From Beloved To Battered: Her Reckoning

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the true monster, only the victim she pretended to be. His face contorted with rage as he strode into the roo

me, Chase! She said terrible things!" she wailed, her voice thick with feigned

f decency. He glared at me, his face a mask of cold fury. "What

ngerous rumble. "Teach her a lesson. Make sure s

pered, "No, Chase, please. She's injured. Don't." But h

mine. "She needs to learn, Joy. She needs to

at Chase, my mind reeling. This wasn't the man who had promised to protect me, who h

and ragged. "You promised you'd protect m

one-cold resolve. He pulled Joy closer, his voice strained. "I did love you, Elisabeth. Once. B

k a solid wall of indifference. The door clicke

a blur of methodical humiliation. I didn't resist. I didn't cry. There was

each stinging echo, another piece crumbled. My deep affection, my fool

me, and a trickle of blood stained the white tiles. A cho

r a thousand times worse," I whispered, the word