Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,143

realised what a sadistic bastard her husband was.

All of the times in the past she had convinced herself that he was hurting her because he was out of control, too drunk to know what he was doing. But the calculating way in which he had set up this scene finally made her realise what he was truly like. The drink was a factor without doubt, but at long last she realised that he ultimately got off on hurting her - and that was why he was always so aroused. Somewhere over the last five years, the pain that he had inflicted on her had morphed him into who he was now and she rapidly realised that she was in the greatest danger of her life and had absolutely no escape plan. None whatsoever.

The second that she had opened that final present she had sealed her fate - her reaction had just been the icing on the cake and now the game needed to be played out according to Dale’s rules. Rules that she had no way of understanding or comprehending and therefore she had no possible way of winning.

The second present had contained a dress.

A dress that with chilling certainty she had recognised.

Her dress.

Her ‘killer’ dress.

Which meant only two things.

One – that Dale knew she had been out without him wearing that dress.

And, two – much more damning than the first - Elise knew that both hers and Vaughn’s scent still lingered on the dress.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Elise sat cowering on the carpet by the side of the toilet, shivering and shaking and listening to the monotonous sound of Dale’s footsteps pacing the nearby kitchen. He hadn’t spoken to her since she had bolted for the cloakroom but she had heard him approach and begin to pace, almost as if testing his nerve against hers. Who would break first?

She needed to get out of here - that much she knew - but in order to do that she was going to have to get past Dale and she didn’t see any way of that happening. If only she had her phone with her then at least she could have called Cole or someone for help. But both of her phones were upstairs in her handbag and she wasn’t even convinced that her usual phone was charged up anyway.

She glanced around the small room, eyes resting momentarily on the window but that was a non-starter. It only had a small opener at the top and anything bigger than a newborn baby would struggle to get through the gap. She was going to have to go out through the door and take her chances; that was her only option.

Mentally, she began to calculate how much alcohol Dale had consumed, trying to decide if he was anywhere near to passing out or not. He had drunk most of a bottle of wine plus a good two-thirds of the whisky but she didn’t know if that would be enough or not. The trouble with Dale was that when he got like this, he ran on adrenalin and it didn’t really matter how much alcohol he had drunk. If he was going to pass out, it was more than likely going to be after he had dealt with her in whatever way he deemed appropriate.

A sudden banging on the door made her jump and she inadvertently bumped the top of her head on the underside of the sink – so jangled were her nerves.

“I suggest you get out here now, Elise.” Dale said in a low and menacing voice. “You are pushing my patience to its absolute limit.”

Silently, Elise groaned and grabbed at her head where she had made brief contact with the sink. She could already feel some tenderness there and a lump forming and she knew that the minor-self-inflicted injury was only the beginning.

Having considered all of her options and realising that she had none, Elise slowly unlocked the door and walked out into the hallway where she was immediately grabbed from behind, her arms locked against her sides and she was rendered immobile.

“So, bitch...” he said, venom dripping from his every word. “Good to see you liked my Christmas present. I thought you would.” Using his free hand, he yanked on her hair to pull her head back so that he could look into her eyes. She noticed that his were slightly unfocused but there was anger and, more sickeningly, desire emanating from their very core.

“Couldn’t believe my luck when I found that dress.”