Page 70 of Indulgence
He jerked my head back and smirked with sleazy confidence. “Was I too much competition for him? Could your husband feel me lulling you away from him?”
His grin was absolutely sinister as the next words passed his lips. “Is that why you stopped coming to the club? Is that why you two separated?”
My stomach tightened. How could he know that?
My gut knew this wasn’t a coincidence. I wasn’t imagining things or being dramatic.
A tremor ran down my body, and I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to control my emotions.
He was stalking me
Had been for weeks at least. Black spots hung on the outskirts of my vision as dizziness started to take over when I thought about him following me all summer. Did he know where I lived? Had he followed me to Penelope’s? Is he following Matteo too? What if he’d killed Matteo and was here to drag me away?
Was it possible to actually be scared to death? Because everything inside me turned off. My vision blurred. My ears rang. My whole body felt as if it were missing feeling.
I was off kilter when he shoved me onto the bed and snatched the sash from my robe lying on my pillow. I felt as though I had no control over myself. I was seized by terror.
He approached me with the sash and some adrenaline finally kicked in. Blood smeared across the bedspread as I tried to roll away from him. No way was he going to tie any part of me to something. Not happening.
He snagged my ankle and pulled me back toward him. I attempted to grab on to the bedspread, but I couldn’t get purchase. My head throbbed as Gerard flipped me over and yanked me. His eyes appeared feral as he dragged me to him and looped the sash from the robe around my ankle. “No fret, dear Natalie. I’ve watched you enough to know just what you like. Even if you did dangle that juicy plan with the sex swing in front of me in the sauna and then shut me out, I still know how you like to be touched.”
His hand trailed up the inside my thigh, inches away from my core, and it was as if his touch rendered me immobile. I froze. He was going to rape me. I wanted to kick him in the face. Then punch him in the throat. And the balls. But I couldn’t move. All I could focus on was this unwanted touch.
Disgust washed over me as he slipped his hand into my shorts. A wave of nausea crashed down on me as he flicked my clit. Another tear leaked from my eye down my cheek.
I heard the sound of my phone ringing again. Then it all hit me.
Snapshots of the kids and Matteo shuttered through my mind.
The kids on their last birthday.
Their faces when they showed me all their hard work at camp.
Matteo the day we got married.
Matteo’s smile the day we bought our home.
The children giggling on Saturday mornings when they made breakfast with Matteo.
My last image of Matteo would not be the look on his face when I told him I couldn’t come home yet. That wasn’t how our story ended. This wasn’t how I ended.
Over my dead body would I allow this man to touch me. I’d fight him to my very last breath.
He was not going to take that or anything else from me. A wave of courage and strength pulsed through my veins as I jerked my foot back and put all the power I could muster into shoving it into Gerard midsection. I couldn’t allow him to tie me up. If that happened—I didn’t want to think about it. The kick was hard enough to knock him off his balance. He tripped over the luggage rack and fell.
Quickly, I yanked the stocking from my mouth, but before I could belt out a cry for help, a fist smashed into my sternum. The breath was ripped from my lungs. A dull buzz filled my ears as I dropped to the ground. My head thudded against the floor as pure fire burned through my chest. I couldn’t get air into my lungs. I gasped and gasped, not feeling any relief.
Gerard loomed over me, rage oozing from his body. He swung his leg back and kicked me in the side. A sharp stab ricocheted in my chest cavity. “That wasn’t very nice.”
I rolled to my side trying to cope with the assault of agony raining down on me. He shoved me onto my back with his foot and straddled my torso. He dropped down, kneeling over me. He covered my mouth with one hand, making searing pain blast through my face and my vision flicker to black, and pinned my hands over my head with the other. He leaned down until we were nose to nose, and when my vision started to focus, all I saw was the unhinged look in his eyes.
One way or another, my life may never be the same for me after this.
My phone was on a continuous ring out in the hall. It was like a sign from above telling me to hold on because someone was looking for me. Hang on as long as I can. Survive however I needed to.
“That fucking hurt, Natalie.” Spittle flew from his mouth as he snapped at me. “I can see why he ties you up. You’re a wild one. You’re going to be so much fun.”
He leaned down and bit the swell of my breast as I cried in agony behind his hand.
