Marrying my husband's greatest rival

Container.

I could hear in his voice how upset he was, and I knew his anger would be directed at me... I heard his heavy foot falls coming down the halls of his home. I say this because even though I lived with him, even though he was my husband, this place had never felt like mine... it never will.

And he made sure that I knew that... this was an agreement, an agreement I resent myself for an agreement I should have given more thought to, but when people you love are in danger, people tend to do things without thinking. The only thing that you care about at that moment are the people you love...

I didn't love him, sure I cared about him and cared enough to have a son, but I think I mostly tolerated him. I was bidding my time waiting for the moment I could get out of here with my son and leave. My home was with my siblings, siblings I hadn't seen in years because of him.

My heart was racing. Sometimes I didn't even have to do anything to Reece to make him upset. All it took was for someone else to piss him off, and I'd become his punching bag... back when I first came to live here he wasn't that bad, he made me feel like he had started caring, and I thought that maybe at some point I might learn to love him.

"Get dressed, we have a job to do."

He says when he enters the room.

"You promised."

Once I found out that I was pregnant 4 years ago, Reece promised I didn't have to work off all the money Lutz and I stole from him anymore...

"Yeah, well, promises get broken all the time, now get ready."

Tears welled up in my eyes.

"What about Karson?"

I whispered.

"He is the reason why you're doing this. A job had gone bad. Fraser found out it was me and took Karson."

"What? how?"

Now I am panicked...

This Fraser guy was Reece's rival... rumor had it that he was a cold-blooded killer, a hothead, a man that didn't care what he did to get what he wanted, and now my son was in the hands of a f*****g maniac. Reece punched me hard in the face. I was never allowed to ask any questions, I reeled back and wiped my nose.

"I'm sorry"

I whispered.

"Meet me downstairs in 5 minutes."

He said and without another word, he left the room.

I took a few seconds to get myself under control. My son was taken. Now the only thing was to get him back to make sure that he was safe. Once I was done, I met Reece in the foyer and followed him out to his car...

"The plan is to steal his container, then make the trade. The container for our son, you'll look for the Madonna ship. That's the one you need to be on. Do you understand?"

he said.

"What do I have to do?"

"My men will get you on the ship. Once you're on, you're going to steal the drop-off list and get out. We will take it from there."

That sounded easy enough.

As we drove, my mind drifted to my baby... he must have been so scared... the thing is, Reece made all the rules. For the first year, I mothered Karson, but Reece thought it was better if a nanny had the responsibility of looking after him during the day. That way I could look after myself better.

He said children wore women out. She forgets about herself in the process of looking after a child. Even though I told him I didn't want anyone looking after our son, that I was more than capable of looking after Karson and taking care of myself, he insisted with his fist that I obeyed.

I wanted to tell him that this would never have happened if Karson had been in my care. I wanted to yell and scream at him. This was all his fault, but I held myself back sometimes when I told him how I felt about certain things. He would punish me by taking Karson away from me for weeks.

"When we get him back, we'll go away, spend time together as a family. I know I haven't done that in a long time."

He said.

I could only nod. I was afraid I might say something I shouldn't. He took my hand in his and brought it to his lips, placing a gentle kiss on my knuckles...

"I may not be the best husband, but I do care."

I wanted to believe him, but Lutz once told me a man would never lay a hand on a woman if he loved or cared about her.

We pulled up to the loading docks of a huge shipping company... Fraser's stood on every container I could see... even the name made the hairs on the nap of my neck stand on end. I had never met the man, but the rumors were enough to instill fear in me, so much more than Reece had.

"Go get our son back."

He whispered, and I slipped out of the car without saying anything in return.

This was my line of work. It's something that came so natural to me. I could be given very little information and still pull things off. She wasn't hard to find. This ship was a beauty if I had to say so myself. You could see her owner was a powerful man just by looking at her. I made my way to the ship but was stopped by the men standing in the loading zone.

"This is a private ship. You shouldn't be here."

He said.

"No worries, I'm Mr Fraser's assistant. I just need to check the shipping log."

He looked at me from head to toe and shook his nod no.

"He didn't say you'd be coming by."

"Look, I made a mistake on one of the sheets. He doesn't know I'm here, you know what he will do to me if he finds out please I just need to make sure I didn't mess anything up."