Page 55 of Cruel Vows

He slaps my other cheek, sticky and bloody palm connecting hard, snapping my head to the other side.

Both sides of my face ache. Tears prick the corners of my eyes but I’m not going to give this man the satisfaction of my tears, even if that’s what he’s looking for.

Aiden raised me to be stronger than that.

I press my lips together, heart galloping until it feels like my chest is going to explode.

The man slices a diagonal line on the back of my right hand. I sit up taller, holding back the hiss of pain that wants to escape.

He laughs and slices another diagonal line perpendicular to the first.

Blood pools along the lines of theXbut the cuts are shallow. The pain is nothing worse than a papercut, but if this is what he plans to do all over my body, it’s going to hurt more.

Don’t feel the pain. Just take a deep breath and try to get through this.

Aiden spent time training me and my siblings with torture. He used to say that it was for our own good. That we had to be able to get through whatever an enemy was going to put us through.

This is nothing. I’ve been through worse. I’ve gone through hours of questioning and broken bones.

The man in front of me is nothing compared to some of the trainers that work for Aiden.

“You know, those cuts should heal quickly.” The man moves to my left hand, slicing the skin with the same mark. “They’re going to scab over by the end of the day, and then in a week or two, there’s going to be no sign that they were ever there.”

I grind my teeth together, taking another deep breath. The ropes loosen more the longer I hold my breath in.

He walks to the other side of the room, picking up one of the gold picture frames from the bookshelf. “You and your sisters are all quite beautiful. It’s a wonder that your brother didn’t start marrying you all off.”

He throws the picture at the ground, laughing when the glass shatters.

When he picks up the pale-mauve bowl that I keep my wedding rings in, he scoffs.

“It’s a wonder that your husband is even willing to fuck you at this point.” He dumps the rings onto the ground and kicks one, sending it flying somewhere else in the room.

Please don’t let it slip into the vents.

“Sean is going to flay you when he gets his hands on you. He’s going to take one look at the way you’ve marked up my skin and he’s going to kill you. I hope he takes his time cutting into you. He’s a real bastard when he’s pissed off.”

I take another deep breath, wriggling more in the ropes as he throws the dish against the wall.

The man smirks and sweeps his arm across one of the shelves, sending my books flying to the ground.

He rips my laptop off the desk and drops it to the ground before slamming the heel of his boot into it. The crunch fills the room, the laptop caving in on itself with the impact.

When he turns back to me, there’s a dangerous glint in his eyes. “How did you and the man who slaughtered your father end up together? My boss thinks that there’s something about the entire situation that seems off.”

“We fell in love.” I keep my tone steady and even, my attempts to get free slowing as he turns his full attention to me. “He came into the clinic one day and we got to talking, and then one thing led to another.”

The man stabs his knife into one of the paintings on the wall, dragging it through the canvas, the ripping sound making me feel sick to my stomach.

It was one of my favorite paintings and now he’s destroyed it.

There isn’t a purpose to destroying my belongings, other than upsetting me and showing Sean what he was able to do when nobody was watching over me.

I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to get a moment alone after this.

The man moves closer to me again, clicking his tongue. “I don’t fully believe that. Rumor is that Aiden is pissed you married Sean, even though the two are known to be friendly.”

“Not anymore.” I try to make it sound like I’m upset at the thought of Aiden and Sean not getting along, even though that’s exactly what I spent years wishing for when I was younger. “Aiden was keeping Sean in his back pocket, but he was never loyal to them.”

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