Page 19 of Tempting Fate

Eight broken bones.

Fractured pelvis.

Ruptured spleen.

Punctured lung.

Internal bleeding.

The five surgeries.

The blood transfusions.

The rehab to walk again.

The months of agony as I healed.

I’m sure he’s read the laundry list of damage he wrought, but the main two ways in which he ruined me were kept out of the medical report the court ordered. My destroyed mind; the cutting and the PTSD I still battle through.

And my ruptured uterus.

The children I once saw in the distant future are unlikely to eventuate.

“Lily, angel, surely you understood that we’d meet again today?” Alex asks, purring the words at me with sadistic pleasure. When I try to shake him off, his embrace tightens to the point of pain. “My freedom wouldn’t have been complete without you by my side.”

Hearing the voice that lives in my head addressing me in the real world sends slivers of icy fear down my spine. As his remark sinks into my consciousness, I realise that he hasn’t been released on parole or home arrest.

Alexander Kingsley is a free man.

In the eyes of society and our legal system, he’s paid his debt for the crimes committed against me. Today’s meeting is preordained, set by the devil himself, leaving me to fend for myself when he came to claim the pieces of me that he didn’t break the night of my eighteenth birthday party.

Tears of anger and frustration leak from my eyes. I’m angry at myself for dropping my guard. Angry that I failed to adequately prepare for his return. I was complacent. Naïve, once again. The bravery that I believed I’d uncover before Alex’s return is missing.

It continues to elude me.

Probably always will.

In truth, some of the rage that flares within me is directed at Zeke. Even if Alex’s father shielded the news of his son’s release from the media, this isn’t something Zeke would’ve overlooked. He keeps tabs on Alex—on the Maddison clan and their allies. My obliviousness wasn’t a mistake. My fiancé deliberately kept me in the dark that a release date had been set, no doubt for what he’d consider to be noble reasons, but come on…

I could’ve done with a heads-up that my nightmare was set to resume.

Because as much as I lied to everyone around me, I knew I hadn’t seen the last of Alex when I watched him being led away in cuffs after his sentencing.

He’s too insane to accept defeat from his prey.

Too monstrous to concede his inane claim on me.

I thought I would be strong enough to meet him head-on, and with Zeke and the Shamrocks at my back, when the time came.

In seventeen months.

More fool me.

“Shhh, angel. I’m not here to hurt you,” Alex soothes.

He rubs his hands up and down my arms, and I stiffen. When he brushes his thumb across my cheek, I remember that I’m crying. I lurch away from him, his touch makes me feel dirty, desperate to wipe away the signs of my weakness, but he curls his fingers around my upper arms, and pulls me to his chest.

“It’s so good to be able to touch you again,” Alex whispers against my cheek. He acts as if I’m willingly here, allowing him to hug me, as he presses soft kisses to the corner of my mouth. The insanity that I was once blind to is clearly displayed today. “This time, our relationship will be different… you’ll be good. I’ll be stable. We’ll work together to find common ground—a way to make your demons play nicely with my monster.”

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