Page 101 of Coercion

My phone rings, buzzing in my pocket.

I snatch it up, grunting down the microphone to whoever it is while hitting play then fast forward. There must be twenty minutes of my interaction with Gunnar before I leave and the juicy bit plays out.

“Boss?” Noah says.

“What?” I growl back.

“He’s gone.”

“Who’s gone?” I ask, losing my damned patience. Like I have time for cryptic games.

“Jace.”

“What…?”

“He fled. Took an entire crate of diamonds with him.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I ask, dropping my gaze from the screen. Why the fuck would Jace do that? Why…

“We think he’s been tipping them off, whoever is behind the attacks on Levi’s shipments.”

What? Why? What does Jace have to do with any of this?

My eyes dart back to the screen. At what I so stupidly misunderstood. At what I so stupidly believed was some plot between Ruby and Gunnar.

I had high definition cameras installed, so not only is the picture crystal clear but the sound is absolutely perfect too.

And if anything it makes what I’m watching that much more horrific.

He’s attacking her. He’s assaulting her right here, in my home.

Why the fuck did she never tell me? Why the fuck did she hide this from me?

My heart hammers in my chest. My stomach drops. I step back, seeing the blood all over me with new eyes.

Ruby’s blood.

Ruby.

I did that. I fucking tortured her.

She wasn’t disloyal. She didn’t betray me. If anything I’m the one who betrayed her.

“Boss?”

I don’t reply. I just hang up, running back down the corridor, back to where my wife is bound, and injured and scared out of her life.

“Ruby.” I yell, as I burst into the room. Nico looks at me. Ruby can’t even lift her head.

Fuck, I’m a monster.

I’m everything my wife has spent her entire life trying to escape.

It feels like entire world collapses around me and I know all of this, all this horror is of my own making.

Ruby

Ihear him calling my name but I can’t move.