Chapter 6
Daniella
One Hour Ago
“Daniella, are you ready yet?” Henry yells from across the house.
Ever since we arrived in Harbor Point a couple of days ago, he’s been on edge, and it’s starting to make me uncomfortable.
I’ve read that every couple has a honeymoon phase, and once it’s over, one’s true colors start to show more vividly, but I’m really questioning if I even know Henry’s colors at all.
“Give me a second,” I tell him, applying my lipstick in the vanity mirror.
Today, we’re meeting his family since they’ve returned from being out of town for the past several months.
And because, aside from Lorenzo, I don’t have any family of my own, I’m hoping they are nice and accept me into their family.
I wasn’t as close with my parents as I would’ve liked because of them sending me away, but we still had a relationship, and I miss them every day, especially since they died before I could graduate and move home.
“Now!” Henry barks from the doorway, making me jump.
“Excuse me,” I say, forgetting about my makeup and turning to face him. “Don’t speak to me like that. I don’t care how nervous you are to see your family. You don’t get to disrespect me.”
I’ve heard him speak like that on the phone a few times, and it’s raised a red flag, but until this moment, he’s never spoken to me like that.
Rather than looking apologetic, his jaw tics, and my stomach sinks. I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s almost like he’s a completely different person now—a person I’m not sure I want to be with.
I take a deep breath and walk over to him, wrapping my arms around his neck. “Hey, is everything okay?”
I place a kiss on the corner of his jaw, and for a second, he sighs into my touch, but then he shocks me when he pushes me away.
“Let’s go,” he says through his clenched jaw. “We can’t be late.”
Grabbing me by my bicep, he pulls me down the hall, and his fingers send a bite of pain through me.
“Stop it! You’re hurting me!” I yell, trying to get out of his grip.
“Then, for once, do as you’re fucking told!”
He shoves me into the passenger seat of his car and slams the door, and I’m stunned silent.
What the hell is going on?
I consider getting out of the car, but before I can, he slides into the front seat and takes off out of the driveway.
“Who are you?” I gasp, confused as to what happened to the sweet man who had helped me get through the dark time after my parents’ deaths.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” he says, focusing on the road.
I pull my phone out to text my brother—what, I don’t know—but I’m suddenly scared, and he’s the only person who can help me, but Henry snatches it out of my hand.
“I’ll take that.”
“Give me back my phone!”
I reach over to take it back, but he swings his hand around and backhands me, forcing me to hit the back of the seat.
“Just sit there and fucking behave!” he hisses.
Oh my God. He just … he just hit me.
And I’m in the car with him.
With no phone.
I glance around, wondering how the hell this all escalated so quickly, when I realize we’re pulling up to Russo Property Group.
Surely, he’s not going to hit me and then take me to see my brother?
He doesn’t have a death wish. But rather than point that out, I stay quiet, hoping we are in fact going to see my brother.
Because the moment I tell him what Henry did, Lorenzo will end his life, and then I’ll be free from my crazy husband.
Holy shit! My crazy husband.
I look at him and wonder if he’s somehow been body-switched because I don’t recognize this man at all. I know I was caught up in my grief and trying to graduate on time, but I’ve spent the past four months with this man, and he’s never behaved like this.
The first month, he courted me, and I felt like it was a scene straight out of a romance novel. Every night, he would come over and make me dinner. We would talk, and he’d hold me while I mourned the loss of my parents.
For Valentine’s Day, he took me on a romantic trip to the vineyards, and then over spring break, he took me skiing in honor of my parents, where he proposed, and we got married in a little church in downtown Breckenridge.
Where the hell is that man?
As I clamber out of the vehicle, desperate to get to my brother, I’m dizzy from everything that’s happened. I don’t know what’s gotten into Henry, but I’m not about to stick around and find out. If this man thinks he can take his frustration out on me, he’s got another thing coming.
After stopping at security, who gives us visitor passes, we take the elevator up to the top floor.
I’m still extremely perplexed as to what we’re doing here when Henry said we were going to visit his family, so when we step onto the floor where my dad’s office used to be and where my brother’s office now resides, I glance over at Henry, trying to get a read on what he’s up to.
He’s grinning. And that confounds me even more.
But then I follow his gaze over to my brother, who’s standing with his fiancée, Hillary, and two police officers.
“You’re under arrest for the bribery of a public servant …”
“Lorenzo!” I breathe out, ready to run over to my brother.
“Don’t move,” Henry demands, putting his hand out to stop me.
“Don’t touch me!” I hiss, pushing past him and running over to Lorenzo. “What’s going on?”
“It’s all bullshit,” Lorenzo says, shaking his head. “Just a misunderstanding.”
“You sure about that?” Henry asks with a smarmy smirk on his face that causes a chill to race down my spine.
Who is this guy?
Lorenzo glares his way. “I’m sure,” he says, then looks back at me. “It’s a good thing you’re home,” he says to me with a small smile. “I need you to keep an eye on things around here until I get out, which will hopefully be soon.”
“But I … I just got here.”
“Don’t worry,” Henry says, putting his arm around me. “I’ll help you.”
“Don’t touch me!” I bark, pushing Henry off me.
Lorenzo raises a brow, but before I can talk to him about anything, the police officers are escorting him out.
“I thought we were going to see your family,” I say, wrapping my arms around my waist and taking another step away from Henry.
With Hillary having followed Lorenzo, it’s only Henry and me alone on this floor.
Henry chuckles. “This is my family.” He extends his arms out to gesture toward my brother’s office. “Did you forget, darling? I married you, and this is your family’s business.”
I eye him for a moment and then decide it’s better not to argue. My only goal in this moment is to get back down to the security desk so I can get away from Henry.
“Michael, right on time,” Henry says before I can walk away.
I glance at our family’s attorney in shock, and at least he has the decency to look guilty.
“Michael here is the reason my entire plan fell into motion.” Henry slides his arm around Michael, and Michael cringes. “Did you know that Michael is gay?”
Henry grins, and my stomach roils.
“Or is it bisexual? I can never keep up with the terms.”
Henry laughs darkly, and I want to throw up.
“Well, regardless, Michael chose to cheat on his wife with his lover. Tsk, tsk, Michael.”
Oh my God. He’s blackmailing our attorney.
“Can we just get this over with?” Michael asks, making Henry’s grin disappear.
“That’s no way to speak to the man who’s holding your marriage and career in his hands,” Henry says, taking the file from Michael and walking over to the closest desk. “Sign these.”
I wait for Michael to go over and do as he said and then realize Henry is talking to me. “What? I’m not signing anything.”
“Yes, you are,” Henry says easily. “Because if you don’t, your brother won’t make it out of jail.”
“Fuck you!” I hiss. “Do you realize who you’re messing with?”
I’ve barely finished my question when Henry cuts across the room and shoves me against the wall, wrapping his fingers around my throat.
“The question is, do you realize who you’re messing with?” he growls. “One call to the right person, and your brother’s life will be over.”
“You’re lying,” I choke out.
“Fine.” He shrugs, steps back, and pulls out his phone. He dials a number and then puts the phone to his ear, his eyes never leaving mine. “The moment Russo is behind bars, teach him a lesson.”
“No!” I yell.
I lunge toward him in an attempt to grab the phone from him, but it’s too late. He’s already hung up.
“Call him back!”
“It’s done,” he says, pocketing his phone. “This time, it will only be a beating, but if you don’t start cooperating, it’ll be his death.”
“Why are you doing this?” I cry out, wondering how I was so naive to think the man I married was a good guy.
“You don’t need to worry about it,” he says, walking back over to the papers. “All you need to know is that your brother will be signing his power of attorney over to you and you’ll be signing it over to me.”
Oh my God. I feel sick. He wants access to our family’s company.
“Why?” I breathe out. “If you’d just asked, I could’ve talked to Lorenzo. He would’ve gotten you a job here.”
Henry barks out a laugh. “I don’t want a job here,” he hisses. “I want to destroy this company. And thanks to you, I’m going to do just that.”
He steps closer to me and grips my chin between his thumb and forefinger, squeezing my cheeks so hard that pain radiates through me.
“You made it too damn easy,” he murmurs.
“The moment Michael told me your father had added you to his will, my plan formed. I must admit, seducing you took more effort than I’d thought.
For a fat bitch, you were hard to get under my thumb.
But I gotta give it to you—you made me work for it. ”
“Fuck you!” I spit, backing away from his touch.
“Been there, done that, and sorry, darling, but you’re not that good in bed.”
His words shouldn’t hurt me, but they do. As a plus-size woman, I’ve always been self-conscious about my weight. It doesn’t matter that I eat healthy and try to work out regularly—being on the thicker side is my norm.
I’ve had a couple of boyfriends, and even though they always told me I was pretty, they’d constantly make comments about my weight, offering suggestions on what I should do to lose it.
But I thought Henry was different. He never once said a negative thing about my size, but now, I know it’s because he was only using me, so he didn’t care how I looked.
“You ready to sign?” Henry asks, taking his phone out of his pocket. “Or do we need to do it the hard way?”
Wordlessly, I walk over to the paperwork and read the top sheet, stating that I’m giving him power of attorney.
I lift the pen resting on the paperwork, and as I scribble my signature at each spot where a tab indicates where to sign, my heart cracks.
This was my father’s pride and joy, then Lorenzo’s.
And because of my horrible decision to marry a man who has been using me, I’m destroying everything they’ve worked for.
When I sign the last sheet, a sob breaks free. I drop the pen and walk away, but before I can get far, Henry grabs my biceps, halting me.
“Sorry, darling, but you’re not going anywhere.”
“What else could you possibly want from me?”
“It isn’t personal,” Henry says. “But if I let you go, I lose my leverage because we both know you’ll run straight to your brother and spill everything you know to him.”
“So, you’re going to hold me hostage?”
“Like I said, it isn’t personal.” He glances back at Michael. “File the paperwork, and I’ll be in touch.”
He grips my biceps harder, and then a man I don’t recognize approaches me, holding a—
“Stop!” I shriek as a black bag is placed over my head at the same time my hands are forced behind my back.
“C’mon, wife,” Henry says as I scream down the place despite nobody being around to hear me. “It’s time to get the party started.”