Destroy For Her - R.B. Hilliard

Chapter One

SAGE COULDN’T SLEEP. Before moving to Mexico, she’d averaged six to eight hours a night. Now, if she was lucky, she got four. Tonight, thanks to Carlos, she wasn’t getting any. God, she hurt—not just her wrist, but her whole body. She should have let Rosa call for the doctor, but the guy was creepy. A creepy pervert. The last time he was here, he’d tried to feel her up. This was different, though. This time Carlos had gone too far. No, he’d gone too far the moment he first laid hands on her, but tonight was by far the worst. Well, maybe not the worst, but close. She was pretty sure her wrist was broken. She didn’t even want to think about her face. Her right eye was so swollen she could barely see out of it, and her left cheek looked like a giant goose egg. Thank God Petal hadn’t been around to witness Carlos’s freak out. This time. Her breath hitched at the thought of her innocent baby girl. How was she supposed to protect her daughter from this nightmare? Warm tears spilled from her swollen eyes and trickled down her face. Carlos Diez was not the man she thought he was. He was a hateful, evil monster who’d lured her in with sweet words and false promises. How could she have been so wrong about him? She’d asked herself this question a million times. She was trapped, teetering on the edge of broken, and the cracks were beginning to show. Something had to give. If only she could find a way out of this mess. If only.

Tonight was stupid. It was her fault. She shouldn’t have reacted, shouldn’t have fought back, but when she saw Carlos standing in her room with the photo in his hands—her photo—she completely lost it. Her eyes drifted closed as she pictured that day in her mind. It was the day Alex had taken her and Petal to the zoo. The weather was perfect. Everything was perfect. Afterwards, he’d driven them to the lake where they had a picnic lunch. While there, a woman commented on what a pretty family they made and offered to take a picture. It was the only picture she had of him. And now it was gone.

She thought about Carlos’s reaction. Like everything else with that man, it didn’t make sense.

“What is this?” he’d asked.

“It’s nothing, just a picture from home.”

“This is your home now, preciosa. How many times do I have to tell you this?”

It wasn’t her home. Austin was her home. Of course, she didn’t dare tell him this.

Brown eyes that she used to think were attractive narrowed on her. “And if it’s nothing, then why were you hiding it in your drawer?”

Because I knew you’d destroy it if you saw it! “It’s just a picture, Carlos,” she quietly replied.

Eyes narrowing further, he asked in that menacing tone she’d come to hate, “Are you sure that’s all it is?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“If it means so little, then you won’t mind if I get rid of it.” He raised the frame above his head and brought it down hard on top of the dresser.

“No!” she cried out as pieces of glass scattered and fell to the floor.

“No?” he mocked.

Tears of helpless anger welled in her eyes. God, how she despised him. She held out her hand. “Give me the picture, Carlos.”

His lips split into an evil grin as he ripped it from the frame and held it in the air between them. “You want it? Come get it.”

She knew better than to give in to his taunt, but she was tired, exhausted—so damn sick of this hateful man and this awful place. All she wanted was to take her daughter and leave. She dove for the picture and he quickly whipped it away. Then, with a smirk on his face, he tore it to shreds right before her very eyes.

That’s when she lost it. With a scream of rage, she jumped him. Clawing and biting, she took him to the ground.

Laughter poured from his despicable mouth as he punched her in the eye. When his fist connected with her lip, she kneed him in the balls. Laugh at that, she thought as he dropped onto his side and began gasping for air. Stupid her thought it was over, thought that she’d finally beaten the asshole at his own game. She should have known better. Men like Carlos couldn’t admit defeat because that would make them seem