Page 106 of Tangled in Vows

I’m about to agree but she continues.

“I’m also glad you were there the day Felix came for me. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t been the one to run into him.”

My eyes fly open, staring into her misty eyes. “I didn’t mean to kill him. I mean, I wanted to, but it wasn’t the goal. But he kept coming for me and running his mouth, so I lost it.” I exhale loudly. “In the end, he did me a favor by stabbing me and fighting back because by the time the police arrived, I looked the part. He was a decent-sized guy who caught me when I was exhausted after my fight. Not that the cops knew about that part.”

Her throat bobs on a loud swallow. “I never thought I’d be glad for someone’s death, but I am. He was an asshole who wouldn’t take no for an answer. Sadly, he hid it well; everyone thought he was such a sweetheart. It was already too late for me the day he showed his true face.”

I reach for her hand and bring our intertwined fingers to my mouth to kiss her palm. While her reassuring words are a balm to my soul, any mention of her trauma sets me immediately on edge. The muscles in my neck turn into taut cords, and it takes every ounce of self-control not to grind my teeth. “I’m sorry.”

She huffs a humorless laugh. “My aunt kept telling me how lucky I was to have such a perfect guy for a fiancé. That I was an ungrateful brat. She brought it up so often that my cousins were jealous and hated me even more than they already did.”

The few times she’d talked about her past, about her life in the community with her aunt’s family, or her parents’ death, she turned pale, clearly trapped in a different place and time, in a labyrinth of her pain. I couldn’t bear to see her this way, so I decided not to bring it up to spare her the agony. But was that the right thing to do?

I kiss her soft skin again. “I wish I could have known about you back then. I would have gotten you out of that awful place immediately. Probably punched some people on our way out too.”

Her misty eyes crinkle at the corners. “It’s okay. I got out . . . eventually.”

“But not early enough?” Something inside me urges me to ask and push some more today.

She shakes her head, confirming my darkest fears. The floor beneath me gives way while the air around me seems to thicken, blurring the edges of my vision and trying to choke me.

“The night before I ran away, Felix told me he had something important to share with me and to meet him at the barn. Against my better judgment, I went.” She scoffs. “But he wasn’t there to offer me my freedom like I’d foolishly hoped for but to obliterate it. To take what he said belonged to him, to . . . to get an early taste. I don’t think he meant to go all the way, but I panicked and fought him, which only got him more excited.”

A chilling wave washes over me, leaving my skin clammy and numb. “Did he . . . did he . . .”

I can’t get the words past my lips, horrified at the sheer prospect of it. But I can see it in her eyes. In the way her lids lower and the corners tighten.

Maybe I should have known. After all, my sister was the living embodiment of “I’m fine,” no matter how often our mom’s boyfriends got too close to her.

“I promise I’m fine, little H. You know I always am. It’s just a small bruise that’ll be gone in a few days. It’ll be like nothing ever happened. The same as last time, remember?”

The remainder of my sister’s voice disappears in my mind, just as Olivia says, “In front of his friends.”

Her confession echoes in the air between us, raw and sharp, slicing through the peace we’d built. I couldn’t look at her for a moment, my shoulders trembling under the weight of her admission. My entire body is screaming at me to do something, anything.

I want to bring Felix back to life just so I can kill him again. I want to dig up his remains and burn them until they’re nothing but dirty ash.

That motherfucker.

I knew he was an asshole, but I didn’t think he’d do such an unthinkable thing to her. To my sweet and strong Hurricane. To my wife.

When I finally manage to speak again, my voice is low and ragged. “Did they do something to you too? His friends?”

Every word that passes my lips is a stab to my chest I know I’ll never recover from. But for her, I will bear these scars forever, mirroring her own.

She shakes her head, and the relief I feel is insurmountable. I’m sure my knees would have given out if I wasn’t already lying down.

“They only held me down for him. But they didn’t touch me otherwise.”

The way she says “only”so casually, as if we’re talking about the weather, makes my entire body shake with blood-boiling anger. “I’m going to need their names, Hurricane. I want to know who every one of those fuckers are.”

Every word vibrates with barely leashed fury, but my gaze stays unwavering on her. “Please.”

She stares at me and mutters, “Okay.”

“Okay,” I repeat the word, forcing myself to take deep, measured breaths in an attempt to subdue the burning anger that’s clawing at my ribs.

The silence is thick and heavy between us. So much has happened—not just today, yesterday, or even in the last few weeks since I’ve been with her. But also in the previous few years. We’ve unraveled so much of our past in such a short time that I’m sure it’ll take both of us some time to digest everything we’ve unearthed.

---