Fear streaked through her expression, every heinous scenario playing through her mesmerizing eyes.
I touched her face. One last time. “It’s going to be okay. I promise you.”
She nodded again. “I trust you.”
I trust you.
I looked at the door, wanting to fucking punch it. I looked back at Grace. “Come out right after me, and restate how much my services were as we go to the register. Make sure everyone hears it. Do you understand?”
Her throat wobbled, as much as her legs did when she slid off the bed. Fumbling, she yanked off the sheet and tossed it into the dirty clothes hamper. She quickly laid out a new one and fluffed the pillow. “Yes, Mr. Jacobs.”
Jesus.
This was out of control.
What I felt.
I didn’t even think I recognized myself when it came to her.
I roughed a hand through my hair. “Okay.”
I unlocked the door and strode out. Just like I’d expected, every goddamned eye was on us, some blatantly gaping and others trying not to stare, their whispers instantly silenced when I strode out.
Grace was right behind me, her heels clicking on the floor. “The haircut is twenty-five and wax is fifty.”
I rounded the corner, and she slipped in behind the register. “So, seventy-five total.”
She was a shaking mess.
I pulled out my wallet and passed her a hundred, the tip of my index finger running over the back of her hand, praying it might calm her.
Just fucking needing to touch her.
The last thing I wanted was for her to feel ashamed in any way. The two of us had been forced into a closet.
One where we could no longer meet.
For a moment, her eyes squeezed closed before she nodded frantically, accepting our fate, and she took the money and shoved it into the drawer.
I forced myself to turn and leave.
I had a job to do.
And it was time I remembered it.
Twenty-Six
Grace
I hadn’t been able to stop shaking for two hours. Not since Ian had come through the salon door. Not since I’d asked Melissa to reschedule my clients for the day and left five minutes behind him because there was no chance I could stay there cutting hair and acting as if it were a normal day.
Not when I knew everything was about to change. We were going to go charging over a boundary I’d set for myself, no longer just praying that Reed was going to go away, but fighting back.
Taking a stand.
Doing whatever we had to do.
Though now—now it felt as it were a true statement. Maybe a dangerous one, but one that was worth it.
I pulled into the driveway in front of my grandmother’s house. Today was the day she played bridge with her friends, so she’d be gone most of the day. I couldn’t help but be relieved.
I needed to . . . be alone. Process and come to terms with the hand life had dealt me. The fact I was falling in love for the first time in my life.
The true kind.
Not an easy kind or a slow kind or a loyal kind. It wasn’t the kind a person settled for, and I knew, with every part of me, that it wouldn’t be fleeting.
It was the all-encompassing kind. The kind that hit you fast and came on hard and scored itself so deeply in your heart that it’d forever beat with it.
Blowing out a strained breath, I killed the engine and clicked open the door, pushing out to standing in the quiet, cool air.
I gasped out in shock and pain when a blur of movement spun from behind me, my body flying back when I was pushed against my car.
Hard.
I blinked, trying to orient myself, not even being able to clear my thoughts before Reed got in my face.
His was red and raging mad.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he spat.
Fear raced.
Oh, God.
“I . . . I don’t know what you are talking about.”
He pushed me closer against the cool metal that felt like shards of ice against my back.
Expression murderous. The cool he typically wore had vanished. “Don’t bullshit me, Grace. I just got a call from the judge. Did you really think I was going to stand aside and let you get away with this?”
“I’m just doing what is right for my children.”
“They are my children.” Arrogant indignation flashed through his expression.
I scoffed out a bitter sound, tried to stand tall, to stand my ground.
He needed to know I wasn’t backing down.
“Are you kidding me, Reed? You barely even see them when they’re at your house. You don’t spend any time with them. They don’t want to be there, and I sure as hell don’t want them in your space. Just . . .”
I searched his face for any understanding. For him to make rational sense of this. “Just . . . let them go. Let me go.”
“You’re out of your mind if you think that is going to happen. You’re coming home with me. Now.”
My own anger flared, butting up against the terror sling-shotting through my veins. “I think it’s you who is out of your mind. I’m never going back to you, Reed. Not ever. You think I don’t know the things you’re involved in?”
I was reaching. Hoping he’d stumble and admit something I could use. Give me something I could take to Ian to serve up as proof.
Rage blistered across his flesh. “You don’t know anything. And even if you did, no judge will believe you. Don’t you get that yet? I own this town. Every bit as much as I own you.”
Dread made my spirit want to falter. The cruel actuality of what he said.
He possessed all the power.
I lifted my chin, praying he’d bite. “I have proof. Pictures . . .”
His voice dropped into his own threat. “I warned you that you were putting your nose in places it doesn’t belong. As my wife, you are there to stand at my side, not get involved in my business. Do you understand? You need to come home . . . where I can protect you.”
Disbelief had my mouth dropping open. He was serious. He actually thought that I would find comfort and safety in his home. That I’d what . . . keep my mouth shut like a good little wife? “Thanks, but I think I’ll pass on your brand of chivalry. And in case you need the reminder, I’m not your wife.”
“Don’t make me do something I’ll regret.”
Harsh laughter rocked out of me, all mixed up with the fear that curled and beat and thrummed in my blood.
He was insane.
One second, he was acting like he loved me and wanted to keep me safe, and the next he was threatening to be the one doing the damage.
I kept my chin lifted, refusing to cower. “Like what, Reed? Are you going to hit me? Have me taken out? Tell me exactly what it is you want to protect me from.”
He shuffled on his feet, dropping down to get in my face. “From things you don’t understand. And don’t act like I’m the bad guy here. I’m the one who has five-hundred grand missing from his safe. I will have that money, and I will have you.”
I cocked my head at him. Feigning strength. Defiance. Hating the way my knees were knocking. “You’re delusional. I’ll never let you touch me again, and I don’t have that money.”
A shriek flew out of my mouth when he twisted a hand in my hair and jerked it hard, venom grating from his mouth. “You think you’re smarter than me? You think I don’t know you took that money? It’s mine. Just like you. It’s time you remembered it.”
His mouth slammed down on mine, violent as he tried to force his tongue into my mouth, his body pressing into me.
Depraved and perverted.
Just like I knew he was.
Nausea lapped in my stomach, and I groaned a defiant sound. My hands slapped out as I flailed and tried to break free of his hold. He grabbed me by both wrists and pinned them over my head.
“No,” I screamed, no ears to hear it.
He kicked my legs apart and wedged himself between them. He held my wrists with one hand while one went to my breast. Squeezing hard.
I whimpered, tears springing to my eyes.
No.
This couldn’t happen. It couldn’t.
I struggled harder, trying to break free, kicking and trying to bite him when he pushed his hand up under my skirt. “Stupid girl.”
It rang with so much ugliness. And I could almost hear the voice whisper through the choppy air, Angel Girl.