Page 1 of The Marriage Demand
ChapterOne
Four years ago, WinnieMoore knew she should have been killed by the man sitting next to her. Instead,she twirled the ring on her finger like it was any normal Saturday night.
The nightmare of fouryears ago was long in the past. It almost felt like it had happened to someoneelse. She didn’t even want to think about it. In fact, she rarely thought aboutthat night, which was a mixture of horror and peace at the same time.
Elias Moore, her husband,slapped his hand on the table and presented the cards. Even though they hadbeen married four years, and he regularly came to the casino, she never paidattention to how the game actually worked. She had no idea what he was playing,just that he often won, and not because he cheated. Her husband was manythings, but a cheater was not one of them. At least, not when it came to cards.
When it came to sex, shedidn’t know if he strayed. She imagined he did. They’d been married four years,and Elias was not ugly. He was very handsome, dangerous, scary, and she hadseen all of that in action. Only, he had never harmed her. Never even squeezedher hand too tightly. He had been the perfect gentleman. She wasn’t afraid ofhim. There was no reason to be.
He never forgot herbirthday, or their anniversary, or Christmas. When it came to the holidays, hewas there. She wanted for nothing, which, considering she had nothing when theymet, never failed to surprise her.
Elias taught her how todrive. He made sure she could go to college. She had a full wardrobe, even aroom to herself. There were times she even made outlandish requests, likeinstalling a beauty room in his country home, as well as his apartments where theysometimes stayed. She thought he would deny her request, yet every place theywent, there was always a beauty room for her. It had been an off-the-cuffrequest. Something she had always dreamed of having. It was a stupid dream, butone she still loved.
Growing up in foster care,bouncing from place to place, she never had anything to call her own. There wasnever anything for her other than a bed, and she was always told to be gratefulfor it. She got used to never asking for anything. If she got fed, that was agood thing, but not necessarily expected.
“It’s time to go,” Eliassaid, and that was the end of their presence.
Like always, he would takehold of her hand, and she stayed silent by his side as they made their way outof the casino. He had a couple of guards ahead of him, and this was standard,as her husband was not a very nice man.
Actually, that wasn’tquite accurate. To her, he was the most amazing, kind, caring, and sweetestperson she had ever known. That didn’t change the fact that the first time sheever met him, he killed all the other people in the room. Yes, she witnessedhim murder. But she was so glad he did.
On the night she first mether husband, there had been a party she didn’t want to go to. However, herfriend Eve claimed it was going to be one hell of a party to celebrate turningeighteen. She had known Eve for six months. During her last six months in “thesystem,” she’d been sent to a small family on a farm in the middle of nowhere.For a little fun, Eve wanted to go to one of the parties in town, and seeing asshe was herfriend,she went.
What actually happenedthat night was that Eve had been playing her. For six months, she had beenacting the part of friend, because it turned out Eve was a party supplier. Itdidn’t mean she supplied alcohol. No, she supplied entertainment.
Winnie didn’t know howmany other foster kids had been used for Eve and her friends’ entertainment.Just that Winnie herself was the last.
They had gone to anabandoned warehouse, and according to Eve that was where all the cool partieswere. Eve didn’t know that Winnie never drank the cocktail Eve had given her.When Winnie first arrived at Eve’s family house, she found a small diary, andwithin it were warnings. The first, to never trust Eve. Not to take any food ordrink from her, no matter what. Never to leave her bedroom after dark, becausethe father liked to take payment. The only person who was not badly writtenabout was the mother. Winnie tried to stay close to the mother, or keep her ownspace. There was also a note stating that when asked if she had plans, toalways state that she planned to leave at eighteen. So, when it came to theparty, she was more than prepared.
Eve was not a friend. Shesent the foster girls into the devil’s den, where all her real friends wantedto play. “Play” meant a bunch of male friends liked to intimidate, rape, andsometimes beat some of the girls. Eve was supposed to drug them—not enough toknock them out, but enough to stop them from fighting back.
Winnie hadn’t drunkanything. She was not drugged.
So, that party had quicklyturned into a nightmare where she was fighting for her life. Salvation had comein the form of Elias. At the time, neither she, nor Eve, nor Eve’s friends hadknown that breaking into Elias’s warehouse had been detected. He’d been standingby, waiting, and what he found had caused a lot of death.
Elias killed the five boysthat had attempted to rape and beat Winnie, along with Eve, who had beenyelling for them to shut her the fuck up.
In the carnage, she hadbeen covered in blood, looked up at Elias, thanked him, and then asked if hewas going to kill her. He answered by asking her what had happened.
When she told him, shebelieved her life had changed forever. His bargain was, he would allow her tolive, but she had to agree to be his wife. In less than twenty-four hours, shehad been nearly raped, beaten, seen murder, and married.
She didn’t know what hedid to Eve’s family, if he even did anything. All she knew was she never had togo back to that farm, and since then, her life had changed forever.
Anyone else might beafraid of Elias. She wasn’t afraid of him. That had all happened four yearsago. When it came to her husband, she was loyal to him. He earned it.
The truth was, he couldhave killed her that night, but he didn’t. Instead, he married her, and in away, turned her into a fucking princess. Which was why she followed him to theback of the car, like so many times before, and moved toward the opposite sideas Elias climbed in beside her. She always gave him his space.
So far, it had been amarriage of … peace and tranquility. Winnie was happy, there was no reason notto be, but she couldn’t help wanting more. And she knew it was wrong to hope,to want, to even expect. Elias didn’t owe her a damn thing.
She couldn’t stand thethought of him being with another woman. She had never been jealous of anyone inher life. Sometimes, she might have been a little envious, but that made sense.She had watched many women and girls experience life, and she had been curiousof the what ifs. What if she hadn’t been put into foster care? What if she hadparents that loved her? So many what ifs.
The thought of Elias withanother woman churned in her stomach. In the early years of their marriage, shedidn’t care. If he wanted to have sex, he could have it with someone else. Now,she didn’t quite feel that way. She felt … irritated. She wanted to be thewoman he turned to. Was that crazy?
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Business was thriving.Business was always thriving.
Hitting the casino waspart of his regular routine when it came to taking Winnie out. It was easierstaring at the cards than wondering what she was thinking half the time.
