Peyton is tied to a bed with one wrist, blood coating her arm from the rope around her.Her eyes are swollen and there are cuts on her face.Peyton’s other arm is resting on her stomach and I already know her wrist is fucked.The same with her ankle on the same side.A woman stands over her with a knife in hand and it’s aimed right at Peyton’s stomach.She’s got a crazy look in her eyes and it’s one I’ve seen countless times in the past.This woman has lost the plot and is going to take it out on my girl because everything she thought was true isn’t.
“Who the fuck are you?”the woman screams out as I watch Peyton’s eyes start to flutter.She’s gonna pass out and I know this isn’t good.
“We’re your worst fuckin’ nightmare,” I growl, stepping closer to the bed as the rest of the guys deal with the three men in the room.
“Fuck you!This slut is the reason I have nothing.She took my husband, all of his money, and is refusing to give me anything.She’ll do the same thing to you if you give her a chance,” the woman states, the wild look in her eyes getting even worse.
“You’re so full of shit,” I tell her, my voice hard and cold as I look at her instead of Peyton.“Clark had no choice but to leave the money from the insurance policy to Peyton because she was the one paying the premium and he listed her as the beneficiary.There’s no way that money belongs to you.It’s not like Peyton got to spend it recklessly or even on the kids she had with Clark.All of it went to pay off his debt.Shit you should have been responsible for.Now, you think you’re entitled to anything from her?Even the house they lived in was in Peyton’s name.Clark had nothing to do with it because Peyton’s parents bought it for her before they were supposedly married.
“You’re nothing more than a gold digger who can’t see the truth because you think you’re owed something you’re not.Peyton did everything for him and you did nothing but drag him down and make demands you didn’t have a right to make.Especially from Peyton.I’m guessing you’re the one who’s been having her stalked too.What the fuck else have you done to my girl?”
“Fuck you!I’m not a fucking gold digger.Everything of Clark’s belongs to me.This skank has no claim on anything because they weren’t legally married.And yes, I’m the one who had her stalked like the vile prey she is.Even went so far as to put cameras in the house she shared with Clark to make sure my husband wasn’t lying and really fucking this bitch.You have no clue about the lengths I’ll go to ensure I get what’s rightfully mine,” the woman screams out before she slams the knife into Peyton’s abdomen.
“No!”I roar out, racing to my woman’s side as Knuckles gets the woman away from us.“Peyton, I need you to wake up and stay with me.”
I lift Peyton in my arms after Omen unties her wrist.Her entire body is limp as I become covered in her blood.She’s losing a lot and we have no time to waste as Omen runs from the room in front of me calling out for one of the SUVs we can load her in.Every single man outside rushes in to deal with the men who were subdued in the house.I don’t give a fuck about any of it.The only important thing to me right now is getting Peyton to the hospital so she can get the medical attention she desperately needs.She’s been through way too much and didn’t deserve any of this shit.
“Just called her parents and Kimber.They’re all gonna meet us at the hospital,” Brick states, jumping in the front passenger seat as Homicide pulls away from the house we were just in.
The words barely register as I brush stray pieces of hair from Peyton’s face and plead with her to wake up.My pleas go unanswered as she remains silent and still in my arms.I can feel her skin cooling down against mine and reach out to place my fingers against the pulse point on her neck.It takes me a few minutes, but I finally find it.Peyton’s pulse is slow, too slow.
“Fuck!Drive faster, Homicide,” I shout in the SUV as he steps harder on the gas and races through town.
I have no clue how long it takes us to get to the hospital, but there’s already a team of nurses and doctors waiting outside with a gurney when Homicide pulls up.They quickly take her from my arms as Brick and Homicide wait to figure out if they’ll need to pull me back so the team can get Peyton inside and checked out so they can fix her.I’m not about to get in the way of that shit so I remain as calm as I can and let them take the love of my life away from me.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Peyton
WAKING UP, I immediatelyknow I’m in the hospital.The smell alone is more than enough for me to realize that’s where I am.Add in the beeping of the heart monitor and there is no doubt where I am.There’s still a small bit of my memory missing and I can’t remember how I got from the clubhouse to Clark’s wife’s house.At least I’m assuming it’s her house.Or their house, I should say.I remember everything that happened to me while I was there and awake, but I’m unsure if anything happened to me while I was unconscious.All of my clothes were in place the entire time I was in that house so I know I wasn’t assaulted in that way.No, I was only beaten physically by that psycho bitch Clark called a wife.She beat the hell out of me when she discovered I told her the truth about being the sole beneficiary of the insurance policy I took out on Clark because he wanted me to.
When it was proven I was telling the truth, she went off.Stormed back in the room I was being held in and beat the hell out of me.I don’t think there’s an inch of my body that wasn’t hit in some way.Especially my ribs.She was trying to break every single one of them and I think she succeeded in breaking a few of them based on how hard it is for me to breathe.What really threw her over the edge was when she discovered that she couldn’t sell my house because it was in my name only and I had already sold it off.That really pissed her off because it was her backup plan and I made sure it didn’t happen.I’ve seen people go off on rages before, but this woman completely lost her shit.It was so bad, the three men working with her tried to pull her away from me and it took all of them to make it happen.That was the last time I saw them until they showed back up and she had a knife.
That time she came in ranting as if she were losing her mind and talking to herself instead of me or anyone else in the room with us.I don’t know what made this woman lose her mind, but if this is the type of person Clark truly loved, then I have no clue what the fuck he was doing with me.Honestly, I feel sorry for her children because they have to live with this woman.Though, I did hear from one of the men she no longer has custody of them.Clark’s family took them from her and are now raising them in her place.Maybe that’s what threw her over the edge and made her snap.I know if I lost my children, I’d lose my fucking mind and would probably snap as well.Though, I don’t truly believe she has a single maternal bone in her body with how selfish she came off to me.Not once did she mention her children or that she was trying to get money to raise them and ensure their future.When Clark died, that was my only concern.Making sure Cedric and Caydence were taken care of and had what they needed.
Honestly, I was just buying time because I knew there was no way in hell Matt was gonna let this woman hold me hostage for too long.He would lose his shit when he found out and do everything in his power to bring me back home to our children and himself.So, I kept my mouth shut after that first meeting and didn’t say a single word to the woman or men.That only made her even more pissed off because I wasn’t giving in to her theatrics.
