Page 5 of Break My Fall

Then they met, three months earlier at a charity party we were all attending – Edward because he was expected to by his father, who was the district attorney, and Nico by one of his biggest clients. That had been a disaster.

Edward hated the fact I had a job. He wanted me at home at all times, playing the dutiful little wife, but I just couldn’t live that way.

We married when I was young. I had barely been surviving on the wage from my waitressing job, living in a slum of an apartment in the city. Losing the guys had devastated me in a way I thought I would never recover from, and in some ways, I was pretty sure I hadn’t. But Edward walked into my restaurant one night and sat in my section. He was handsome and funny. He was studying law and he just seemed so far removed from the life I was trapped in. I fell for him fast and we were married and living together six months later.

At first things were good. Edward was under a lot of pressure from his father to graduate law school, but he handled it all pretty well. I started taking college classes in business and graphic design, hoping to one day find a path in life I wanted to take, all while finding my feet as the wife Edward needed me to be.

His father was a lawyer too, and working his way up the ranks. He put major pressure on Edward to shape his life in just the same way, and as such Edward needed a dutiful wife who would keep a nice home, always have dinner on the table and who would look good on his arm at functions. So that’s who I became, but I maintained my own dreams too, and put my foot down when Edward tried to make me quit my classes. Eventually I graduated and started looking for a job.

By then we had a child – our beautiful daughter Willow. She was the light of my life and my only reason for dragging my ass out of bed every morning. I named her, giving myself that small piece of what I had once had under our willow tree with those guys who made me feel so cared for.

My life with Edward was small and controlled, by both him and his father, Frank. Our lives were governed by the fact we could never set a foot wrong in case it created bad press and effected Frank’s reelection as district attorney.

Edward controlled every cent of the money we had. I didn’t have a car and I wasn’t involved in any decisions made about our life. He always knew where I was and what I was doing. Friends were not allowed and the only reason I got to keep my job was because his father felt it looked good that I was a ‘modern working woman,’ whatever the fuck that meant.

Edward was bitter and angry at the control his father held over every aspect of his life, and he took that out on me most days. He liked to lash out with his fists and any love there had once been between us was long gone. If his father would have permitted it, Edward would have let me go and divorced me years earlier, but that wasn’t allowed. Frank needed his only son to play the part of doting husband and father.

I knew I should get out. I knew it wasn’t a good environment for Willow to grow up in and I was constantly in fear of the day Edward went too far with his temper, but getting out was tough to do when I literally had no money to do it with, and a child to feed and take care of. Now I was pregnant again and the idea of running just seemed impossible.

So I was trapped, clinging to my daughter and my job to get me through each terrifying day. Edward hated and resented me for tying him down, and he wasn’t afraid to show that. Still, it didn’t stop him from forcing himself on me when the mood took him.

Worst of all was the way he treated Willow though. He had no love for her, and ignored her for the most part. If she made a peep around him, he lost his temper and screamed at her, to the point where she ran from him and hid, any time he walked into a room. When she was forced to be in his company, like family meals, she remained silent, never making a peep and always on her absolute best behavior. She, like me, lived in fear and I despised it for her. She was a happy, smiling child, full of joy and mischief when we were alone, and I wanted that for her all of the time.

I had to get out, but first I needed to get me and my unborn child safely through this pregnancy. Once this child was safely in the world I’d find a way to get us all out of that hell we lived in.

Until then I had to play my part, attending functions like the one we were due at that night. I had to smile and play the dutiful wife, and do whatever it took to keep Edward happy so he would keep his hands to himself. I was in my second trimester already and I knew a beating from my husband could be catastrophic. I couldn’t risk that.

“Maddie? You okay?” Nico asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Yeah. Sorry. I need to get going,” I grabbed my purse from the drawer I kept it in, “See you tonight,”

“Yeah, okay,” he nodded and I left before he could say anything else about Edward. There was nothing he could say that I didn’t already know. I had been a naïve fool to ever marry the man and I was paying for that mistake now. I could live with that, but I couldn’t live with my daughter paying the price too. That was the part that was really destroying me.

***

I arrived at the hotel, where the charity event was being held, by cab later that evening. The traffic into the city had been terrible, but thankfully I had been prepared and ordered a cab thirty minutes early, knowing Edward would be fuming if I arrived late.

He was going directly from the office, so when I walked into the lobby he was waiting there for me impatiently, storming towards me angrily the second he saw me.

As much as I hated him, I could still appreciate his handsome looks. He was tall and toned, his light blonde hair coiffed perfectly to the side. He looked good in his designer tuxedo and he carried himself with an elegance I had never quite managed to fake. But the anger contorting his face, as he looked me up and down, destroyed all of his good looks, revealing the evil, I knew only too well, that lurked within.

“You’re late!” he snapped as he grabbed my arm and wrenched me to his side. I fought the urge to check the time, knowing I wasn’t late. I had been watching the time on my cell the whole drive in, constantly assessing how much time I had left to get there, so I knew I was at least ten minutes earlier than we had agreed to meet, but I didn’t argue. It wasn’t worth it. I could never be right. “What the hell are you wearing? You look ridiculous!” he hissed as he tucked my hand into the crook of his elbow and escorted me towards the ball room like nothing was wrong.

“I’m sorry,” I replied instinctively, but I didn’t understand what was wrong with what I had chosen. It was a floor length, emerald, green ballgown, with an empire waistline which allowed for the bump I had rapidly grown over the last few weeks.

“You look fat! Surely you could have done more to hide that!” he waved a hand at my stomach and spat his words with disgust. It was hard to believe he was talking about his own unborn child. If only all of the other guests, who he was sending charming smiles to, could hear the venom he was spitting.

“I’m sorry Edward,” I apologized again. I was too tired to argue and making a scene in that moment would end very badly for me later. I had to do all I could to keep the peace, for my sake and for that of our child he had no desire whatsoever in coming into this world.

He led us both directly to his father, Frank. The man was an older replica of his son, holding court amongst several other high ranking guests at the event, over by the bar. He was charismatic, I gave him that, but he was just as much of an asshole as his son behind closed doors, maybe even worse. Edwards mother had killed herself with an overdose when he was seven years old and I was pretty sure I understood why.

“Ed! Madeline!” he said animatedly when he saw us approaching. “How wonderful you could join us!” He leaned in to kiss my cheek and I fought not to recoil, instead plastering a pleasant smile on my face, as was expected. “Excuse us,” he said as he threw a charming smile at the group he had been chatting with. “I just need to introduce my son to a few people.”

“Sorry we’re late, father,” Edward told him as soon as we were out of earshot.

“Do you have any idea how it looks when my son can’t get here on time?” Frank hissed angrily.

“I’m sorry Frank. The traffic…”

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