His retaliation to my claim is ripping my shirt open. “We’ll see about that.” He grabs my breast through my bra and twists hard.
Ignoring the pain, I buck my hips and try with all my might to pull my hands free. The bones in my wrist scream in protest as he tightens his hold. When he dips his head and bites my nipple, I whimper in pain. Not willing to give up, I lift my head and grab a hold of his ear with my teeth. I bite down as hard as I can, and blood fills my mouth. I yank hard and part of his ear comes away with my teeth. I spit the chunk of ear out then gag at the taste of blood.
“Motherfucker,” he screams and falls to his side, grabbing his mangled ear.
I roll several times, trying to make it to the other side of the bed. His fingers graze my foot right as I reach the edge. I roll to my back and kick out with everything in me. My foot hits his chest and he flies backward. Unfortunately, my momentum is too great, and I launch off the other side. My head explodes in pain when my temple clips the corner of the bedside table.
Darkness descends, but it doesn’t last long. Visions, one after the other, assail me.
Walking into the tattoo shop and seeing Luca for the first time. The instant attraction I felt for him.
Him cornering me at the tattoo shop before Nicole and I left, demanding my phone number, me giving it, and him giving me the most passionate kiss of my life.
Our first conversation on the phone that same night. It was two hours long. I know, because I was so giddy that I timed it.
Our first date.
Our second, third, and fourth kisses, and every one that came afterward.
The strong connection I felt toward him.
The moment I knew I loved him.
The first time I said it and the beautiful way he repeated it.
The night we made love for the first time.
Standing in front of the judge at the courthouse. The pure happiness and the feeling of rightness when he announced us husband and wife.
Every day that we spent together. Every single moment of the short five weeks we had together.
I also remember Theo trying to coerce me into leaving Luca. His adamancy that he and I belonged together. Him forcing his lips against mine. The sick feeling it left in my stomach. The anger Luca portrayed when I told him what his brother did. The worry I felt when he stormed out of the house to confront Theo, and the relief when he came back home.
Then come the memories of the evening after we were married and our plans to leave town. Luca refused for me to give up my dream of earning a degree in interior design, so we were moving to Westerly until I got my degree, then were going to move back closer home so he could take over his dad’s shop.
I was waiting on Luca, who was due to pick me up later that evening. When I pulled open the door, I thought Luca was early. It only took me seconds to realize it wasn’t him, but his brother. Paralyzing terror. That’s the only way to describe what I felt as I saw him standing there. The pain, oh God, the pain of what Theo did to me was excruciating.
He brutally raped me in my own home. He was so mean and hateful with his actions that I must have blacked out. When I came to, I had never been in so much pain in my life. I thought he had left because he was nowhere around. I got up, but right as I found my phone, he came out of the hallway. The blow he delivered to my head knocked me backward, and I hit my head on something hard. After that, everything is black. Until the day I woke up in the hospital a few weeks ago.
Coming back to the present, I blink up at the ceiling. My head pounds and my vision is distorted around the edges. I feel like I’m floating on air. I can’t move, but I know I should. I need to get away as fast as I can, but my limbs won’t work.
A face appears over me and blood drips from his ear and onto my chest. The drops are scalding hot and they burn like acid on my sensitive skin.
“You’ll regret doing that, Jules,” Theo sneers, and reaches for me.
I scream. I scream so loud it pierces my ears and my throat feels like it’s on fire. Another sharp pain meets my head as his fist lands against it.
White stars and black space fill my vision. As I lie limply on the bed and my mind blanks of everything that’s going on, one last memory surfaces.
What I found out the day Luca and I got married. The news I couldn’t wait to share with him.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Luca
MY PHONE RINGS FOR the second time in the matter of minutes. Normally, I ignore calls while I’m inking a client until I get to a stopping point, but something’s nagging at me that I need to answer. I set my machine down, grab a paper towel, and spray some cleaner on the design I’m only halfway finished with.
“Take five. I need to grab this,” I tell Thomas.