Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
SADIE
“ Y ou won’t be needing that.” Marcus snatched my phone from my hand and shoved it into his pocket as he stood on the doorstep, that same sly grin I’d come to hate planted firmly on his face like a brand.
It was the kind of smirk that dared you to fight back. One that said he knew exactly what he was doing and there was nothing you could do about it.
I stumbled back, my knees buckling. “What are you doing here?” I forced the words out, the tremor in my voice exposing my vulnerability.
Worst of all, he noticed. His smile widened, like he could already taste my fear. Like he knew he had me cornered.
“I thought I’d come pay a visit to my little criminal princess,” he said, stepping inside without waiting for an invitation.
His cologne was sickly-sweet, a poison filling my lungs.
“I heard Daddy got you off with a little warning.” The words were soaked in mockery, and my heart sank as he shut the door behind him, his presence closing off my escape.
“Speaking of who . . .” He tilted his head.
“It was nice to finally meet him after all these years.”
My hands balled into fists at my sides, nails biting into my skin. My fear was a wild, palpable thing. It vibrated my insides and burned over my skin in a violent rush. When did he meet my father?
“What the hell are you talking about?” The question came out ragged, desperation leaking into every syllable.
Marcus shrugged, feigning nonchalance. “Oh, you didn’t know?
” He swiped his wrist under his nose, sniffing, as he glanced around at the small living room.
“Your friend Snake needed a little help with a police matter. I was only too happy to help after he called me—explained that he was a friend of yours.” He leaned in closer, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper.
“Your father was more than willing to cooperate, considering we’re practically family. ”
I shook my head violently, refusing to let his words sink in.
“You’re lying. My father wouldn’t . . .” My throat closed, the lie dying on the tip of my tongue.
I was grasping for any semblance of certainty, clinging to the belief that my father hadn’t betrayed me—no matter how flimsy it felt. “What do you want?”
Marcus stalked towards me. His approach was deliberate, slow, my body stiffening in anticipation of what was coming. I couldn’t breathe.
“What?” he said, pinning me between the unforgiving plaster and his hard body.
“I couldn’t come see you before I left town?
It felt like such a waste, you know. I thought we could talk about what happened.
Maybe give you a chance to apologise for stabbing me.
” His hot breath fanned across my face, every word a reminder that there was no outrunning him.
Every inch of his presence choked the air from my lungs, dragging me back to the years I’d spent afraid of him, of the life I thought I’d escaped.
He grabbed hold of my cheeks, his fingers digging in, squeezing until the sharp bite of my blood filled my mouth. My breaths came out ragged through my nose, and I turned my head as much as Marcus’s grip allowed, tears stinging my eyes.
Groaning, he ran his nose up the side of my neck and rubbed a hand over his crotch. “Fuck, you still make me hard, Sadie.”
Every part of me screamed to fight back, but my hands were tied by my history with him. I would never be free until this monster was dead. My freedom was as chained to his blood as my past was to his cruelty.
But would he kill me first? I had to control my terror if I was going to see Rowan again.
“Okay,” I said, placing a trembling hand on his chest. “We can talk.” I forced a smile through the grip he still had on my cheeks. It was all I could to make him believe I was willing to cooperate.
Jaw clenched, he raised a fist. I flinched, terror freezing me in place as I braced for the brutal power I knew was behind his punch.
But, instead of my face, he slammed his knuckles into the plaster beside my head.
The wall cracked with a sickening crunch beside my ear.
Dust snowed around us, catching in my lashes like ash.
A sob burst free—the first sign I was losing this game.
“Shut the fuck up,” he spat, his voice a low simmering growl.
“I’m not about to fall for your lies anymore, Sadie.
Do you have any idea what it’s been like for me?
” His words dripped with betrayal, each one a barb piercing through to my core.
“I’ve been going crazy without you, and you’re here doing what?
Playing happy families with a fucking biker? ”
I shook my head furiously, desperation churning in my gut. “No.” The word broke on my lips, a pathetic whisper. “No, that’s not true. I—I just . . .” My mind scrambled. “I’ve missed you.” A shudder ran through me as I spoke the words, and my bottom lip trembled with the extent of the lie.
I was lying through my teeth, and every cell in my body screamed at the betrayal. But it was the only way out—if I didn’t lie, I was leaving this house in a body bag.
He pulled back, narrowing his eyes—a test. He was daring me to crack. “Do you really mean that?” he said, tilting his head. “You expect me to believe you, after what you’ve done?”
I knew he was trying to decide if I was telling the truth. But with him, lies were always the default, and my words were all I had at that moment.
Marcus had at least thirty kilos on me, and there was no way I’d have been able to fight my way out.
I was like a rabbit trapped in a snare. My panic threatened to swallow me whole, but I had to get him to back off somehow.
Just enough to give me the space to run.
If I could get upstairs, I could lock myself in my bedroom until Rowan . . .
Rowan . Just his name in my head was a flare in the dark. He had to be coming. I just had to hold on until then.
I nodded, a single hot tear slipping down my cheek. “Of course I mean it, silly.” My mouth flooded with saliva, the taste of fear thick on my tongue. Still, I forced a smile, even as my heart slogged through the lie.
He grinned, the expression sickeningly familiar.
It was the face I had once swooned over, when I was stupid enough to think he was handsome.
Now, the same face I’d once kissed blurred beneath the bruises he’d left me with.
Nothing about him was handsome anymore—just hollow, rage-filled rot in human skin .
“Well, okay then.” He finally released my face and stepped back.
I staggered, blinking through the tears, forcing my body not to collapse with the weight of relief. A rush of air filled my lungs, but the feeling was fleeting. I was still alone with him, still trapped.
Would Rowan even make it in time?
Marcus turned his back to me and skulked around the room, ducking his head around the archway to the kitchen. My focus darted to the front door. If I was quick, didn’t hesitate, I could make it.
“I don’t know how you live like this, Sadie,” he said, his face twisting, lip curling into a sneer. He disappeared into the kitchen. “You know I always gave you the best?—”
Fuck it. I darted towards the door, abandoning my careful plan and tossing my caution to the wind. So much for being strategic. It was my only hope.
I grasped the door handle with shaky fingers, the cold metal barely a relief. I wrenched the door open, warm air hitting my face. But it did nothing to shake the chill in my bones. Instead, it suffocated me, every second more like a century.
“Sadie! Get the fuck back here.” Marcus was fast on my heels as I sprinted across the lawn towards Rowan’s house.
If Rowan found another man inside his house, he’d kill him. He was my only hope. I’d tried to do it myself, yet there he was, alive and breathing and chasing me down. I was so close. The desperation kept my legs moving. I could make it. Just a few more steps.
A sharp pain ripped through my skull. Marcus had gripped onto my ponytail, yanking me backwards with brutal force.
No. No, no, no.
I cried out, the sound tearing from my throat. “No!” I screamed. “Let go! Please, Marcus. I swear to God, if you don’t—” My throat closed around the words, panic slicing through whatever came next as I clawed desperately against his hand, my skin burning from the friction.
I dug my nails into him, trying to find purchase on the monster holding me hostage. If I was going to die, he wasn’t going to get away with it. I’d leave as much of my DNA on him as he did me.
A sadistic grin spread across his face as he dragged me back across the lawn, my heels scraping against the dirt. He yanked me up the porch and through the door.
I grasped the splintered doorframe, my nails scraping against the old wood, the crackle of broken planks echoing in the silence of my struggle.
“Goddamn it, Sadie,” he growled as he wrapped an arm around my waist, his strength making a mockery of my attempts to fight him off. “Let the fuck go before I hurt you.” It wasn’t a threat. It was a promise.
“You bastard.” Every kick landed on empty space, my legs flailing. He was a wall of muscle, crushing me with the weight of my past. And I was a twig, splintering beneath it. “No.” My tears fell freely, my chest caving in.
He pressed me back into the dark cage that was Barrenridge. Now I was going to die in it—just like Logan had.
The door slammed shut behind us—loud, final, my coffin sealing.
“Please,” I whispered.
“Quiet,” he said against my hair, his arm tightening around my waist like a vice.
“I didn’t want it to be this way, babe, but you’ve left me no choice.
” He threw me to the ground, and the back of my head hit the floor with a dull thud.
“No choice but to hurt you.” The back of his hand connected with my cheek with such force, my teeth sliced open the inside of my mouth, the vicious tang of blood choking me .
I cried out, static exploding in my vision until there was just darkness in front of me.
Marcus slammed my arms above my head. Pain shot through my shoulders, my back arching off the floor in resistance before it collapsed again beneath the weight of him. Then he yanked at the waistband of my shorts, desperate and violent.
I shook my head, tears flicking. The weight of him buried me in hopelessness, suffocating and blinding. A strangled cry tore loose, a cry from the depths of my soul. I thrashed beneath him, but his grip was too strong as he tore at my underwear.
Fabric ripped against my skin, the sensation a trigger that dulled my senses, numbed me from head to toe. There was no air, no space, no way out.
“Fuck, now I remember,” Marcus growled, forcing my legs apart, his breath hot on my face. “I know exactly how to break you.” Beads of sweat dripped onto my cheek as he fumbled with his belt, frantic and hurried like a crazed man about to devour his last meal.
Then the button on his jeans popped, and my entire body went still, cold and vacant.
The fight had drained out of me, my desperate pleading now just a silent loop inside my head. I stared at the ceiling, at the water stain bleeding through the peeling paint.
Mum had always been nagging Dad to fix it up. He never did. Never had time to paint, to clean, to notice.
Was that why I’d ended up with someone like Marcus? Was I always destined for this?
I closed my eyes and waited for it to be over. Maybe if I stayed still, it wouldn’t hurt as much. Maybe if I became nothing, he wouldn’t see me anymore.
Seconds passed. Maybe minutes. Felt like hours.
A Ridge Riders patch stared back at me. Then two more .
I blinked—or at least I thought I did—my mind barely registering the movement in front of me. Rowan’s face appeared, and a small smile crept onto my lips. If I was going to go out like that, at least it would be Rowan’s face I’d go out staring at.
“Sades?” Strong hands gripped my upper arms, pulling me back to life. “Baby, can you hear me?” His voice cut through the chaos.
“Ro?” I shook my head, my vision spinning in and out of focus until everything came rushing back all at once.
“Rowan? Is it really you? Oh god . . .” Was I bleeding?
Was it over? Had I screamed? “What—” A choked sob ripped out of me, and Rowan wrapped the throw blanket from the couch around my bottom half.
I was naked, my underwear gone. Had Marcus . . .
Oh god.
The room spun, chaos and heat and commotion, until I realised that Marcus was pinned beneath Bear, the two of them grappling and rolling, smashing into the coffee table in a splintering heap.
“I can’t breathe. I can’t get him off me. I can still feel him . . .” I rocked back and forth in Rowan’s arms. Panic clawed at my throat, guilt and shame at being seen this way. Exposed and broken. “Did he?—”
Rowan shook his head, nostrils flaring, a silent war raging behind his eyes.
“No, Firefly. He didn’t.” Fresh tears leaked from the corners of my eyes, not from fear, but from relief.
“I’m so sorry, baby. I shouldn’t have left you—Fuck.
” His voice cracked, and his grip on the back of my neck tightened like he could keep me there with him.
Just him, in his scent, in his warmth, in his safety.
He was the one thing I could count on, the one thing that didn’t hurt, didn’t break. He was the tether to what was still good in me.
It’s the only place I’d ever felt truly safe—when I was with him. Or when I had been with Logan. They were my family. My home.
I gripped onto Rowan’s vest, pressing my forehead to his chest. “Take me home, Ro.”