Sacrifice

Chapter Twelve

“ W e don’t have the money for you to go to college!” Carlos yells at me. I lower my head. It’s the one thing I want to do more than anything.

“I’ll get a job, pay for it myself. We still have enough to cover all the bills for a few months, with us both working, we can make it,” I plead with him. This is my one dream. The farm is his.

Carlos paces back and forth. “Your job is at the farm. You don’t need an education for this.”

His words sting, but I shake my head. “I want to be a lawyer. You know that’s my goal in life.”

He looks at me with livid eyes, and I take a step backwards. “Well, find another one and stop being selfish.” As he walks out, I put my hands on the sink and try to calm down. He’s been acting so weird lately. Any time I get a chance to better myself, he gets upset with me and doubles down on his plans for the farm.

Why did we buy this stupid farm? I ask myself as I try to focus on Vincent and come out of the hurtful memories. Vincent’s hand creeps up my leg, past my knee. I cannot deny how much he turns me on. However, I can’t trust him. Then again, I don’t know if I can trust myself. I should be running far, far away.

There should be some kind of anger at Vincent for taking my brother away from me. For some reason, I feel a peace knowing that Carlos won’t be causing anymore issues. Or trying to lie to me about getting a job while I work two to keep us afloat. How horrible of a person does this make me? God, the guilt is eating at me as I think about my brother and how I should feel something other than relief.

Pushing Vincent’s hand away from my body, I pull my legs up to my chest and wrap my arms around myself.

“I hated my brother’s addictions and the way I had to try so hard to make things work. What’s horrible is I’m relieved he can’t get himself into any more trouble or put me down for having dreams.”

Sniffling, I wipe a tear off my face. “But you killed him. How do I trust you not to do the same to me if you decide you no longer want me around?”

“ Mi reina , I don’t want to hurt you,” he speaks softly as he touches my face with his other hand. Espresso paws at me, and I pull him into my arms. My baby knows when I need him. As he purrs against my chest, he makes tiny biscuits and I bury my face into his fur.

The library door opens and Mossimo appears. “Boss, I need to go take care of some business at the casino. I wanted to see if you’d like to come.”

“No. If you can’t take care of it once you get there, call me. For now, take Leo with you.”

Vincent waits for the door to shut. “Tell me why you are relieved about your brother.” He pushes a piece of hair out of my face. “Did he hurt you?” His facial expression looks murderous at that thought.

“No. He never physically hurt me.” Petting Espresso, I take a deep breath. “My brother, for the longest time, was a good man. After our parents died, Carlos resented me and turned to drugs and gambling to cope with their death and the burden of having to raise me.”

When I don’t continue, he shifts and pulls me closer to him. “Continue,” he encourages, and a small smile graces my lips.

“I’m fifteen years younger than him. He had to quit college and take any job he could. That’s when he became a runner for some brothers down in Timberland.”

“Fuck, not them. Do they know who you are?” His body stiffens and fear overcomes me.

“No. He never let me near the city. Anyway, I was on the farm the first time he was arrested.” Sighing, I peek up at Vincent and trudge on with the story. “When he got out, he never went back to Timberland, and he somehow still always had a lot of money. It ran out, though, and so did the money our parents left us.”

He kisses my lips and strokes my back. “Get it all out, mi reina .”

“Christmas last year, we went to a casino for a party. That was supposed to be Carlos’s break into the political world. Instead, he made the sheriff and mayor mad.”

“ Mi reina ,” Vincent whispers before he pulls me completely into his lap. Espresso crawls behind us to look out the window.

“He didn’t want me to go to college, but I worked hard so I could. Before you killed him, we’d had a fight about how I couldn’t go back to classes in the spring. Carlos promised he would get a job and once we were more financially stable, he would think about letting me continue.”

Curling into Vincent, I put my head on his shoulder. “Our father made us promise to stick together, but Carlos was close to getting us killed a few times. I wanted to move out of the state. He swore that he would do what was right for us. It just never happened.”

His hands run along my back as I sit here, trying to reconcile what’s happened.

“At least I know the truth and that Carlos isn’t off somewhere being tortured or worse, lying in a pile of puke from his drug addiction.”

My head is forced upward by Vincent’s hand. “Carlos got off easy, if you ask me.” He growls and makes me keep eye contact with him.

I flinch at his words. “And this is why I can’t forgive you. There’s absolutely no remorse for what you have done.”

His face turns to stone before my eyes. I tremble as he looks at me and growls. “I told you that you’re free to go.” His words anger me. Another lie.

“That’s a lie, Vincent, and you know it. You took the words back and I can tell right now if I try to leave, you’ll block me,” I laugh bitterly. “You think I’m naive enough to believe you won’t hunt me down?”

As he squeezes his hand in my hair, he snarls at me. “You’re correct. I would hunt you down like the beast I am.”

He moves so fast I yelp and Espresso meows as I end up on the floor with Vincent standing over me. Espresso jumps, but he never makes it to me.

“Don’t think about taking my cat from me again,” my voice cracks, but I stand up and square my shoulders back, ready for a fight.

Vincent rolls his eyes at me. “It’s not like any of my men would kill him. Mossimo is wrapped around his little paw.”

Something inside of me knows he’s not going to hurt me or Espresso. At least not today, so I smart off, looking him straight in the eyes. “And you’re wrapped around me.”

He says nothing as he grabs me by the arm and kisses me hard. His lips are unyielding and his wicked tongue barges into my mouth. I whimper a protest, but it goes against deaf ears as he controls me with his lips.

One moment we are kissing, the next he’s gone. He’s huffing and glaring at me. Espresso is by my feet purring.

“You need time to recover from our last session. But heed my words.”

He grabs my chin. “ You… ” I blink at how forceful his word is, “are mine, and I will never let you go.”

Vincent storms out of the room, and I’m left there with my thoughts and I am aching in more ways than one.

Crazy thoughts keep me rooted to the window as I watch the wind blow outside. On one hand, Vincent killed my brother and freed me from the burden of living in fear that he’d end up in a drug house. Or worse, having the police knock on our door. On the other hand, I’m not free at all, and Vincent doesn’t feel one bit of remorse.

I’m a prisoner here with The Beast, and have to learn how to live with the knowledge that I’m living with a killer. One that has admitted he will hunt me down if I leave.

Do you want to leave? My brain throws at me. That’s the question that keeps me befuddled. There’s no real good reason to stay here. I could find a way to change my name and looks. Yet every time I close my eyes to think, I see Vincent’s deranged eyes.

The craziness of his words swirl inside of my head at the way he possessively proclaims I’m his . My stomach interrupts me and I sigh. “I guess it’s time to get some food, Espresso.”

Maybe after I eat, I can talk to Vincent and haggle him into some better terms for my stay here. I make up my mind to stay for now, because I know I will be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life if I leave. Better the devil, you sort of know. Right?

Walking into the kitchen, I see Miss Terrington, and she smiles at me. “What can I get you, dear?”

Sitting down, I smile back. “Can I have something to eat?”

“Of course, sweetheart. I can make sandwiches and chips. For dinner, we are having shrimp scampi, salad, garlic bread, and tiramisu.”

“I’ll take it,” I laugh as she sets about to make me a ham and cheese sandwich.

“Here you go.” As she sets my food down, she turns around and opens a can of food for Espresso.

She winks at me. “I’m sure he’s hungry, too.”

With a tiny laugh, I watch my cat get on the counter and devour his food. Eating helps clear my mind and my stomach. I need to tell Vincent I won’t cause any problems if I’m allowed to have a friend or two and to go to school. Once I have my own money, I can try to get away.

Going to Vincent's office, I raise my hand to knock on the door when I hear him moaning.

“Fuck.” There’s only Vincent’s voice, but there are moans coming from a woman. Closing my eyes for a moment, I steel myself and back away. I should have known. Turning around, I walk away. Na?ve. The word ricochets through my mind. I bump into a table on my way to the stairs.

It doesn’t even matter who hears it. I should have known not to believe Vincent. His office door opens, but I flee up the stairs, running.

“Aribella!” I hear him yell right before I shut my bedroom door. Locking it, I berate myself for not running straight out the front door. My brain tells me to wait for the full story, but there’s no denying what I heard downstairs.

Sitting on my bed, I shake my head and sigh.

“Open this door, mi reina. I don’t want to have to knock it down.”

“Oh, go away and be with the woman I heard downstairs.”

“What woman?” Vincent bangs on the door and rattles the doorknob. “You have to the count of three to open this door, so help me, God.”

My heart races. So many unknowns. I’m not sure I can handle much more.

“One.”

Getting up, I walk backwards and I think about where I can hide.

“Two.” The frustration in his voice is clear, and I realize he may punish me for this.

There is no three before the door bursts open and I push myself into the closet. I’m not a weak girl, but I feel like he has me by the throat and he isn’t letting up. The door to the closet swings open. Vincent stands there looking like the devil he is. “Next time you want to assume something, don’t. Walk into my office, ask questions, but don’t fucking runaway.”

A laugh escapes me as I move back from him. “Don’t touch me.” No way I want him near me after he was with someone else. “You… You were with someone.”