When I open my eyes, everything hurts, my fingers, my skin, my heart, my brain.

I’m lying in bed with Dax next to me. His hand strokes the hair away from my face. The moment our eyes meet, I flinch. I try to move away, but he grabs my wrist and pulls me back to him.

“It’s okay, baby,” he murmurs, pressing a kiss to my aching forehead.

“It’s not . . .” I swallow the lump inside my throat. “It’s not okay.” I’m done. When I look at him, I don’t see the man I fell in love with. I barely recognize him. His amber eyes seem darker, his features sharper, his lips thinner.

Regret plunges into my heart. I should have listened to Christa. She had warned me against falling in love with him. Then again, we had only thought he was a womanizer, and I thought I would be the woman who made him want to settle down. Who would have thought he’s also an abusive, sadistic son of a bitch? He could have murdered me with that pillow.

“When I say it’s okay,” he whispers into my ear. “It’s okay. Get it? Now repeat after me. It. Is. Okay.”

I glare at him. And I push away from him again. This time he doesn’t pull me back. Freeing myself from his grasp, I slide out of bed. But the moment my feet touch the soft carpet, something explodes inside my head, pain like I’ve never known before. I sink back onto the edge of the bed, cradling my head with my hands.

He comes to my side. His hand rubs my back in circles. The smell of his cologne mixed with his sweat makes me want to retch.

It’s amazing how things can change in an instant. Or maybe things had been changing for a while now and I just didn’t want to accept it. Now everything is out in the open and I can’t hide from the truth. It’s painful to feel the love I’d felt for him evaporating to nothing. There’s no way I will end up being a battered wife. I’m not my mother.

“I’m leaving,” I say softly. Dax removes his hand from my back and I hear him get to his feet. “I don’t want to be here with you. You have to let me go.”

My eyes still closed, I listen to the sound of his footsteps as he paces the room. I know he’s approaching the window as he always does whenever he’s thinking about something serious.

The silence in the room is pregnant with tension while I wait for him to lash out again. I don’t care what he says to me, there’s no way I’ll stay with him. I’m actually happy he showed me his true colors before we exchanged vows.

Minutes tick by without him talking to me. Braving the storm and the pain, I lift my head and get to my feet. I shuffle into my closet to get dressed. I realize my mistake when I hear the door slamming against the wall, the sound hurting my head even more.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

I turn to face him, my eyes burning with anger. “I told you I’m leaving.” I lick my aching bottom lip, tasting blood.

He crosses his arms in front of his chest. “You know what the consequences of leaving me are, don’t you?”

“I’m well aware.”

“No, I don’t think so.” He rubs his forehead with the heel of his palm. “If you did, you wouldn’t even think about leaving me. No one walks away from me, Emma. No one.”

“You’re out of your mind.” Laughter pushes up my throat. “You really expect me to stay with you after what you did to me? You suffocated me, you beat me, you—”

“I did what had to be done to show you who’s in control around here.”

“You’re not the boss of me.” I push the words through gritted teeth.

He moves closer, a smile touching his lips. “Be careful what you say to me,” he growls. “You’re walking on dangerous ground, Emma. You have no fucking idea what I’m capable of.”

I stand my ground but I’m trembling inside. The closer he gets, the tighter my fear wraps itself around my heart. “I think I do. And I’m happy I found out who you really are before we got married.”

When he’s close enough for me to smell him, I take a step back, but he shoots out a hand and encircles my upper arm. In one swift move, he pulls me so hard toward him that I crash into his chest.

“Let go of me,” I say in a broken whisper. “Don’t make me call the cops on you.” But how? He has confiscated my phone.

“Don’t fuck with me.” He slams me hard against the wall and presses his body to mine, crushing me to the point I can’t breathe. His hand wraps around my neck. Between us, I feel his erection pressing against my belly. It makes me sick that he’s turned on by my fear. “You will do no such thing.”

“Let me go,” I croak.

“You’re not going anywhere, Emma.” He brings his lips to my ear. “You agreed to be my wife and that’s what you’re going to be.”

“No,” I shoot back. “I will not marry you. Keeping me here won’t change that.”

It’s as if I’ve hit him. He jumps away from me and charges across the room, slamming a fist into the wall, his face red, veins popping through the skin on his neck and forehead. Clutching my neck, I sink to the floor, hug my knees, and rock myself back and forth.

“Okay.” He approaches me again. I cover my face with my hands to protect myself from his blows. “Fine. What if I said I will respect your career? You can act if that’s what you want. And I will support you.”

I pin him with a look of disdain. “This is no longer about my career and you know it. This is about you hurting me.”

“Only because I love you so much. And you’re being an ungrateful little bitch.” He slams a hand against his forehead. Then he comes to me again, dropping to his knees. “Baby, I don’t want to hurt you. I’m sorry. I’m sorry about all the things I’ve said. I love you. You know that, don’t you?”

I shake my aching head. “The only person you love is yourself.”

Before I have a chance to prepare myself for another attack, he grabs me, a hand around the nape of my neck. He presses my swollen forehead hard against his. Then he loosens his grip and cups my face with his hands. “Let’s not fight, my love. Don’t make me hurt you again.”

“Forget it. I’m done with this sick thing you call love.” I push away from him and get to my feet as fast as I can. I grab a pair of jeans and start to put them on. I’ll take nothing else with me—just the clothes on my back.

He gets to his feet as well and stands on one side of the door, arms crossed as he watches me without saying a word. Even though I try to be brave, I’m terrified to death of what he will do next. How dark are his thoughts?

Dressed and ready to walk out of Dax Pierce’s life, I move to the door and pause for a second before pushing past him.

He still doesn’t say anything when I leave the bedroom and head for the stairs. I can hear his footfalls behind me.

My knees are weak with fear, but I continue the walk toward my freedom. I won’t make being stuck in an abusive relationship part of my future.

I came to Hollywood for my freedom and I will not have anyone steal it from me. Not even Dax Pierce.

I’m reaching for the handle of the front door, when Dax rushes to me and slams it shut again. He whips me around, his hands tight around my shoulders, his thumbs digging into my collarbone.

“You’re not going anywhere. You belong to me.”

I spit into his face. “I belong to no one.” My gaze is hard as it meets his.

The next blow and the slam of the back of my head against the door blurs my vision but not my determination.

It takes a moment for me to collect myself again but once I do, I swing my hand back and slap him hard across the face.

He lays a hand on his cheek and gives me a twisted grin. “I always knew you were a fighter.” His tongue flicks his lower lip. “But don’t you ever do that again.”

“You started this fight.” I’m about to hit him again when he yanks me by the hair so tight the pain weakens me. I’m unable to fight him as he drags me back upstairs. He tosses me onto the bed and starts pacing the room, his hands clenching and unclenching.

“This is what’s going to happen,” he says. “From now on, you will obey me. If you don’t, I will punish you. The punishment you received up to this point is nothing.”

I don’t say anything as I tremble on the bed. What have I gotten myself into? For the first time in my life, I regret my compulsive behavior. I shouldn’t have come to Hollywood on a whim. I should have listened to my sister. I shouldn’t have fallen for Dax. But how could I have known he was an ugly devil hiding behind a handsome face?

“Because I love you and want you to be happy, I will allow you to be in one more movie. After that, it’s over. You’ll quit acting.”

“Go to hell.” I sit up in bed, ignoring my aches and pains. “You’re full of shit.”

“No, baby. Hell is where you will go if you don’t do as I say.” He drags a hand down one side of his face. “Now listen and listen carefully. You’re allowed to be in one more movie. You will only leave this house to go on set. And I will be there with you to make sure you don’t do anything stupid.”

I nod, not because I agree with him, but because I realize that this could be my only way out, a chance for me to tell someone who Dax really is.

“Is that clear?”

I nod again although I’m raging inside.

“And today, you’ll send Curtis Richerson a message to let him know you no longer need his services. Don’t think I don’t know that he wants to get into your pussy.”

Fooled into thinking I’ve agreed to his requests, he approaches the bed with a sickening smile. “Now I want you to apologize for disobeying me yet again, baby. Make it your best apology.”