Page 106 of Velvet Corruption

But I kept fighting.

“You’re not getting out of this,” he whispered. “And if you scream, I’ll make sure that kid of yours—what’s her name? Rose?—gets the next visit.”

A scream ripped up my throat, raw and feral. I went ballistic.

I clawed at his face, shoved my thumb into his eye, kicked with everything I had left. He howled, jerking back, giving me one precious second.

I took it.

I surged up, kneeing him in the gut as hard as I could, shoving my shoulder against his to knock him off balance. My fingers were slick with blood and sweat, but I grabbed the railing, hauled myself up, threw myself up the stairs.

He grabbed my ankle again.

I turned, kicked him in the face.

He let go.

He stumbled back with a roar of pain, his hands covering his eye. “You’re dead,” he panted. “I’ll fucking kill you.”

“Get in line,” I snapped, half-crawling up the stairs, my whole body shaking.

“You fucking bitch,” he spat—and then he was on me again. His words were terrifying and familiar.

His knee crushed into my thigh, pinning me down. Making it impossible to squirm away. His weight was suffocating. The house felt like it was caving in, trapping me…just like him.

The steps covered in blood.

Would Rosie have to tell her therapist about that?

“Let me go!” I screamed, hoping, knowing, he wouldn’t. “You can’t do this. Not to me. Not to anyone.”

The words filled the room, mingling with the fear, the desperation.

I got in a final kick, buying just enough time to spit back at him. “You’re not going to get away with it.”

“We’ll see about that, bitch,” he said.

He couldn’t even use my name. I vividly remembered his.

Another case. Another man who thought he could get away with everything. Who thought he could destroy the people who loved him and then blame them for it. Who thought he was smarter than the rest of us, who thought he would never be the one to end up behind bars.

Who thought he could come after me, take everything from me.

Again.

He had beaten his wife so badly she had almost died. Then, he had tried to take their children by claiming she was abusive. By making himself the victim, like they always did. But I knew better.

I always knew better.

I made him look like a fool in court. I ruined his plans, his life. I stopped him from hurting her again. From taking their kids.

I exposed him.

But Melody hadn’t deserved any of that. She was one of the sweetest women I had ever met. No one had stopped him, until I got involved.

He shoved me hard against the steps and I gasped.

Now he was here, about to fucking kill me.