Page 76 of Hunted By the Headless Horseman
Thaddeus brushes his perfect nose along my cheek, and I shiver, clenching my eyes, wishing I could sink somewhere deep in my mind—but I tried and failed so many times during those brief days with him. I can’t fade away. Or protect myself from the pain.
Thaddeus’s grip tightens, and I feel his energy, dark and threatening. His eyes, wild with fury and something more dangerous, lock onto mine as his hand trails downward, fingers pressing on my stomach with a chilling possessiveness.
“You think I don’t know the truth, Belle?” His voice is like pure venom, dripping with accusation. “You think I didn’t find out what you did to me?” His fingers tunnel into my skin just enough to make me wince, but I refuse to flinch. Focus on my breath. Steady my heart, my racing pulse. “You stole life from me. Our child.Mychild.”
The words hit me like a slap, a reminder of the one secret I’d buried so deep, the one I’d hoped he would never uncover. But the hate in his eyes tells me this is something more than possession—it’s revenge.
“You ran,” he continues, his voice cold and full of disgust. “Left me alone for years, like you could escape what we were. What you are to me. But you couldn’t hide everything, could you?” He presses harder against my belly, his expression twisted and triumphant. “The irony. All those books you read that led you to betray me and run away like a thief with my heart…how fitting when it was a book that betrayed you. You robbed me of my child, Belle. My heir. But you will give me your life and more now, Mrs. Thaddeus Thorne.”
Dread eats at my stomach lining. I shed that name the moment I escaped. Like a butterfly leaving her cocoon and flying free for the first time. Now, it feels like a noose tightening around my neck, prepared to rip my wings and put me in a cage all over again.
“You think you can just… take me back? After everything? You’re out of your mind, Thad,” I spit, sharpening my voice with the nickname he loathed. A furious muscle throbs in his stony jaw. “I took control of my life because I had to. You think I would ever let a child be raised by a monster like you?”
Thaddeus’s face twists in anger, his lips pulling back in a cruel smile. “You never had a choice. And you still don’t.” He leans in, his breath hot against my ear as he growls, “You were mine the moment we were married. You still are. An ever-binding circle that goes on for infinity,” he recites the sick laws of the Covenant. “And you will pay for what you did.”
His hand tightens on my stomach again, and horror thickens inside me. “I won’t let you slip away again. You’ll give me what you owe me. You’ll carry my child, or I’ll make sure you wish you had.”
My skin prickles with disgust, but I stay calm. I can’t show him too much fear—only a sliver for him to drop his guard. Because he won’t trust my ultimate defeat without a fight first. I can’t let him know that every fiber of my being is plotting my escape.
I tilt my head slightly, meeting his gaze with a cold, calculated look. “And if I don’t?” I challenge, baring my teeth. “What happens when I decide I’d rather have bloody wrists than the blood that comes from giving you a child? What happens when I leave you with nothing…again?”
His eyes darken, a sinister chuckle rumbling from his chest, penetrating mine with its callous resolve. “You do not know who I truly am. My bloodline isn’t like yours, Belle. You were so young when we married, too young and childish to understand the truth.”
Because Iwasa child, asshole,I don’t speak the words. They would tip him over the edge.
“My family—men like me—we don’t live past forty. We’re born to burn bright and die fast. And I am already running out of time.” He tightens his grip. “You are my last chance. My only chance. And I will stop at nothing to take what’s mine. To breed you like the wife you vowed to be.”
His words sink in, and my mind reels with the weight of his revelation. Forty years old. Every man in his bloodline, dead before then. It’s like a cold fist to my chest, connecting the dots. Thorne.
The curse. Edmund Thorne, the man who destroyed Jack’s life,who was responsible for the deaths of Jack’s family. And Jack’s revenge as the Headless Horseman. And double revenge on the Thorne bloodline, burning bright and dying fast—just like Thaddeus.
Such a common name. Thorne vs Thorn. I’m such an idiot.
The truth is like a wave slamming into me with the understanding: our fates are all bound. Inescapable.
“You’ll fail,” I say. “You’ll fail because you always underestimate me. I escaped you once, and I’ll do it again.” My voice lacks conviction. My heart does not.
Thaddeus sneers, his anger barely contained. “I have nothing to lose, Belle. You? You’re alone. You have no one.”
I am married.
My fingers twitch, and my heart clenches at the thought of Jack. Whatever happens, I can’t let Thaddeus know. Jack is my one hope. He will protect me—the only one standing between me and Thaddeus.
“You’ll give me what I want, Belle,” Thaddeus reinforces while scraping his teeth along my jaw. “And you’ll do it willingly. If you don’t, I’ll take it by force. You owe me.”
I don’t resist as his mouth crashes onto mine, crushing me into submission, tasting the twisted satisfaction of domination. I’m not just fighting for myself—I’m fighting for my freedom, my future, and my life with Jack. I won’t let Thaddeus take that away.
Play along.
Inside, I’m shaking, but my mind remains sharp and aware. I kiss him back, letting him believe he’s conquered me. My lips tremble, not with desire but because I’m suppressing my terror.
“Mine,” he whispers the low growl upon my lips. His hands slide to my waist, lifting me onto the counter, spreading my legs, and forcing his body between them. “Where you belong.”
I steel myself, keeping my breathing even despite the dread choking me. I embrace the smallest splinter of heat he gives me because he was always good at making mebelieveI wanted it. I still do in some ways because the body can’t forget what the mind trained it to do…for years.
One hand poises at the small of my back, fingers nearly hovering.Because Thaddeus doesn’t steal. He forces. He doesn’t need to grip the back of my neck. He commands with the power of his steel jaw. Authoritative, controlled, he plunders my lips. His power is supreme, unwilling to be denied as it triggers my darkest shame from all the times I bought his charming lies.
Pausing, he laughs deeply against my swollen lips. “Rest assured, Mrs. Thorne, I still know how to pleasure a woman.”
