Present
I froze, fisting my hand and feeling him sitting across from me in the limo after the service. Damon Torrance. The boy in the fountain.
The kid in the disheveled suit with hair in his eyes and a bloody hand who would barely speak or look at me.
But now he was a man, and he had definitely learned to talk. Tall and sure, there was a threat in his dark words in the church, but I could still smell that fountain on him. He smelled like cold things do. Like sharp water.
“Your father guaranteed us a lofty settlement as long as I stay married to you for a year,” my sister said as she and Damon sat side by side, across from my mother and me in the car. “I intend to see it through. No matter what you pull.”
She was speaking to him, but his voice was calm and resolute when he finally addressed her. “We won’t be divorcing, Arion. Not ever.”
His voice sounded turned away, like he was gazing out the window or anywhere but at her.
No divorce? My heart pumped harder. Of course he would divorce her. Someday, right? I couldn’t even believe it had gone this far. This was all just revenge on my family, after all. Why would he want to carry it out for a lifetime?
It was his plan to ruin us. Finding proof of my father’s embezzlement and tax fraud and causing his flight from the country, the feds seizing nearly everything we owned, our bank accounts drained, and now…the perpetrator of all the havoc swooping in to take advantage of three destitute women who needed support. Someone to save their home and put them back into the luxurious lifestyle and community standing they were accustomed to.
But no, I understood. As much as I wanted to pretend I didn’t know the end game, I did. Deep down, I did.
His plan wasn’t to ruin us. It was to torture.
For however long it entertained him to do so.
“You want to stay married to me?” my sister asked.
“I don’t want to be married to anyone else,” Damon clarified, his voice monotone and uninterested. “You’re as good as anyone, I suppose. You’re beautiful and young. You’re Thunder Bay. You’re educated and presentable. You’re healthy, so children shouldn’t be a problem…”
“You want kids?”
My sister’s question sounded almost hopeful, and I closed my eyes behind my sunglasses, cringing. “Oh, God,” I breathed out, unable to hold in the curse filled with nausea and disgust.
Silence stretched the space of the car, and I was sure everyone had heard what I’d said, and while I couldn’t see him, I knew his eyes were on me.
How could she still want him? And they were going to bring kids into this madness? What he did when we were children wasn’t enough to convince her how bad he was, and neither was what he did to me in high school. She knew he couldn’t stand her, but still, she wanted him anyway. She always wanted him.
Arion didn’t care that she had to marry him because of the predicament he created in the first place. We lost everything, because of him, but no fear… Here he was, giving all of it back by marrying the eldest daughter and tucking us back in under the umbrella of his protection and his family’s bank account. He made himself the cure, which wouldn’t have been necessary if he hadn’t also created the disease.
I hated him. My sister’s new husband was the only man I thought I might kill someday.
“If you have extramarital affairs,” Arion warned, “be discreet. And don’t expect me to be faithful then, either.”
“Ari…” My mother hinted my sister to be quiet.
But she kept going. “Do you understand?” she pressed her husband.
I stayed turned toward the window to hide my face—or at least half of it—or maybe I wanted to appear as if I weren’t following the conversation, but the car was too small a space to escape his presence. I couldn’t not hear every word.
Wasn’t this something they should’ve discussed before getting married? Or wasn’t this a deal-breaker for my sister?
“Let’s get some things straight,” he said calmly, “because I think you’ve forgotten exactly what your situation is, Arion.” He paused and then continued. “You get my name. You get an allowance. You get to preserve your social standing in this community, including your lunches and your shopping and your fucking charities.” His hard voice dug her grave deeper with every word. “Your mother and sister don’t wind up on the streets, and that is where my obligation to you ends. Don’t speak unless spoken to, and don’t ask me questions. It aggravates me.”
My chest rose and fell in shallow breaths as my stomach tightly knotted.
He continued, “I will fuck women who aren’t you, but you can’t fuck men who aren’t me, because no one else can father my kids. Duh,” he added snidely. “I will come and go as I please, and I expect you to be dressed and ready on the rare occasion we need to play the couple in public. You may not be the happiest wife, Arion, but I’m told this is why God invented Saks and Xanax.”
No one said anything, and I tightened my fist around my skirt, suffocating with their lack of guts to fight back. But as much as I hated his honesty, I appreciated it. There would be no illusions or false hopes in their marriage. Damon never lied.
Except when he did.
“And if you want to live through this,” he warned, “I would adjust as quickly as possible, since the only way you’re getting out of this marriage is in the event of your death.”
“Or yours,” I mumbled.
Everyone was silent for a moment, and the hair on my arms rose, but I still smiled inside. I imagined he was probably glaring at me with those same black eyes I remembered; not quite hidden under that same smooth, thick hair I was pretty sure no one else but me had ever touched, but I didn’t care. This was going to be bad no matter what. I wouldn’t do him or his family any favors by walking on eggshells.
“We understand, Damon,” my mother finally said.
The car slowed, and I heard the gate to our estate creak open, and then the car sped forward again taking us home. I remained huddled at the end of the seat, against the window and feeling my body pull as we circled the drive and stopped up in front of our home.
Maybe I should be grateful that we still had the house. My father—the mayor of Thunder Bay—was gone, our businesses, assets, and real estate seized, and nearly every dollar to our names taken. My mother was thankful that Ari and I could at least sleep in our beds and not lose the place where we’d grown up.
But she was delusional. None of this was ours anymore. The house and everything in it was in Damon’s father’s name. We truly had nothing.
You would think that’d be heartbreaking, but there was a freedom in knowing that I no longer had anything to lose. He’d never fought someone who had no fear.
The door opened, and I heard bodies shift as they rose.
“I’m not coming in,” Damon said.
There was a moment of silence and then my sister’s brief protest. “But…”
But she didn’t finish. I didn’t know if she just decided it wasn’t worth the effort, if my mother gestured for her to shut up, or if she remembered his instruction not to ask questions, but she passed me and climbed out of the car, the soft scent of her Gucci perfume following behind her. The train of her dress brushed over my flats.
My mother passed next, always preceding me, so she could guide me to the front door.
But as soon as I scooted forward, I was grabbed by the collar, hauled forward into a hard body, and the car door was slammed shut right before I heard the lock click.
I sucked in a breath, an electric current coursing under my skin as his warm breath fell on my lips.
“Winter?” my mom called from outside. “Damon, what’s going on?”
I heard one of them jiggle the handle, trying to get the door open again.
“Hey.” My sister’s voice followed and a knock on the window.
I made to move my arms to push him away, but dropped them back to my side almost immediately. He wanted me to fight him, and I wasn’t ready to give him the satisfaction. Not yet.
“Wise choice,” he whispered. “Save your strength, Winter Ashby. You will need it.”
His breath caressed my mouth, tickling the corners, as his chest rose and fell faster than before.
He wasn’t calm anymore.
The door opened, and I was flung out of the car with little effort, stumbling into my mother’s arms before hearing the door slam shut again.
Someone grabbed my arm—my sister, I assumed—as I straightened myself.
“What was that about?” she snarled.
“Are you stupid?” I bit out in a low voice. Did she really not know?
None of this had anything to do with her, and she knew it.
My mother guided me into the house. I felt my sister’s gown brush past me as soon as we entered the marble foyer, and I let go, holding out my hand to find the stairs ahead. Once inside, I knew my way.
The stairs creaked above me. Probably Ari seeking out her room.
Some wedding day. No guests. No reception. No wedding night. At least not yet.
“Mom?” Ari called out as I swung around the bannister and headed to my room down the hall. “He and I will need a bigger room and more privacy, as well as the master bathroom.”
I clenched my jaw, lightly skimming the wooden bannister with my hand as I charged to my room. Opening the door, I ducked inside and slammed it shut, locking it behind me.
My nerves fired underneath my skin, and I felt to my right, immediately grabbing the dining room chair I’d stolen. I nudged it underneath my door handle for additional protection.
He might’ve left for now, but he could be back at any time.
Any day. Any hour of the night. Any minute.
Mikhail brushed his wet nose on my leg, and I crouched down, petting him and holding his head to mine, savoring the feel of the only thing that made me feel good anymore. Other than dancing.
I adopted the golden retriever last year, and while I adored the company, it would be hard to leave with him if I was going to run now.
I stood up, rubbing my eyes.
God, I couldn’t believe Ari. They were taking my mother’s bedroom.
Anger boiled my blood, but I guess it was a good thing. We shouldn’t hide under any illusions. We lived, ate, and slept under someone else’s good graces. Now, we were simply guests in our own home.
How could my father leave us to this?
If caught, he would’ve gone to prison, which I was sure was Damon’s desire. An eye for an eye. A little payback. A dose of his own medicine.
But my father had just enough time to run, and no one knew where he was now. If he had used some of the money to hide us away, get us out of the country with him, or put us under the protection of friends, I might’ve been able to forgive him. Or at least trust that he had a care in the world.
But he just left. And he left us high and dry at the mercy of anyone who came along. What was Damon going to do to us?
He would certainly have his fun. My sister was gorgeous. My mother still had her figure and face, judging from the comments I’d overheard around others. My sister would do anything he asked, and so would my mother. If she refused, he’d just threaten me, and she’d do anything.
She might’ve even been an option for this alliance, if not for the fact that she was still married to my father. And I wasn’t an ideal choice, either, because I’d fight him and never stop fighting him. Ari was the easy choice.
But dodging that bullet didn’t mean I was safe. What the hell else was I going to do? I had to leave. It was time. I knew this.
I should’ve just stayed gone. After high school, I’d completed two years of college in Rhode Island but quit to come home and focus on dancing, training, and trying to convince any choreographers or company directors to give me a chance. It had been a horrible year, though, and getting worse.
Kneeling down, I slid my hands under my bed skirt, feeling around for the nylon strap, and yanked a packed duffel bag out from underneath. The cool, oblong bag had been hidden in my closet since I sent Damon to jail five years ago, always ready for flight, because I knew I would lose in the inevitable fight. There were two changes of clothes, an extra pair of sneakers, a burner phone plus charger, a hat, sunglasses, a first aid kit, a Swiss Army knife, and all the cash I’d been secretly scrounging since then: nine thousand eighty-two dollars so far.
Of course, I had friends and family I could go to, but disappearing was the only fail-safe. I needed to be gone. Out of the country.
But I needed help getting there. Someone I trusted above everyone else who wasn’t afraid of Damon or his family or the elite in this town. Someone who could outwit my new sister’s husband and get me out of here.
Someone I hated putting in Damon’s path, but I wasn’t sure I had a choice.
“Hey,” Ethan called out from the running car. “Are you okay?”
I nodded, feeling the car brush my thighs and knowing he’d opened the door for me. “I’m fine.”
It was just after midnight, and a shiver snaked up my arms as I exhaled the chilly air outside my front gate and held on to Mikhail. Of course, my mother might see headlights, so I’d told my friend to pick me up down the road, honking three times in a pattern of two quicks and one slow to alert me he’d arrived.
Awareness made the hair on my body stand up. Damon hadn’t come back tonight, but as long as nothing had changed, then he was still the same. He liked to be up at night, so he could still be on his way, and I needed to hurry if I was going to put miles between me and this town before anyone found out I was gone.
I should’ve left when the feds came after my dad more than a month ago. I knew more was going on. Or I should’ve left two days ago when my mother and sister were summoned to a meeting with Damon’s father, and Arion came out engaged. But I was leaving now. I wasn’t spending a single night with him in this house.
My duffel was pulled out of my hands, and I knew Ethan had taken it to toss in the backseat.
“Hurry up. It’s cold,” he said.
I climbed in, forcing the dog into the backseat and pulled the door closed, fastening my seatbelt.
A strand of hair, loose from my ponytail, brushed across my lips before getting sucked into the corner of my mouth with all of my panting. I nudged it out of the way.
“Are you sure about this?” Ethan asked.
“I can’t stay in that house,” I told him. “I’ll leave them to whatever sick game they want to play.”
“He won’t let you go.” I could hear him shift into gear again and the engine rev. “He won’t let any of you go. Your mother, your sister, you… In his mind, you all belong to him now. You, especially.”
The car took off, I pressed back into my seat, and with every inch we sped away from my family’s home, the non-existent breath on my neck got hotter. I hadn’t slept well in a while, but from this moment on, I’d always be looking over my shoulder.
You, especially. Ethan was one of my best friends, and he knew the whole story and how bad this was for me.
“He only married Arion because she was easy. She said yes,” Ethan warned. “It’s you he wants.”
I remained silent, clenching my teeth so hard they ached.
Damon didn’t want me. He wanted to torment me. He wanted me to hear him in the next room with my sister every night. He wanted to see me sitting quietly at the breakfast table, nervous with my knees shaking, wondering if he was watching me and what he was going to do next. He wanted to kill any peace of mind I’d achieved these last years with him tucked away in jail.
I let out a breath. “I don’t care if he comes after me. I’m twenty-one years old. Whether or not I stay in that house now isn’t his decision.”
“But it is in his power to let you leave,” Ethan retorted. “He’ll bring in guards if he has to. We need to be ready.”
I knew he was right. Legally, I could do whatever I wanted, but Damon wouldn’t care about that. With or without my consent, he’d keep me wherever he wanted me.
I still had to try, though. And never stop.
“I’m not scared of him,” I murmured. “Not anymore.”
“And your mom and sister? What he’ll do to them if you don’t come home…”
Which was nothing different than he was already going to do, I finished for him.
“They knew what happened to me when we were kids. And what he did to me five years ago,” I pointed out. “And they still brought him back into our lives. They put me back in his path, because of the money. Not only did they not protect me, but they put us all back in danger. Damon’s family is bad.”
Arion’s behavior didn’t surprise me. We’d been wealthy our entire lives, and she’d always wanted him. Having money again and being his wife, even if he was the cause of all our recent troubles, was more than she could’ve hoped for. She might even be happy this all happened in the first place.
But my mother was a different story. She knew what inviting him into our lives would mean. She knew his end game here, and she didn’t protect me.
And as much as Ari and I didn’t get along, I didn’t want her suffering.
And Damon would make her life hell. What he’d said in the car was no doubt accurate. She’d be popping pills to dull the pain of his treatment sooner or later. How could my mother let this happen? Was she really that scared to lose her home? Was she that worried about how we’d survive?
Or did that intimate look between her and Damon’s father I’d seen when I was a little girl finally make sense?
My mother had an affair with him, didn’t she? Perhaps it wasn’t only fear that controlled her.
And despite what they were willing to endure, I wouldn’t let them make that decision for me.
“We could get married,” Ethan said, his usually light and playful voice, low with a sultry tone.
And despite my nerves, I snorted. “That won’t stop him. It won’t even give him pause.”
Having a husband wouldn’t even protect me from Damon Torrance.
“Ah, shit,” Ethan breathed out.
“What?”
“Cops. Behind me.”
Cops? We’d only been driving a few minutes. I hadn’t felt the turn onto the highway yet, so we were still on my country road. There were never cops out here. I knew that, because how many times had my sister sped up and down this road as a teenager with me in the car and never gotten caught?
“Are their lights on?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“We’re still on Shadow Point?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t stop.” I shook my head. “You weren’t speeding. They have no reason to pull us over.”
“I have to stop.”
He wasn’t worried, but I slid my hands into the center pocket of my hoodie, fisting them. The only time cops were out here was when they were called. Something was wrong.
“Please don’t stop,” I begged.
“It’s okay, babe.” I felt the car slow down. “We’re adults, and we’re not doing anything wrong. We’re not in trouble.”
Reaching over, I felt for the knob I knew would be there and turned off the radio, my ears trained on any sound coming from outside. Gravel crackled under the tires, and I knew Ethan was veering off to the side of the road. He pressed the brake, my body lurched forward a little, and I planted my hands on the dash to steady myself as he shifted the car into Park.
Shit. I’d only been in a car that was pulled over once before in my entire life, and now, tonight of all nights…
A car door slammed shut, and a quiet motor hummed, telling me Ethan was rolling down his window. His shallow breathing filled the car. He was nervous, too.
“Good evening,” a male voice said. “How are you tonight?”
I recognized the voice. Small town, limited cops, but I didn’t mix with him enough to remember the name.
“Hey, yeah, we’re good,” Ethan told him, shifting in his leather seat. “Is anything wrong? I don’t think I was speeding, was I?”
There was silence, and I imagined the officer bending down to peer through Ethan’s window. I remained still.
“Kind of late to be out, isn’t it?” he finally said, ignoring the question.
The hair on my arms stood up. What did he care?
Ethan let out a nervous laugh. “Come on, man. You sound like my mom.”
“Winter?” The cop spoke up. “Everything okay?”
Heat brushed the side of my face. He had his flashlight on me.
I nodded quickly. “Yeah, we’re fine.”
But my hands started shaking. We shouldn’t have stopped. If we’d just been able to get down into the village, around people…
“Can you pop the trunk for us?” the cop asked, his tone clipped. “You have a bulb out. I’ll check it.”
Us. There were two of them.
“I do?” Ethan shifted in his seat again. “That’s weird.”
The trunk popped open, and Ethan exhaled as I waited quietly, still feeling the heat of the flashlight.
“If you see any bodies back there, they’re not mine!” Ethan called back to the second cop at his trunk, joking.
The car shifted under me a little as the second officer fumbled around at the rear, and I clasped my hands together.
“Congratulations to your sister, Winter,” the officer still at the window said. “Looks like your family’s luck is improving. You must be grateful.”
I pursed my lips.
“So where are you two going?” he asked.
“To my apartment in the city,” Ethan replied.
There was a pause, the heat left my cheek, and then he continued, “Planning on staying a while, Winter?” the officer questioned. “Is that your bag in the backseat?”
I swallowed, my heart suddenly hammering.
And then I hear the officer’s low, taunting voice. “Tsk-tsk-tsk… Damon won’t like that.”
I turned my face away, out my window. Shit. I knew it.
“Excuse me?” Ethan interjected.
But he was interrupted by the officer shouting from the back. “Found something?”
“What?” Ethan blurted out.
I turned my head back toward their direction.
They found something? In his trunk?
“Step out of the car, please, Mr. Belmont.”
No.
“What is this? What’s going on?” Ethan argued.
But the next thing I knew, his door was opening, and I could feel him getting out of the car. I didn’t know if the officer helped him or he did it of his own free will, but I opened my mouth to speak. “Ethan…” But I didn’t know what to say. They had him now.
Shuffling and mumbling, I could feel the car shift under me as they dug in the trunk again.
But then…
“What?” Ethan shouted. “That’s not mine!”
I twisted around in my seat, hearing Mikhail whine a little as I tried to hear what they were saying.
“Cocaine,” one of the officers said. “That’s a felony.”
I shot my eyebrows up. Cocaine? As in… cocaine? I unfastened my seatbelt and opened my door. No.
Stepping out of the car, I got out, leaving the door open, and kept my hand on the vehicle, using it as guide as I walked toward the rear. I wasn’t supposed to leave the car. They were going to yell at me, but…
“You guys have to be joking?” Ethan growled. “You planted that!”
I heard a scuffle and a grunt, and I sucked in a breath.
“Whoa, whoa,” one of the officers said. “Are you under the influence right now?”
What was happening?
More grunting, gravel kicked up under their feet, and I knew they had their hands on him.
“Stop!” I yelled, my hands sliding down the hood of the car to the open trunk as I reached them. “He would never do drugs. What are you doing?”
I heard heavy breathing I assumed was Ethan’s as the chilly evening air stung my nose.
“We’ve got at least fifteen baggies here,” a cop said.
“That’s intent to distribute,” added the other.
Intent to distribute. Two possible felony charges? My head was reeling.
“You son of a—” Ethan growled but was cut off and shut up.
“Wait!” I burst out. “Please stop. This is my fault.”
This was all a setup. There was no way he had drugs in his trunk. These cops stopped us for a reason, and it wasn’t a busted taillight.
I stepped closer, careful of my footing. “I called him,” I said, taking the blame. “What do you want me to do? Just please… Please don’t do anything to him.”
There was silence for a few moments, and then I heard some clicks. Someone was on their phone.
“Sir?” one of the cops said. “I have her here.”
Damon. This was him. He was who the cop was calling.
A cool hand touched mine, and I jerked, pausing when I realized the officer had put the phone in my hand. My fear and confusion slipped away, replaced with anger. I breathed hard, seething as I clenched my teeth.
I raised the phone to my ear.
“I’m very disappointed you actually thought this would work,” a hard voice said. “Although I am surprised you even got out of the house.”
It wasn’t Damon.
“Gabriel?” I barely mumbled, shocked.
Damon’s dad had arranged all of this? I was pretty sure he hadn’t been at the wedding. I knew he had to fully support what Damon was doing, but it escaped me that he’d have his back, too. He was watching me.
“Try not to worry,” he went on. “They’ll let him go in the morning.”
“They’ll let him go now!” I growled.
I wasn’t having my friend suffer at all because of me. It was stupid. I should’ve known better. Even if I had made it out, I would’ve put Ethan in Damon’s path just by involving him.
“Or we can keep him locked up until the trial,” Mr. Torrance continued. “Your choice.”
I ground my teeth together, too angry to think. Ethan wasn’t tough. I loved him, but a night in jail wouldn’t be good. Much less weeks, months, or years. Tears sprang to my eyes, but I forced them away.
“What do you want?”
“I want you to get your fucking little ass back home and in bed,” he bit out.
I shook my head, knowing he had me—for now.
But not forever.
“You think I’ll be easy?” I challenged.
“Of course not.” His tone softened, sounding amused. “That’s why he wants you, Winter. Just try not to be predictable next time.”
“What do you care anyway? You have Arion.”
“Arion is Mrs. Torrance,” he clarified. “The face of his family, and the one who will raise his children. But you?” He paused, his tone darkening and making chills spread down my arms. “You’re his cherry on top.”
