Page 84 of Gamble with Me
Why didn't I listen to my intuition?Fuck!
Chester struck my legs a few times before I managed to get away from him. I threw a cushion and vase at him, slowing him down from pursuing me, but he blocked me from getting on my feet and running away.
Every time I wanted to stand up, another hit came. He whacked my back, arms, and thighs, yelling and cursing at me and not quitting until I was lying on the floor, crying and begging him to stop.
I tasted blood in my mouth because he struck my jaw. My back hurt like fuck, and my legs stung. My body shook violently from the exhausting, pointless fight and desperate sobs that wrecked me.
I was crushed and humiliated by the very person who swore before God to care for me, to protect me. This should never have happened. I should've left him long ago. But exactly like before, he also held the upper hand now.
"I warned you, baby doll," he said gently when he knelt beside my quivering, beaten body. "Why didn't you listen to me?"
"I d-didn't do it," I sobbed, my tears soaking into the expensive black carpet.
"Stop fucking lying," he hissed, and I instantly shut my mouth. I didn't want to go another round with his belt. I could barely breathe. "I know there is someone else. If it's not Zyon, then it is another man. But listen to me very carefully."
He grasped my hair, and I whimpered but immediately pressed my lips into a thin line when he lifted my head, and I looked into his furious face. He was livid with rage, and I had no means to calm him down. I was at his mercy. If he wanted, he could easily kill me.
"If I discover you’ve touched another man, Valeria, you're both dead. Do you understand?" He jerked my head as if he was trying to shake the answer from me.
"Y-yes," I whispered, my poor nape burning from his rough hand tugging on my hair.
"Great, now pull yourself together," he commanded, letting me collide with the floor face first. "You look like shit."
I couldn't believe my own ears, but what did I expect? He’d hurt me before. It should've occurred to me that it would escalate. And I also knew about his sick jealousy. I should've predicted this.
Oh, God!
The sound of the door closing told me that Chester left. Slowly, I turned on my bruised back, staring blankly at the ceiling. I was empty. My head went through a hard reset. I felt nothing but endless emptiness in my chest.
Maybe I deserved this for being unfaithful to my husband. Perhaps it was my punishment for going behind his back and enjoying myself with another man. But what about him? Who will punish him for what he had done?
Bitter tears ran down my cheeks and chin, wetting my hair and dress. I cried until there was nothing left, until my eyes burned and went dry.
My body felt like it was made from lead. I had difficulty sitting up. Everything hurt, every muscle, every move.
At a snail's pace, I dragged myself to the bathroom, enjoying the coolness of the cold floor against my hot feet. It woke me from the trance, and I finally looked at my face in the mirror.
Gasping, I touched the purple slash that stretched from the corner of my mouth through my jaw to my ear. My trembling fingers traced the bruise, and my breathing quickened. The entire episode with the beating replayed before my eyes like a horror movie, and I sat on the toilet, hiding my face in my palms.
I couldn't go outside like this. Alice would instantly notice something was wrong. She knew me too well. Even if I managed to cover the bruise, she would see I wasn't okay. I couldn't meet with her. I had to cancel it and let things settle.
Hastily, I sent my best friend a short text, claiming I felt sick. It was the best my tired brain could come up with, and then I started to undress.
My dress was destroyed, ripped in a few places, and some buttons were torn away. Yet what I found under them was much worse than ripped fabric.
My back and arms were covered with long, red, and blue swollen slashes. The marks were hideous, screaming from my flesh that this was utterly wrong. My bottom and legs were in a similar condition. Chester didn't spare much of my skin. I was smothered in hateful, angry bruises that ached and stung.
Helplessly, I hugged my quivering torso and sat on the floor. I rested my head against the bathtub, trying to think clearly, but I couldn't.
My thoughts mixed into a huge mass, but while I thought I should be devastated by this devolvement in my marriage, I felt nothing at all. My chest was filled only with a shattered heart that pumped blood into my system. I was just a vacant vessel without emotions.
Nothing was left behind. Chester killed everything I ever felt toward him. My feelings for him were slowly dying, but his belt erased them like a swing of a magical wand. He meant zero to me. Almost eight years of marriage were wiped off like they never existed.
I didn't know for how long I sat in the bathroom in my wretched state when the doorbell woke me up. I winced, my stiffened muscles protesting, and I exhaled heavily.
Another ring of the doorbell forced me to stand up, but I couldn't go out like this. I covered my naked, aching body with a bathrobe, yet my face looked terrible. Whoeverlooked at me would know something awful had happened and would ask unpleasant questions.
I decided to ignore the person behind the door and waited until they left. Still, when a loud banging occurred, followed by Alice's demanding voice, I knew I was in trouble. She knew I was at home and wouldn't just go away.
