hard against the plaster, enough that there would be a sizable knot there later.
Every cell in Nina’s body tensed. Every muscle seized. She wanted to fight. Wanted to yell, run, punch, kick. But at the same time, a sensible voice in the back of her mind reminded her that she was a pregnant woman trapped in a corner with nowhere to go. And something in Calvin’s eyes told her he could potentially do far worse to her and her unborn child.
Think.
“A-all right,” Nina whispered. “All right. Let me. Calvin, please let me help you. What—what can I do to help? Is there anything I can do to make it better? Call those men? Get you the meetings you need? I’ll tell whoever you want that we are married. I said I’d help. I will.”
His small eyes flashed like beady peppercorns in a mashed potato face. His vodka-tinged breath was hot on her neck. Nina’s stomach roiled.
“The princess wants to help her pauper ‘husband,’ eh?”
“Calvin, p-please. Just tell me what I can do.”
He stared at her hard for a long time. Then, at last, his iron grip dropped. Nina’s arms fell, and she rubbed her sore wrists as Calvin pulled a crumpled paper from his pocket and shoved it at her. Nina took it. It bore a list of crossed-out names that she recognized as board members of the De Vries Shipping Corporation. Many were on the board of her trust as well. Including her grandmother.
“I need seed money for some properties in Brooklyn and Newark,” Calvin said. “Five million to start. If I put that down, others will follow.”
Nina gasped. “That’s—that’s a lot of money.” She couldn’t imagine her grandmother would ever agree.
“There’s a lot more than that in your trust, and you know it, princess. They’ll make an exception for your new married venture. You just have to ask.”
“Calvin, I don’t know…”
As quick as lightning, one of his hands found her wrist again while the other slipped back between her legs.
“All right,” Nina breathed as she clamped her thighs together. “All right, I’ll call them today. I-I promise.”
He removed his hands and examined her, as if to see whether she was telling the truth. But instead of stepping back, he leaned closer. Nina stilled. They had kissed once at the altar. Never since. But right now, soaked in a sheen of vodka and canned vegetables, Calvin’s thin lips hovered just over her own, breathing heavily—with anger, frustration, or lust, Nina couldn’t tell.
Her voice was small. Terrified. “Please—please don’t.”
“Oh, shut up, princess. It’s just a fucking kiss.”
His lips smashed against hers like a pair of rubber worms. It was only for a second. But a second was all it took.
Nina gagged. “Oh. Oh God.”
With a sudden rush of nausea-fueled adrenaline, she shoved Calvin’s chest violently and made a decidedly ungraceful beeline for the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet in time to lose what was left of her dinner the night before. It came and came. And then, when Nina remembered where she had stood and what had happened right before, it came again.
A few minutes later, when her stomach was empty and the heat in her face was starting to recede, Nina looked up to find Calvin standing in the doorway of the bathroom. His own forehead was reddened and sweaty, his ugly striped tie loosened around his thick neck as he stared down at her. Her wrinkled chemise pushed up her thighs, her bare legs splayed across the marble floor like a broken deer’s.
For one terrifying moment, Nina thought he might join her there on the floor and continue what he had started in the most brutal way possible. Even more terrifying, she was certain she wouldn’t have been able to stop him if he had.
But then, he turned. The second mercifully passed.
“Disgusting,” Calvin muttered as he pushed off the door. And then, over his shoulder as he left: “Make sure you call the board today. I won’t wait any longer.”
Chapter Ten
September 2008
“Is your husband here, Mrs. Gardner?”
Nina looked up from her toes, wriggling at the end of the exam table. She had a good view of them from here, lying on her back, feet propped in metal stirrups. No dignity, but at least she had a pedicure.
Her toes were so much more swollen now, to the point where she would require a larger size shoe before long. So strange that only a few things seemed to be growing. Her belly, of course, which housed the baby.