didn’t want to be found then no-one was getting close.
“So your husband worked for Forrest Robins?” Duke asked.
She nodded. “I didn’t know what Rex was into when I married him. And until he died, I thought Forrest was charming. That he was a good man.” She shook her head. “I thought Rex was his bodyguard because their family was so rich. Forrest’s dad had bodyguards and his brother was a senator.”
She shook her head. “I was so naïve. I should have figured out there was something more to it. The number of times that Rex came home with injuries, the late nights, the way he wouldn’t talk to me about his work…I should have asked more questions. But then, nobody asked Rex Harrison questions, least of all his wife.”
“How’d you meet him?” he asked her.
“Through his grandma. She went to the same church as my mother. She helped me a lot with Mama’s care when she grew ill. I hadn’t met Rex, but he would often send his sons to stay. Their mother wasn’t around. I fell in love with those boys. They came down for Mama’s funeral. And Rex came with them. He was charming. He said all the right things. I was lost. I didn’t have a job. I had no real friends.”
“He preyed on you,” Ink snarled.
“I think I knew deep down he wasn’t a good man, but I Ioved those little boys so much. When he convinced me to move here, I sold everything. It wasn’t long until we were married, or I thought I was, and I was situated in his house that things changed. He showed his true colors.”
“Did he abuse you?” Ink demanded. His hold on her had tightened.
“He hit me a few times. But mostly he used intimidation and verbal abuse. He could be cold and removed one moment, yelling and angry the next. The worst thing was never knowing what mood he was in. I had to always be careful of what I said, and to make sure the boys kept out of his way. When he was home, we tiptoed around the house, scared of waking the beast. Thankfully, he was never that interested in me sexually. He’d come home smelling of other women and it was a relief. Weird, huh? To be relieved that your husband was having affairs with other women. I ended up sleeping in the same room as the boys, to keep them safer and he never cared.”
God. How long was she with this asshole? How long had she had to live like that? No wonder she was so jumpy with loud noises. This probably had something to do with her issues with being touched as well.
“When did he die?” Duke asked.
“Seven months ago,” she whispered.
Ink felt ill at the thought of his fragile brown eyes living with an abusive asshole. Except, she wasn’t as fragile as she appeared. There was a strength to her that went core deep.
“What I never realized was he was the lesser of two evils. Forrest was the truly evil one. He just hides it behind a veneer of charm and civility. You don’t even realize he’s the devil until you’ve sold your soul to him.”
“Is that what happened to you?” Duke asked her in a gentle voice.
“I thought he’d help me. I thought that we would be free.”
“Free? After your husband’s death?” Ink asked her.
“It was an accident,” she murmured. “Baron didn’t mean to do it.”
He shared a look with Duke. Reyes hadn’t moved, hadn’t said anything and Brody kept his gaze on the computer screens.
Taking her hand in his, he cursed as he realized how cold she was.
“Duke, get her a blanket,” he murmured.
She blinked down at him. “I’m always cold.”
“I know, brown eyes.”
He was gonna make it his job to keep her warm from now on.
“Betsy, what did Baron do?” he asked gently.
“He killed his father. But it was an accident,” she added hastily, starting to shake.
Duke handed him a blanket. He frowned, it was too scratchy and his brown eyes liked soft things. But he lay it over her.
“Shh, brown eyes. No one is accusing him of anything. Just tell us what happened.”
“He was screaming at me because we’d been out to dinner and a man spoke to me. Rex was very possessive. When we got home, he dragged me into his office. He hit me. And I fell, I knocked something over. A lamp, I think. I was trying to get him to quiet down so