Page 66 of Fallen Empire
“I loved Bruce the only way I knew how,” she said. “We worked in silence. We showed up at events. Just like my parents did. I thought that was how love worked. Not this picture-perfect fantasy where two people can’t keep their hands off each other.”
She let out a soft laugh, but winced a little at the movement.
“The day I found out my parents had died was the day everything changed. When the police left… he smiled.” Her voice cracked. “I was on my knees, praying it wasn’t true. And he just—smiled.”
I wanted to reach for her, but I knew if I interrupted, she might shut down.
“He pulled me off the floor by my hair. It was the first time he ever touched me like that. I didn’t go to work the next day because I couldn’t. I wouldn’t be able to explain away the busted lip and bruises. But when he came home that night and started again…” She shrugged slightly. “I think I lost half my hair the day I tried to run. He caught me right as I grabbed the car door handle. My neck hurt for weeks. Eventually, I just… adjusted. I stopped fighting back. Tended to the wounds like it was my new career.”
She went quiet. I didn’t realize she was finished until the silence dragged.
“What made you leave?” I asked.
She looked up at me, and the weight in her gaze felt ancient.
“I knew he was after my inheritance. The truth is, I would’ve let him have it. All of it. But I also knew he’d kill me to cover his tracks. I wasn’t sure he killed my parents—until hekidnapped me. Technically, he said someone else did it… but his hands were still covered in their blood.”
“So?” I prompted softly.
“I wasn’t ready to die,” she said. “And I wanted to stop him before he hurt anyone else. I didn’t know everything then—not about my family, or where the money really came from. But I knew it wasn’t from my parents’ pretty careers. Not all of it, anyways. And Bruce… he knew more than I ever did and that scared me.”
She paused, and then her voice dropped.
“My plan was to go into hiding, piece it all together, and turn him in.”
She let out a breath—bitter, broken, like she already knew what I was about to ask.
“But the truth?” she said, voice low. “Men like Bruce don’t fear justice. They buy it. Half the cops in his pocket would’ve helped him bury me and smile for the cameras after.”
She looked away again, jaw tight, eyes distant.
“And if I couldn’t trust my own parents… if the man I married could turn into a monster overnight… how the hell was I supposed to trust a stranger in a uniform?”
Her gaze came back to mine, hollow and sharp all at once.
“In his world, a pair of handcuffs isn’t the end. It’s just foreplay.”
“And New York?” I asked.
“My mom brought me here a few times when I was younger. I loved it. The big city, surrounded by thousands of people and nobody knowing who I was.” She paused. “I thought I’d be invisible here.”
I let out a breath, heavy with guilt.
“You probably would’ve been… until I put you in the spotlight. Suggesting you take the lead with Jaxson…” I trailed off, my stomach twisting.
I’d thrown Jaxson and Ben’s guilt back in their faces like a grenade—and now it was ricocheting straight back at me.
And fuck. The club.
She’d been adamant about not going. Her dilemma hadn’t been about having fun, it had been about being vulnerable.
Not being able to see a face in the crowd of darkness until it was too late.
And then that fucking prick had touched her.
She’d almost had a panic attack from that one, simple touch.
I knew exactly what it was when it happened. I’d seen the way the blood drained from her face. A reflection of having had them myself.
