Page 5 of Savage Protector

My father laughed. The bitter, mean sound I’d come to know all too well felt like barb wire wrapping around my heart and squeezing tight.

“Good. Being scared will make you smarter. Remember that when you think about defying your husband. Marco won’t be nearly as forgiving or lenient as I have been. This will be good for you.”

“But—”

“Enough.” He squeezed my arm tighter as the pooling tears streamed down my face. “I won’t have you embarrass me any longer. After today, I’m officially washing my hands of you. Now clean up the mess you’ve made of your face and get your ass out there. You have five minutes. If I have to send someone to come and get you again, not only will you be dragged in by your hair, I’ll make sure that Marco understands exactly the kind of brutal punishment his new wife needs to be happy.” A sick, twisted smile crossed his face. “That should make for an interesting wedding night, wouldn’t you say?”

Fresh fear seized my insides, making me feel like a coward all over again. I didn’t answer, but I didn’t have to. I’d always known the horrible mistakes of my past would be used against me. Again.

The memories and the guilt that came with them never stayed away long. They were always there just under the surface along with my mother’s voice on what had become my worst day…

“Don’t worry my little Dove, momma will always find a way to help you.”

I had looked up into my mother’s sky blue eyes and blinked. I didn’t know how she could have helped me. I’d gone way too far to ask for forgiveness.

“What’s he going to do? It’s all my fault. I did this. It should be me who is punished.”

She’d cupped my cheek and I’d leaned into it. “Shhh. It’s all going to be okay, I promise. Your father will talk to me first and I will handle it.”

Despite her spoken assurances and soft touches, I didn’t believe her. Not with the echo of my father’s rage still at the forefront of my mind. I was right then and I was right now.

She couldn’t help me. These were my battles and I was on my own to figure out a way to win against him.

“You were stupid then and you’re being stupid now. You should have learned your place then, but you certainly will now.” I was too numb from the sudden onslaught of memories to fully assess my father’s condemnation.

“Aww, Isabella, I’m your mother. Of course I understand. I may be older now, but I remember full well what it feels like to be sixteen. If someone like that boy lived in my childhood home, I would have fallen for him too.”

Her words only made the guilt all that much worse. I wasn’t anything like her. She envisioned me as a sweet young girl infatuated with a boy. I wanted to shake my head and confess. It wasn’t like that between us. We were just friends. Things just got carried away. But I knew the words would never come out right…

“Five minutes, Isabella. You know you don’t want to test me.” My father left the room laughing as I slumped against the countertop and wrapped my arms around my waist. He was right. I didn’t want to test him ever again. The pain from the last time never fully went away.

I pressed my fingers to my throat now, feeling the memory of a hand wrapped tightly there that night. A lover’s tight grip.

At first it had been exciting. We’d been more like animals than lovers. It had created a fierce but short flash of pleasure that did more than rob me of breath and send my head into the clouds. It made me wild too.

I couldn’t breathe, yet I wanted more.

I dropped my hands and turned away from the mirror. I didn’t know what would have happened if my father hadn’t found us and ripped that boy away from me. Maybe he would have stopped and maybe he wouldn’t have.

The troubling part of all that, was that I hadn’t cared. Not then and maybe not now. My mother had been slowly dying for years and the hatred that I’d seen in my father’s eyes that night had already been born in my heart.

Stop. Little Dove. Stop doing this to yourself. You deserve love, not pain. You are young and you deserve the freedom to discover who you are on your own time. It’s time to change your future. Go now before it’s too late.

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to block out the words in my head. But even as a figment of my overactive imagination they were running on an endless loop.

Clearly I needed to listen. This was it. The window of opportunity I’d been waiting for and likely the last one for a very long time.

I opened my eyes and stared at the door. Angelo would be back any moment and then it would be too late. I had a feeling Marco would prove equally as ruthless as my father and my imprisonment would continue. Probably until I died.

I glanced around the room as if I would find something to grab before I left, but I’d brought nothing with me but the wristlet I took everywhere and the clothes on my back.

So I did the only thing I could.

I grabbed my small purse, gathered the long skirt of my dress in my hands, yanked the door open and without looking towards the chapel, I ran.

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