“Come here, Felicity.”
She shook her head. She knew that tone of voice. This was gonna go one of two ways for her. Neither of them good.
“I said, come the fuck here. Is it too much to ask that I get some respect around here? The men in this town have got the right idea, beat the little woman and keep her in line.”
She whirled around at that. Stupid mistake. She should have taken the opportunity to get far, far away. Because now he was right behind her, despite that damn wheelchair, he was fast and he was strong. Far stronger than she was.
“They don’t beat them!” Another wrong move. Defending them when she’d just told him she thought this town was weird.
He raised his eyebrows. “That’s not what I’ve heard. I heard they don’t do what they’re told, they got their asses beat.”
She didn’t know why she was arguing this point. He would never get it. He would never understand. “They take care of their woman. They want them to be safe.”
“My dear Felicity, always trying to see the best in everything.” His voice held a note of false sympathy. Fuck, she hated when he did that. “You don’t see the fucking reality. These men get to yank their woman over their knee and spank their asses whenever they like. Nobody is gonna stop them. Not even the sheriff since he does the same. Ties his woman up, beats her ass. Think they stop with just a spanking? I know that shit doesn’t stop there.”
“Well, you’d know, wouldn’t you?” Soon as she said the words, she wished them back. Idiot, Flick. She should have run. She should have made her way up the stairs and into her bedroom and barricaded herself in. He didn’t let her have a lock on her door, but she’d installed one herself when they’d first arrived. A fairy princess who knew how to use a power drill. Wouldn’t West be shocked? And when she came home the next day, he’d already removed it.
First thing he’d done when they’d bought this house was put in an elevator. It cost a fortune, but it wasn’t like he cared. It wasn’t like they had money problems. And the one thing he never begrudged her were the things she wanted. She wasn’t sure why that was. How he could be so cold and cruel yet give her a diamond bracelet without blinking. Not that she’d ever asked for a diamond
bracelet. Jewelry wasn’t her thing.
But then, maybe she should have been collecting expensive jewelry. Hocking it could have given her the funds to escape him. Yeah, that would have been a better play. She’d tried to get a job in the past, but he’d always manipulated or bribed someone so she’d lose it. When you had money, you had power.
So there she was, stuck. She’d thought of running—so many times. Only she didn’t have the first fucking idea how to start. She knew it would take a lot of money. A new identity. Maybe even a new country, because he’d search for her. He’d come for her and he wouldn’t stop. She knew she’d never be free. She was always tied to him, in more ways than one.
His hand slid around her wrist and held on tightly, so tight she knew it would bruise. He yanked her close, and she let out a startled cry of pain as her arm protested the sharp movement. He’d once dislocated her shoulder. He’d set it again, but it had never been right.
She’d be lucky if that was the only bruise she got away with. When his hand pulled back, she braced. It slammed into her face and pain blossomed, tears filling her eyes. He didn’t often hit her in the face; he didn’t want to risk anyone finding out what he did to her.
He dragged her down towards him. Which wasn’t far considering he was sitting in that chair. Though he was a very tall man and she was short, the top of his head just reached her nose.
He wrapped his other hand around her throat, and she tensed. This was new. He applied pressure and she brought her free hand up to try and pull his away. She clawed at him, frantic. But he was still so fucking strong, and she knew he wasn’t going to move unless he wanted to. She ran her fingernails along his skin, digging deeply. He finally drew away, letting her take a deep breath. She choked and gagged, but the relief didn’t last long. He landed another blow, this time a punch to the gut. She leaned over, trying to catch her breath. She tried to pull out of his hold, but he held on firmly.
“You little bitch, you made me bleed.”
Oh, the irony, considering how often he’d made her bleed. He shook her arm and she cried out again. Agony raced up her arm as he twisted, pulling it up her back. The blinding pain engulfed her as she heard the sickening pop as her shoulder came out of its socket. He pulled her fingers further back, and she heard another crunch. She screamed and fell to her knees as he let her go. Her arm hung at her side and she reached for her hand but pulled up short before she touched it, not wanting to make the pain worse.
“Next time, watch your words.” He wheeled closer and grabbed her arm once more to wrench shoulder back into place. She fell to the floor, tears streaming down her face, the pain so bad she could barely breathe.
“Get up, Felicity, you’re not sleeping there.”
She climbed to her feet, her face throbbing, her hand and arm in agony. His push caught her by surprise, she’d thought he was done with her. She stumbled forward, trying to catch herself. She needed to run. To get out of there, but as she took another step her weak foot folded beneath her and she went down, her side slamming into the wooden coffee table.
That was when she saw the flash of the cane. She didn’t get up again for a long time.
4
“I’m going over there!”
West walked into the house as he heard Mia’s loud voice coming from Alec’s study.
“No, you’re not,” his brother growled back in a firm voice.
West paused, waiting.
“I haven’t heard from her in three days, Alec! Something is wrong. She’s not answering my calls. She’s not responding to my messages. I left her a voicemail this morning and said if she didn’t respond by three, I was gonna go over there and I wasn’t leaving until I saw her!”
West glanced down at his watch. It was ten to three. And he had a good idea he knew just who the she was Mia spoke of. The same she that had been the cause of his bad mood for the last three days.