Deadly Deception by Kris Norris

ever touched me again, she’d kill him.”
    She stopped, taking a few deep breaths.
    Sawyer watched her fidget, wondering why in the hell he’d never asked her about her family before. “I’m assuming your father didn’t heed your mother’s warning.”
    “Everything was quiet for a while. I guess my dad believed her because he didn’t hit me again…until the day he lost his job. He went on some bender, got drunker than usual, and came home swinging. I hid in my bedroom but…”
    “But he found you.”
    She laughed, though it was hollow. “Not too many places to hide. All I remember is him pinning me to the bed, slapping me, ripping at my clothes, calling me a worthless whore, when my mother appeared behind him. She lifted her arm and that was it. I don’t know how many times she stabbed him. I suppose until he stopped moving. Sometimes I look in the mirror and still see all that blood.”
    She stopped and stared at her hands. Something twisted in Sawyer’s gut and he didn’t know whether to hold her or punch a hole in the wall.
    He reached for her hands, thankful when she didn’t pull away. “Did she ever try to leave him?”
    Her shoulders hunched more and he knew he wasn’t going to like what she said next.
    “Not once. She’d grown up believing in the sanctity of marriage, and truly believed it was a sin to leave him.”
    “Makes you wonder why she agreed to marry him in the first place, though I suppose he didn’t start hitting her until after they were married.”
    Mallory shook her head, pulling her hands free as she stood up and walked to the fireplace centred on the far wall. “Oh, no. She knew the kind of man he was. But…”
    “But what? Surely she didn’t think she could change him?”
    She looked over at him, pain clear in her eyes. “Sawyer…you really don’t need to know this.”
    Her sudden reluctance sent more shivers snaking down his spine, but he wasn’t about to let her stop now. “On the contrary. I think this is the part I need to hear the most.”
    Mallory pursed her lips, looking as if she wanted to be anywhere, but there. She forcefully swallowed, bracing one hand on the mantel. “She didn’t have a choice. They’d been dating for a while, but after the first time he hit her, she broke it off. I guess my dad wasn’t one to take no for an answer. He arranged a meeting, drugged her and drove to Las Vegas. I don’t know what kind of drug he used, or where he took her, or how he even got someone to agree to the ceremony, but when she finally came back to her senses, they were married, and she was damned no matter what she did.”
    The words struck him as surely as if it’d been a physical blow. He pushed off the bar and stalked across the room, punching the top of the couch as he walked by. God. How had he found the one horror in her past and brought it to life?
    He turned back to her, anger and shame fighting for dominance. “Fuck, Mallory. Why the hell didn’t you ever tell me this?”
    “Don’t you think I wanted to? But damn it, Sawyer. It’s not the kind of thing that comes up. Besides, would you want to tell everyone about your family if that’s all you had to say?”
    “I’m not everyone , and you could have just blurted it out one night. Fuck!” He stomped around the room again, not sure whether to scream or curse. “That’s why you freaked out in the hospital. Damn it, I’m a fucking fool.”
    “I honestly don’t remember anything that happened the day of the stabbing, or what followed at the hospital before you left.”
    “Well, I remember and I can assure you, you weren’t pleased. In fact, you were terrified.”
    He sighed and finally sank down on the sofa, palming his head in his hands. The cushion dipped beside him and her small hand touched his thigh. He turned his head, knowing there was more to say but unable to get any of the words out.
    She patted his thigh once before standing again. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. You’re right.