Page 28 of Trust in the Fallen

With a sigh, I allow my eyes to drift closed. I couldn’t move right now even if I wanted to, not with the agony that tears through my body every time I blink.

If I hadn’t already realized that I made a mistake leaving the men who made me feeleverything, this would be the moment that realization washed over me. Not only did I leave without saying goodbye, I left without getting so much as a phone number. Regardless of what they said last night, I know that soon they’ll find someone else to play the part I did last night, and I’ll become a distant memory, if that.

As carefully as I can manage, I roll onto my side and pull the pillow against myself. But there’s something not quite right that makes my eyes pop back open despite the screaming agony behind them.

I’m not in that ridiculous costume anymore.

I’m in the pair of silk pajamas that were folded at the end of the bed last night when I left the house with no idea how my life was about to change. When I found that invitation in Jason’s jacket pocket, I had no idea what to expect. But it certainly wasn’t what I found.

Which means he stripped me and put me in them.

Twenty-four hours ago I wouldn’t have blinked at that. But right now the urge to scrub my body clean of his touch almost overwhelms me. I don’t ever want to feel his hands on me again.

I need to find a way out. But that task feels like too much right now.

All our bank accounts are linked. He’ll know if I withdraw money from the accounts because although I have no proof, I’m almost sure he gets alerted every time I touch the accounts, even when it’s just for a coffee from the local café. On top of that, there’s no way my parents will let me leave him. It won’t matter that he hurt me, or that he might do it again. No. All that matters to them is their image. And how would it look if their daughter left the governor’s son?

And even if none of that was an issue, where would I go? There’s nowhere I could run that they wouldn’t find me. Not with the connections they have. The police commissioner of New York could pull the tiniest of strings, and my escape would come unraveled.

I bury my face in the pillow and fight against the tears welling in my eyes. What am I going to do?

The voices start to grow louder, and I stiffen instinctively before making the split-second decision to pretend I’m still asleep. It’s not going to work forever, although I wish it would, but it might buy me just a little more time to work out what my next steps should be.

It’s only when they reach the top of the stairs that I realize who it is.

My parents.

He called my parents.

He hit me, knocked me out, and called my parents. If that’s not proof of how messed up my life is, I don’t know what is.

“She’s still asleep,” Jason tells them quietly.

My mother sighs, and her heels click as she moves further into the room. “You shouldn’t have hit her face.”

He shouldn’t have hit my…face. Good to know she’s fine with my fiancé hitting me, just as long as it doesn’t ruin my appearance.

“I know.”

“She’ll need to stay home until the bruising starts to calm down and can be covered by some carefully applied makeup.” Her voice comes from near my face, and I try to keep my breathing as even as I can. “Do you have any events she was meant to accompany you to?”

“Not for another week. I’m sure by then she’ll be able to hide them.”

“Were you able to ascertain where she spent the night last night?” My father asks, his tone as disinterested as it always is when he talks about me. What did I do to deserve parents who are so indifferent when their child is hurt?

“No. She said she was with a friend, but something was blocking the tracker I have on her phone, and I can’t see any of the women at the country club having that kind of technology in their home.”

Tracker? He has a tracker on me?

“See if you can’t get some more information out of her when she wakes. She should know all friends need to be vetted by myself.” My father pauses, and I pray they’re done here, but I’m not that lucky. “I trust you will keep your extracurricular activities more discreet from now on?”

“My membership to that club has been revoked.”

“I suggest if you’re going to step out, you do it in another state. It’s much less likely you’ll be caught that way.”

I balk at his words, but manage to remain completely still. My father just gave my fiancé advice about how to cheat on me without raising any suspicion. Even for my parents that’s messed up. Is he speaking from experience? Admitting in front of my mother that he’s cheated on her? I’m sure it doesn’t come as a surprise. I’m not sure he’s been faithful a day in his life.

And yet he’s one of the most highly regarded men in the city, and the one who chose my fate.

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