Chubby Bride’s Revenge

Chapter 6

~ Becca ~

The house was quiet again. Too quiet. My chest still ached from the adrenaline, my hands trembling as I gripped the edge of the counter. Nate hovered behind me, his shadow pressing me into the wall of safety I didn’t even know I needed. Jace stayed near the doorway, like a sentinel carved from ice and control. The quiet was thick, heavy with all that had just happened Stephen’s voice, his rage, his entitlement, the way he thought he could own me.

I took a deep, shuddering breath. “He’s gone,” I whispered, even though my ears still strained for the sound of the front door slamming again. Nate’s jaw tightened behind me. “For now,” he said.

“Will he… come back?” I asked, barely above a whisper.

Jace’s eyes didn’t leave mine. They were sharp, calculating, but there was an edge of… something else in them. Protection, maybe. Or anger. “If he does, he won’t get far,” he said. His voice was steady, calm, terrifyingly calm.

I swallowed, wishing I could feel safe. Wishing I could stop trembling. “I can’t… I can’t do this anymore, Nate,” I admitted, my voice breaking just slightly. “I can’t…”

“You are,” Nate said, firm. “You just don’t know it yet. And you don’t have to do it alone.”

Jace shifted, stepping closer, but not too close. His presence was intense, almost suffocating. “You don’t have to face him or anyone else without backup. Ever again,” he said.

I couldn’t speak. Not yet. My chest still felt split open, my stomach tight, my limbs heavy. I wanted to curl up on the floor and disappear. But something in the way Jace looked at me the way he didn’t flinch or falter made me stand taller, even if my knees wobbled.

“I… I don’t understand why you’re here,” I said finally, my voice shaky. “You didn’t have to get involved.”

“I don’t like men who think they can intimidate women,” Jace said. “Especially men who hurt people I care about.” His eyes flicked toward Nate, acknowledging him, but he returned immediately to me. “And right now, that includes you.”

The words sent a strange pulse through me. Care. Concern. Something I hadn’t felt in so long. Not from Stephen. Not from anyone. Not even Nate had been able to anchor me like this before. This was different. Real.

I forced my shaking hands to my sides. “He… he thought he could just come in here and” My voice faltered. “He thought he could”

Jace’s expression hardened. “He underestimated you,” he interrupted, quietly but sharply. “And he will regret it.”

I blinked. “How do you know?”

“Because I don’t tolerate men who think they can bully, manipulate, or break someone they claim to love,” he said. He stepped closer again, his gaze unwavering. “And he’s lucky I don’t have him on the floor right now.”

Nate’s hand on my shoulder squeezed slightly, a silent warning. I knew he was waiting for me to react to panic. But I didn’t. I felt something else. Relief. Safety. And a strange, prickling awareness that I was being… watched. Carefully, knowingly.

“Becca,” Jace said, softer this time, “you need to rest. Eat something. Drink something. The storm has passed for now. But we need to plan. You can’t stay like this, waiting for him to return.”

I nodded, even though my thoughts were spinning. Plan. Rest. Breathe. None of those seemed possible when every nerve in my body still screamed at the memory of Stephen with Brielle their laughter, their arrogance, their betrayal.

“You’re not alone,” Jace continued. “And you’re not weak. Not anymore. I can see it in you. The old you the one he thinks he broke is gone. She died the moment she walked out of that hotel room. What’s left… is stronger. Smarter. Dangerous if necessary.”

Dangerous. The word rang in my head. It fit. It felt right. I let it settle over me like armor.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” I whispered, my voice small.

Jace’s eyes softened just slightly, enough to make my heart flutter and my mind scream at me to stay focused. “You already are,” he said. “You’ve been doing it for two years. You just didn’t realise it. And now, he’s not the only one who’s about to regret the day he ever thought he could control you.”

I swallowed hard, a shiver running through me. I wanted to believe him. I wanted to trust him. But my heart was still bleeding, and my mind was still a battlefield of fear, shame, and fury.

Nate spoke then, his voice quieter but steady. “He won’t touch you again. Not tonight. Not ever if I have anything to say about it.”

I nodded, my fingers curling around the mug of tea he had set in front of me. The warmth seeped into my hands, grounding me. I didn’t want to cry. I didn’t want to be small. I wanted to plan. To think. To rise. But first… I just needed this. The heat of the tea. The solidity of the cup in my hands. The presence of two men who were willing to protect me.

“I don’t know what to do next,” I admitted.

“You do,” Jace said. “You come back stronger. Smarter. And you make them pay for underestimating you. Stephen. Brielle. Everyone who ever doubted you. That’s your next move.”

I bit my lip. “You make it sound so easy.”

“It’s not,” he said, his tone darkening. “But it will be worth it. You will watch them fall and you will rise. And nothing will ever touch you again.”

The words were a promise. Not just from him. From me. From the part of me that had survived betrayal, humiliation, and fear. The part that was ready to fight back. To take control. To return as someone they would never recognise someone who would take everything they thought they owned and show them they were nothing without me.

I looked at Jace. At Nate. At the walls of the house that had been my sanctuary, my prison, and now my battlefield. And for the first time, I felt a spark. A fire starting in my chest, a pulse of vengeance and power that I couldn’t ignore.

“You don’t know it yet,” I said slowly, “but this isn’t just about surviving anymore. It’s about making them pay for thinking they could destroy me.”

Jace’s jaw tightened, his eyes darkening with intensity. “Good,” he murmured. “Because I’ll be right beside you. And if anyone even tries…” His voice dropped lower. “…they’ll regret it.”

The adrenaline was gone, replaced by a simmering fury. But there was no fear. Not anymore. Just focus. And a plan forming, sharp and lethal in its simplicity.

I took another sip of tea, letting the warmth calm my shaking hands. I could feel the weight of what had just happened. The danger. The betrayal. The humiliation. And I could feel something else the seed of revenge, of power, of something I had lost for two years and was now reclaiming.

Stephen Hale had just made the biggest mistake of his life. Not leaving me broken. Leaving me alive. Leaving me smart. Leaving me fueled. Leaving me ready.

And I would show him, Brielle, and anyone else who thought they had power over me, that the girl they had humiliated no longer existed. The woman who walked the streets tonight quiet, composed, deadly was the one they would all regret crossing.

And Jace Hale… he was the first person who had seen me.