Page 57 of Revenge (Corrupt Empire 3)

“Have you been listening to the therapist bullshit from Sophie and Cora?”

She sighed.

“No, Aiden, I’m trying to help. Sometimes you need to try a different approach to get someone to snap out of it. She can’t just sit there mute and numb for the rest of her life and she can’t talk to a therapist considering what happened. You’re the only one who can help her.”

She wasn’t even talking to her friends. Not that either of them knew what had gone down that night. James called me daily to check on her. I could hear the agony in his voice every time I told him there was no change.

“I can’t do that to her.”

“You mean you won’t.”

“Do you even know what you’re asking me to do?”

“I don’t need to know. Do what you need to do to snap her out of it. Give her what she needs.”

I just couldn’t. No matter how much I missed her, forcing her to submit wasn’t right. She had to want that from me. How would I know if she was really consenting to it if she wasn’t fucking talking to me?

“I have to go.”

“Aiden…”

“Just drop it, Tina.”

I hung up. I didn’t need a lecture from her. What I needed was to take care of my wife. That meant making sure she was well fed and had enough to drink. I wasn’t going to allow her to starve herself.

I made her tea and brought it to her. Kneeling at her feet, I put the mug in her hands. She held it to her chest.

“Princess, will you talk to me?”

Nothing.

“Avery, please.”

Silence.

I put my hand on her knee, giving it a squeeze.

“I know you’re hurting but you can’t keep shutting me out. You have to let me help you. I made you a promise that we would get through this together.”

She kept staring at the window, holding the mug and completely ignoring me.

“Avery, this has to stop. I can’t keep begging you to speak to me.”

I dropped my hand from her knee. Even after her parents died and she got taken by Rick, she was never like this. Never just numb to everything and everyone around her. She’d cried and raged at the world. She didn’t retreat and completely cut herself off. She was a fighter. This wasn’t her. This wasn’t the girl I knew. The girl I loved.

“Princess, please. I love you. I need you to come back to me.”

I stood up when she didn’t move and walked away unable to face seeing her like that for one more moment. I had no idea what the fuck it would take to get her to just say something. My heart shattered every time I had to watch her blank expression. I missed her so much. The way she smiled when I teased her. Her infectious laugh. Those doe eyes which held so much love and affection. Fuck.

All I wanted was my Avery back.

And I had no fucking clue how to achieve that.

l

Two days later, there was no change and I was desperate enough to contemplate doing what Tina had alluded to. I’d lain in bed last night alone wondering if she’d look at me with those doe eyes of hers full of love and affection ever again. I’d reached breaking point. I couldn’t take it any longer. She stayed on that fucking armchair all night. I was done watching her deteriorate further.

Striding into the living room, I stopped a few feet away from her. I took a deep breath. This was about fixing her and I was fucking determined to do that no matter what it took.

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