Page 57

“He branded you?” I ask, my vision growing hazy as I push her hand out of the way and stare down at the mark marring her perfect skin. There’s a roar in my ears as I imagine him shoving the hot poker into her skin and I clench my teeth so hard I hear a crack. She nods.

“Yes. He tied me to a chair and made me watch as he heated it up over the stove, telling me how I needed a permanent reminder of who I belonged to.”

I shake my head, my past crashing down on me again. “I’m so sorry, baby.”

“Stop,” she commands, pulling my focus back up to her gorgeous eyes. “There was a long time that I was, unfairly, mad at you but I’m not anymore and none of this is really your fault. The only person responsible for what happened to me is Oliver.”

“Why do you call him Oliver instead of Biche?” I ask as I lie next to her again. It’s something I noticed the other day. Never once has she called him by the name everyone else knows him as. She sighs.

“Do you know what Biche means?”

I shake my head. “No.”

“It literally means butcher.”

I roll my eyes. “Pretty sure he gave himself that name. Douchebag.”

“I know,” she answers with a nod. “But when I hear people call him Biche, it makes him more than he is. If I think of him as Biche, he becomes a monster - this otherworldly force that I’ll never be able to overcome but when I call him Oliver, it reminds me that he’s just a man. A man that can be hurt, killed, defeated.”

“You never have to worry about him again, baby,” I assure her. “I promise that he’s never going to get his hands on you again.”

Her smile is soft as she leans in and lays her forehead against my lips, prompting a kiss from me. “You make me feel safe, Noah. That’s something that I haven’t had since the last time we were together.”

“You’ll never lose it again. I promise you.”

“I love you,” she whispers, peeking up and me and I smile, relief washing through me. I had no idea how much I needed to hear those words from her - how much I was craving them. I kiss her forehead again.

“I love you, too, Kady. Always have and always will.”

She sighs happily and leans in to press her lips to mine as she folds her arms between us. I’m able to completely cocoon her in my arms and I never want to leave. My mind drifts to the time she spent with Biche and I wonder what else that fucker put her through while he had her.

“Can I ask you something?”

Nodding, she glances up at me again. “I suppose but there’s no guarantee I’m going to answer it.”

“Yeah, I think I got that,” I answer with a laugh before my expression turns serious. “While you were down there, did he rape you?”

“Oh,” she whispers before sucking in a breath and nodding. “Yes. He raped me almost every night for the entire year I was down there.”

Jesus Christ.

I slip my fingers into her hair, massaging the back of her head as fire burns through my gut. I swear to God, I’ll make him pay for all the pain and suffering she went through - every last second of it.

“I’m so sor…”

“Don’t you dare apologize to me, Noah LeBlanc. I’ll say it again - this wasn’t your fault. Oliver is fucking delusional. He made me pretend that we were in a relationship and he was just coming home from a regular workday while I was down there.”

“For real?”

She nods. “Yes. He insisted that I have dinner ready for him when he got home and then we’d watch TV and he’d make me cuddle with him before taking me to the bedroom where he’d rape me.”

I think over all the stuff that’s happened between us since I got back and my stomach rolls. “How are you okay with me touching you, being with you?”

“I don’t know, actually.”

“Did you and Mason ever…” I ask, not sure I want the answer to this question. She shakes her head.

“No. I told him that I wasn’t the type of girl that slept around and that I’d been through some shit in my past and I needed to take it slow.”