Page 76 of Beloved Sacrifice

Rose flinched and Marek stepped around the coffee table to stand near her. “Getting away from an abusive situation is far more difficult than people assume. And Rose’s situation was particularly complex.”

“I didn’t mean to blame you,” Weston said to Rose.

She looked at the fire. “I blame myself. I should have left, but Caden was…Caden was as close to ‘home’ as I had. And with Caden, it wasn’t rape. I was willing. I enjoyed it. But I hated that collar. I hated that he wanted me as a submissive, not as Rose, and no matter how we tried we couldn’t change. Hated that when he gave an order, I obeyed.”

Weston rose to his feet and lifted his arms as if to hug her, but then dropped them. “You’ve been hurting for so long.” And that was on him. He’d let his own pain keep him away from her. How many horrors could he have spared her from if he hadn’t insisted on hiding and licking his wounds?

Rose tried to shrug, but it came out like a shudder.

Weston felt ill from what he’d learned. He wanted to beat his fists against the wall. Shoot something. Scream at someone. He would kill Elroy with his bare fucking hands.

“Rose, Weston. It’s time we went to bed together,” Marek said sternly.

“All three of us, together?” Weston asked in shock.

“Yes. Together.”

---