Arrogant bastard! “Nobody is going to be there. What does it matter? I have jeans, and that’s what you’ll get.”
His brows rose. “Arguing with me again, Chloe?” He stood up and walked calmly over to her. He jerked her to her feet with so much force that she nearly fell. “Don’t do it. Don’t make me hurt you,” he demanded angrily.
“I never made you do it. You did it all by yourself. All I wanted was for you to be happy when we were together. I busted my ass and turned myself inside out to make everything better for you. But it was never enough,” she answered, her tone hostile. She was beyond tired of taking whatever James wanted to give, which was always pain and criticism.
“You brought it on yourself,” he answered, grasping both of her upper arms brutally.
“I’m not playing this game with you anymore,” Chloe said furiously. She brought her knee up to his groin and nailed him, forcing him to release his hold on her. Promptly, she brought her arm back and let the bony portion of her hand crash into his nose as hard as she possibly could, her anger driving her.
He wailed like a boy, landing on his ass on the expensive tile floor beneath her feet. She watched, shaking her fist at the pain she’d inflicted by crunching his nose with her hand.
There was a certain satisfaction in knowing she could fight to protect herself. She might not be an expert, but she didn’t need to be. Lara had taught her every dirty fighting technique she knew to bring a bigger male to his knees.
Guess she was right!
She watched unemotionally as he whined, clutching at his groin and his nose.
“You stupid bitch. You broke my nose,” he moaned.
Good. “Would you like me to take you to a doctor?” She couldn’t help but say the sarcastic words.
“I am a doctor,” he retorted angrily. “You won’t get away with doing this,” he warned ominously.
“I’ll try to beat your ass any time you touch me,” Chloe returned with just as much rancor. “I may be forced to protect my family, but you are nothing to me.”
She folded her arms in front of her as she watched him struggle to get up. Chloe didn’t even lend him a hand. There was no sympathy left in her for him. He was a sociopath all the way to his soul. There were no redeeming qualities in his entire being, and there probably never had been.
Once, she’d been a fool.
Now, she was a fool’s captive until she could figure out where he, the man who claimed to love her—her rapist—had put the original video of her violation.
The longest scene, the one of him torturing her with brutal anal sex, had occurred soon after she’d returned to Rocky Springs. He’d apologized when she’d confronted him about his behavior, telling her sometimes he liked it that way, but that it would never happen again. Foolishly, she’d let it go. James had been contrite, and she’d been a complete idiot. The last scene when he’d held her down amid her protests that she didn’t want to have sex with him was the very last time they’d been intimate, which had proved to be her fertile time and had resulted in her pregnancy. She hadn’t told him he’d succeeded in getting her pregnant, and she never would. Chloe refused to do anything that would give him any satisfaction unless she had to.
“Go get dressed. Wear whatever the hell you want, but we are getting married unless you want to be the most watched Internet whore in history.” He stumbled over to the sink and grabbed some paper towels for his bleeding nose.
She let his insult fly over her head. Nothing he said about her could wound her anymore.
Chloe walked toward her suitcases with a small, sad smile on her face. Kicking his ass had been one of the most satisfying things she’d ever done, but she missed Gabe so much her heart ached.
Mostly, she hated herself for lying to Gabe. It had been the hardest thing she’d ever done. But she’d gotten herself into this mess, and it was her disaster to deal with right now. Chloe didn’t want anyone to get hurt because of her stupid choices. She just hoped she got lucky and could keep her family safe by finding the original video. It had to be on a computer…but where?
She grabbed her oldest pair of comfortable jeans that were worn in the knees, and a butt-ugly green fluorescent t-shirt. Without speaking another word to James, she went to take a shower, locking the bathroom door behind her.
“So the bastard is blackmailing her?” Blake asked Gabe wrathfully.
“Yes.” Nobody had been more relieved than Gabe when he found out Blake had just landed in Rocky Springs. He needed his best friend right now.
“We need to find her. Anybody checked his house?” Blake rose from his seat on Gabe’s couch, agitated.
“Zane went. He called just before you got here. Nobody’s there. He’s searching the house right now,” Gabe answered unhappily, worried as hell about where James had taken Chloe. Her truck had been out front of the bastard’s house, but nobody was there according to Zane.
“How in the hell did this happen? Why did I never see it? She’s my only sister, my baby sister.” Blake paced Gabe’s living room, still dressed in a suit because he hadn’t gone home to change.
“She’s been gone a long time, Blake. Nobody really knew. Forget the past. We have to figure out how to get her back safe. She’s terrified that he’ll release the video and the news will be a scandal. He’s forcing her hand.”
“I don’t think a single one of us give a shit about scandal. We love Chloe,” Blake answered huskily.
“You’re running for re-election next year,” Gabe reminded him.