blanket of stars across the night sky. The lamp nearby blocks a few, but it’s a clear night. “He was too perfect. Too charming. It wasn’t possible.”
Surely you’re exaggerating.
All husbands have their little quirks.
You’re so young. You’ll adjust.
Such a clumsy girl.
You’re so lucky, Emilia.
Girls would kill to have your life.
Be grateful for what you have.
My hand raises to cover my scar.
A warm touch gently nudges my hand out of the way, and I inhale sharply, turning to face him. Jared doesn’t say anything. He carefully pushes my hair back.
