The Wife Breaker (Dark Vows Duet 1)

Thank fuck. The color Adelina used must’ve been one that washes out. It’s a small mercy, but I’m so very grateful for it I find tears gathering in the corners of my eyes. It feels so damn good to have a small part of me back.

I stare at my hands folded on my naked lap, still too afraid to risk a look at the man who did this to me.

I feel utterly humiliated and degraded, so I suppose he’ll be happy with himself for breaking me.

But I vow to myself never to show how much his actions are impacting me. I made the same promise with my husband - not to show my pain and hurting, because it would only give him the sick satisfaction he doesn’t deserve.

I know I was sent here to be broken completely. That’s what my husband wants, after all - a pliable toy to bend any which way he wants.

But I will not give in to him or anybody else.

They can take things from me, they can force my body to do things I don’t want it to do, and they can hurt me. But they’ll never have my true submission.

While my body may break easily, my mind does not.

And right there, sitting in the puddle of black water feeling like I’ll never be myself again, I swear to myself I won’t let this man succeed in what my husband hired him to do.

“Look at me.”

The words I was afraid of take me by surprise and I shut my eyes tightly, wishing all of this would go away. But it’s been so long since I was happy, I can’t even imagine the alternative to the scenario I’m currently embroiled in.

Nana is gone and so are my parents. The stone cottage and the golden, sun-drenched wheat fields where I used to live with my grandmother are fading from my memory slowly but surely.

I have nowhere left to run, no one left to take care of me. No one but the boy I was once supposed to marry, a boy whose death I’ve been grieving for years.

“Rain?”

My eyes snap to the man standing before me, narrowing in confusion.

I see him for the very first time - or is it the first time?

Something about the beast in front of me is familiar. His tall stature reminds me of just how much smaller I am than him.

His shoulders are broad, his body ripped to shreds. He’s muscular, huge and dangerous looking. His dark hair is cropped fairly close to his head, with a hint of stubble on his stubborn chin and a jaw that now sets into place as he watches me staring at him. His skin is strangely devoid of the tattoos I’ve seen on most of the men that work for Xavier. But there are scars covering his body instead. So, so many scars.

It’s none of those things that hold my attention, however.

My eyes zero in on his. His gaze is darkened by a mixture of desire and something else I can’t place. The white of his eyes is stark, but the irises are so dark they look almost as black as his pupils. They remind me of charcoal.

Charcoal eyes.

My breath catches in my throat as I stare at the boy I used to hope would save me.

It’s him, it has to be. I would recognize him anywhere, but not with the blindfold on. His voice is too different, but his eyes are the same, and even though the boyish charm is gone from his face, I see glimpses of the boy he used to be in his hardened, cruel expression.

“Heath?” I whisper, my strained voice breaking over the simple word. “No, please.”

He seems crestfallen as he takes a step forward. He rips his shirt off and gently places it over my shoulders. In an instant, the stiff fabric is soaked with water.

“Is it really you?” he asks, his voice softer than it was before. “I can’t believe it... You married Xavier?”

I can’t stop staring at him, still unable to put a coherent sentence together.

I raise a trembling hand and gently touch it to his face, remembering what it felt like to share my first kiss with him.

It’s him. I can feel it in every heartbeat, feel it in every spark that jumps between us as I trace my fingertips over his sculpted face.

“How could you?” he demands.

“You think I had a choice?”

I withdraw my shaky hand and exhale the breath I’ve been holding for what feels like years.

“He forced me, Heath. He killed my grandmother. He set our house, everything we owned, on fire. He took everything away from me. And now he’s sent me here. Just another cruel way for him to torture me.”

Heath shakes his head vehemently.

“He doesn’t know I’m the one doing this,” he mutters. “It’s a secret... He never could have found out.”