Flinging me against the wall my breath escapes me and fear rushes in.

“What have you done Ariel?”

His cool demeanor mixed with cruel words frighten me more than shouting would at that moment. My daddy was a screamer, I knew how to handle that. I had to remain calm.

“What have I done? I have no clue what you’re talking about, but you’re breaking and entering.” Thoughts flashed through my mind, how was I going to escape. “I just came upstairs to grab a few things. I have to get back to Kayson.”

He brought his face next to mine. “Well, I guess you’ll be waiting a long time, since he’s with Gigi. Don’t play games with me, Ariel. I’m sick of your stupid little games. Do you think I’ve enjoyed watching you play whore to that man? When you moved here, I knew there was something different about you, then when I finally persuaded you to have sex with me, I found out . . . you were a virgin. I told you, that giving a man your virginity was special.”

The thought made bile rise in my throat, and I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to demand to know why, if it was so damn special, did he treat me like I was nothing at all.

Calm.

I had to stay calm.

“Brandon, I didn’t see it that way. It wasn’t some prized possession, I just hadn’t lived yet. My God, I’d been taking care of my mama since I was seventeen; morning, noon, and night. I’d—” My words were cut off by the force of Brandon’s backhand against my cheek. Blood exploded into my mouth, and he dropped me to the floor. I fought against the tears pooling in my eyes and tried not to gag.

Then I saw it, the glint of a gun. “What are you doing Brandon? Put that away.”

“Shut up. Don’t make me kill you.” His words pierced me and reality struck. This was what Vivian’s husband must have seen, and the other officers saw when they looked at Sello. This was a man that would shoot me.

Terror had me frozen in place as Brandon brought the gun up and slammed me on the side of my head. It all happened in slow motion, every second a slow flip of a page from a picture book.

Thrumming pain echoed in my head as I came to. I could hear voices outside my apartment, and Brandon was straddling me. Leaning in he whispered, “Don’t make a sound. I am at the end of my patience with you. You don’t want to see me angry or what I can do to your body. If I can’t have you, I will make sure that no one will ever be able to put their dick anywhere near you, do you understand me?”

I nodded at his heinous words. “Good. Now, where was I?” he asked, leaning back as his voice returned to its even staccato. “Oh yes, no one was supposed to touch you, no one. You were supposed to remain strictly mine. I didn’t want a wife that people would talk about and share their stories of who else she had slept with.”

Everything in my head was muddled, and I tried to catch up to what he was saying.

“But you ruined that! You ruined everything.” Agitated, he clenched and unclenched his fists. “I’m willing to overlook this indiscretion of yours. I have to keep you to prove to everyone that I won, after all. Do you see all of the trouble you’ve caused? This is all your fault.” His hand wrapped in my hair and pulled my head back, my neck bending at a harsh angle, he tugged until our eyes met. There was nothing there. His expression was dead. Cold. Heartless. No fear, no anger . . . nothing. Oh my god, he’d lost it.

“How many times have I told you, Ariel, that I always win? You have put me in a very bad position. You’re going to ruin my perfect record.” Brandon stood and tightened his grip so he could yank me up with him. “You were mine. You moved here, you were naive and untouched. I taught you everything. I wanted a wife that no other man had had. It’s what I deserved. How do you expect me to demand respect when I can’t even get my wife to respect me?”

I tried to shrink away. He fisted my hair tighter. “Why me Brandon? I’m nothing special.”

“You’re right, you aren’t. But you’re pretty and other guys want you. When you’re with me, they envy me, not to mention no one else had fucked you but me. Do you know how hard it is to find a woman that isn’t a whore nowadays? You ruined that. You slept with that low paid deputy. I’m going to kill him, then no one else will have had you but me. No one will be able to talk about sleeping with you or fucking you.

“Brandon listen to yourself, you’re the district attorney, you’re wealthy. You have a good career, you have everything. Just put the gun away and go home. I won’t tell anyone, just go on with your life.”

“For fuck’s sake, Ariel, how podunk is that town you’re from in Alabama anyway? The world doesn’t work like that. You’ve caused all of this, you and that stupid deputy. You’re going to fix it.”

“Okay, I will Brandon. I will, I’ll do whatever I need to do to fix it, I promise.”

“Of course you will.” Brandon waved the gun and directed me to take a seat at the kitchen counter. “If I’m not mistaken, that’s your boyfriend on the other side of the door, and he’s not alone. You’re going to answer all of his questions, then tell him that you’re fine, and make him believe that you never want to see him again. Are we clear?”

Shoving my hands between my clenched knees, my body taught and rigid, I took in his words and then met his eyes. “Yes, we’re clear.”

“Ariel, you in there?” Kayson’s voice asked through the door. “Sweetheart, let’s talk.” I heard the doorknob jingle, but Brandon had dead bolted it. Kayson would have to kick it down. “Ariel can you please come and unlock the door for me?”

“Answer him.” Brandon grabbed my jaw and squeezed, making me gasp in pain. “Make it convincing or I will open the fucking door and shoot him before he has time to pull his gun.”

“Kayson. Go home.” I moved my jaw, trying to regain feeling. “I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Ariel, just open the door for me, can you do that? Let me see you. Let me see that you’re okay. Then if you still want me to leave, I will.”

“Make. It. Convincing.” Brandon spat on me with each word.

My voice cracked, I swallowed and forced my voice to come out steady. “I don’t want to see you, Kayson.” Brandon edged toward the door but still kept the gun on me. “Go home, there’s nothing left for us to talk about, Gigi explained everything, no worries.” My words obviously pleased Brandon because he smiled at me, a smile that might have seemed seductive if it weren’t for the depravity swimming in his eyes.

“Ariel, Gigi is a lying bitch. I’m not leaving until I see you. Just open the door, let’s talk this out and if you still want me to leave, I will.”

Jaw clenched, Brandon scratched the side of his head with the pistol, his eyes darting from me to the door. Then Brandon shifted the gun from me and pointed it directly at the middle of the door.

Panic was making the edge of my vision go blurry. He couldn’t shoot Kayson. I would rather live the rest of my life by Brandon’s side than let that happen.

Kayson pounded his fist against the door, and I did the only thing I could think of.

“Kayson, just leave. S’agapo.”

“What shit are you playing at Ariel?” Brandon closed the distance between us and wrapped his hand around my throat, his nails digging into my skin as he squeezed.

All I could do was try to pry his hand away and get some air into my lungs. He held me there for a long minute, and right before I was positive he was going to kill me, he let go. Sagging against the counter, I tried to catch my breath. “Not playing.” I wheezed. “I told him it was over. He speaks Greek.”

“Don’t do it again. Make sure I understand every word.”

Chattering on the other side of the door was followed by a hail of pounding.

“Ariel, let us in.”

“We told Kayson to go home.”

“We’re here. Please let us in.”

“Who the fuck is out there now?” Brandon walked over to the window and looked out. Any thread of control he had on the situation was breaking.

“Stella and Leo, they are two of my friends—”

“I know who they are for fuck’s sake, I’ve been watching you for almost five months. God, you really are fucking naive, aren’t you?”

“Ariel, open this God damn door right the fuck now.” Stella kicked and pounded. “Fine, I’m calling nine-one-one and telling them that I believe you’ve harmed yourself, and they will break this fucking door down.”

“You better make her change her mind, Ariel. I will kill her. I’m not afraid. I can bury the fucking evidence, believe me, I’ve seen enough of this shit. The person that knows how to commit the best murder and get away with it isn’t an investigator it’s a prosecutor, we know all the loop holes.”

“Stella don’t.” I took a deep breath. “Remember when we discussed DW? Well, I’m doing that now, okay? So, I’ll call you tomorrow.”

The force of his blow knocked me to the ground, and I cried out as pain shot through my shoulder. “You stupid slut, I told you that I’d been watching you for almost five months, that means listening.” He grabbed my hair and jerked me back up with one powerful swing from his right hand my eyes were on fire and I couldn’t tell if they were still in the socket. “You may have found the bug in your apartment, but I still had eyes and ears everywhere. You would be shocked to find out just how easy it was for me to pay someone to break into your phone and give me access to the camera and microphone. I listened and watched.”

He came and crouched next to me, and I squeezed my eyes closed. “You never went anywhere without that thing . . .”