by Karly Morgan
“She’s not goin’ anywhere with you,” Kolton declared, positioning himself between Carver and myself in a protective stance.
“That’s not your decision to make. It’s hers. She knows she belongs to me and that it’s time for this farce of a marriage between the two of you to end,” Carver spoke with the confidence of a man who didn’t think there was a chance in hell he wouldn’t win this battle. It terrified me how calm and collected he was as he faced Kolton down.
“She’s not a possession to own or a toy to play with. She’s a livin’, breathin’ human bein’ who deserves to be treated properly, and I’ll be damned if I let ya take her from here and treat her badly,” Kolton retorted, his hands balling up into fists.
I knew the worst possible thing he could do would be to hit Carver. Carver was the bloodthirsty type who wouldn’t hesitate to press assault charges. I could see in his eyes his eagerness for Kolton’s attack. I placed both of my hands on Kolton’s shoulders, desperately trying to calm him down.
“Don’t let him provoke you,” I told him quietly in his ear. “He wants you to hit him so he can put you in jail and have free access to me.”
“He’s tresspassin’, and I have the right to defend both my property and my family,” Kolton replied through clenched teeth, loud enough that only I could hear him.
“All he has to claim is that he was invited with all the others who were here earlier. It was a blanket invitation we issued. He can and will press charges if you lay a finger on him,” I told him just as quietly, remembering a loophole to the law my father had used in one of his divorce cases when an abusive husband attacked his wife in her own home after she’d had an open invitation party. He’d succeeded with the argument in court, and I knew Carver knew of the case since he’d been working it with my father.
“Get the hell outta my house and off my property,” Kolton demanded furiously, trusting that I knew what I was talking about.
“Or what?” Carver baited. “Are you going to physically remove me? Considering you invited everyone at the church to the BBQ and potluck here at the ranch and I was at the church, technically you invited me here as a guest. Now how would that look if you attack someone you’d welcomed into your home?”
“You know damned well from your last visit you’re never welcome here,” Kolton replied, holding in his temper better than I’d hoped. I knew it would only last so long before he couldn’t hold back his fury.
“Leave, Carver. I don’t want you here, and I don’t want to go anywhere with you,” I told him firmly, although I knew he’d ignored everything I said.
“Unfortunately for you, you don’t get to make that decision. You were promised to me, and nothing you or this puissant you’ve hooked yourself to can say or do will stop me from collecting what’s mine,” Carver declared, moving into the kitchen with calm and grace, slowly walking around the island I was currently seated on.
His eyes never moved from me as he casually made his way around us. He reminded me of a circling shark with his predatory gaze holding steady on me. It seemed stupid for him to keep watching me when Kolton was the real threat to him. There wouldn’t be much I could do to fight Carver off if he got his hands on me. I hated feeling so weak and vulnerable.
“Carissa never has and never will belong to you. Ya might as well get that outta your head right now. She’s my wife and has every intention of remaining married to me. You’re wastin’ your time here,” Kolton informed him, shifting position to keep himself between me and Carver as much as possible.
“Where’s my father?” I asked, finally realizing he hadn’t made an appearance yet. Apprehension snaked up my spine as I wondered just how far Carver would be willing to take this to get what he wanted.
“I was wondering how long it would take you to ask about him,” Carver replied, grinning like the cat who ate the canary but not offering any answer to my question.
“Well?” I asked after waiting for what felt like forever, the tension in the room building higher and higher.
Carver still didn’t reply. He just kept staring at me in the same creepy manner that had had my hair standing on end before we’d come in the house, grinning the entire time as if he couldn’t possibly lose.
“The lady asked ya a question,” Kolton ground out angrily, his eyes shooting daggers at Carver. What I wouldn’t give to have Caleb and the rest of the hands around to help us out right about now.
“I don’t cater to women. I’ll answer her question when I get damned good and ready and not a second before,” Carver replied to Kolton, flicking a scathing look his direction before returning his eyes to me. I realized then, he’d been keeping a close watch on Kolton through his peripheral vision all along.
“Fuck you!” I screamed at him, pissed as hell at how much he’d demeaned me with his statement. “Get the hell out of this house and off this property before I call the sheriff!”
Carver laughed as if he’d heard the funniest joke of his life, and I felt chilled at his lack of fear, but anger still thrummed through me, pushing me to fight back against him. Although I was worried about what he might have done to my father, I couldn’t continue being the doormat they’d always treated me as. I couldn’t—and wouldn’t—let Bonnie, Kolton, or myself down that way.
“Who the fuck do you think you are to talk to me that way, bitch?” Carver snarled once he cut off his laughter. “I know damned well your daddy raised you properly to only speak when spoken to and accept whatever your husband—which will be me by the time this is all over—decides is best for you. Now, if you want to know where your daddy is—and if he’s unharmed—you’ll come over here to me, and I’ll take you to him.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you, ever,” I spat at him, squaring my shoulders and drawing strength from Kolton. I had no doubt he’d protect me if I needed it, but it was past time for me to stop hiding behind him and everyone else. “You can take your delusions of becoming my husband and owning me back to New York and shove them up your ass. I will never be yours.”
“Contrary to what you think, you’re already mine,” Carver snarled at me, his eyes narrowing at my brazen declaration about my independence.
“Carissa, enough,” my mother’s voice boomed through the doorway from the living room, and I jumped in surprise.
My head jerked around to stare wide-eyed as she stepped into the room, immaculately dressed without a hair out of place. Her makeup was perfectly done as always, and her face held the severe scowl it always held in my presence as she narrowed her eyes at me.
“I’ve heard more than enough from you and am greatly disappointed in your lack of respect for your future husband, father, and myself. You know better than to behave the way you have or speak to any of us as you just did to Carver. Distance yourself from that piece of filth and take your proper place by Carver’s side so we can leave this hellhole and return home where we belong.”
“Who is that?” Kolton asked me, his eyes bouncing between Carver inching closer to me, trying to take advantage of my mother’s distraction, and my mother herself.
“That’s the bitch who gave birth to me,” I replied scathingly.
“How dare you?” my mother bit out angrily. “I am your mother, and you will show me the respect I am due.”
“Respect has to be earned, and you haven’t earned a drop of it from me. I’ve felt more motherly love and affection in the short time I’ve been here than I felt my entire life back in New York. You were just an incubator for me,” I replied, relishing in my mother’s gasp of horror and outrage. For the first time in my entire life, I felt safe and free to say what I really needed to say with Kolton there to protect me.
“Why you ungrateful little brat! How dare you say anything of the sort to me?” my mother shrieked, her piercing voice stabbing at my eardrums. “We gave you everything you could possibly need, and this is how you repay us?”
“You gave me a roof over my head, clothes, and food. What I truly needed were friends,
a childhood, and the unconditional love of my parents that you never provided for me,” I spat at her. Before I’d even recognized Carver had gotten within arm’s reach of me, he had my hair wrapped around his hand, my head jerked backward, and a knife at my throat, effectively stopping Kolton from pulling him off me.
“Step back,” Carver ordered Kolton who looked at me, apology and horror written all over his face at his failure to protect me from the man now threatening my life. He hesitated, and I saw him assessing the situation to see if there was any way to keep me safe and take Carver down without having to concede to the bastard’s demands. “I said, step back.”
I watched as Kolton took one step backward and then another when Carver motioned with his chin for him to do so.
“Such a good little boy. Minds well. I hear he always did what his mama told him to,” Carver sneered as he moved closer to my back and grazed his nose along my cheek.
I shuddered involuntarily at his touch, cringing at the thought of what he intended to do to me now that he had me in his grasp. Suddenly, I was back to wishing I hadn’t listened to Bonnie, Caleb, and Kolton and kept running while I’d had the chance. I had no doubt Carver had some pretty nasty things planned out for my future.
“You leave him alone!” I screamed, praying they wouldn’t hurt Kolton and sorry as hell I’d brought this to his doorstep. “You have me; leave him alone.”
“Why? He dared marry my woman and defile her in his bed when she should have been in mine. There are consequences to every choice we make, and he made all the wrong ones,” Carver practically sang in my ear before he sucked the lobe into his mouth and bit down hard, causing me to scream with the pain his teeth induced.
Kolton stepped toward us but stopped when Carver pressed the knife deeper against my skin, piercing through, creating a small wound at the base of my jawline.
“I personally think he should have to suffer what he’s put me through. Making me watch as he flaunted you everywhere, putting his hands all over you as if you were really his, and even attempting to plant his seed in you so you’d dishonor me even more by carrying his child,” Carver told me, horrifying me with his words. Just how closely had he been following me? How did he know about my possible pregnancy? “Nobody takes what’s mine without paying the price.”
“Enough with this nonsense. We need to get back to New York,” my mother said impatiently, seemingly unconcerned with the fact the man she came here with was holding a knife to my throat, drawing blood from my body, and threatening to rape me in front of my own husband.
“We’ll leave when I’m finished here,” Carver bit out, a warning in his voice daring her to step out of line again.
“Good. You’re finished now. Get yer hands off her and leave,” Caleb spat from the back door, which was swinging back toward him after he’d thrown it open and aimed his double-barrel shotgun directly at Carver’s head faster than I’d ever seen him move before. I wondered how he’d known we needed his help before deciding that it didn’t matter; he was here now.
“You won’t shoot me and risk hurting Carissa here,” Carver taunted with a grin.
Caleb didn’t say a word. He just tipped his gun toward the floor close to Carver’s feet and pulled the trigger. Everyone dove into action faster than I could process everything going on around me. I saw my mother dive into the living room as she screamed her terror but missed Kolton springing into action and ripping the hand holding the knife away from my throat and slamming Carver’s wrist against the opposite counter so he’d release it.
When Carver was yanked backward by the force of Kolton’s attack, he pulled me along with him, his hand still wrapped tightly in my hair. The last thing I knew was agonizing pain bursting through my skull as it cracked the floor when I landed, and everything went black.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Kolton
Horror streamed through me when I saw Carissa ripped from her perch on the island, her head hit the floor, and her lose consciousness, but I couldn’t take my attention from the man who still held her in his grip.
“Let. Her. Go,” I ground out between my teeth as my fist smashed into Carver’s jaw, and I watched with barely contained satisfaction as his head bounced off the floor the way Carissa’s had.
“Never,” Carver replied and yanked hard on her hair, pulling her prone body closer to him.
Red clouded my vision at the abuse he was inflicting on her, and my fist reared back before slamming hard into his jaw once again. And again. And again until I lost count, Carver wasn’t moving, and Caleb was pulling me off his still body, shouting words I couldn’t understand as the adrenaline pounded through my veins.
“Don’t kill him!” Caleb yelled into my ear as I struggled to be released from his grip and return to pulverizing the man who’d harmed Carissa. “You’ll be no good ta yer wife or this ranch if you’re behind bars for murder.”
“I can’t let him get away,” I ground out furiously. “He can’t be allowed to hurt her ever again.”
“He won’t. We’ll make sure he can’t, but I need your help ta do that. Ya can’t very well help me keep her safe from the inside of a prison cell, now can ya?” Caleb grunted as I continued to struggle. When did the old man get to be so strong?
“’Sides that, you’re the only one who can keep this ranch from fallin’ inta your daddy’s greedy hands. Ya know he’ll come sniffin’ ‘round here now that your mama’s gone. It’s up ta ya ta keep him at bay. Ya know he’ll destroy this place if given the chance,” Caleb continued, and I stopped fighting him.
He was right. As much as I wanted to kill Carver for what he’d done and had intended on doing to Carissa, I had to stop so I could be there to protect both her and my home. I moved over and sank to the floor next to Carissa and pulled her gently into my lap, assessing her injuries as I smoothed her hair back from her face.
“We need to call Sheriff Donovan,” I said, exhaustion flooding through me the minute I stopped fighting and had Carissa safely in my arms once again. I wished she’d wake up as I cradled her against my chest.
“He’s already on his way. I called him the second I heard Carissa’s scream before grabbin’ my gun, loadin’ it, and hightailin’ it over here ta give y’all a hand,” Caleb informed me, and I couldn’t have been more grateful.
I’d never felt more unmanned than when I had been standing there helpless as Carver held the knife to her throat and did whatever he wanted to with her. Remembering the things he’d said to her had my adrenaline threatening to spike once again as my fingers involuntarily balled into a fist.
“How’d he get the jump on ya anyway?”
That’s when I remembered Carissa’s mother’s presence and leapt to my feet, gently keeping Carissa wrapped in my embrace. I trusted Caleb to keep us both safe as I moved her to a more comfortable location.
“Her mother,” I bit out as I headed toward the living room.
“Oh…the high-class, bitchy snob I got tied ta a chair over there?” Caleb asked as he hitched his thumb over his shoulder and stepped out of the way so I could see Carissa’s mother gagged and bound to one of the chairs at the table. “Couldn’t very well let her get away, though I had no idea what she had ta do with anythin’ at the time.”
“That would be her,” I told Caleb, moving past him into the living room to gently place Carissa on the couch. We still had no idea where her father was, and that had me on high alert. He had to be somewhere nearby, if both Carver and Carissa’s mother were here. He didn’t strike me as a man who just gave up.
I settled Carissa onto the couch and returned to the kitchen, leaning my shoulder against the door jamb so I could get to Carissa quickly if I needed to.
“Will ya remove her gag?” I asked Caleb who arched his eyebrow at me.
“Now why would ya wanna hear any of the vile crap she was spewin’ everywhere? Our Bonnie held more class in the tip of her pinkie finger than this one holds in her entire body,” Caleb declared but moved over to the
table to do as I’d requested.
“Where’s your husband?” I demanded as soon as the gag was removed from her mouth.
“Untie me right now, you filthy, inbred sons of bitches,” Carissa’s mother hollered at Caleb and me.
“No can do ‘til the sheriff gets here,” Caleb replied, plopping down into the chair next to her and pulling it just a bit closer to her, grinning as she tried desperately to move away from him. “Now, my boy asked ya a question and he expects an answer.”
“I’m not telling either of you anything,” she declared, trying to straighten her shoulders but failing. “The difference between me and my whore of a daughter is you’ll have to kill me before I betray my husband in any way.”
“Excuse me?” I growled, taking a step farther into the kitchen. “Don’t you ever speak to or about my wife the way ya just did ever again. Your daughter is a much better woman than you’ll ever hope to be. She’s full of love and compassion. Both traits you’ll never understand in a million years.”
A fist began pounding at the door, and I knew the sheriff had arrived. Without a backward glance, I spun on my heel and marched to the front door. Cautiously, in case it was Carissa’s father instead, I looked outside before opening the door.
“Sheriff Donovan,” I said as I swung the door inward, granting him entrance. “A bit late ta the party.”
“Is she all right?” he asked, ignoring my sarcasm as he pushed past me toward Carissa.
“Her head got slammed pretty hard against the kitchen floor, knockin’ her out.” Worry filled my words before deciding I should update him on the current situation. “Her mother’s detained in the kitchen with Caleb, and Carver, the bastard who hurt her, is unconscious on the kitchen floor. You’re probably gonna need an ambulance for him. Caleb’s keepin’ watch over both of ‘em,” I told him without remorse. There was no way I’d feel sorry for beating that man to a bloody pulp.
“And her father is down at the station already,” Sheriff Donovan informed me, shocking me to the tips of my toes. “I decided ta pick him up from his hotel room when I caught wind he was back in town. Kinda figured he was back ta cause more trouble. He was alone, so I didn’t know his wife or Carver were with him in town.”