Deathblow (2 page)

Once when he’d been like this, she’d succeeded in distracting him with football. She kept recording games, even if the trick hadn’t worked since, just as a person keeps insurance that might or might not pay when trouble hits. A slim chance was better than nothing.

The overhead light in the kitchen glinted off his short blond hair styled into the “successful businessman” cut with a touch of gel. His expensive designer suit perfectly fit the shoulders that boxed her in.
GQ
could have put him on their cover with the title:
Most Eligible Insurance Broker. With a temper.
 

He grabbed her hard between her legs and laughed. “You know what I want, babe.”

And when she stiffened, when she pushed against him, he said, “Come on, don’t be like that,” in the low-toned voice she used to think was so seductive.

Now that tone sent a cold shiver down her spine.

At least he wasn’t shouting.

Her two-year-old slept in the next room, the door open—she hadn’t had a chance to shut it before Keith barged in—but she couldn’t tell Keith to keep it down so he wouldn’t wake Justin. She didn’t want to bring her son to Keith’s attention at all if she could help it.

Say something.
Her only chance was to somehow talk herself out of the situation.
Deescalate.
Fighting back physically was futile. Every time she’d tried that in the past, she’d failed. Keith had every physical advantage. He had plenty of muscle power from all the hours spent at his country club’s gym to network and meet potential clients.

He ground his body against hers. “You like it rough? I’m going to give it to you rough.” He sneered as he wrapped her hair around his wrist. He yanked until tears filled her eyes.

She didn’t like it rough, and she didn’t like it anyway at all from him, but he’d been gunning for her from the moment he’d shown up at her door uninvited. “Wait.” She tried to twist away from him in the L-shaped kitchen that stood open to the living room. “Let me make you some lunch.”

“I told you what I want.” His tone stayed silky smooth.

He looked her over as he held her in place. His eyes narrowed. “Are you off your diet? Can’t you do anything? You don’t want to get fat and lose your gigs, do you? I’m trying to help here.” He smacked his right hand into the kitchen cabinet next to her head, rattling the dishes inside. “You have to pay attention to these things.”

She held her breath, praying that Justin wouldn’t wake. If he woke, he might cry, and that might set Keith off even worse.

But Keith lowered his voice. “Come on, babe. I had some stressful morning meetings. It’d be nice if you made me feel better. After all I’ve done for you. Come on. You’re my girl.”

No, she wasn’t, and she thanked God for that. At the beginning of their relationship, when she’d still had stars in her eyes, she used to daydream about the day when he would propose to her. Now she was grateful beyond words that had never happened. All she wanted was for him to be out of her life forever.

“Why don’t you sign the papers before we forget about them?”

Instead, he reached up to squeeze her breasts until they hurt.

She swallowed. “It’s not the right time for me. I’m sorry.”

His eyes flared with fury. “Why the hell are you teasing me then? You know that shit grosses me out.” He shoved her to her knees, hard enough so it would leave bruises.

He was usually more careful with things like that. He knew how to hurt her so no one could see the signs later. That he didn’t seem to care today filled Wendy with a new level of dread.

“Keith—”

“Shut up and get to it.” He braced his hands on the wall and rolled his hips toward her face.

“Could we sign the papers, please?” She wasn’t beyond begging. She would have done anything to get him out of her and her son’s lives forever.

He shot her a meaningful look. “Maybe.”

But she knew he wouldn’t. He’d promised before. This wasn’t the first time they’d played this game. She’d tried to be as nice as possible to him, not to make him mad. She’d even let him touch her, for Justin’s sake. Every time hoping, praying, that he would sign over full custody to her.

When she’d given in, he used her. When she’d stood up to him, he beat her down. But she couldn’t give up. She had to make this work.

She moved to rise. “I really need you to sign the papers today. I mean it, Keith.”

He smacked her so hard she fell sideways, knocking a kitchen chair over, which knocked a second chair to the tile floor, one loud crash after the other as she caught herself on the table, head whirling.

Justin wailed in the bedroom, a long sharp cry of displeasure at having been so rudely awakened.

“Shut that fucking kid up!”

She scrambled to close the bedroom door, darting across the living room between the sectional and Justin’s rocking horse. She pulled the door closed as quickly as she could and put herself between Keith and her son.

She didn’t go in to soothe her baby. Keith would come after her. The spare bedroom had a bed. She didn’t want him anywhere near a bed. And if Justin didn’t quiet down, Keith would get angry at him.

She could deal with being pushed around, but if Keith hurt Justin, she
would
shoot him. She had a gun in the cookie tin on the top of the fridge.

She held her breath.
Don’t cry, baby. Don’t cry.
And Justin quieted after a final wail.

She didn’t have time to relax. Keith stalked her, mouth turned up in anticipation.

She evaded, stepping around the ottoman, then putting the kitchen island between them.

“Here they are.” She opened the top drawer and pulled out the battered manila envelope on top. She needed to refocus him. She laid the custody papers out on the island, then searched for a pen.

“Are you trying to piss me off?” Keith caught up with her and grabbed her by the wrist, his gaze hardening.

“Why don’t you sign these while I make you something to eat? How about a couple of hamburgers?” He always liked the way she made those, with sautéed onions and peppers on top. “I’m hungry. Aren’t you?”

But the dangerous glint in his pale blue eyes spoke of a different kind of hunger that had nothing to do with food.

“I bet you put out for the photographers.” He growled. “Are you still whoring for your agent? You don’t think I’m good enough now? I’m not as good as he is?”

She was a small-time model these days, modeling for the weekly department store circulars, making barely enough to pay for the apartment and support herself and Justin. She’d never had an inappropriate relationship with her agent—who was gay—or the photographers. At least a dozen people milled around at a shoot, everything timed to the minute. There wouldn’t have been an opportunity if she’d been looking for it.

And she wasn’t. God knew she learned her lesson, again, the last time she’d let her guard down with a man. But she couldn’t tell Keith about that. If he found out that she was pregnant again, it would send him into a rage. Her latest crisis was her own problem. So she simply said, “I don’t have time to date.”

“You’re a fucking liar.” He let her wrist go, but before she could step away, he grabbed her arms, tightly enough to hurt.

“Stop.”

“Or what? You’ll blabber to the cops again? You think it’ll work better this time? Do you know how much money my company donates to the police department? You think the cops would ever want to mess that up?”

“Please let me go. I’m sorry.”

She’d learned her lesson with the police the last time. The officer responding to her call told her any accusation of battery would be her word against Keith’s. And then he advised that she should stop provoking her guy.
“Just get along,”
he’d told her.

Keith had trapped her, in more ways than one. She couldn’t fight back physically and win. He was stronger; she’d just get hurt. If he put her in the hospital, who would take care of Justin? If she went for the gun, she’d have to use it. He wouldn’t stand for being threatened. Once she pulled the gun, there would be no turning back.

Then the police might or might not believe that it was self-defense. If she went to prison, where would her son go?

If she went for a restraining order against Keith, he’d fight back by demanding time with Justin, an official, enforceable shared custody agreement. And having to send Justin to him on the weekends, on unsupervised visits, scared Wendy more than death itself.

If this had been just about her, she would have fought back, would have run a long time ago. But they had a child together, which meant they were tied together—by custody law if nothing else. She couldn’t find a way around that. There were no good choices at this stage. All the choices were the kind that decided who got hurt, her or her son, and how badly.

So she took the beatings.

But as Keith shook her, a loud rap sounded at the door.

“Wendy? Is everything okay? I heard that crash from the end of the hallway as I was coming up.”

Sophie’s voice coming through the door was nothing less than a lifeline.
Oh, thank God.

Wendy tried to move to let her in, but Keith held her in place. “I don’t want to find out that you’ve been complaining about me behind my back.” His tone dipped low, threatening. “Our relationship is nobody else’s business.”

“Wendy?” Sophie Curtis, pretty much the only friend she had left, called again.

Keith silently shook his head.

Another rap on the door. “I’m coming in.”

And she
could
, thank God. Sophie had a spare key for emergencies.

Keith stepped away as the door opened, the smell of fresh paint rushing in with Sophie—building management was having the hallways painted. He put on a charming smile, the hostility melting off him in an instant. He changed roles faster than a stage actor.

“Hey,” he said, “no need for alarm. We got a little carried away.” He winked at Wendy as if sharing a private joke, as if they’d been sharing a careless moment of passion.

Sophie stayed in the doorway as she measured up the situation with a neutral look on her face. “Bing is coming up in a minute. He’s parking the car. He just got off shift at the police station.”

Keith turned to Wendy fully, his back to Sophie, pure hate flashing onto his face. He grabbed the custody papers from the kitchen island, crumpled them into his pocket. “A boy needs his father,” he whispered, his voice full of warning. Then he turned to go. “Need to drop my car off for detailing. You girls have fun.” Smiling again.

Sophie closed the door behind him and turned the dead bolt. “Sorry I’m late.”

She was a head shorter than Wendy, wrapped in a stylish black wool coat, her cheeks pink from the cold. After her pretty serious health issues for the past couple of years, it was nice to see some healthy color on her.

Her wild red curls bounced around her face as she moved forward. She dropped her purse on the kitchen island. “Are you okay?”

Wendy smiled, fighting against her sharp disappointment. She’d failed to get Keith to sign over custody once again. She filled her lungs and pushed the despair aside.

“I’m glad you’re here.” She glanced at the windows. “I wish the rain would stop already. I thought we could take Justin for a walk when he wakes up from his nap. Doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.”
Keep talking. Maybe Sophie didn’t notice anything.
“How was traffic?”

She’d never told anyone Keith had turned abusive—not her friends, and not her parents who lived in Florida and already worried endlessly about her.

Keith Kline was somebody in Wilmington. He held memberships in all the right business clubs. His company gave a ton of money to charity, including the Police Association. The police wouldn’t help her. And the people who loved her would get hurt if she dragged them into her screwed-up relationship. Sophie couldn’t find out. Nobody could.

Wendy walked over to the smaller bedroom, pushed the door open a few inches, and peeked in. Since Justin was sleeping peacefully, she went back to the kitchen. “Out like a light. Want something to drink?”

She was the one who’d picked Keith. He was in her life because of her bad judgment. She had a child with him. She had to figure out how to deal with that. Handling Keith was her responsibility and nobody else’s.

Sophie watched her. “I didn’t realize Keith was coming over today. How are things with him?”

“Okay.” Keith would kill her if he found out that she talked about him behind his back. She grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge. “Is Bing really coming?”

“No. Do you mind? I thought—” Sophie shrugged out of her coat, folded it over the back of the sofa, then walked over to the table with a tentative look in her eyes.

She wore dove-gray slacks with a white top, her style flawless. She had a good eye for color and design. Could have worked in the fashion industry. Not that she’d ever been interested in that kind of thing. Sophie’s passion ran to computers. She had her own web design business. She was smart and strong, everything Wendy wanted to be.

“How was your checkup this morning?”

Sophie flashed a brilliant smile. “Passed with flying colors. The ticker keeps on ticking.”

Wendy set the bottles on the table, then moved to pick up the chairs so they could sit and chat while Justin finished his nap.

Sophie helped, caressing a translucent acrylic dining chair that had the sleek lines of a sports car. “These look fantastic. I have serious furniture envy.”

“Scored them from Mia.” An interior designer who often worked on the same sets as Wendy. “Castoffs of some millionaire client.” They were modern design, pieces of art that Wendy could never have afforded otherwise. Her table didn’t match, a minor detail. Someday.

“Hey, the pictures are new too.” Sophie moved toward the living room, where new photos hung on the wall.

The photographs caught Justin in the early morning light, sitting in front of the window, dust particles floating in the air, sparkling like diamond powder in the sunlight. The images had a surreal, magical feeling, the perfect symbolism for the magic of childhood. The morning she’d taken those pictures was one of the few times when everything had come together perfectly.