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CHAPTER SEVENTY SIX
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Ryder woke up much later in the day with a raging hangover headache and hurting eyes.
The spot next to him in bed was empty with no sign of warmth left behind and the first though that struck his head was that she'd run out on him again.
They'd just had the best night of their lives, right?
And yet she was no where to be found in the room.
He managed to stumble out of bed somehow and went looking for her around the house, but the place was as empty as it was silent.
She was gone.
Fuck, he needed her and he panicked about her absence, even with the pounding headache in his head, worrying himself to death on her whereabouts until it hit him, hard.
She was gone because he'd sent her running from him.
It was coming back to him now, the account he'd stumbled upon, her involvement with her father and his friends, and the camera he'd found in her bag.
They all came rushing back in a flood, worsening his already bad hea
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Bree barely made it into her room before she came crashing down on the bed and crying her soul out. Why would this be happening to her, why now of all times? They say God only gives you as much as you can handle right? Maybe he'd given her too much credit because she wasn't ready for this, she didn't think she could handle it all without snapping. He'd asked her to get out of his house, said it so casually like they hadn't been together just hours ago with him processing his love to her. He'd said it like she'd forced her way in here and he wanted her gone the next minute. He'd looked do different and she knew whatever it was that had happened, it was taking its toll on him too. He looked like it to her. She stayed curled in bed, her heart ripping to shreds as she thought about the things he'd said. It hurts so much, and it was worse because it hurt in the one place she couldn't hold, the one place she couldn't
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Bree couldn't say which one hit her harder between finding a documented file full of her personal information on Ryder's desk and hearing that voicemail from his phone, in the same voice that she's known for years now.She would know Cole's voice any where, even in her sleep, because she'd spent years listening to it.His words in the recording had been loud and very clear."I need more money...." He'd started in his usual unperturbed voice that makes it always seem like he was in control of every situation."And you are going to give it to me this time because I know you don't want your little chess pawn to find out what you've been up to now, or do you? I had to burn a lot of funds getting your contact and now that I have it, you are going to pay for that too. Say hi to Brianna for me and hey....don't use the bitch too much, I might still need her later."It made her sick to her stomach, he made her sick, they both did and she wished she had neve
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Ryder could use another bottle of whiskey, or three, but he'd sworn off drinks after the raging hangover he'd sported this morning and the extra glass he'd nursed till she'd got back. She looked distressed and her eyes had pleaded with him to go soft on her for a full minute, but he'd had his head buried far into his asshole and had ignored that. He hadn't even given a flying fuck what it was that had made her that way, he didn't ask what out that drowning sadness in her eyes. Instead, he'd made it worse by calling her name's and making accusations, because he'd been mad with his rage and all his pent up anger against the world came pouring out in torrents. He could hear her pulling her box down the stairs and through the living room, but he couldn't bring himself to go after her. What would he say to her? He had nothing to offer now, not after he'd been as cruel to her as the devil himself. And then there was that voicemail fr
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The day Bree moved out of Ryder's house, that had been the last time she'd set her eyes on him. The last time they ever spoke to each other too. For a minute back then, she'd thought he'd come after her, try to offer an explanation about his actions, explain what that voicemail had been about, explain what his accusations had been about......... But she'd waited the whole day, the next, the week and even now, a month plus later there was still nothing. Nothing, except the two million dollars that had suddenly appeared in her account a week after she'd left him. It infuriated her that he thought that lowly of her, did he think that she'd stuck with him because of his money? Because that was disrespectful to both her and her feelings. The feelings she'd had for him, the love he'd grown in her, the fragile heart he'd crushed with his own hands........he disrespected all of that with that money, and when she'd gone stomping under t
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Her box laid open in the middle of their bed while Bree went around the room, taking anything she thought she'd need and throwing them inside it.She's procrastinated this packing for a while now but it needed to be done and as a matter of fact now that Ryder was still at the office.She didn't want him to come home and find she was the only one delaying the vacation he'd taken the whole month to plan for them.Yeah, a vacation, more like a honeymoon except the kids, Karen and Issy, the new nanny, were coming too.In the couple of years that's passed, a lot has happened, none of which she regretted one bit.Not learning how damaged how husband had been before he waltzed into her life or that his plan had been to use her as pawn in his schemes to get revenge, none of it.That last part had hit harder than the rest, knowing that she could have so easily suffered for the crimes of someone who didn't even give two piece of flying shit about her.She'd taken her time to digest that piece
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"You know you'll never hurt Xander, right?" She asked him quietly, and honestly, she had no idea what that did for him.He didnt know that, he's been afraid of that since he knew he was expecting a soon too and maybe, just maybe, that has affected his relationship with his baby.He wondered if she'd noticed, all the times he'd opt to hold Lexie instead of him, afraid that whatever had made his father get so awfully abusive to him might be nestled somewhere inside him.What if it was a bad trait living inside him too, waiting to grow and make him a monster too?It was the sole reason he hadn't wanted kids, ever, but Bree had come into his life and many things had changed with her presence.She'd made him want things that he had no right wanting, made him be live he deserved some good things in his life and now here they were, with two kids, one of them a boy......just like he'd been."I need you to understand this Ry, you'll never be like your father. You are a good man, one of the best
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Bree knew that Ryder had gone through a lot growing up, hrll she knew he had had it tough growing up and has dealt with his fair share of traumatic experience, but abuse at ten?That was a lot to digest.It must have been so difficult for him, a different kind of hell even to loose the one person that genuinely loved him and have the other person who was supposed to love him now resort to abusing and molesting him instead.She couldn't stop the tears that rolled down the sides of her face as she listened to him tell it in that voice of his that couldn't choose between indifference, anger and pain.She could imagine him, so innocent, so small, so hurt and yet do afraid of the monster he calls father.No wonder his father snd hers had gotten so along together and had even made it as close friends.They were both bad pedophilic men, cut from the same nasty cloth.".......and just when I thought it couldn't get worse, he started bringing his friends over."Her breath caught in her throat s
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The memory of what happened in the bathroom stayed with Bree while she had her soak in the tub and an accompanying nice bath, making her flush every now and again.She never expected it to feel this good again, but Ryder had broken every of her doubts with how easily he'd made her body sing and how intensely he'd made her come.Her legs still felt shaky even after time had passed and she was out of the one room that now held a different memory for her.She'd worried that he didnt want her anymore since the babies came and mentally, she blamed it on her postpartum body and the scar that lined her flesh, the scar that marked her first step into motherhood.And those thoughts had almost made her hate it and herself too.But this morning, barely an hour ago, he'd shown her that she'd been worrying for nothing really.Her body ached sweetly even as she got dressed up, still humming from his sinful ministrations.The room was empty which means he'd taken the babies with him on his way out, s
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"Then stay."That sentence, made only of two words, in that moment, sounded more powerful than any argument Ryder could think of.He wanted to, fuck, he's dreamed of staying, like she was asking him to and doing the things she was suggesting, but the fears he'd parroted to her were real for him.He didn't want to hurt her, shes been through enough in recent times to add that to her plate and he knew he might with how rough this could easily turn.She had no idea what she did to him, to his control and without it, he could do things that both of them would only regret later....While his head turned and tossed the pros and cons of indulging their flaming desires and fantasies right now, his eyes followed her body's slow descent until she dropped to her knees before him.She looked like an angel to him, in fact to him she was one, just naughtier and more tempting to his already thin control.Her dainty fingers reached up to the waistband of the sweatpants he had on and he just watched as
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"Ryder.......please......"Bree could hardly believe the voice saying these words belonged to her.She sounded so different to her own self and that was probably because it's been a long while since she's had Ryder touch her like this.She was almost beginning to think they'd hit a drought in their sex life before this morning happened.The no sex rule made sense during her recuperation period she could understand, but even before that and then after, he'd still been reluctant to touch her in an suggestive way.It had bothered her enough to make her believe it was because she looked hideous to him now with her scars and all, but the eyes that had taken in every inch of her body just minutes ago had cleared her of worries.He wanted her snd he wasn't hiding that either.She arched her body as his fingers found her other nipple, catching it between his forefinger and his thumb and rubbing it mercilessly till she thought she'd come from the pleasure.Initially, she'd been afraid she might
