5

5

STACEY

It’s been weeks since I got back from America, and although Barry and his colleagues are everywhere, neither of my brothers notice them. When Kyle drives me to the studio, he doesn’t realise the SUV nearby is watching us, and when I attend functions with Nora and her sons, no one sees the suited-up men and women keeping their eyes on me.

We were at a family party in Dunfermline – Nora’s sister hitting fifty – and Chris kept his hand low on my back when his mother and brother weren’t looking, but I knew Barry could see. When I went to the bathroom, Chris followed and waited outside like a possessive boyfriend, then forced me to take his hand when he wanted a drink from the bar. I knew better than to fight him.

That night, Kyle went to his girlfriend’s house, Nora vanished and I was left with Chris. He’d been punishing me ever since I got back from America, so I was at the point of listening to whatever he said. I downed drinks, swallowed pills he forced into my hand and didn’t fight back when he beat me. Or when he crawled into my bed hours later and held me until he fell asleep. Fighting makes it worse. It only makes his cock hard and his smile wide.

When he tries to kiss me, I refuse, accepting the punches to parts of my body hidden by clothes. When he tries to touch me, I sink my nails into his wrist, accepting the way he cuts off my air until I pass out.

All I can do is accept the pain.

Barry can’t see what happens in the manor. I’m thankful. Imagine the war it would cause if Chris knew about my week with Kade and that he had bodyguards trailing me?

“You’re not going to class tonight.”

I look up from my book, staring at an angry Chris standing in my doorway. “Why? I have to go. I’m an instructor.”

“You’re going for a drive with me.”

“Are you going to hurt me?” My voice doesn’t even shake when I ask.

He shrugs. “Depends. If I need to make you compliant, I have some of those pills left from the weekend.”

I roll my eyes and continue reading. “One of these days, I hope whatever you drug me with kills me. Then I’ll be free of you.”

He rushes forward, grabs my book and launches it out the open window, glaring at me. “I’ll still fuck your corpse.”

Bile rises in my throat. Nora is at the family lodge and Kyle is out, and if I refuse, Chris will make me.

When I get dressed, he smiles at me as I walk down the stairs. It’s strange to think I was at my happiest just over a month ago, riding on a motorbike and laughing and spending time with my ex, just being in the now.

He grabs his car keys from the bowl next to the garage door. But then he presses his hand to my chest to stop me, lifting my chin. “Don’t look so depressed, baby. This will be an educational trip.”

“I’m not your baby.”

“You’ve been my baby since you walked into this house.”

Scoffing, I pull my face away from him. “Yeah. When I was fourteen, you disgusting bastard. I didn’t want you then either.”

He snatches my hair and drags me into the garage. “Get in the fucking car.”

Barry isn’t on shift tonight. It’s some other guy who’s always on his phone. I was watching him out my window earlier, the car tucked away behind trees, where they always sit while I’m at home. He’s older, maybe in his forties, and smokes like a chimney.

When Chris pulls out of the estate, the bodyguard surprisingly realises and trails us, far away and out of sight. However, Chris is acting stranger than usual. His eyes haven’t softened the way they do when I give in to his demands, and he’s speeding.

He never speeds.

My stepbrother firmly settles his hand on my lap, and I jump and push it off. “Don’t touch me.”

He tuts. “The more attitude you give me, the worse this drive will get.”

I cross my arms and stare forward. He has the radio playing heavy metal music as he strums his fingers on my leg. His other hand grips the steering wheel like he’s trying to strangle it. He’s angry, and I’m growing nervous.

My phone vibrates in the back pocket of my jeans. I mentally think of everyone it could be to keep myself sane.

Tobias hasn’t once replied to me or tried to call me back. His phone is turned off. I found out yesterday that he’s been in solitary confinement for weeks. Kade hasn’t reached out, but I expected as much. I can’t try to contact him in case they have his phone. It could be Tylar calling because Luciella told her I couldn’t make the studio tonight.

Either way, my phone stops vibrating, and my heart rate increases as Chris veers left, the streetlights and buildings vanishing as he drives us into a farm road.

Into the darkness where no one can see us.

I glance at the mirror, and I don’t see the car following us.

I gulp, my voice low as I ask, “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” he replies.

There’s nothing up here but fields and narrow roads for tractors, so where could he be taking me?

“Calm down and sit back.”

When I don’t, he shoves his hand against my chest and pushes me against the seat.

“I’ve asked this before, but I think I’m done with you refusing to answer. Why did you keep blocking me when you were in America? Who were you with?”

I frown. “I told you. My friend and her family.”

He slows but keeps driving. “Who else?”

I can already tell by his voice that he knows, and if I don’t get out of this car, I’m done for. “Chris—”

“Fucking tell me!”

My bones rattle all over my body, and I stare at him, counting to three in my head.

It’s dark out, but I quickly unclip my belt and grab the handle, fully intending to jump out and run through the fields to get away from him. But he grabs me by the hair and pulls me back before the door can open.

“Let’s try this again.”

He forcefully grabs my hand and doesn’t let it go as he drives. It’s painful – he’s crushing my middle and forefinger together, tightening his hold.

“Seat belt.”

My shaky free hand clips it in, my jaw sore from how hard I’m gritting my teeth.

“I’ll ask the easiest question. Because you’re pissing me off. Why did you keep blocking me?”

I shake my head, my heart rate picking up its pace. “You’re delusion—”

My words cut off as he twists my fingers, and my teeth dig into my lip to hold back a scream. That’s what he wants. He wants me to feel pain and to be loud about it. It gets him off when I make a sound of distress.

“Why?” he asks again.

“Fuck. You.”

He lets go of my fingers, and the side of my head smacks into the window. Burning hot pain shoots through my skull, ringing in my ears.

I screw my eyes shut as he smashes my head into the window again. “S-Stop.”

“I already know why. I’m giving you the chance to confess before I bleed it out of you. Start from the hotel in Edinburgh, the private jet, then everything that happened in America.”

My eyes ping open, and my lungs seize. Of course he knows. He’s a cyber-freak who would’ve been tracing my steps from the moment I left the house. I’m shocked he didn’t fly to America and rip me in half then burn Kade alive.

I stay silent, my skull throbbing, a lump already swelling at the side of my head.

We’re driving deep into the back roads now when he swerves into a passing place and throws open his door. I gasp and unclip my belt again, trying to climb away when he opens the passenger door and yanks at my feet. He’s a lot taller and stronger than me – I don’t stand a chance. My body flies right out of the car, and I land hard on my back.

Winded, I cough, my vision already blurring; I can barely see the moon given how crowded the trees are above me. It’s nearly pitch-black here, silent except Chris pacing in front of me, tugging at his hair and whispering to himself that I need to be punished, then telling himself not to hurt me – that he needs to get in the car and drive away.

I try to turn onto my front, to attempt to crawl to the car when he snatches my hair and slams me into the gravel. He straddles my hips, his eyes wild like he’s possessed, face red with rage.

He’s going to kill me, and no one will ever know.

Part of me hopes he does. The only reason I need to survive is to make sure Kade gets help. And if that’s the only reason, maybe I’m already dead.

“Chris,” I choke as he grips my throat. “Pl-Please.”

“You blocked me while you were with him. Him. Of all fucking people, you go back to Kade Mitchell?”

My face whips to the side as he slaps me, my cheek stinging.

“He is beneath me. He’ll never be able to be what you need him to be. I can. I fucking can.”

“You…” I can’t breathe – there’s too much pressure on my neck and face, and my eyes feel like they’re bulging. I smack his arms, desperate for air. He releases me enough that I can suck in oxygen, coughing as I try to speak. “You were threatening m-me. I… had to block you.”

“So you went to him? If you were a good girl, then I wouldn’t need to threaten you. I told you to behave and to keep in contact – you didn’t. Did you sleep with him to piss me off? Let him fuck you behind a goddamn nightclub like the stupid fucking whore you are?”

“You need to stop this,” I sob, trying to push him off me, kicking my legs desperately and failing. “Please.”

He lets go of my throat and presses his hands to the ground beside my face. “Why didn’t you tell me someone was trying to hurt you? I could have protected you if you fucking told me!” He’s yelling in my face, spit falling from his mouth and onto my cheek. He grabs my chin to make me look at him. “They shot at you, and you told me nothing!”

My face snaps to the side again, a sting on my other cheek.

“It took me weeks to retrace your steps. How can I ever trust you if you keep shit like that from me?”

I clench my teeth as I stare at the trees, the way the leaves blow in the light wind, the little rocks around me. I marvel at how fresh the air is, how the stars glint so brightly.

Another blow, and I taste blood from the fist he smashed into my face.

I welcome each painful smack as he cries, each agonising punch as I lie unmoving, trying to find my safe place in my mind each time he grabs my hair and slams my head into the concrete.

“I was going to wait to do this…” He holds me by the throat, reaching into his pocket with his other hand and pulling out a clear bag filled with little white pills.

My eyes widen, but I’m in no position to stop him forcing who knows how many into my mouth, covering my mouth and pinching my nose until I swallow them all – dry, catching in my throat, making me gag, even though I gulp down blood along with them.

“Give it ten, maybe fifteen, minutes, and I’ll be able to do whatever I want to you, and you’d never know.”

The mental block I fall into always keeps me grounded. I’ll think of memories that make me happy. They’ll hold me there just long enough to make me numb to the pain I’m in – and the revulsion.

But right now, I can’t find my mental block, and my mouth is filling with blood from him punching me. My hands are shaking at my sides, my body tense.

Until I can’t stay still anymore.

It takes everything in me, and I grit my teeth as I use force. My knee hikes quickly, and it smashes between his legs, hard enough to cause a rush of air and a groan to fall from his lips. “Fuck!”

I see the fist coming, but I’m not fast enough to dodge it – he drives it into my jaw, snapping my head back so it hits the concrete.

No one is coming. My head falls to the side and I’m dizzy, silently begging the SUV to appear, or Kade’s black Audi, or anyone to drive up the road and stop this as Chris presses his forehead to my temple, spittle dripping from his mouth. “Why are you making me do this?” he asks, his own tears hitting my face. “I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want… I don’t want to hurt you.”

Then stop, I try to say, but I can’t form words.

If I can get him off me, I can make myself sick before the drugs kick in.

Something shifts to my right, and Chris is thrown off me as the bodyguard assigned to me tackles him. I lie completely still, not sure if the pain wracking my body is from how tense I am or from Chris hitting me. I feel tired. Exhausted. But if I close my eyes, I won’t know if the bodyguard will save me.

The sky is so dark. So peaceful compared to what’s going on beside me.

I somehow manage to turn my head.

Him and Chris are fighting. Punching each other. There are gunshots that have birds fluttering from the trees – yet I don’t flinch from the bangs echoing in the night sky.

I hear the gun dropping, being tossed aside as Chris kicks the man in the chest, knocking him on his back right beside me. My stepbrother drives his fist into the man’s face with so much force, his nose bursts open, gushing with blood, and as the blows continue to rain down, it sounds like he’s choking. His jaw is distorted, and some of the blood hits my face, but I don’t move.

He doesn’t fight back. He’s still – like me.

Can he see how peaceful the night sky is?

Chris is covered in blood, wiping his hand down his face. “Shit.” Then he looks at me, his eyes wild. Like something chimes in his head, he glances between the two of us then leans down to me. “I’ll call an ambulance to save him, but I have conditions.”

My lips barely move as I mouth, What?

“You stay away from Kade Mitchell. You apologise to me for being a brat. And when I tell you to kiss me, you kiss me.”

Tears slide down my cheek, but I don’t speak.

“He’s one of the guys ordered to keep an eye on you, right? You think I didn’t fucking know? I know everything about you, Stacey. Everything.” He lifts a brick. “If you don’t agree to my conditions, I’ll kill him right fucking now.”

More tears slide down my cheeks as I stare at the man struggling to breathe, soaking the concrete with blood. He probably has a family at home waiting on him. A wife and children. Brothers and sisters. Mother and father.

People who will miss him.

Chris lifts the brick, and I try to scream through my weakness. “Okay,” I rush out on a croaky breath, my voice straining. “Okay, okay, okay.”

His eyes narrow on me. “Prove it.”

My bottom lip quivers, and I will my body to work. My face is tingling, and I don’t know if it’s from the drugs or from him hitting me.

He tosses aside the brick and climbs on top of me, and every nerve in my body shrivels at his nearness, my heart racing with the immense fear injected into my veins.

Chris doesn’t hold back as he presses his lips to mine, holding his mouth there with a painful grip of my jaw, even as I don’t respond. He takes my bottom lip between his teeth, and I wince as he bites down hard. “Kiss me back.”

When I still don’t respond, sick rising in my throat, he pries my jaws apart and shoves his tongue into my mouth.

Forever forcing. It’s what he’s been doing to me since I was young. Since I was a child. My last straw snaps, and I find the courage to bite down on his tongue, hard enough to draw blood, but all it does is make him twitch against my thigh, a chuckle leaving his throat.

He tilts my face so he can deepen the kiss, and I can feel him growing even harder as he presses his body to mine. It’s revolting, and I refuse to reciprocate. I stay still, my body trembling, my eyes on the sky as he keeps trying to get some sort of reaction from me.

Chris pulls away, scowling at me. “Fine. Have it your way.”

The scream I let out is for nothing as he grabs the brick and crushes it into the bodyguard’s face. The shock kickstarts my body to work, and I cover my mouth as Chris keeps going. Smashing the head into a pile of pulped flesh.

Again.

Again.

And again.

Each whack, each land of the brick, turns the guard’s face into nothing – unrecognisable.

I try to crawl backwards towards the car while Chris is busy mincing this guy’s face, but my body is still in shock as I strain to stand.

He gets up, drops the bloody brick and looks at me. “You made me kill him.”

I shake my head. “No.”

He snatches my throat, and my eyes bulge with how hard he’s gripping me.

“I’m going to kill them all. I’ll start with Kade. I’ll tie him down and make him watch me fucking you. I won’t wear a condom and I’ll fill you with my kid. I’ll make him listen to your moans while my name falls from your lips. I’ll put him on the brink of death, and the last thing he’ll see is you coming all over my cock.”

Rage fills me, and I’m not sure where the energy comes from, or the bravery, but I use every bit of strength to throw my fist against his nose with a crack, catching him off guard. He reels back as I hit him again, grabbing his bleeding nose, so I lean up to sink my teeth into his cheek. He doesn’t catch my knee as I smash it between his legs again.

He yells and pushes me as he drops to the ground, and I quickly run to the car, slamming the door and locking it just before he can grab the handle.

A bloody palm slaps on the window as I turn the engine on, my hands uncontrollably shaking and sore. Thank God he left the keys in the ignition.

I grip the steering wheel, clench my teeth to hold in how sore my body is, my head aching, and press on the accelerator. I fully intend to run him over when he moves to stand in front of the bumper, but he dives out the way. Seeing his face, the shock and fear and terror, is worth it.

It’s an expression I’ve never seen on him before.

If I want Kade to fight his way out of the deep hole he’s trapped in, then that’s what I have to do too. I’ve never stuck up for myself this way, and I don’t intend to stop. I’m done with his abuse. I’m done being fucking silent and letting him treat me like his personal punchbag.

I shove the gearstick into reverse, the car screeching as it rapidly backs up, and Chris dodges me again then tries to grab the door handle. The wheels skid on the ground, and I quickly put it in first before slamming down on the accelerator again.

The edge of the bumper clips his hip and knocks him on the ground, and I speed away as paranoia overwhelms me that he’ll get the better of me. I pass the SUV tucked away in a passing place, and my heart twists in my chest as I think about what happened to its driver.

I knew Chris was insane, but I didn’t know he was a killer.

If I’d kissed him back, would the bodyguard still be alive? Would he have called an ambulance? I feel responsible, and it’s gnawing at my conscience.

I search for my phone and swear to myself. It must’ve fallen out of my back pocket when he tossed me on the ground. Instead of trying to call Kyle or Nora or one of my friends for help, I do the next best thing without a phone.

There’s a dead body, marks all over me and more than enough evidence to get Chris locked up for a long time.

I don’t stop the car until I reach the police station.