Chapter 1
***Warning*** Mature Content! This story contains violence, abuse, and mature language. Read at your own risk!
*Sutton’s POV*
He threw me down to the ground by my hair, causing me to yelp as my body hit the cold, hard kitchen floor.
“P-Please, I’m sorry!” I cried out as I defensively held my arms up across my face to protect the next blow. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. He hovered over me, moving my arms out of the way before punching me hard in the face, causing the back of my head to hit the tiled floor beneath me. He was much stronger than me, making it easy to overpower me. I had an instant throbbing in the back of my skull, causing my sight to temporarily go blurry.
“You’re not yet, but you will be,” he promised before coloring my face with another punch, causing me to see stars. I knew if he kept this up for much longer, I would be seeing nothing but darkness soon. Sometimes I welcomed it, but I mostly feared it. The unknowing state I would wake up to terrified me more than the blackness itself.
“P-please, Jared, please!” I begged for him to stop, but he seemed to ignore me. Nothing I said mattered. He always just did what he wanted anyway. “I s-swear, I wasn’t f-flirting! P-please!” I tried defending myself, but it only seemed to make things worse.
“So you always swoon at men when they give you any kind of attention, huh?” He spat at me from above. I couldn’t even comprehend what he was implying. I just shook my head in disbelief, knowing that wasn’t what happened, but it was hard to argue with him.
“No, please. I swear, I was just being nice.” My defense fell on deaf ears once again. His eyes were dark, brows furrowed into a deep frown with a hard jawline and pulsating veins to match. There was no talking him out of anything at the moment. He looked absolutely irate. He was going to believe what he wanted to believe.
I could hear him unbuckling his belt, and I was instantly terrified, sprawled out on the floor. I knew exactly what was coming. This was nothing new. He would always find a reason to punish me. It’s like he enjoyed it. Seeing the fear on my face only excited him more. It was sick. I could feel my cheek starting to swell from the previous hits, but I continued to focus on the terrifying creature in front of me, making a mental note to take care of it later.
“You give me no choice, Sutton.” My eyes grew wide as he played with the belt in his hands, swiping it in and out of his hands, playfully, as he gradually stepped closer to me.
“P-please, no!” I begged as I put my hands up to prevent him from coming closer. I made my way to a seated position and backed up until my back hit the wall behind me, leaving me with nowhere to go. He slowly approached me with his belt in hand, a slight smirk on his face.
“Sir, please!” I could hear his maid behind us, interjecting and begging for him to stop in her soft voice. I thanked god for the interruption. Only, it didn’t last as long as I had hoped.
“Maria, know your place,” he replied to her coldly before turning his attention back to me.
I could hear Maria’s footsteps becoming more and more distant, telling me she obeyed Jared once again, and stayed out of it.
I just prayed that someone would actually intervene, but not many people around here dared to challenge him. Even Maria bowed down to him after one measly attempt. Not that I blamed her. I truly appreciated that she tried, but it never seemed to work.
“You are mine, do you understand me?” He leaned down and pulled me up to his level by my neck, taking me out of my thoughts. I winced from the pain, but immediately nodded in obedience.
“Yes, I understand. I’m sorry, p-please,” I begged as tears continued to streak down my face.
I thought maybe if I apologized, he would stop, but I was dead wrong.
“Yes, what?” He asked, maintaining his tight grip on my neck.
“Yes, sir,” I responded in more of a whisper, knowing that’s exactly what he was waiting for. He absolutely loved control and I had no choice but to give it to him.
“You flirt with another guy again and I will kill him. I don’t care if he is my friend. Do you hear me?” He looked me dead in the eyes. If looks could kill, I would be 6-feet under right now. His manic look absolutely terrified me, causing shivers down my spine.
“Y-yes, I hear you,” I said with a frightened nod, eyes wide. I wasn’t flirting. I was just saying hi and being polite, but I didn’t dare correct him. I knew I would just get a worse beating if I challenged him in any way.
“And don’t you dare dress like a street whore again. You are going to be my wife soon. You should be dressed respectably. You think it’s ok to show your ass to the world in that thing you call a dress? I will show you what happens when you show off your body to other men,” he spat, winding his hand back before allowing the belt to come down hard on my side. I screamed out as I crumpled to the floor, curling up in a fetal position.
“I’m sorry, baby please!” I begged for him to stop as I sobbed relentlessly on the hard floor as he continued to punish me with the leather weapon wrapped around his fist.
I heard the leather strap catch air before it touched my skin once more, creating a perfect tear in my once-healed skin. I had just fully recovered from his beating last week, but he didn’t seem to care.
He hit me over and over again, creating visible welts on my back and side. I continued to sob on the floor in the fetal position as the assault continued. I squeezed my eyes shut tight as I attempted to breathe through the pain of each blow. After what felt like hours, the beating finally stopped, only leaving me with throbbing pains all over my body.
I could hear the belt drop to the ground, which allowed me to breathe a slight sigh of relief, thankful it was over. I slowly made my way up to my feet, but before I could get very far, he leaned down and grabbed me by the neck, bringing me up to his level.
“Flirt with one of my friends again, and you’ll be bed-ridden for weeks, Understand?” My eyes went wide as I gulped loudly, terrified. I nodded profusely, knowing that was exactly what he wanted. It was better just to submit now, otherwise the beating would last much longer. I knew better by now.
He let go of my neck, seeming to accept my response.
“Now, get your ass upstairs and go clean up. We have our family coming over for dinner later,” he spat as he stood and began stomping off towards his office.
I nodded as I slowly made my way to my feet, wincing with every new movement, finally making it to a standing position.
I hobbled up the stairs and into the bathroom where Maria was standing with a fresh set of towels.
“I’m so sorry, ma’am.” she bowed her head in sadness, unable to look at me. I dreaded looking at myself, even knowing I probably looked horrendous.
“It’s ok. It’s not your fault,” I said honestly as she moved to help me remove my clothes and step into the warm bath she had already prepared.
“Thank you.” I gave her a gracious smile as I slowly let myself sink further into the tub, wincing as the warm water ran through every new welt on my body. I closed my eyes as I took in the pain of all of it, momentarily trying to forget about this new life that I was forced to grow accustomed to.
Tears streaked down my face as I let myself get lost thinking about seeing my family again. Mainly my mom. I couldn’t wait to see her, wondering how she was doing. I knew she was getting all the medical care she needed and that made me feel slightly better about this whole thing. I was hoping my dad and Max were doing their best to take care of her. I only wished I could be there for her too. She was my best friend and I missed her dearly, but if I wanted her to stay in the best condition possible, I needed to stay right where I was. With Jared.
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After bathing and tending to my wounds, I made my way downstairs to the kitchen. I wanted to grab a quick snack before making my way to Jared’s office for my afternoon work. He had me sort files for him and prepare paperwork for the next day on a regular basis.
I was surprised to find Jared’s mother and sister in the kitchen already. I didn’t think they were coming over until later. They were both polite enough, but it was all surface level. I saw something darker behind their eyes. Something more sinister and conniving. I definitely didn’t trust them, but I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt.
“Hi,” I said politely to them both with a wave as I moved further into the kitchen. They both looked at me as their eyes went wide. I knew exactly what they were looking at.
“Jesus, what did you do now?”
“Ah, I see my soon-to-be sister-in-law got another punishment.” They managed to both speak at the same time.
His mom had a false look of concern imprinted on her face, which made me feel so alone at that moment. Both of them blamed me for everything Jared did. If I corrected them, I would only get in more trouble later and my body couldn’t handle another beating right now. Jared’s father was even worse. The only person I really had on my side was his twin brother, Maverick. I always enjoyed having him around. He was a breath of fresh air around the rest of his family.
“I hope you will be on your best behavior tonight. A scene during dinner is the last thing this family needs,” Jared’s mom said.
“Yes, ma’am,” I said in a soft voice as I grabbed an apple off of the counter and turned to walk away. Defending myself in front of his mom and sister was pointless. It was clear they had his back, no matter what.
I went into Jared’s office and started sorting and filing papers. I had to get everything on his desk done by the time dinner came, or I wouldn’t like the consequence. Jared’s exact words. I knew he would be right. He wasn’t one for empty threats, I knew that by now.
I worked fast and managed to finish with enough time to spare to freshen up, reapply my bandages, make-up and put on a more respectable dress. I settled on a light blue one that hung off the shoulders, showing little to no cleavage, and it was loose fitting from the hips down, swaying at the knees. I looked at myself in the body-length mirror in our bedroom, hoping this is what he meant by ‘respectable.’ I looked a little closer at my face and the make-up application was actually done pretty well. You wouldn’t really notice the big bruise under my eye unless you really looked for it.
I took one last final look before I took a big, deep breath and headed downstairs. I could hear talking and laughter downstairs, telling me they were all here already. My heart skipped a beat, anxious to see my mother’s sweet face. I skipped down the stairs, excited, until I saw Jared waiting for me at the bottom.
He grabbed my arm as soon as I was within reach. I winced at the hard grip he had on my arm as he leaned in to whisper in my ear.
“This dress is a much better choice for you, but it makes me want to take you right here and now on this very floor,” He leaned back, so I could see his evil smirk. The mere thought of him violating me made me want to puke, but I knew it would be inevitable. I was doing everything in my power to prevent it by telling him I wanted to wait until marriage, but that would only last so long. We would eventually get married, and then what?
“Remember,” he said in his hard, serious tone while maintaining eye contact with me. “You are to be on your best behavior tonight and keep your mouth shut, do you understand me?” I immediately nodded in submission, knowing exactly what he was referring to.
“Yes,” I replied with a curt nod.
“Yes, what?” He asked as he grabbed hold of my jaw, forcing me to look back at him.
“Yes, sir.” He smiled with a slight nod in appreciation.
“Good girl,” he said as he gave me a quick kiss on my lips before dropping his grip from my arm to wrap his arm around my waist possessively and guide me to the kitchen.
If only my dad knew how Jared treated me, maybe he would never have agreed to this...or maybe he would have. Maybe I didn’t know my father like I thought I did.
