Chapter Twenty-Nine
She couldn’t breathe. The gaping wound in her heart was turning her inside out. Trenton worked for Marcus?
No.
A sob pushed past the suffocating lump in her throat and she gasped for air. His betrayal was a living thing she couldn’t escape, choking and crippling her flagging grasp of reality.
When she first saw him she wanted to cry. Her hero had once again come for her. Then reality weighed in, reminding her of the consequences. She couldn’t leave without the boys and Marcus would have her arrested the moment they crossed state lines again.
Telling Trenton to leave had been one of the hardest things she ever had to do. She couldn’t leave without knowing where her sons were. She couldn’t risk Marcus getting to them first. But then the pain of hearing he was somehow associated with Marcus… She couldn’t bear the truth, couldn’t stomach it. For all Trenton’s wonderful traits, he’d kept this from her.
Deep down, she believed, whatever Trenton’s ties were to her husband, he’d never betray her. Marcus wanted her to think he would, but she knew Trenton and he cared about her and her boys. The contract—if there actually was one—had to be old.
Oh, my God, Maryland.
That was why he was there in the train station. He’d followed her. But why get her in his truck and…
She frowned. He took her to her boys. He didn’t even stick around long enough for her to thank him. Why, if Marcus had hired him, paid him all that money, had he not finished the job?
Because he’s a good man.
She needed answers, but Marcus would only toy with her curiosity, corrupting the truth in the cruelest way possible. The thought that Trenton might think she believed he had somehow played a role in her being here now…
Oh, God. It hurts.
She wanted to run after him and scream for him to go find her boys and call the police. She had to stop him from leaving. Rushing to the door she reached forward and gasped as it suddenly swung open, Marcus wearing a smug grin on the other side.
“Well, that was interesting.”
She jumped, too lost in her unsettling thoughts. “He—”
“Not now.” He adjusted his cuffs. “The police are on their way.”
“What?” Hope rose only to be slashed down by uncertainty and fear.
“I won’t be assaulted in my own home. What trash. I hope he used you like a common whore. Maybe that will teach you.”
“Stop it.” Her molars locked. This was what he did. He took something she loved and stole it away, used it to punish her and make her feel inferior. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“When will it sink in? No one wants a fat, lazy woman like you. He only took interest in you because I paid him to. Without my money, you’re worthless to him.”
He was lying. Trenton’s truck was old and his home, though beautiful, was modest. He never finished the job and Marcus never rewarded anyone for failure. On the contrary, he cursed them and held grudges and sought vengeance. He was twisting the truth to hurt not only her but Trenton.
Her mind settled into a foreign, quiet place, pushing away his lies. Like sand sifting through a pan for gold, she only saw the solid facts, discarding everything else as worthless.
“You’re worthless, Chloe…”
No. She couldn’t let him do this to her. She couldn’t fall back into that hopeless creature she’d left behind years ago. She had to keep fighting.
It was this house. This godforsaken house. She twitched and shivered.
Police. She needed to talk to the cops. If she could somehow get an officer to the house she could insist the kids get moved into protective custody and explain that she was being blackmailed and held against her will.
She winced as he suddenly gripped her jaw and forced her eyes on him. “Listen carefully. You’re going to get yourself off the floor and wash your face. Then we’re going to go downstairs and wait for the police to arrive. They’ll be here any minute. You will agree with everything I say. One wrong word and I’ll have them take you away for kidnapping and who knows when you’ll see Matthew and Dayton again. Understand?”
She wordlessly blinked at him. She was going to tell the cops. She had to. She needed somebody on her side—
Her breath hissed out of her as his fingers dug like talons into her stomach. “I know that look,” he seethed. “Don’t test me, Chloe. You think they’ll get you out of here safely? Maybe. But not before I get to the boys. You don’t want to send me off to our sons in a temper, do you?”
There was a debilitating reality that came with being a woman. She’d read stories of women, mothers, who possessed superhuman strength in times of crisis, lifting vehicles to save their children from certain death. She wanted that strength now. She wanted to tackle him to the ground and rip out his eyes for even making such a threat.
But he was bigger and stronger and would always be more powerful. When she fought him, she lost. When she screamed, she was punished. If she wanted to get to her boys, she needed to cooperate. And maybe that was where her superhuman strength came into play because it was physically painful to agree to his terms and surrender to the fact that she wasn’t escaping today.
No matter how badly she wanted to tell the police, she couldn’t risk the consequence, couldn’t jeopardize her boys’ safety. She’d have to endure and follow whatever lie he decided. At least until she got her sons somewhere safe.
“I understand.”