Page 1 of Broken Surrender
CHAPTER 1
Lena
A small black jewelry box rested beside my breakfast plate. But I focused on the orange jar filled with black and yellow capsules, like bees trapped in a glass hive. My husband, John, glanced up from his smartphone. He sipped his orange juice, then nodded, encouraging me. He even smiled, as if to say,This is just another pill. What harm could it be?
I itched my nose, wincing at the pain. Makeup smudged my fingers. I stared at the jar.
“What is it?” I asked.
“You will take one every morning with your breakfast,” he said, his tone measured and emotionless. “Don’t skip your meal with this one. It will make you sick.”
With all the pills he had me taking, I didn’t see how one more could make me vomit.
“But I didn’t complain about anything,” I said.
“It’s not about that.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Then, what is it?”
His smile tightened across his lips. My eyes fell to the jar. “It’s not your concern.”
“What do you mean?” I laughed. “It’s my body.”
He leaned forward, moving his empty plate out of the way, then finally put his phone on the blackwood table. My favorite housekeeper took it away, escaping out of sight before he opened his mouth again.
“I suppose you’re right,” he said, his gaze locked on my nose and eye, like he wanted to make sure that I remembered last night. “It’s a fertility drug.” I blinked my eyes. A fertility drug? As inpregnancy?“It’s been two years, darling. And I need an heir.”
A shiver crawled down my spine. “What if I don’t want to have a child?”
Not your child,I thought.
He reclined in his chair and picked up his phone, resuming his work. “Then I suppose I can request different arrangements with the Board of the Marked Blooms Syndicate.”
Every hair on the back of my neck stood on end. He hadn’t spoken to me like that in over a year. A ‘different arrangement’ meant that I was discarded; either I’d be taken back to Oakmont, or I’d be killed.
It’s easier if you let it go,I thought.
I was supposed to be grateful. After all, the Marked Blooms Syndicate had given me a life where we had house staff, too many rooms to keep track of, and the ability to buy anything that I wanted. There was an expensive piece of jewelry next to my breakfast, my husband’s latest apology gift. But John, and even my ex back in Oakmont, didn’t care whether or not I was breathing when I opened my legs—only that I politely did as I was told.
And right then, despite everything in my grasp, I felt nothing.
I lifted my orange juice, throwing the pill back. It was better not to escalate. He just wanted a baby. I crossed my fingers, hoping that cleaning myself of him after every time he screwed me was enough to fight against anything this new pill would do.
Shifting focus, I rubbed my fingers on the black box. For a second, I considered pretending like it wasn’t there, to see exactly what John did when I was so blatantly ungrateful. But those kinds of games never worked out in my favor.
I opened it: diamond earrings.Goodie.
“They’re beautiful,” I said.
“Wear them with the black dress,” he instructed. Though I had no plans to wear that dress any time soon, if ever again, I nodded, playing the role of the obedient wife.
“What I did was uncalled for,” John said, lowering his head. Nowhewas playing his role: the groveling husband. I might have been numb, but I wasn’t stupid. He said that to make me feel better. “I shouldn’t have done that to you.”
Be quiet,I thought.Don’t let him think you care.
“Thanks,” I lied back.
He nodded at the pill. “How are you holding up?”
