The King’s Prisoner

Chapter 18

Adrian

The anticipation of learning Tori’s past made me very anxious. I waited as she sat on my lap deep in her thoughts. Her eyes were still wet from the tears that ran down like a wet stream on her face. Whatever happened to her back then, traumatized her. I remembered when she had the nightmare and she screamed out the name Livie. She cleared her throat as she gathered her bearings and stared blankly at the wall as if she was being transported back to that time.

“A few years ago, I met Alex through my coworker at a company event,” she began. “We connected immediately. He seemed so shy at the time and I was always outspoken. We exchanged numbers and talked for weeks before I agreed to the first date.” I held her hand as she spoke. I can feel her body beginning to relax. From what she told me, they sound like two normal people who liked each other. “The first date was amazing, he seemed so caring and so attentive. I just, I never knew that he would’ve turned out to be so abusive.” My body stiffened at that word. Abusive. My mind drifted back to where I heard my mother talking to someone about being abused.

Flashback...

“He’s been off lately,” she mumbled. “He leaves the castle unguarded at night and then comes back smelling like cheap perfume.” I had no clue who she was talking to as she was on the phone.

“Yes, we fought and I have the black eye to prove it.”

Who was she talking about? Dad? He would never do such a thing. My dad was a man of honor. He loves his family. She had to be talking about Jasper. He was always the hot-headed one. Whenever anyone says something to him, he would fly off of the handle. Maybe he was the one that hit mother.

“I-I just don’t know what to do anymore. He won’t talk to me and trust me, I’ve tried to get him to open up about his feelings,” she huffed. “Yes, we can talk about this later. Thank you.” She hung up the phone and I headed back to my room with so many questions.

Present...

“Adrian? Are you okay?” She asked, snapping me back from my hypnotic state. I gently squeezed her hand. “Yes, I was just caught off guard when you said the word abusive.”

“The first time it happened was right after we were married. I’ve always heard the saying the first year of marriage is the hardest and I honestly thought that we were going through that rough patch. I had just given birth a few weeks prior to our daughter.”

Each time she spoke, I was thrown off. She was married and had a baby!? A little girl at that. I bet she was just as beautiful as her mother. I had so many questions but didn’t want to interrupt her. I wanted her to feel like she could tell me anything.

“We argued about stupid things, like any normal couple. That night, he told me that he expects me to do nothing but what he says. He wanted me to be the quiet and well-disciplined wife like his friends had. He said that I had no opinion and that my role as his wife was to serve him as a slave would to his master. When I didn’t comply and argued why that was the stupidest thing I heard, I was introduced to the real Alexander Boone.”

I pulled her close to me and held her as if I could shield her from all the trouble that seems to hold her. Victoria was not any ordinary woman. She was outspoken and that’s what I love and admire about her. From the moment we locked eyes, I knew she would become someone special in my life. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered. “You didn’t deserve that.” Now it makes sense why she was so good at masking her emotions. To fool everyone around her by making them believe that she’s okay, but behind that mask, is the woman who’s been through a traumatic experience. “You said you were pregnant and that you gave birth. Where is your baby now?” If I would’ve known that my question would’ve made her break down, I would have kept my mouth shut.

She cried violently, so raw that it caused my heart to break into pieces. She didn’t have to tell me. The way she broke down on my lap gave me the answer. Her baby died. I rocked her as she finally let out all of the pain she held in. She was not one of the strongest, but the strongest woman I’ve ever seen. She didn’t have to finish to give me an idea of what happened to her husband. I understood. She killed him in self-defense and my mother ripped off the band-aids she used to hold herself together.

“Shhhh, I’m here, Tori,” I caressed her back. She was shaking, soaking up my shirt. My mother threw her past in her face. “I’m so sorry for what my mother did.” She sniffled and looked up at me with red eyes. “And I'm sorry for not jumping to your defense.” I let my mother rip her apart and now I have to be the glue to put her back together.

“She was only four years old. My Livie, my sweet Olivia, ” she mumbled. Livie. The name she yelled out during her nightmare. It‘s all coming together now. “I tried to protect her. We ran away from Alex and every few months, we had to move. We lived in a cabin in the mountains isolated from the world. I started homeschooling her but felt bad that I was taking away the beginning of her childhood. Livie didn’t understand any of this, so I told her that we were going on an around the world vacation. I should’ve known she was too smart. The night she died, she asked me when were we going back home. She was so tired from all of the traveling and besides, Alex was great with her. She adored him and I didn’t want to take that away from her.”

Tori was talking, but what I saw and heard was the emotional pain. It flowed from her words, her body, and her tone. Although she escaped from her abusive husband, she lost a piece of her heart in the process. But what made me see how courageous she was, was the fact that she was willing to go through the abuse for her daughter's happiness. She was willing to give up her life for her.

“So, I told her that we would go back after we visit one more place, but we never got the chance because as I was packing, Alex somehow found us and Livie was so excited to see him, but me. I was scared for my life. He played with her as he would normally do and then told her to get ready for bed. When she was out of sight, that’s when all hell broke loose.” She held her neck as she recalled what happened.

“He hugged me, squeezing me so hard that I couldn’t breathe. He said I made him look like a fool and I ruined everything. I begged him to not do this with our daughter in the other room, but he didn’t listen. Instead, he trapped me against the wall and I can see Livie’s door opened. I tried to play it off and I kissed him but he used it as an opportunity to once again choke me. Livie must have known something wasn’t right, because she ran out towards us and pulled at her dad, he was so determined to hurt me that he pushed her out of the way and all I heard was her body hitting something hard.”

I listened and continued to soothe her. She’s already been through hell and that was probably why she begged me to kill her.

“I’m so sorry,” I kept saying. I didn’t know what to say. Her little girl was gone and she blames herself. She felt like if she hadn’t run away that her daughter would have been alive. This made me so angry at my mother. More at myself for not defending her when my mother brought up her past.

“All I saw was her body, unmoving. Her chest didn’t rise and fall. There was blood oozing from her head. He all of his anger, he killed our daughter. I snapped like all of my emotions had shut off. I turned into something that probably couldn’t be reversed. He was shocked as tried to explain that it was an accident, but I didn’t care. He leaned down crying over her and I ran to the kitchen and grabbed the knife. I hid it behind my back and came back to where my dead daughter laid. He tried to blame me. He said that none of this would have happened if I would’ve complied. We argued again and he hit me. This time I pulled out the knife and it met with his torso. I moved it back and forth and watched as he fell to the side clutching his stomach. I immediately called for help and when the police arrived, I gave them my statement. They took pictures of the bruises and then the paramedics carried my daughter to their truck.”

So many emotions surged through me. My heartbeat increased each time she spoke. There was no way she was going to do this interview. I don’t care how my mother or anyone else feels. Today, I got to know my wife in a way I’ve never expected and now I’m going to be the husband that she actually married. I told the guard to cancel the interview and then I called her parents and told them that we will reschedule dinner for another night. All I wanted to do was cater to her, take care of her, and let her know that I will always have her back. She laid on the bed as I called Emily and Sophia in to get Tori some food and me a change of clothes. After they came back, we ate in silence. I knew she was so lost in her thoughts and I didn’t want to pry. She’s opened up so much already and that was more than what I could’ve asked for.

After we finished eating, I pulled her to me and just held her. She would sniffle every now and then but eventually, she fell asleep. I watched as she was able to finally relax. Her features had a look of relief. Like the calm after the storm. I vowed to protect her and I am going to stick to it at all costs. I knew that I had feelings for Tori and I want to explore them. I also know that she needs time to gain my trust to open her heart to love again. We can take all the time in the world. I realized my mother was not the woman people believed. She showed me that today. She was not the mother that I admire as a child and now I am questioning everything about my family, my life. Maybe Jasper was right, maybe I have been so blind to everything. Well, now that I’m starting to see the damage that’s being done, I have the power to fix it, starting with talking to my mother.