“We’ll talk outside.”
As I pull her from the booth, I toss the dollars on the table and nod to Maria, who understands, keeping her distance. Reapers have been coming to this place since I can remember, and the staff here are used to our ways by now. The entire town keeps its distance because of our reputation that we have curated well over the years. It’s best they fear us. They would if they realized exactly what our role is. A dirty biker gang is the banner we live under; trained military assassins is our code of conduct.
As we pass the screen, I flick my darkened gaze to the images, and as it pans back to the happy couple, hatred forms a ball of retribution in my heart.
CHAPTER 31
DELILAH
I’m shaking. It’s as if the air was struck from my lungs by force. It’s doubtful I could have walked out of the diner on my own, images of the horrors of my former life as fresh in my mind as if I lived them yesterday.
Blade pulls me onto his bike, holding me in front of him, his arms wrapped around me, my head resting on his chest as he strokes my hair.
“It’s okay, darlin’, you don’t have to relive the experience.”
“It’s so raw, Blade. That image on the screen brought the memories crashing back. We have got to save Tallulah; he will destroy her.”
“We will, darlin’. What else can you remember?”
“I remember my wedding night.”
I shiver, distaste rolling through my body.
“We left the reception, or so I thought.”
I’m ashamed and almost can’t form the words.
“I was tired and not particularly interested in my husband, but he had other ideas. We reached the hotel suite, and his disarming smile dropped the moment the door closed. I saw the darkness in his eyes and the cruel edge to his smile as he told me I had disappointed him already.”
Blade stiffens, his hold tighter as my recollection hits me from all sides.
“He told me to kneel on the floor before him. I remember laughing at his request, and he was angry and pushed me against the wall, his fist balled in front of my face. He terrified me. That was the moment I saw the madness in him, and as I dropped to the floor, he kicked out at me. I was gasping with pain as he sneered that from now on, he would control me and that ring on my finger was my cage. If I ever disobeyed him, he would ruin my parents and kill me.”
I take a deep breath and my words shake.
“He sneered that he had married me for the connections my father could give him. That he didn’t love me and wasn’t interested in me physically. That, as his property, I was about to learn a hard lesson of what that involved, and I didn’t have a clue what he meant. I remember he pulled me to my feet and ripped my dress from my body, then he tugged me toward the bedroom. As we crashed inside, I screamed because we weren’t alone. There were robed figures surrounding the bed, just like at Angela’s Friday night parties at Rockwell.”
I can’t go on; huge sobs wreck me inside and as Blade holds me tightly, I sense I don’t need to fill in the gaps.
I sniff, “Life descended into despair and chaos for me that night and ruined my life. I was drugged, tortured and abused, and there was nothing I could do about it. The drugs affected my mind and kept me compliant. Terror also played a huge part in that. He told me I was his to control and wasn’t kidding about that, and as his profile soared in Washington, I was a shell of a woman beside him. My parents weren’t interested in hearing my story; my friends started ghosting me because Gideon started rumors I was an addict. I was passed around his friends like a glass of champagne, and the drugs numbed me to it. Then, when he was where he wanted to be in society, I was told I wasof no further use to him, and he was shipping me out. I woke up in Rockwell Academy and the rest you know. But one thing concerns me, Blade.”
“Only one thing?”
His husky whisper holds many threats, and I relax a little. “There is a woman in a sanatorium who is now dead because of me, and I don’t have a clue who she could be. Why did he send me to Rockwell? It doesn’t make sense. He could have sent me to Switzerland in the first place. Why keep me alive if the outcome was always going to be my death?”
“Perhaps that outcome changed when you escaped.”
Blade makes a good point, and as he holds me close, he whispers, “I may not have all the answers, darlin’, but you can bet your ass I know a man who does.”
* * *
We don’t hangaround in the town. A gorgeous, crazy free day turned on its head when my memory came crashing back.
As soon as we reach The Rubicon, Blade parks up and reaches for my hand. “Listen to me, darlin’.”
His eyes flash with concern. “You’ve had a huge shock and must deal with that. We can do it in two ways. Go to my room. Spend the day in front of a movie, empty your mind of the past until you can deal with it, or?—”
“Deal with it.”
