Joseph Fallen (The Estate Series) (10 page)

It was hours before Joseph returned.
 
Stumbling into the bedroom, he appeared
disheveled, his clothes emitting a powerful stench of alcohol and smoke.
 
His normally styled hair was messed up
from where he’d run his hands through it and his normally grey eyes appeared
black as coal.

Arianna remained on the bed, still dressed in the scarlet
red gown she’d worn to the meeting in the ballroom.
 
She’d fallen asleep after Connor left,
her body giving out from the torrent of emotions that had assaulted her system
over the last few days.
 
She
probably would not have woken upon Joseph’s entry had he not fallen into the
door before opening it.

He circled around the foot of the bed, his drunken gaze
traveling lazily, hungrily over her body.
  
“You’re sleeping in your gowns now?”

Wiping the hair from her face, she looked down over her
dress before quickly looking back up at her husband.
 
“I…it’s been a rough night.
 
I didn’t intend to fall asleep.
 
I’ll change.”
 
Pushing herself up from the bed, she
moved to the side and stood up attempting to walk towards the closet.
 
Within seconds, Joseph moved to her side
of the bed and wrapped his hand tightly around her bicep.

“There’s no need to change.”

Arianna eyed Joseph wearily, understanding of his meaning
slithering down her spine as each tired muscle in her body found the strength
to spasm and lock.
 
Her eyes closed
slowly before opening again.
 
“You
can’t be serious, Joseph.
 
Not after
last night … or tonight.”

However, he was serious, and when his hand reached up to
find the hidden zipper at the back of the dress, Arianna attempted to shift
away, only to have her arm squeezed tighter beneath his iron grip.

Dangerously low and slurred from the alcohol he’d consumed,
his words agitated her, an abrasive sensation like sandpaper being scraped
across her skin.
 
“Will you fight
me, deny me the duties owed by a wife to her husband?”

Looking up into his hooded eyes, Arianna sighed in
resignation.
 
She didn’t want to
fight him, didn’t have the vigor to endure any additional abuses – but
what choice was there?
 
“And if I
refuse?”

The corners of his lips curled up, a renewed heat rolling
off his body against hers.
 
Bringing
his lips to her ear, he whispered, “I’d like that very much.
 
Nothing turns me on more than conquest.”

Moving so suddenly he hadn’t had time to react, she freed
herself of his grip and spun to face him.
 
Anger brushed his features before his eyes followed her arm that reached
behind her back to finish what he’d started.

Pulling the zipper of her dress open, she shrugged out of
the material as it loosened over her shoulders and chest.
 
It fell to her feet in waves of
shimmering rubies and she stepped out of it, dressed in nothing more than the
silken panties she’d worn underneath.
 
The cool air meeting her skin induced a full body shiver, her skin
prickling as the clear blue pools of her eyes met the jaded grey of
Joseph’s.
 

“I find it ironic.”
  
Her voice was cold, emotionless as
she addressed the man she no longer knew.
 
“You make a show of rescuing me from a man who intended to rape me, you
destroy my world by admitting to what you’ve become, and then you force me to
bear witness to a slaughter – and you do so in the name of protecting me,
and in the name of showing me your
power
,
your ability to bring punishment on those who attempted to hurt me.”

Joseph wavered on his feet, but still lorded over her small
stature, perfectly quiet as she spoke.

“And yet…here you stand, threatening to take what I will not
give, committing the same crime against me.”

He stared at her, his nostrils flaring out in anger before
his hand moved quickly to her throat.
 
His fingers tightly anchored against her skin, Joseph pushed her back
towards the wall by the bed, pressed her firmly against the plaster with his
eyes burning into hers and lifted her so that her toes barely brushed the
ground beneath her.
 
She didn’t
resist, didn’t attempt to fight him off; her understanding of his deepening
madness enough to keep her from angering him further.
 
In that moment, as they stood nose to
nose, passion filled grey eyes locked with the unfeeling blue, Arianna made a
decision to escape, to endure whatever was necessary in order to find that one
unwatched, unguarded second when she could run.

Joseph’s eyes closed and his head fell back slightly, but
when he pulled it back, when his eyes opened again, Arianna knew the man she
loved was no longer there.

“You, Arianna, are an unappreciative, spoiled bitch of a
wife.”
 
Tossing her to the floor,
her head hit against the adjacent wall, a small cry escaping her lips from her
surprise and pain.
 
He stalked
towards her, cruelty inlaid in the grin that touched his lips.

“I’ve given you luxury, I’ve given you a home, I’ve given
you…”
 
He stopped, a sick smile
smearing across his features before he continued.
 
“Ah yes, I forgot, you didn’t want those
things – it wasn’t enough for the perfect princess I married.
 
What you saw tonight, what I did for
you, it was a display of power, of justice, of…”

“Of insanity, of a nightmare…” she softly added.

He reached down to lift her by her hair, only to backhand
her so suddenly that she fell back to the floor once more.
 
Warmth spread across her cheek where
he’d struck her and she reached up to touch her lip, finding blood when she
pulled it away.

Crawling away, she looked up at him and noticed how his eyes
closed tight, giving him the appearance of a man pained.
 
Opening them again, he said, “And of a
woman in hysterics!”
 
Reaching down
and easily catching her, his hand gripped around her throat.
 
She could barely breathe but tried to
remain calm.
 
She waited for the
next strike, her breath ragged and her heart beating painfully against her
chest.

Joseph appeared mad, a man attempting to control himself,
but losing the battle, his violence leaking out against his wife.
 
After several minutes of silence, he
said, “Embarrass me again, Arianna, and I’ll make sure you meet with a true
nightmare.
 
As for now, there is
something you can give me, that you’ve
failed
to give me for far too long.”

His hand gripped harder and his fingers tangled painfully
deep within the silken strands of her hair.
 
He lifted her again, but turned quickly
to push her facedown against the bed.
 
Using her hair as reins, he controlled her and held her still for his
abuse.
 
The touch of his hand was
callous and cruel as he ripped away the last bit of cloth that covered
her.
 
She felt him shift as he
removed his pants, heard the belt hit against the tiled floors when it fell to
his ankles.
 
Finally positioning
himself at her opening, he pulled her head up by her hair so that he could
place his mouth to her ear.
 
“You
will give me a child, an heir, if I have to force this night after night until
that happens, so be it.
 
The level
of pain is your decision.
 
Fight me
and this will be more agonizing than it needs to be.”
 

Tears spilled from her eyes when his mouth and tongue moved
across the skin of her neck, when his teeth bit sharply into the sensitive area
at her shoulder.
 
She cried out in
pain, which only made him move one greedy hand quickly over her body and
breasts while the other continued to pull at her hair.
 
And even through the pain, she couldn’t
help but respond.

“You’re sick!
 
I’ll never bring a child into this hellhole you’re creating!”

He laughed, the sound disgusting and maniacal as he bent
forward to say, “It’s a shame that’s not your choice any longer.”
 
Shoving himself inside, the sensitive
skin between her thighs burned as tiny fissures were ripped open from his
force.
 
She cried out again when his
girth filled her and her muscles ached from the sudden and uninvited
intrusion.
 
“Please Joseph, please
stop!”

But instead of stopping, he seemed lost in his rage –
pure madness stripping away all remaining sanity.

The hair at her scalp threatened to rip free as he held her
still, raping her, freeing her of the last bit of love she’d had for him.
 
When he’d roared out his release, and
when his body collapsed over hers, he ripped her head to the side once more.

“I told you that you belong to me long ago, and regardless
of whether you love me or hate me, that will never change.
 
If you value your life, it’s best you
learn to accept it.”

He pulled himself free allowing her to fall to the floor.
She sobbed as he redressed, and as his footsteps grew faint when he left the
room.
 
Only when the door closed,
did she allow herself to truly let go; crying, shaking, and drowning in the
knowledge that he’d never let her leave.

One deep, dark and resonating note filled the small space of
the room.
 
Arianna’s eyes looked up
at the music above the keys, squinted at the light and airy music contained on
those pages, music that she could not play, could not bring herself to
enjoy.
 

One finger, on one key, playing one note – over and
over.

It was all she could manage.

Two weeks had passed, each night bringing more indignity,
more rape.
 
Her body felt bruised
and battered, and her mind felt shredded and torn.
 
She’d become a prisoner in her own home,
an object for his use, his pleasure, a thing of so little value, that she’d
been reduced to an empty shell devoid of emotion or light.

Connor stood at the door to the music room, his stance
typical as he stood sentry over her.
 
She grown accustomed to his presence, and oddly, she found comfort in
his ever-watchful eyes.
 
They’d
spoken to each other only on rare occasions, and only when she’d responded to
his statements or questions.
 
However, as the weeks dragged on and as Joseph fell further into
madness, dragging her along with him, Arianna couldn’t speak, wouldn’t voice
anything openly or easily.

Up until this morning, she’d still been able to play, but
the night before had been her worst.
 
Joseph’s tastes were becoming more vile, more depraved.
 
He’d violated her in ways no man should
be allowed, had torn at parts of her body, had chained her and gagged her, and
he had done so while telling her he loved her still, and that in time, when she
was fat with his child, she’d remember the promises made on their wedding
night, their past desire for a child they could call their own.
 
She knew he was sick; that his mind had
twisted into something foreign and dark – a place from which there was
little hope of return.

She’d grown numb to the abuse, to the added insult of his
spoken words of love.
 
Reaching a
point where death was welcomed, she secretly hoped he would go too far, choking
her free of her life, instead of just into unconsciousness.

Each morning that she woke up, she forced herself from bed
and out into the living room.
 
After
the first week, she’d noticed how Connor’s eyes would seek out new injuries,
how they would hood over and darken when he’d found what he sought.
 
He’d said nothing to her about it,
hadn’t made a move to approach her in the weeks that Joseph’s abuse had
occurred; so, when a deep voice spoke softly behind her while she sat playing
that one key, she startled before turning to look into the eyes of emerald and
jade that shimmered in light and were made brilliant against tan skinned and
black hair.

“I’m sure you’ve heard this many times in your life, but you
play beautifully.”

She blinked in surprise, not having expected a compliment
from the strong and silent guard in the room.
 
Her eyes lowered to the floor, the
intensity of his stare too much for her at that moment.
 
She felt exposed, raw, and ashamed after
the nights she’d spent with Joseph over the past few weeks. “Thanks, I
guess.”
 
Turning back to the piano,
she lifted her hands as if to finally play, but the only thing that fell on the
ivory keys were the tears she could no longer contain.

The soft sound of boots against stone tile was the only
warning before a large, strong hand fell tenderly on her shoulder.
  
“Would you like to go somewhere
else today, away from this building?
 
It’s been a while since you’ve seen the sun.”
 
His tone of voice was relaxed and
compassionate, the baritone depth wrapping around her body like a warm blanket
in winter.
 
Arianna felt unsettled
to feel comfort in his voice, his presence, but she accepted it nonetheless.
 
Sometimes, when all a person is given is
solitude and silence, having any human interaction is a blessing, regardless of
its source.

Her mind traveled back to the last time she’d ventured
outside, to the dense fog in the woods that had disguised the danger lurking
nearby.
  
Beside her stood
another monster who had lumbered into the woods that morning, one she grown
accustomed to since that fateful day.

“Do you trust me enough to take me out?
 
What if I were to run, to never look
back?”
 
She knew she’d never make it
if she tried, but that didn’t stop the fantasy from playing endlessly in her
mind.

“Come. Walking the grounds may do you some good.”
 
His hand still set on her shoulder, the
warmth traveled through her skin, settling against the chill of her bones she
was never able to escape.

“Will you get in trouble?
 
Will
Joseph
approve?”
 
She couldn’t help the
scorn in her voice as she said her husband’s name.
 
Twisting so that she could peer up at
Connor through the thickness of her lashes, she noticed a slight twist to his
mouth, and the faint indentation of the dimple on his cheek.

“Joseph’s instructions to me were to keep you safe and away
from his men and his wing.
 
Other
than that, where you travel is up to you, as long as you remain on the
property.”

A resigned sigh brushed across her lips and she nodded in
agreement.

Reaching down, Connor took her hand to assist her from the
bench and led her out of the music room towards the sunlight that awaited her
outside.

The thick ground cover and leaves crushed and shifted under
Arianna’s feet as Connor walked her towards the path leading through the woods
of the property.
 
Her face turned up
into sunlight, she closed her eyes to the glare but welcomed the warmth that
brushed over her skin.
 
Breathing in
deeply, she shuddered to think how long it had been since she’d been outside
and she was thankful to Connor for having made the suggestion.

As usual, he was silent when they walked, but he appeared
determined in his lead.
 
When they’d
finally entered the shade of the canopies, Arianna cleared her throat before
asking, “Is there anywhere in particular that we are going?”

He turned to her, gently taking her arm in his hand as he
assisted her over some top roots of a large oak tree nearby.
 
“Actually, yes.
 
I had a lot of time to explore the land
before Joseph asked that I watch over you.
 
There are some hidden places dispersed
over the property that are absolutely beautiful.
 
When I wasn’t on duty, I spent most of
my time in some of them.
 
There is
one, however, which is the most beautiful of all.
 
That’s where I’m taking you.”

Her interests peaked; she smiled shyly after he released her
arm.
 
“For as long as we’ve lived
here, I’ve never had the chance to explore.
 
Between the parties, and my music, and …
him … the only time I ventured out into the woods was that day.”

Connor nodded.
 
“I’m sorry for what happened.
  
I was lucky to be nearby, to hear when you cried out.
 
I don’t want to think what would have
happened if I’d been farther away.”

Laughing at his apology, Arianna considered the irony of his
statement.
 
“You only saved me from
the pan to throw me into the fire.”

His steps faltered at her words, his shoulders tensing and
then relaxing at her implication.
  
Without responding, he continued walking her deeper into the forest,
stopping every so often to hold back a branch or assist her over difficult
patches of top-seated roots that littered the path.
 
The canopies of the trees left them
obscured in shadows, but after an hour of walking, her eyes finally settled on
an opening where light cascaded into the woodlands, bringing life and color to
the trees and plants that it touched.
 
Faintly, she could hear what sounded like rushing water and her eyebrows
lifted as she attempted to peek around Connor’s large form to see where he’d
led her.

Finally breaking free of the shadow of the trees, Connor
stepped to the side to give Arianna an unobstructed view of the place he’d
wanted her to see.
 
Her eyes widened
as much as they could against the bright glare of the sun.
 
Her jaw dropped from her shock at the
beauty opened out before her.
 
Taking hesitant steps, she moved towards the calm pool that was set off
from the stream that ran over the property.
 
The rocks glistened in multiple hues of
gold, red and brown and the water running over them imitated sparkling diamonds
as it traveled through the branches of sunlight that touched it.

The only sound she could hear was the water moving below her
and the birdsong from the woods at her back.
 
Looking out, she was awestruck by the
colorful wildflowers that dotted the fields stretched out on the other side of
the creek.
 
It was beautiful, it was
inspiring and it helped breath life back into her body.

Turning quickly, her eyes met with Connor’s and her smile
beamed out at him.
 
“This place …
it’s amazing, Connor.
 
I had no idea
it even existed on the property.”
 
She turned to look back out over the creek and field and was surprised
when she felt the warmth of Connor’s hand grasp hers.
 
Looking up at him, she felt awkward, but
she didn’t pull away, curious as to why he’d made the effort to touch her.

“There’s a natural cave nearby that I found, would you like
to see it?”
 
He smiled with a boyish
charm and Arianna was shocked to discover a tender side to a man who killed
without mercy.
 
Nodding ‘yes’ to his
offer, she allowed him to lead her around the creek and to a rock formation
that jutted out from the wooded area nearby.
 
As they walked, her eyes traveled over
the landscape, marveling at how the scene looked as if it had been painted or a
distant dream.

“Like I said, I spent a lot of time mapping out the property
in order to decide how it would be best protected.
 
There are several rock formations like
this one, however this is the only cave I was able to find.
 
I was concerned it could be a place for
someone to hide, but it’s at a good enough distance that I didn’t worry about
it.
 
I’m not upset I took the time
to find it though, I come here every once in a while when I need time to
myself.”

“You’re with me all day, when have you had time to come
out?”
 
Her voice was strong for
once, the nightmare that had become her life momentarily forgotten in response
to her surroundings.

“At night when I’m excused from guarding you.”

She knew he didn’t intend to remind her, but his words
brought that nightmare crashing right back in like a landslide.
 
Her body trembled and her knees weakened
at the reminder.
 
Connor noticed her
discomfort and wrapped an arm around her waist to steady her.
 
She stopped short, the contact startling
her even more than she’d already been.

Pulling his arm away, he apologized quickly.
 
“I’m so sorry.
 
I thought you looked like you could use
a hand for support, I didn’t intend…”

Arianna looked up at him, her eyes sparkling in the sun, two
blue orbs swirling with multiple hues.
 
“No please, it’s fine.
 
I
just thought about having to go back and it upset me.”

They walked into the interior of the cave and Arianna looked
around at the glittering walls. “So, you come out here at night?
 
Do you ever sleep?”

He smiled, the dimple on one cheek made more apparent by his
expression.
 
“Very little actually.
 
I’ve even slept out here a night or two.”

She chuckled half-heartedly.
 
“I wish I could sleep out here.
 
It has to be better than my room, more
peaceful at least.”

When his face fell, she changed the subject.
 
“Do you live in the mansion?”
 

“I have a room in the west wing that Joseph gave me after
I’d worked for him for a couple of months.
 
He wanted more security on site twenty-four hours a day, so he arranged
for a group of men to live in the mansion.”

Sitting down on a rock, she looked up at him.
 
“How many men live here?”

“On average, about thirty men live here, however, over the
past few weeks that number has doubled.
 
I guess Joseph feels more comfortable with the increased activity since
you found out about the network.”

Her curiosity got the better of her and since Connor was
apparently talkative, she took advantage of his openness.
 
“I’m surprised he was able to hide it
from me.
 
It seems strange that
thirty men could come and go without my notice.”

Nodding, Connor sat down next to her.
 
“It’s a large building and he kept the
activity restricted to the west wing.
 
Most people would not have noticed.”

Leaning back, she could feel the heat of his body on her
side.
 
She welcomed the contact,
however, happy to just be relaxing and having a normal conversation with
someone other than herself.
 
“What
goes on over there?
 
He always
smells like alcohol and smoke when he returns for the evenings, he always
appears manic and disheveled.
 
Are
there drugs?
 
I assume he must have
a hand in that if he’s keeping company with criminals.”