I gave you a choice, Tessa.” Victor’s voice was calm. Terrifyingly calm. It sounded like he was lecturing a child about spilled milk. I told you the business comes first. The family comes first. You chose him. You chose the outsider. He’s my husband, she screamed, a sound that cracked in the middle. He’s a liability, Victor said.
And you? You are a disappointment. Hold her head still, Dominic. Then the counting began. Thud. A wet, sickening crunch. It wasn’t the sound of wood hitting bone. It was the sound of metal crushing cartilage. One. Victor counted softly. Tessa didn’t scream immediately. The first hit must have shocked her system into silence.
Then a low guttural moan that didn’t sound human. Thud too. She’s moving too much. One of the brothers, Evan maybe, grunted. Grab her hair. Pin it to the floor. I gripped the steering wheel so hard the leather creaked. My knuckles turned white. I could see it in my mind. My wife, my beautiful, strong Tessa, pinned to the floor of the house we built together, looking up at the faces of her brothers while her father beat her. Thud, thud, thud. Five, six, seven.
