Chapter Eight
I keep quiet as I tend to Cal’s bloody nose, hiding the blooming sense of satisfaction I feel seeing the dry and crusty blood on his face.
It’s been such a long time coming and just needed someone brave enough to stand up to him.
It won’t be enough, I know that; nothing will be enough to stop Calvin. No threats or investigations.
Silas’s heart is in the right place, but nothing will come of it.
Cal has too much money and too many people in his pocket.
He can close any investigation that is opened against him; he just has to pay off the right people, and unfortunately, he knows the right people.
Either that, or he bribes and blackmails them, digs up dirt to hold against them.
It’s how this place got so big so quickly.
He is obsessed with being on top, holding the power, and having money. Just like he has with me, he uses people, holds them under his thumb until they break.
I hope Silas is the difference, that he is the one to end all of this, but it’s hard to hold on to hope when hope was sucked out of me a long time ago.
I never thought I’d be this girl, never thought I’d let a man have this control over me, but I was quick to learn that sometimes it happens without us really knowing it.
It starts small and builds up.
The love bombing, the making you feel secure, the gifts, the dates… in the moment it doesn’t look like what it is. It feels good to be wanted that way, to be desired so intensely until you’re in so deep it’s hard to find the exit.
“Don’t think I didn’t see you,” Cal grabs my wrist, hard, fingers tightening enough I know he’ll leave bruises, “Once a slut, always a slut.”
“What are you talking about?” I feel the sting of tears, but I push them back, despite the pain and humiliation.
“You want to fuck him, right?” He laughs cruelly, “A man shows you even a little bit of interest and those legs just fall right on open.”
“Cal,” I whisper.
“Am I wrong?” He pulls away from the hand trying to clean him up, “You did it for me.”
I didn’t.
That’s not how it went with us. This was him. He manipulated me, used me… fed off my need to be wanted.
“Please,” I swallow, “stop.”
“He could never fuck you the way I fuck you.” He growls.
I bite my tongue. Cal doesn’t fuck me like he thinks he does. I fake it every time to save myself the argument. I’m hard to please. He’s dismissed my pleasure so many times, it’s easier to give him what he wants, but this man doesn’t know where the clit is even if you drew him a fucking map.
“I’m not interested in him,” I lie.
“Good,” he spits, “You’re mine, Juniper. I’ll never let you go.”
There’s an underlying threat to the words. I’ve heard it so often that I know what he’ll do to make sure he never lets me go.
I feel the tension brimming between us for the rest of the day.
Cal pretends none of it happens but his workers whisper behind his back, and I know damn well he hears it all.
I’ve watched him grow more tense as the clock ticks down, and everything in me prays something happens to keep him from coming home.
Does it make me an awful person to hope that he gets hurt?
I grip the counter in the kitchen, shaking my head. Of course it makes me a terrible person. Who the hell wants that?
I move through the kitchen, preparing dinner for the two of us, thankful for the time alone for now, though it doesn’t last very long.
I tense as the door slams open. It’s so loud and violent, I swear the whole house vibrates with it.
Bracing myself behind the kitchen island, I turn to face Calvin.
“You fucking dirty little liar,” he snaps out.
It’s been several hours since Silas left, and I escaped to the house. I’ve come to terms with never leaving here; I just want to go through my life quietly. I don’t want to make sound waves; I want to be quiet, one with the walls. It’s the only way to survive.
“What are you talking about?” I breathe as I face my husband.
He slaps a card down on the counter, and I feel the blood drain from my face.
Silas’s business card stares back at me.
I thought I’d hidden it well.
Cal never goes into Ginger’s stall. My girl fucking despises him, goes for him whenever he is close enough to her, and he’s learned to stay away. I’d tucked the card into my saddlebag, right down deep to hide it in case I ever needed it.
I fought with myself after he slid it under that bucket. Tried to ignore that it was there, but that only lasted a few minutes. I’d fished it out and read over the information on the front.
Silas Knight
Knight Falls Ranch, Sunstone Ridge, Montana
Horse trainer.
I memorized the number and the address, and even now, I can recall them. Can easily picture the foiled outline of a horse’s head on the card, the way his name stood out on the front.
“You think you can leave me?” He snarls, moving around the counter and I move with him, keeping it between us which makes him laugh.
“I’m not leaving you,” I breathe.
“You’re right,” he curls his lip, “You’re never leaving me, Juniper.”
“Never,” I feed his need, “That’s nothing.”
“Why do you have it, Juniper?” He asks.
I shake my head, “I didn’t—I don’t know.”
“Liar.”
“Cal, please.”
He keeps coming, forcing me into the open, and when he sees I have nowhere left to turn, he rushes me, pinning me to the wall.
“You did this,” he accuses, “This is all your fault.”
The hand around my throat is constricting, terror flooding my system, wanting to take me down.
“Cal,” I rasp.
He pulls me forward only to shove me back, the back of my skull bouncing off the wall. “You need a lesson, Juni,” he spits. “Time to teach you one.”
He yanks me off the wall and practically throws me into the living room. I land on my hands and knees, tears now free falling from my eyes.
His hand grips my hair and yanks me up, and the last thing I see before the world goes dark is the cold cruelty shining back at me from his blue eyes.
I stare at the ceiling, Cal’s sleeping body beside mine. My cheek burns and throbs, my whole body on alert.
I can’t keep doing this.
He is going to kill me.
I have to leave.
The thought alone terrifies me. Where am I supposed to go? I have nothing; Cal made sure of that. I am utterly dependent on him, and he knows it. It’s why he can get away with what he is doing to me. He knows I have no other options.
Come with me.
Let me help you.
Silas is the first person who has ever offered me help. Does he mean it?
I roll my head toward Cal’s snoring body, illuminated only by the glowing lights of the alarm clock on the bedside counter. He’s out for the count. He drank a lot after what he did to me and promptly passed out when we went to bed.
Now is the best time to get away from him.
I have evidence… real evidence on my face right now of the kind of man he is.
What if I can help Silas? Bring him down once and for all.
Gently, I pull back the sheets so I don’t disturb him and head through to the bathroom joined to our bedroom.
Bruises meet me in the mirror, a red welt that’s darkening by the minute, my right eye almost swollen shut.
I don’t want to die.
I have to leave.