Come Back for Me (Arrowood Brothers #1)(20)

Kevin grips the back of my head, pulling my hair so hard I yelp. “Going somewhere?”

I could lie, but it won’t matter. He knows why we were sneaking out in the middle of the night. There’s no getting out of this, and for once, I refuse to back down and be afraid. The worst will come, but Hadley will be nowhere near when it does.

There is a small . . . so very, very small comfort in knowing that when he kills me, he’ll go to jail and she’ll be free of him.

“You won’t get her.”

“Oh, you think you’re noble? You think she won’t come home to her daddy?”

I laugh because the funny part is, she might not be his. Still, there’s some self-preservation left inside me that keeps my mouth shut. I might feel brave, but I’m not fool enough to make this worse.

“Something funny, Ellie?”

“This,” I say through gritted teeth as the pain from him practically ripping my hair out throbs. “That you say you love me and Hadley, and yet, you’d stoop to this.”

“I need you.”

“You need to stop hurting us.”

Kevin’s lips graze my neck, and the grip of his hands loosens. “I’ve loved you from the first moment I saw you. I knew you’d leave me someday. I fought to keep you. Then we had Hadley, and I believed that we would be fine. I should’ve known you could never be loyal to me.”

I close my eyes, forcing any emotion back down. I can’t show any weakness. “Let me go, Kevin. Let me go and be happy.”

He shoves me away so hard I fall, my hands and knees hitting the dirt so hard they burn with fresh scrapes. “You want to be happy and leave me to handle it all? No. I told you what would happen. I warned you not to try to walk away from me.”

“Why? Why do you want me? You don’t love me, and I don’t want this!”

A fresh anger fills his gaze, and I don’t have enough time to move before his foot connects with my ribs.

I feel the agony before I can draw a breath. The side where I was already bruised now feels crushed.

I struggle to stand, to get air in my lungs, but the pain is too great.

“You don’t want this?” Kevin yells as he pushes me back to the ground.

“Kevin!”

“You don’t want what? Me? You want someone else?”

His hand grabs my arm, hoisting me to my knees.

“I want you to stop!” I somehow get out.

“You could’ve stopped it all.”

Yeah, by never marrying him. By leaving a million years ago. I could’ve done so many things differently, but I didn’t. I chose to live with a man who has torn me down. While I felt I had no way out, I ultimately gave him the ability to hurt me. Now, he plans to do that, and I’m already broken and unsure of how to stop it.

“Kevin, please,” I beg, knowing it might be my only chance.

“Please what? Please don’t hurt you? Did you think I wouldn’t be the one who was hurt when I found my wife and daughter gone? Did you not think of me when you were sneaking out of this house, trying to steal my child? No, you were only thinking about yourself!”

My tears fall now, unable to stop them. The pain in my chest is so bad it has spots flaring to life in my vision. Every ounce of strength I have, I use to keep him talking. The longer I hold his attention, the more time that Hadley has to run.

“I begged you,” I say, my eyes meeting his, giving in to the emotions that are eating me alive. “I believed your promises that you wouldn’t hit me. I fed into each lie, allowed you to control me. I let you do all of this because, at some point, I loved you. I wanted Hadley to have a father, but you broke each promise. You say I’m selfish, but what about this, Kevin? What about the bruises and injuries?”

He gets down on his knees beside me. “Don’t you see how much I fucking love you? If you didn’t make me so angry all the time!” Then he gets to his feet and starts to pace. “You defy me and think I’m stupid. Well, I’m not stupid am I, Ellie? Look who is on the ground at my feet now. All because you couldn’t keep your legs closed.”

The blame falling to me again makes me want to choke him. I’ve tried so hard to make him happy. I’ve done everything he asked and kept our home the way he said he wanted it. I have cooked meals the way he wanted and acted exactly how he expected me to act. I did it all, and nothing was ever good enough.

I rise, not willing to be on the ground anymore. He watches me, and I step away from him, my back hitting the car.

I’m trapped.

“If you loved me, you would stop this. You wouldn’t have hit me in the first place, and I wouldn’t be leaving.” My hands are against the cold metal as he advances quickly.

I tremble, fear hitting me as I know what’s going to come. He’s out of his mind with rage. “No! You just don’t see. You don’t fucking see!” He rears back, hitting me so hard that my vision blurs. The world around me tilts, and my hand cups my cheek, the sting so deep I know I’ll feel it for days. “You’re mine! You’re my wife, and you’ll obey me. You promised to stay!”

“And you promised to cherish me!”

Hadley.

All I keep in my mind is that sweet little girl and the hope she’s still running, finding someone to give her shelter.