To have a child. Hormone injections, egg retrievals, needles, pills.
Every time he watched me suffer through it, Maxwell looked like the pain was killing him too, like he wanted to tear someone apart just to make it stop.
The day the test came back positive, his eyes went red in an instant.
After that, he treated me like I was made of glass. Pampered me like I was the most precious thing in his world.
And now, just a few months later, there was someone else by his side. He'd even locked me in a pitch-black room chained with Tibetan Mastiffs, all because Joy claimed the sight of blood made her faint.
Every organ in my body throbbed with pain. I clenched my teeth and was about to speak when Joy's voice cut through the air, cool and dripping with mockery.
“Oh, just let her out already. I can see how much it pains Mr. Farley. No matter what, I'm just a secretary. Just a disposable mistress. How could I ever compare to the noble Mrs. Farley and her precious baby? I almost ended up in the ICU, but that's what I deserve, right? All my fault!”
Every word oozed passive-aggressive venom.
Maxwell didn't hear the poison. He found it charming, laughing at her. “Why are you getting jealous over nothing?”
“Who said I was letting her out?”
My heart sank further with every word.
I stood there listening to Maxwell flirt as if I didn't exist, as if the safety of his own child meant nothing at all.
I was the one who'd been mauled by the mastiffs. I was the one who'd been chased until I bled, who'd nearly been rushed to the hospital.
Yet I was the one locked up. I was the one being punished.
I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek, trying to force words out, when Maxwell's soft laugh reached me again.
“You little handful.”
“Why do you get so worked up?” His tone was impossibly tender, like he was whispering sweet nothings. “I know you feel wronged. Go on, loosen one of the mastiff's chains by about four inches. Give her a little scare. Let the noble Mrs. Farley apologize to you. After all, she's so pampered she can't even finish a sixty-mile run. What a waste of our Joy's thoughtful little fitness plan.”
Joy pressed the latch on the chain restraint. The moment she released it, I felt the rush of air as a mastiff lunged.
My heart seized. That was far more than four inches.
Before I could react, a searing pain ripped through my calf.
I stumbled back, but a chunk of flesh had already been torn free. The scream that left me was animal, involuntary.
Cold sweat soaked through my dress in seconds. My legs shook so violently I could barely stay upright.
I was terrified that if I collapsed, my stomach would be exposed, and then the mastiffs would tear into it, rip into the baby……
For the child, I clutched my cramping belly and forced my head down. “I was wrong, Maxwell. I'll apologize to her. It's all my fault. Please, let me out……”
But the instant I opened my mouth, a mastiff lunged again, its snarling roar drowning out my plea.
One second of pure terror, and then the pain in my leg split the world in two.
In the pitch dark, I screamed and tried to wrench myself free.
But the mastiff that had locked onto me refused to let go. With every thrash, the flesh separated further from bone, and blood poured from the open wound in a hot, steady rush.
The agony buckled my knees. I staggered backward and stumbled straight into the jaws of the mastiff behind me.
Teeth sank into me from every direction.
In that moment, I was certain I was being torn apart alive. The pain of flesh ripping from my body wrenched scream after scream from my throat.
Maxwell must have heard. He frowned slightly and stood, reaching for the small observation window.
He was about to look inside when Joy whined, pouting.
“Don't look!”
“Maxwell, you're feeling sorry for her already? They didn't even really bite her.”
“Go sit back down over there. I'll check on her.”
She pushed Maxwell back into his seat and walked to the window herself, leaning in with a saccharine smile. “Mrs. Farley, I'm very easy to please. Just apologize and I'll ask Maxwell to let you out. Okay?”
The mastiffs were still tearing into me. The pain had nearly dragged me under. My lips parted, trembling, and what came out was barely a breath. “I'm sorry……”
