Page 58 of Wicked Scandal

I turn my hung head and look him dead in the eye. “You’re telling me not to do this? What the hell did I do, Troy? Please fucking tell me what I have ever done to you!” My words erupt like molten lava, surprising even myself. His eyes go wide, panicked because no one will be able to say I wasn’t just choked out based on the bruising on my neck. I can feel it swelling already and I am certain I won’t have a voice tomorrow because of it.

I’m done. Completely fucking done. I will no longer cower in fear of his abuse.

“An accident?” I shout as I straighten my back. This time it’s me that walks toward him. I keep my chin up and my shoulders taut even though it hurts like hell. “You could have killed me!”

With each passing moment, I feel myself breaking free from this hold he has on me.

“You are evil, Troy Jenkins.” I point my finger in his face when I finally get near him. The shock from him is still evident, so I make sure to give him everything I’ve got. “Pure fucking evil, and I am done!”

The look of empathy on his face twists into one of humor and he sputters a laugh. “Do you know how many times I’ve heard that?” He waves his arms up and down. “Yet here you are and here you will always be.”

My jaw clenches and I shake my head. “This is the last time you’ll ever hear it because I mean every goddamn word.” My voice is final, making his back straighten.

He steps to the side, out of the path to the door. “Go ahead and leave. But keep in mind, the minute you walk out the door, I will make the call that will seal your fate.”

I shrug my shoulders, not giving a fuck. For once, I don't care. Not about his threats, or his power. I just don’t care. “You do what you gotta do,” I glower as I walk past him toward the open door.

Just as I step out, hopeful he’ll let me walk away, I hear him say, “Who were you fucking at the guesthouse this weekend, Catherine?”

His words hit me like a tidal wave. My body goes cold as all the blood drains from my face. I’m forced to put a hand on the doorframe to keep my weak knees from giving out on me.

Maybe I heard him wrong. I did just pass out, after all. “What did you say?” I ask without turning around.

The sound of his heavy footsteps padding across the room has my entire body trembling. Then, I feel his hot breath on my neck as he puts something in front of my face. “You heard me.”

I’m forced to lean my head back to get a good look, but once I do, I gasp at the sight. “Those aren’t mine,” I blurt out the lie.

He shoves them in my face, covering my mouth and nose and I’m forced to breathe them in.

“I know what my wife fucking smells like!” he howls as I try to wriggle myself free. “And I know her fucking panties! But what I want to know is why they were in the goddamn trash can next door!”

I’m pushed forward and flung out of his grip. But this isn’t over. I know the look in his eye, and this is only the beginning.

“You think I will ever let you walk away, Catherine? Think again.”

The next thing I know I’m being thrown to the floor and kicked repeatedly in the gut, over and over and over. The pain is so intense that eventually, my body goes numb and I feel nothing at all. I just lie here, helplessly.

“The only way you will ever leave me is if you are in a casket, six feet under!”

I want to cry, I want to scream, but instead I do the last thing he would expect. My body is weak, but my mind is stronger than ever as I look up and make eye contact with the beast. “I hate you with every fiber of my being,” I choke out. “And your kicks don’t even hurt anymore.”

Blood spurts from my mouth on a cough and he finally pauses. I chuckle, though, knowing his concern isn’t for me, but himself.

“Can’t have the great mayor get caught with his beaten-to-death wife. How would that look?”

He scowls down at me, tossing my panties over my face as I lie there, a shell of a human as he walks away in all his glory.

Then, I fall asleep curled in a ball on the floor because I can’t bear to move a muscle.

But I do know one thing for sure. Troy knows I was with someone and he knows I want to leave. And those two things might very well cost me my life.

CHAPTER 17

WILDER

For two days, mine and Cat’s chat log has been silent—aside from me messaging her about a dozen times. Each time, she doesn't respond. I can't shake this growing unease inside me. I find myself circling in front of her classroom door, waiting for her to show up. I even got here right when the doors to the school unlocked.

I drove by her house twice yesterday and wanted to stop, but the thought of getting her in any trouble with her husband paralyzes me.

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