Page 6 of Fury

I laugh bitterly. “Oh, well that makes it all better.”

My eyes move to Ethan. “I wonder who it is you’ve shown her, because I’m certain it isn’t the man that I live with.”

Abusive. Cold.

He love-bombed me at the beginning, but the moment we were married, everything changed. He’s a stone-cold narcissist, and he’s fooled her completely. He is a manipulative man who will use and abuse to get his way and then suddenly he’s kind and warm. Emotional whiplash. I wanted to leave him, I was trying to, and even though I know what kind of man he is, their news is crushing to me.

Even more crushing than what it is he has already done.

I wish I could feel sorry for her, because she will learn the hard way what kind of man he is, but I don’t because she is tearing my life apart. She is meant to be the person I trust the most in this world, and she just tore me down with one quick sentence. I love her. I never thought in a million years she would do this to me. Ella has always had a selfish streak, but I would have never seen this coming.

Ethan’s eyes flash, but before he can answer, Ella chimes in for him. “Maybe I’m a better woman than you, and for that reason, he is a better man. He is nothing but kind to me. He loves me and treats me right. I’m not certain I believe the lies you’ve told me. Maybe you, Alexis, are the one causing him to behave that way.”

I see red, mostly because I’m hurt and completely blindsided. The fact that she would actually say that to me, after everything I’ve confided in her. I take a menacing step toward her, forcing her to take another one back. Ethan curls his fingers around my arm in an attempt to stop me, and as I jerk it from his grips, I swing too hard and my body slams against Ella’s. Everything happens in slow motion after that. She stumbles, her eyes widen, and as if in slow motion, she trips and falls, toppling over the edge. Just like that ... she’s gone.

Simply gone.

Jerking awake, I bolt upright in bed and realize very quickly that I’m soaked in a cold sweat.

Another nightmare, only it’s not make-believe.

It’s real, and it hangs over my head every single day.

Glancing over at the man sleeping beside me, I clench my eyes shut. It’s the very reason I’m still here, and the only reason he continues to have so much control over me. What happened out there that day is a secret that both of us will take to the grave, but the only problem is that he blackmails me every day of my life by using it.

He knows it’ll keep me around, because he knows how afraid I am of both him and the truth.

“Dreaming over her again.”

His rumbly voice has my eyes popping open.

I look down at him.

Once, I thought he was the biggest blessing to ever enter my life. Boasting thick dark hair that hangs around his shoulders and dazzling blue eyes, I thought I’d hit the jackpot. He’s gorgeous, and he knows it. The catch of a lifetime, I told my mom once. The best thing to ever happen to me. I thought he was everything, until he showed me the monster that lies beneath.

Now, he traps me in a cage, holding the key so I can never escape.

“No,” I say, my voice husky.

“You lie,” he bites out, as his hand jerks the covers back to reveal a raging boner.

I used to love sleeping with this man, now I loathe it.

If I don’t, however, the consequences are simply not worth it.

“You know what to do.”

Stomach twisting, I don’t bother to argue. Instead, I push off the bed, pull my panties aside and climb over him. Sliding down onto his dick, I keep my face expressionless as I quickly bring him to release. I know how to work him now, to make it quick. I can’t stand to be here a second longer than I need. I know he’s sleeping with other women, but that doesn’t stop his expectations of me as his ‘wife’.

Once he’s done, I go to slide off when his hand lashes up to curl around my upper arm. He knows not to leave bruises where people can see them. He wants me to have a job, of course, because it brings in money and it’s another area of my life he can control. “I’m away this weekend. If I find out you leave this house ...”

Swallowing the bile that rises in my throat, I look down at him and nod.

He releases me.

I learned it’s best not to fight.

Fighting only ends in pain.

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