Page 236 of Modern Romance Collection December 2024 Books 5-8

He could see then what he hadn’t wanted to see in New York. What he hadn’t been able to see because of his anger and confusion. Her defiance was an armour. That need to push back was self-defence learned the hard way.

‘How long were you with him?’

‘Just over a year. I should have left him after the first time. The first time he hit me. But he was so upset and he said it wouldn’t happen again, that he would never let it happen again, and I believed him. Or maybe I wanted to believe him. I wanted what I thought he was offering.’

Tiger stared at her, light-headed with shock, his stomach lurching, the world exploding around him. He could hardly hold onto the thread of his thoughts.

‘And he was my first. My only, until you.’

Her voice was scratchy and she seemed young then. He had a sudden, bruisingly clear memory of the two of them out in the hut by the beach. He remembered her hands pulling clumsily at his zip. He had put it down to the urgency of their hunger, but it had been her first time in five years.

‘We were in this tiny flat and he thought we needed space, so we moved out to this house way out in the desert, and it was okay for a bit. And then it happened again and it kept happening. Only we were miles from anywhere and he had taken my phone and my credit card.’

She rubbed her forehead with her fingers as if it was hurting. ‘I know what you’re thinking. You think that I’m making excuses. That I should have left, that if I really wanted to, I would have left.’

Actually, he was thinking of all the ways he could ruin Noah Barker’s life. Slowly, painfully.

He shook his head. ‘Leaving is a process, not a single act. I sat next to the head of a women’s refuge charity at some dinner. She told me it takes an average of seven attempts before a woman can leave.’

‘It took me three.’ She took a deep, shaky breath. ‘The first time he dragged me back into the house by my hair. The second time I tried to take the car and he smashed my face into the steering wheel and knocked out a tooth. This one is an implant. The real one is in the desert somewhere.’ Her voice trailed off and she pressed her fingers against her mouth as if she was remembering the pulpy feeling and the taste of blood.

‘It kept bleeding so long Noah got worried and he took me to hospital. There was this nurse and she took me off on my own and she asked me if my husband had hurt me. I should have said yes, but I was so muddled and scared. After that I stopped running. I used to hide but that was worse. He used to get so angry.’

She made a small, tense gesture with her hand.

‘Did your family know?’

He felt sick. The idea of hurting a woman was appalling but letting her be hurt was just as bad.

Her eyes skated away to the door. ‘I didn’t want them to know. I know it sounds crazy, but I was ashamed. I felt so stupid, and I thought it was my fault, that I was doing something to make him that way. That I deserved it.’

‘Why would you ever think that?’

‘Because for so long I hated being a Truitt. I love my family, but they don’t make it easy. They’re lazy and messy and they do dumb things.’

She sucked in a sharp breath. ‘When I was growing up, we never had any money and they were always in and out of trouble, and I wanted to be different. I thought I was different, better than them, and I thought Noah was better because he dressed well and he had an expensive car, and an actual job, a good job. But he was a monster and it was my dumb, lazy brothers who rescued me.’

Her cheeks were shining with tears and Tiger reached into his pocket and handed her a handkerchief.

‘The last time he hit me, he was so out of control. I remembered that nurse at the hospital and I stole his phone and I called Connor. I was so scared Noah would find out. He was always checking his phone and in the end I panicked and I dropped it into the oil tank.’

He hesitated a moment then put a hand on top of hers. ‘And your brothers got there before he found out?’

Scrunching the handkerchief into a ball, she nodded.

‘When Connor saw me, he wanted to kill Noah. They all did, but I wouldn’t let them do anything, only then when I went to get my things Noah told me that I was a nothing. He spat in my face.’

Her face was wet again but there was a flicker of light in her eyes, a clear, unfaltering fire that he recognised.

‘I punched him and I kept punching and Connor had to pull me off.’

He wanted to laugh, because of course Sydney had punched him, but instead he pulled her against him, kissing her face. ‘Good for you,’ he murmured, burying his face in her hair.

She looked up at him, smiling weakly.

‘I didn’t really hurt him but out of spite he must have called the police at some point and told them my brothers had assaulted him. They didn’t tell me at first and then when I found out, they wouldn’t let me go and tell them what really happened because they knew I didn’t want anyone to know about Noah, and they didn’t want me to get into trouble.’

‘That’s why you agreed to work for Harris,’ he said slowly.