by Ava Winters
She just wanted him to leave peacefully, but it seemed such a wish wasn’t to be granted. Jacob, once again, forced her to answer the question of whether she would return to him. Again, she had to tell him what she’d been telling him for weeks. No.
Fear clawed its way up her spine as Layla listened to Jacob speak. It was the feeling she’d always felt when his temper got the better of him, but this was worse—he wasn’t drunk this time. He was completely sober.
“Jacob,” she said, with a tremble in her voice. “Don’t do this.”
“Do what?” he snarled at her. “Hold on to what’s mine? Refuse to give up what belongs to me?”
“Hush! Keep your voice down. Annabelle is inside,” she pleaded. “I don’t belong to you, Jacob. I never did. That, right there, is the problem. You always saw me as a possession, not a wife. You never loved me. You only loved yourself,” she retorted, gathering as much courage as she could to stand her ground. Inside, she was shaking like a leaf.
“Who said I never loved you? That sheriff?”
“I did,” Layla retorted as anger rose up inside her. “Don’t bring Peter into this.”
“Peter, is it?” Jacob snarled.
“Yes, Peter,” Layla answered. “And leave him out of this.”
Jacob stepped toward her. Layla stepped back.
“I can’t. He’s in this. Everywhere I look, he’s there, trying to wriggle his way into your heart. He’s nothin’ but a snake!”
Layla didn’t know where it came from, but one moment her hand was at her side, and the next, her palm was connecting with Jacob’s cheek. Immediately, she recoiled, her hand covering her mouth in shock at what she’d just done.
“Jacob, I’m sorry,” she apologized quickly. She could see the rage in his eyes and her internal trembling erupted in fearful goosebumps on her skin.
Jacob seemed unfazed by the strike, but the fury in his eyes didn’t abate. “You hit me, because of him?” he hissed. “Because of him?” He grabbed Layla’s wrist forcefully.
“Stop it, Jacob,” she cried, attempting to wring her hand free from his grasp.
“No! You stop it, Layla! You stop!” He yanked her closer to him and spoke menacingly into her ear. “You think you can just toss me aside? Do you think you can just get rid of me? Now, I gave you a chance to do this nicely, but I see that your head is clouded by the words of that sheriff. I thought you would come to your senses, but clearly, you aren’t. Now, I’m gonna help you.”
“Jacob, let me go,” Layla pleaded as she continued to try to extricate herself from his grasp. He held her tighter.
“What kind of wife are you? You waltz around this town as if you’re a single woman. Making eyes at another man, and doin’ God-knows-what else, all the while askin’ me to keep quiet about the truth? You try to appear so innocent, but you’re flirtin’ with another man right in front of me and you don’t care.”
“I have not!” Layla protested.
“Don’t lie!” Jacob retorted. “I saw you. You think my eyes don’t work so that I can’t see? You think I’m stupid?”
“No,” Layla replied shakily. “I just think you have things wrong.”
“It’s him that made you want to leave me, isn’t it?” Jacob replied.
Layla shook her head. “I left you before I met Peter. I left you because of this—exactly what you’re doing now. I left you because I don’t want to live like this. Why can’t you understand that? Why don’t you listen? I don’t want you because of you, Jacob. No one else. You!”
As Jacob’s jaw clenched, Layla could see the ripple of muscle along his neck. “You’re sayin’ it’s my fault?”
“Yes,” she answered. “You did this, Jacob. It was just you. When I married you, I wanted no one but you. But you cured me of my delusions. You made me see who you really are. You made me grow up, Jacob. Now I see, and I don’t want that in my life. I don’t want you.”
“You don’t get to say that to me,” Jacob snapped. “You don’t get to criticize me when you’re doin’ what you’re doin’.”
“I’m not doing anything but making a new life without you,” Layla replied. “You only see what you want to see—you don’t want to see the truth.”
“I’m going to be rich, Layla. Don’t you understand? I’m gonna have more money than I ever dreamed, and it can all be yours.”
“I don’t want it. You can’t buy me, Jacob. There isn’t money enough in this world to make me stay with you,” Layla retorted. “I just want to be free of you. I just want a better life, without you.”
She could feel the tears stinging her eyes as she pleaded. She wanted to be free of him. She didn’t want him, his anger and the fear that came with him, in her life anymore. She wanted to be able to live again, to walk into a house and not have to hold her breath.
“Does your sheriff know about me?” Jacob asked unexpectedly.
“What’d you mean?” Layla asked fearfully.
“Does he know about me and the boys, what we really do?” he asked.
Layla swallowed hard and shook her head. “No.”
“Then he doesn’t know about you,” Jacob continued.
“Me? What about me?” Layla asked. She could feel her stomach roil.
“He doesn’t know that you’re married to an outlaw. That you’re an outlaw, yourself,” Jacob stated coldly.
“I’m not an outlaw—”
“Yes, you are,” Jacob interrupted. “You’re married to me. You knew what I was doing, but you never did anythin’ about it. It makes you just as guilty as me, sweetheart. It makes you just as bad.”
Layla’s heart stuttered in her chest. She had hoped he wouldn’t bring this up. It was something she was trying to deny, hoping she could get away from him and his life and no longer be linked with a man who had done the things Jacob had.
“I’m nothing like you, Jacob,” Layla spat out.
He laughed snidely. “Do you think your law-abiding sheriff will see it that way?”
Layla’s heart was stricken at his words and she shook her head. “You wouldn’t do that. You’d be exposing yourself.”
“Wouldn’t I?” Jacob insisted. “You don’t understand, Layla. I’ll do anything to keep you. If I can’t keep you, then no one else is gonna have you. We can both rot in a jail cell together.”
“No!” Layla shrieked.
He placed a finger over her lips and chuckled. “There now. Hush. Miss Annabelle is inside and we don’t want her to come out here, now do we?”
Layla shook her head as tears rolled down her cheeks. Jacob was cruel, she knew that, but she’d never imagined that he’d go to these lengths to keep her. Jacob removed his finger from her lips.
“I hate you,” she snapped. “I hate you.”
“That might be, but it doesn’t change anything. You can either accept this, or you can keep tryin’ to get away from me. You just need to know that I won’t let you go, and I’m willin’ to go as far as I have to in order to make sure you never have what you want.”
The light in the front of the house suddenly came on, and Layla’s heart lurched. Jacob immediately released her hand.
“Don’t you forget, Layla. Keep your mouth shut and forget this idea of leavin’ me. I won’t have it, and if you force me, I’ll destroy everything you have. I will take the life you want from you. I swear it,” Jacob said in a rush before he turned and disappeared into the night.
Layla froze in place, trembling and breathing hard as Jacob left. The front door of the house opened and Annabelle came out.
“Layla, are you alright, honey?” she asked.
She could hear Annabelle talking, but Layla couldn’t get her lips to move or her voice to work. Her heart was beating so hard she felt that she could hardly contain it. What was she going to do now? Jacob was going to take everything she cared about.
Layla turned to Annabelle, tears staining her cheeks, as she tried to speak. In an instant, her feelings overwhelmed her.
“My G
od, darlin’, whatever is the matter?” Annabelle asked, pulling Layla into her arms.
“It’s all over,” Layla cried. “He’s going to take everything away from me. He’ll never let me go.”
“You come in here and talk to me,” Annabelle encouraged as she led Layla inside.
She walked Layla into the living room and sat her down on the nearest chair. “You wait there,” Annabelle instructed. She left the room and returned a few seconds later with a glass of water. “Drink this.”
Layla took the glass and gulped the cool liquid quickly. She sniffled incessantly and tried to her best to get her composure, but it wasn’t working. All she could think about was Jacob’s threat. She could see the rage in his eyes and heard the sincerity in his words. He would destroy her.
Annabelle sat across from her. She folded her hands in her lap and looked at Layla comfortingly. “Now, tell me what this is all about.”
Layla couldn’t believe this was happening. She couldn’t believe that everything she wanted would be lost like this. She stared at Annabelle forlornly. “I’m gonna lose everything, Annabelle. I haven’t even gotten it yet, and already, I’m going to lose it.”
Annabelle frowned. “What’re yah talkin’ ‘bout?”
Layla sighed. “Jacob. He won’t let me go. He said he won’t let me have a divorce. He said he’d destroy everything I have first.”
“How?” Annabelle questioned.
Layla met her gaze. “He said he’d tell Peter the truth. He said he’d tell Peter that he’s an outlaw. That he’s been robbing people for years, and that I’ve known about it. He said he’d rather see both of us in jail before he’d let me go. He would rather that than let Peter have me.”
Annabelle sat up in her chair. “What’re yah tellin’ me? That he’d go to jail rather than let you go?”
Layla nodded. “Miss Annabelle, he can’t tell Peter. He’d never look at me again.” She began to cry once more. “He’d hate me.”
“Now,” Annabelle said as she crossed the room to sit closer to Layla. She took the younger woman’s hand and squeezed it gently. “Don’t listen to that man,” she insisted. “He’s a scoundrel. I can tell that, and I’m sure Peter does, too.”
“He’ll hate me for not telling him the truth,” Layla insisted.
“You don’t know that,” Annabelle insisted. “Peter is an understandin’ man. He’ll see that yah didn’t have a choice.”
“Didn’t I?” Layla questioned sadly. “I could’ve left before now. Maybe if I had, this wouldn’t be happening now.”
Annabelle took a gentle hold of Layla’s face. “Now, you stop that,” she announced. “This isn’t yer fault.”
“I was young and I loved him, but now I see I made a mistake,” Layla wailed.
“And he knew that. He knew yah couldn’t go nowhere. Yah didn’t have nobody—but yah do now, and I won’t sit ‘ere and let yah be hurt by this vagabond.”
“Miss Annabelle…”
“No. We’ll find a way to deal with this and get him out yer life as soon as possible. I knew he was no good the second I saw him.”
“How did you know?”
“Child, when yah get to be as old as I am, yah learn to read people on meetin’ ‘em, and just seein’ him and his boys, I knew he was bringin’ nothin’ but trouble to this town,” Annabelle explained. “Come ‘ere, child,” she continued as she drew Layla to her.
Layla knelt at Annabelle’s feet and hugged her. She rested her head on her chest and cried silently.
“You don’t worry ‘bout anythin’. We’ll find some way to deal with Jacob McCarthy. He can’t go ‘bout this town threatenin’ good folk,” Annabelle said firmly. “Richstone isn’t the place to go ‘bout unfairin’ other folk.”
Layla sniffled. “I don’t know how this can end well,” she worried. “I was a fool to think I could just run away. I thought Jacob would just let me go, but I should’ve known better. He doesn’t like losing.”
“Well, he’s gonna have to get used to it,” Annabelle stated emphatically. She patted Layla’s back comfortingly. “Don’t you worry, Layla. Everythin’ will be alright. You go up and have yourself a rest. Things’ll look better in the mornin’.”
Layla raised her eyes to Annabelle’s face and nodded. “Alright,” she agreed. She forced herself to her feet and trudged up the stairs to her bedroom. It was the longest walk of her life. Her legs felt heavy, her body numb, and her mind seemed to be in a daze.
She entered her room and dragged herself to the bed. Collapsing upon it, she pulled her pillow into her chest as she began to cry once more. Everything was falling apart. Her lies had gotten the best of her. Now, they were going to take everything from her. How was she going to get out of this? Would Jacob forever control her life? Would she never be free of him?
Layla curled herself around her pillow and saw every vision she had for her future flash before her eyes.
They won’t happen now. It’s all gone. Peter won’t love me. He’ll hate me. Jacob will never leave me. I don’t want this. I just want to be free. Why can’t I have what I want? Is it so much to ask for? Is happiness too much ask for?
Layla cried until her eyes could cry no more. She was weak and tired, and it wasn’t long before her lids became heavy. She closed them in an attempt to shut out the world around her. She just wanted it all to stop. She wanted to wake up and find her world changed, and everything she wanted was there, right before her. It was a good dream.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Layla lay in bed, unwilling to move. She was afraid of what the day might hold, what Jacob might have told people.
“Layla?” Annabelle’s voice called from the other side of the door. “Are you comin’ to church today?”
“Not today,” Layla replied with a sniffle. “I’m tired.”
There was a moment of silence on the other side of the door. “Alright dear. You rest yerself. I’ll be back after church.”
“Alright.” Layla hugged her pillow tight and snuggled further beneath the sheets. She didn’t want to face anything or anyone. She just wanted all of the unpleasant things in her life to go away—especially Jacob McCarthy.
She turned on her back and looked at the ceiling; the rings in the wood were her biggest interest. She wanted to think of nothing but those rings, but a knock on the door a few minutes later forced her to tear her eyes away.
Layla sat up in bed and stared at the door to her room. She could hear the knocking but didn’t feel like answering. “They’ll come back,” she said to herself as she turned and laid back down on her side. She stared out of the window at the scrawny tree that stood outside.
It’s like my life. Everything that was there, all the color and life, is disappearing. But mine won’t come back.
She closed her eyes.
Layla was slowly lulling herself back to sleep when the sound of someone walking in the house caught her attention. She sat up, startled, and turned to the door in time to see it open. Jacob stood in the hallway.
“Jacob!” she shrieked as she grabbed for her sheets to pull them over her shift. “What’re you doing here?”
Jacob grinned. “I wanted to remind you that there is no place that I can’t get to you,” he threatened. “No place.”
Layla stared at him as her body trembled. She looked behind him to see if there was anyone else there, but it seemed he was alone. “Get out!”
“No, sweetheart,” he said as she crossed the room and sat at the foot of her bed. He faced her. “Not until we get some things straight.”
“We have nothing to get straight, Jacob. I heard what you had to say,” she faltered.
He reached a hand out to touch her leg, and Layla quickly moved it away.
“I want you to know the truth, Layla. I owe you that,” he said coldly. “I told you about the money I’m making. The wealth I’ve been building,” he started. “Do you want to know where it came from?”
“No!” Layla said quickly.
Jacob chuckled. “That’s alright. I’ll still tell yah. It came from those miners.”
“I don’t want to hear!” Layla insisted, trying to cover her ears. Her action provoked an immediate response from Jacob. His hands reached for hers, and he grabbed her wrists and yanked them away from the sides of her face.