Derrick smiled. “That was before you told me all of this. Are you trying to protect me, love? There’s really no need. I promise that I can look after myself.”
Jacey crossed her arms over her naked chest. “Uh-uh, no way am I telling you.”
He stared at her for a long moment, but didn’t push her. “Does he know about the baby?”
Jacey bit her lip. How much should she tell him?
“Jacey, does the father know?”
“No,” she whispered. “And he can’t know. He can’t ever find us.”
“You’re hiding from him. That’s why you worked at the diner, because they paid in cash.”
“Yes.”
“Is Jacey Reynolds your real name?”
“No. Jacey is a name one of my nanny’s used to call me. I always liked it. Reynolds is my mother’s maiden name.”
“Are you scared that if he finds you that he’ll try to take the baby or that he’ll hurt you?” Derrick asked seriously.
“Both. He’s a violent man. Learning about the baby might anger him further. But he’ll be furious that I got away from him. I know he’s looking for me. He won’t let me go.”
“Shh,” he told her, running his hand over her hair. “You have me to protect you now. No way am I going to let him near you.”
“He’s very powerful, Derrick.”
“Who is he?”
“Please don’t ask me that. I can’t tell you. It’s too dangerous. For both of us.”
She would never forgive herself if something happened to Derrick because of her. If Stephan found out where she was, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill Derrick.
What had she been thinking, agreeing to stay here.
“Derrick,” she began, looking up at him urgently. “I think I should lea-”
He placed a finger against her mouth. “Don’t even think about it. I’m willing to let you keep his name a secret. For the moment. But only because you’ve had enough upsets lately. However, you will not try and protect me by leaving. That is unacceptable. I’m not without my own power and resources.”
“You can’t take the risk,” she told him.
He stared down at her arrogantly. “That’s my decision to make, not yours. You told me the other night about how he abused you, I take it that happened more than once?”
“Yes. That was just the beginning.”
She couldn’t stop the tremor that shook her body. Derrick scooped her up into his lap.
“Can you tell me the rest?”
Somehow the fact that he asked rather than demanded made it easier for her to find the words.
“In the beginning, everything was so good. I thought that he was perfect for me. The fact that he was into BDSM was both scary and exciting. I thought we would have this perfect life, you know? Like the naïve idiot I was, I had it all planned out. But he changed. He became more demanding. Like I told you before he was jealous and would go into these violent rages.”
She took a deep, shuddering breath and he rubbed her back, trying to soothe her.
“He started to dictate what I could wear and who I could see. It got so bad that I couldn’t even get dressed without his permission, sometimes I went days where I was completely naked. Luckily, he didn’t want anyone else to know what went on in our marriage, so he never paraded me around in front of others.”
Leaning in, he kissed her forehead.