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Eden shook her head in denial, freeing her arm as she left my house. Desperately, I wanted to run after her, but the sun came out. Miserable, I flinched back into the shadows of my home. I left Eden alone that night and for the next six.

???

When I returned to the pub a week later, it was nearly closing time, and I watched Eden from a dark corner. Darkness shadowed Eden’s eyes, and her face was pale.

She laughed at something the manager said, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Eden appeared dull and withdrawn. As I watched, Eden looked up and saw Jack. The laughter stopped immediately, and Eden collected her coat. Jack’s posture indicated impending trouble, prompting me to follow him to the car park.

“…want you to quit,” Jack was saying as I closed in.

“No, please. Jack, I like the job.”

“You’re a cheap slut. Whore! You enjoy men looking at your body and revel in their attention,” Jack shouted.

“How can you say that?” Eden cried.

“Easy. First Jacques, then the manager. Are you fucking them? Hope you get paid.”

“They’re better in bed than what you are,” Eden flung back angrily.

Jack’s face set into an expression I did not like one bit, and Eden cringed.

“Please, Jack, I didn’t mean that. I was just angry.”

“Anger doesn’t get you anywhere, does it?”

Jack drew his arm back to punch her, and Eden cowered against the car. Before Jack’s fist landed, I was there, grabbing his arm and breaking it. Jack fell to the ground with a howl, and I kicked him hard. Jack lifted and flew across the carpark.

“Jacques, don’t!” Eden cried and grabbed onto my arm, pulling me away from Jack. “What have you done? I’ll just get worse when Jack gets home.”

“No, you won’t,” I said, picking Eden up. “You’re coming with me.”

Ignoring any arguments, I carried Eden to where my car was and put her inside.

I drove when I couldn’t be bothered to walk or teleport, it also kept up the appearance of normalcy.

Eden sobbed, her face buried in her hands. My heart wept, and I drove Eden home in silence.

Eden stared when I pulled up at her house.

“Get some clothes or whatever you need, and we’ll leave,” I ordered.

Eden nodded in shock, and I trailed behind her. Eden switched on the lights, and I hissed.

Those were not dark circles under her eyes but bruises instead. Fist clenched, I followed Eden upstairs, where she only picked up a few clothes and jewellery.

“These were my mothers,” Eden said as she put the jewellery into her handbag.

“Anything else?”

“Just this,” Eden replied, and grief hit me. The last item was a tiny pink little dress, obviously bought for the baby. “This is all I have left of Elizabeth.”

Eden gathered up some photos and followed me down to the car. I threw the suitcase and bags in the boot and slammed it shut. Eden stood there looking up at the house where she had lived.

“The marriage is over, isn’t it?” Eden asked.

“It was over the moment Jack raised his hands. You shouldn’t have accepted the beatings,” I answered and drove home.

There wasn’t a lot of distance between Jack’s house and mine. A three/four-minute walk. That was worrying. Silently, I began making plans to get Eden to one of my bigger homes, away from Dagenham. The London townhouse would suffice for now.