Page 124 of Thaw My Heart

A what? Nothing he’s saying makes sense.

“Annie says he called her his wife, and then she gave a coded message to find you. Something doesn’t feel right, man. She looked terrified.”

I was with someone for a long time, too…

Her words echo in my head, and I nearly drop the phone in my hands as the realization hits me. Her past fears. The reason she never wanted to marry. Her scars…

The asshole who hurt her was there with her.

Right now.

“Ryker, listen to me very carefully,” I explain the information to him, as fast and efficiently as possible, before I’m barreling down towards the ranch. Pushing Smoke as fast as he can go in the snow.

I’m coming, Sadie.

I’m coming.

Markus walks through the door of my home with a confident stride. He takes out his gun, gently resting it at his side, a display of power to show who has the upper hand. “So, this is where you’ve been hiding, in this shitty little cabin.”

This cabin is beautiful. Perfectly imperfect. Just like me. But he will never understand that.

He stops near the kitchen counter, pointing to a bag of marshmallows. “You know you’re not allowed to have these.” He chucks the bag across the room. “You’re such a child.”

I shudder at his violent nature and the tone in his voice, unable to meet his eyes. He never allowed me to have them or anything too sweet, for fear I would gain weight, and he wouldn’t allow the embarrassment of living with a fat wife. Because that’s the kind of asshole he truly is.

He stalks across the floor, taking in the rest of the open room, pushing things over just to be an ass. To insert his dominance. “You change your name,” he pushes over a Christmas decoration. “You change your address,” he kicks over my end table, and a glass vase shatters onto the floor.

My handgun is still in my purse, sitting near the front door. I’m not sure if I can get to it, but I have to try. With careful steps, I move towards it.

My phone vibrates, and I pause, slowly reaching for it with shaking hands. If I can just get to it before Markus sees, maybe I can…

“Do you like living a lie, Emma?” His vicious gaze tears through me, and I stop my reach.

He picks up a T-shirt off the couch, crumpling the fabric in his hands before bringing it to his nose, inhaling deeply. “I missed this smell.”

My stomach churns, feeling as if I’ve drunk stale milk.

He drops the shirt to the floor, stalking towards me. “All the pretty things I’ve given you, and this is what you chose,” he shakes his head. “It doesn’t make any sense to me.” His hands go to either side of my face. I suck in a breath, closing my eyes. “Open your eyes,” he commands.

Salty tears stain my cheeks as I unwillingly open them. His dark eyes tear into mine, and then he kisses me. My lips feel cemented together as the wetness of his pushes into them.

“Do you know how long I’ve been looking for you?” His hot breath pulsates on my mouth, reeking of cigarettes and alcohol. “Do you know just how much I missed you? I gave you everything, Emma. Why wasn’t it enough?”

I hate that name. I wish he would stop saying it.

“You—you hurt me,” my words scrape from my throat. He hurt me, and what little he offered will never be enough. I stopped loving him a long time ago.

The bastard has the audacity to smile, like he’s pleased that he did. An abuser through and through.

“Only because I love you, Emma. You know my love for you makes me crazy. You make me crazy,” he runs a finger down my lips.

“No,” I shake my head, body trembling beneath me as I try to make some space between us. “No, you don’t love me.” He didn’t know what love was.

Love shouldn’t hurt.

He squeezes my face harder, digging his fingers into my skull. “I haven’t stopped searching for you since you abandoned me. If that isn’t love, then what is?”

Not this.