Chapter 38
The guy Raven called ‘Reaper’ looks so much like him that it’s unsettling.
Unless he has a twin I didn’t know about, it doesn’t make any sense.
I watch as the guys start laughing when Sullivan pisses his pants.
For a brief moment, I wonder if this makes me as bad as him.
I’m not covering my eyes, or flinching, as Raven makes his first cut at the top of his forehead.
Instead, I’m enjoying it. Sullivan looks right at me, with tears and snot running down his face, and screams for me to help him.
“Bianca, please. Help me!”
This is the most powerful moment of my life. If I asked Raven to stop, he might, but I won’t. Instead, I get up and move closer. My legs are shaky, but I stand tall and stare at him, as Raven cuts along the side of his face.
“Help you?” I bite, as I tighten my fists.
I’m not a violent person, but I would like to punch him in the face.
It’s infuriating that he thinks I’d ever help him, after everything he has done to me.
Sullivan is always the mistreated one. Even when he was pounding his fists into me, it was my fault.
He never takes responsibility for anything.
“Please,” he begs again.
I cross my arms over my chest and glare at him.
“How many times did you hit me? Rape me? How many bones did you break, Sullivan? Why the hell would I help you, after everything you’ve done to me? Why was I in an asylum, when you’re clearly not even dead?”
He gags, before vomiting all over himself, causing Raven to jump back with disgust while I laugh.
“As a surgeon, I’d expect you to have a stronger stomach,” I say with a grin on my face.
“Make this stop, and I’ll tell you everything.”
Raven looks at me and I nod. Sullivan doesn’t deserve a second of reprieve, but I want to know how this happened. I know what Dr. Martin said, but that doesn’t make it the truth.
He stands back, and I look at my husband’s forehead skin hanging down, covering his eyebrows, and it’s pretty gross that this is how Raven chooses to end a life. I wonder if it stems from his childhood, but don’t ask, as he comes over to me, and wraps his arm around my waist.
“Spit it out,” he growls at Sullivan.
I stare at the helpless man tied to a tree. The strong, vicious personality I knew is gone, and replaced with a weak, sobbing pathetic mess. It’s hard to comprehend that this is the same man now. The difference is night and day.
“I’ve known Alexsander since medical school. The night we got married, he offered me one hundred thousand dollars for your virginity. I declined.”
He says those last two words like that’s his defense. An excuse. Because he kept my virginity to himself, everything that came after is absolved.
“His fascination with you never faded. He came to me the night before the fire. I didn’t want to go along with his plan, but he had everything documented, all your therapy notes, pictures of the bruises, and he was going to take everything to the medical board.
I was going to lose everything I had worked for. ”
Everything is always about Sullivan, so I’m not surprised to find out he had something on him.
“He said you sold me to him.”
The man called Reaper pinches Sullivan’s exposed flesh, and yells, “Get on with it. I have a wife waiting for me. I don’t have all fucking day.”
“I didn’t want to. He had me by the balls. Either I went along with his plan, and paid him a million dollars for the privilege of destroying your life, or it was mine that would end. It was either you or me. I chose myself.”
I laugh, but it’s not sincere. At this moment I question my sanity, because clearly there is nothing funny about what Sullivan has done to me.
“Of course you would choose yourself. You always do.”
Raven leans down and kisses me on the neck.
“Do you want me to continue, or are there more questions?”
I let out a deep breath before saying, “Can I have a minute alone with Sullivan?”
Raven glances at the tree before coming back to me.
“I don’t like that idea, Bianca. Not at all.”
Placing my hand on his arm, I say, “Please. I promise I’ll be okay.”
He shakes his head, as if he’s going to refuse me.
“I don’t know how you make me want to give you anything you ask for. Ten minutes, baby. After that, he pays for everything he has ever done to you.”
He kisses me on the forehead, and turns away from me.
“We won’t be far, but I’ll give you some privacy.”
Once he’s out of earshot, I stare at the man I vowed to love for the rest of my life.
I made promises that were washed away on our wedding night.
He was never my happily ever after. I knew that with the first swing of his fist, but I was stuck.
Sullivan controlled everything in my life, including finances. We were wealthy, yet I was poor.
“Why?”
“I didn’t have a choice. I have already told you that.”
I shake my head with irritation.
“No! Why did you hurt me the way you did? It was near constant, and I want to know why!”
He closes his eyes, and balls his hands into fists before he opens them again, and I see a much more familiar version of the man I married.
“Because I could. You pissed me off, every day. Nobody tells me no, Bianca. You weren’t a loving wife. Do you know who I am? I deserved more.”
I’ve always said the worst thing for Sullivan was the success he found in the operating room. He is a gifted surgeon, but cocky. They treat him like he’s a god at the hospital, and he expects everyone to fall to their knees for him. It’s truly narcissistic.
“You cannot beat your wife into submission, and expect her to feel anything for you other than hatred.”
His green eyes darken as he clenches his jaw.
“After I’m dead, you’ll never get a cent. You’ll go back to being the pathetic trailer trash you’ve always been. My only regret is I didn’t fucking kill you when I had the chance. I did kill your baby, though. At least that’s something.”
I jump for him, drawing my arm back and then forward, landing my fist in his stomach while yelling.
“Our baby, you sick son of a bitch! She was our fucking baby, and you killed her.”
The tears fall from my eyes, making it hard to see, but I keep punching him. I hit his face, and his stomach repeatedly, until strong arms wrap around my waist, pulling me away.
Raven presses his lips to my ear, “Shh baby, I’ve got this now.”