Page 29 of Coercion

All eyes are on me. Every one of my men are watching to see what I’ll do. If I’ll give into the pretty face and sad tears.

And while so much of me wants to, I can’t be seen to be weak. If I let this go, where will it end?

But another thought registers that if I kill them in front of her, she’ll never forgive me. She’s witnessed enough death in her short life, I don’t need to add more horror to it.

My eyes connect with Noah. He gives me a quick nod of understanding and I pocket the gun, taking hold of Ruby and pull her inside. The rest of this lesson will be in private, out of view.

Her eyes seem to come to life, a tiny spark registers with something akin to hope, as I shut the front door behind us.

“You’re sparing them?” She says.

“No.”

Her face crumples at that one word, she steps back and I’m quick to tighten my hold on her.

“But…” She begins and the sound of a gunshot echoes, followed quickly by a second.

“No.” She cries, jerking violently to try to get herself free, and in response, I wrap my arms more tightly around her.

“Stop, Ruby.” I growl. “You knew this would happen.”

“I didn’t.” She gasps.

“You chose to run. Your actions have consequences.”

“Then punish me.” She pleads, flailing against me. “Punish me, just don’t hurt someone else for my crimes.”

The way her body presses into mine, the way the heat of her melds into me should be illegal. Under the surface my anger is still raging. She might be traumatised, she might be messed up but that doesn’t mean I can simply give her free rein to misbehave. And especially not when I have Nico and now Levi breathing down my fucking neck.

I carry her up the stairs. She hangs her head as if she already knows where this is headed.

In what should be our bedroom, I throw her onto the bed. She lands in a heap of dirty clothes and tangled hair.

For a moment I just stand there, waiting to see what she’ll do, if she’ll finally fight me but she doesn’t move, she just lays there, waiting, like she’s defeated.

I yank the anorak off her roughly, seeing that underneath she’s wearing one of my t-shirts and a pair of my rolled up shorts.

“Where the fuck did you get this?” I growl, holding the stinking black coat up. I know it’s not mine. Did one of my men procure this for her? If they did I’ll have their fucking head.

“I found it.” She sniffs. “In a rubbish bin, along with the shoes.”

I stare at her feet, seeing the way the back of her heels are bright red and cut up from how badly fitting the trainers are. I hadn’t noticed the torn footwear before but now I want them off too.

I rip them off, ignoring the yelp from my wife and I toss them into the pile that I’ll have burnt.

“You’re my wife.” I state. “Do you think people won’t take note of what you’re wearing, how you present yourself?”

“I had nothing else.” She sobs.

Before I can think not to, I rip the t-shirt off. It has to stink from the contact with that disgusting coat and I sure as hell won’t wear it again. Once it’s gone, I rip the shorts off too.

She’s not wearing a bra. Under the top she’s completely naked except for the same thong she wore on our wedding day. She curls herself up into a ball, twisting her neck to bury her face into the duvet.

I clamber onto the bed, my anger driving me more than reason now. As I yank her body around I can see the tears streaming down her face, I can see the fear in her eyes, but I see something worse, the way she seems to accept whatever I’m about to do, the way she’s already withdrawing further into herself.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” I murmur, but I can tell she doesn’t believe me. She clearly thinks I’m as much of a monster as the ones she’s grown up with.

I let out a growl of frustration. God, it would be so much easier if I was a monster, it would be so much easier to simply fuck her into submission the way I would any other woman that fought me. But with Ruby, that’s not an option. She’s too damaged, too far gone to take such action. She needs someone kind, someone gentle. Not a brute like me.