Page 107 of Coercion

They should help soothe everything, only if anything, they make it worse.

I start choking up, crying for the girl I was, the stupid naïve idiot who saw this man as my saviour, who saw this marriage as my chance of survival.

“I’ll let you get some rest.” He says once I’ve cried myself into exhaustion.

I turn, knowing that rest will not come.

Peace will not come.

I need pain meds. I need water.

When I voice that, he’s quick to leave, quick to get the pills and a glass.

He pops them out of the blister pack, sliding each one into my mouth and raising the glass, helping me to drink.

When he puts the glass back on the stand, I can tell he feels as helpless as me right now.

The covers are wrappedaround me when I wake. But that’s not the only thing. Preston’s arms are holding me, keeping my body pressed into his so tightly.

The pain is there, my back is in agony and my face is throbbing.

I try to stifle the whimper but I can’t hold it back and it comes out as a pained sob. My husband tries to soothe me, only, I can’t help but flinch from his touch.

Afterall, he did this, he tortured me.

With regret in his eyes, he gets up and crouches beside the bed, staring at my face.

“I’m so sorry.” He says for what must be the millionth time.

Only, apologies won’t fix this.

Apologies won’t undo the damage, won’t heal my flesh.

And I think it’s worse hearing him say it, hearing the strong, possessive man that I’ve grown used to, sounding so broken.

Preston

Ihate leaving her. I hate walking out that door, knowing that I’m not there to protect her.

But in this, I have no choice.

I’m going to make Gunnar pay for what he’s done, make him truly suffer. And maybe then that will be enough.

The stupid fuck saunters into the yard like he owns the place. Like this city is his and not ours. He only has a few dozen men beside him and it takes barely a minute before we have them subdued and disarmed.

Of course Gunnar smirks up at me like he thinks I can’t do shit and when I land that first punch, it feels more than satisfying to hear the crunch of his nose shattering.

We toss him into the back of a van.

His men we dispose of because why the fuck would we trust them?

I’m half tempted to drag him back to my house, to let Ruby witness this moment, to let her see justice being melted out, only, I think the sight of him will do more harm than good, and besides, she can’t leave her bed and I sure as hell am not letting him anywhere near our room.

So instead, we take him to Blaine’s residence.

He naturally has an entire outbuilding dedicated to enacting every kind of imaginable and unimaginable pain and he delights in showing me all the fancy machinery he’s created. Apparently the man likes to experiment.

While I’m tempted to put some of it to use, I brush it aside.