Deciding on steak, because it was Caleb’s favorite, I got busy. I rolled up the sleeves of my blouse, catching sight once more of the massive ring now attached to my finger. My heart thumped harder. I was determined to make all of this up to Caleb. I chopped and prepared an array of vegetables, setting them on to sauté, then got busy whipping up a red wine sauce. The steaks panfried while I carefully watched a timer to ensure they would be perfectly medium rare, just how Caleb liked it. I’d always preferred mine well done but had started eating mine the same way Caleb did, because he’d claimed well-done steak was classless.
The sauce bubbled on the stove, and I rescued it before it could burn, while darting looks toward the front of the house every time a set of headlights flashed by. None of them stopped in the driveway though, much to my chagrin.
When the meal was ready and there was no sign of Caleb, I sent him off a quick text message.
Bethany-Melissa: I’m sorry. Please come home. I’ve made dinner.
I put my phone back in my purse and cast a critical eye over the meal I’d made.
It wasn’t enough.
Not when he’d gone to all this trouble to propose, and I’d ruined it all.
I bit my lip, then ran upstairs, rifling through the drawer Caleb had cleaned out for me when I’d started sleeping over.
At the back was a set of lacy red lingerie I’d bought a month ago and hadn’t yet had the guts to wear. Tonight I would. Tonight, I would be his present.
I stripped my clothes, trying not to notice the stretch marks on my breasts and tummy. Or the cellulite on my thighs. I pulled on the one-piece, gasping at the rub of silky lace between my thighs and over my nipples. I added the matching robe, tying the belt at my waist but letting it show off my boobs. They were full and round, and I knew Caleb liked them.
I didn’t dare look in the full-length mirror though, sure I would chicken out if I did. Instead, I went back downstairs to wait.
And wait some more.
The food went cold. The champagne turned warm. My calls to Caleb’s cell went unanswered.
Eventually, when it became clear he wouldn’t be returning, I cleaned up the kitchen, feeling foolish for doing such a task in two-hundred-dollar underwear. I popped the cork on the champagne and drank while I cleaned, because what sadder, more pathetic end to the day was there than getting drunk alone?
At midnight, I slipped beneath the sheets on Caleb’s bed and let sleep take me.
I woke with fingers around my throat.
The rush of terror and adrenaline was so strong it would have knocked me over if I hadn’t already been lying down. I tried to scream, clutching the wrists of the black figure hovering over me. On instinct, I kicked and thrashed, fighting to get air into my lungs, but the man only squeezed harder.
Frantically, I reached an arm out for Caleb, but the bed beside me was empty and cold. My voice wouldn’t work. Even with my mouth open, no sound came out.
I stared up at the man, his face and hair completely concealed by a black mask and hoodie. His arms shook with the force of his grip, and his anger seeped from every movement. He picked me up by the neck and slammed my head down hard into the mattress.
“Shut up and listen, you stupid bitch. We had a deal, and that doesn’t end just because Axel is dead. His debt is now yours, and there’s another six months on his contract.”
His fingers eased up the tiniest of fractions, and I sucked in a stinging breath that seared my lungs. I couldn’t even speak; I was too busy trying to gulp down air. My eyes burned, but the man showed no remorse. Terror clawed through my body, but I no longer tried to move. It was pointless. If this man wanted to hurt me, then he would. Caleb’s house was huge. The neighbors wouldn’t hear me scream, and I had to assume Caleb wasn’t home if this stranger had made it all the way up to the bedroom.
“What debt?” I rasped out around my swelling throat.
“Twenty thousand a month, and your club keeps its drug supply.”
My club? Drug supply? I shook my head. “You’ve got the wrong person. Axel didn’t leave me the club.”
“Think again, princess. You’re already two days late. I’m a patient man, but I don’t run credit. You’ve got ’til the end of the month because you’re new. You’ll owe double by then. Last month, and this month. Forty K. Any longer, I charge interest.”
Despite the mask that concealed his features, his gaze ran over my body. His fingers trailed down from my neck, between my breasts, barely concealed in the see-through lingerie I’d put on for Caleb. I froze, hating his touch but unable to do anything to stop it. A sob built in my chest, threatening to burst free the lower his finger moved.