ame. His body completely sealed off the only exit. He looked down at the battere

e going to run to?" he asked, his

ase. She squeezed so hard her knuckles turned stark white against her

she told him, her v

jacket. He pulled out a slim, crocodile-leather checkbook. The expensive leather caught the dim li

d began writing. The sharp gold nib scratched aggressively against the thick paper. The sou

e pinched the paper between his index and middle fingers and

y private trust. It is enough to keep

on dollars. To a woman who had just walked out of a concrete cell with nothing but the clo

ere soft, filled with a deep, profound pity that usually belonged to someone looking at a dy

, grabbing her injured hand, and tried to forcefully shove the check into her palm. His brutal grip crus

rce broke his grip. The bloody check slipped from his fingers and fluttered through the

life I rotted in a cell for your mistress?" she laughed, a harsh, scraping

st in her voice ma

ouching hers, his breath hot against

't even be able to afford a rat-infeste

er panic. He wante

yanked it open. The metal teeth screamed in the confined space. The sudden, aggressive no

her wool scarf. The solid weight of the metal grounded her. She unwrapped t

ands. Her knuckles were white, her muscles coiled tight. She stared dead in

the exposed brick wall beside the doorframe. The impact sounded like a bomb going off in the tiny room. The heavy base of the trophy snapped clean

y across Cecil's cheekbone. A thin line of bright red blood instantly bloomed on his pale sk

The destruction was absolute. Cecil stared at the blood on his fingertips, his chest heaving

of the statue, grinding it into the wood floor with a sickening crunch. The sound echoe

leaning in close. "I am going to drag you into a co

a promise. The cold logic of it sha

k of panic and rage. He pointed a sha

bitch!" he screamed

pathetic. It was the physical

ase, and yanked it upright. She didn't spare a single glance at the mil

Fiona didn't slow down. She dropped her shoulder and slammed it violently into

d against the wooden doorframe. He stood there, frozen, staring at her back in abso

gainst the floorboards, a steady, rhythmic drumbeat of her departure. She didn't look

first floor. The stark contrast between the violent destruction upstairs and the wealthy

ooden box in the storage room. The sound of splintering wood was deafening, a childish

m. He stood at the end of th

I will make sure you never lay eye

s a desperate

her chest, stealing her breath. Her mind instantly flashed back to the living room-to Jefferey

en past the lump in her throat. She rolled her shoulders back, lock

say a word. Her absolute, deafening silence was the most violent answer she c