Averting her eyes, she watched the clouds in the breeze, the birds fly high, and the sun shine so bright it was blinding. Wishing for another life. One where she was perfect and not this ugly broken girl
He watched the light in her eyes fizzle and die. In that moment, Landon Powers, thirty-two years old, owner of multiple successful businesses, richest man in the state felt like the lowest form humanity had to offer. He helped do this. He made her question what little self-worth she had.
He didn’t take his eyes off of her while he waited for the doctor to get there. He needed to know if she was still in there. The girl who gave herself to him so freely had to come back. She had so much fire and passion held deep inside; he’d only gotten a small glimpse and he wanted it all. Every little spark, the giant flames, and the anger. God, did he want to feel her anger right now. She would have so much of it too.
His phone dinged letting him know the doctor was waiting in the lobby for him let him up. “I’ll be right back, sweets,” he told her kissing her head lightly.
Buzzing the elevator down for the doctor, he waited impatiently, not taking his eyes off her. Her gaze never left the window where he’d taken her innocence, marked her as his own.
“Mr. Powers,” Dr. Ganes greeted him as he walked in.
“Thanks for coming.” He offered his hand, shaking lightly.
“How may I help today? My assistant didn’t have very many details when she called me.”
“My fiancée, Cecilia, was tripped at school today and yesterday from what I understand. I want to be sure she’s alright,” he explained as they walked towards her still form.
Landon took a seat beside her as Dr. Ganes sat on the table in front of her. Pulling out a stethoscope and blood pressure cuff, he chattered away to her.
“Cecilia, would you please remove your sweater, dear?”
She winced at his question. Raising her eyes to meet his own, he saw raw fear and pain in her depths.
“Sweets?”
“Please don’t make me,” she begged, lower lip trembling as a lone tear rolled down her cheek.
“Talk to me, sweets,” he begged her. “Is it the scars? He’s a doctor. He doesn’t care and has probably seen worse.”
“Landon,” she exhaled. “I don’t want it to get worse.”
Anger rolled through him like a tidal wave. It had been bad before him, but it got worse when he practically devoured her minutes after meeting her. Then one magical night in his bed and his sister was trying to ruin her life.
He had to fix the mess he made before he could gain her trust back.
In all her years of being tormented and bullied, physical abuse had not been an issue. She’d been shoved around but no one had punched or kicked her the way they had as she was falling after being tripped. It was terrifying knowing people you were around every single day would want to inflict that kind of pain on another human being.
The names were always bad because they affected her peace of mind, but nothing compared to the way a full-on assault felt. There were times in middle school when she had wished for the names to stop and the physical to take over. She was now glad it had never happened.
Having Landon and his doctor want to see the result of such abuse was even more terrifying because they would see her failure to defend herself. One thing she always asked herself was why can’t you fight back?
She fought with herself on that daily. And the answer was so simple, yet so complicated…
She couldn’t inflict the same kind of pain on someone else as she suffered.
“Cecilia?” Landon called quietly, “Worse how?”
Darting a quick glance to Dr. Ganes, she settled her gaze back on Landon, thinking on how to explain so he would understand. “Anytime I’ve done something to make it stop, it’s gotten worse. You tried to defend me one day and the next, I’m tripped down a set of stairs... and the next, and the next. I can’t handle any worse, Landon.”
He seemed to mull over her words for a moment before answering her. “You’re not going back, Cecilia.” When she went to protest, he told her, “You’ll go somewhere else, somewhere better. I won’t let you suffer this abuse anymore.”
“I can’t afford better, Landon,” she whispered brokenly.
“You may not be able to.” Placing a finger under her chin, he brought her head up to meet his intense stare. “But I can.”
“You can’t do that!” she protested.
His indulgent smile told her he would do whatever he damn well pleased.