My Alpha Husband Forgot I Was The Blackridge Reaper Chapter 05
My Gun Never Rusts
Adrian arrives less than five minutes later.
He looks at the blood running down Emma’s back.
He does not even frown.
Ivy rushes to his side.
“Emma refused to obey me, so I disciplined her. Now Scarlett is acting like I committed some horrible crime.”
Adrian turns to me with the same patient smile he always wears when he is about to excuse Ivy.
“She may have lost her temper, but an Omega servant cannot openly defy a member of my family.”
His gaze moves to Emma’s torn skin.
“Ivy knows when to stop.”
Seven lashes.
The deepest wound has split Emma’s skin open.
He calls that knowing when to stop.
I say nothing.
I turn and walk away.
Inside my study, I close the door and sit behind my desk.
Emma’s blood has dried on my fingertips.
I stare at it.
My hand slowly closes.
My nails cut into my palm.
“Knox.”
My voice is barely louder than a breath.
He answers from the hallway immediately.
“At your command, Miss Halston.”
“You said my guns never rust.”
“They don’t.”
I close my eyes.
“Then get them ready.”
That night, I bring the best doctor in Blackridge to Emma’s room.
I sit beside her while he cleans every wound and closes the deepest cut.
Emma lies on her stomach with her back wrapped in bandages.
During the treatment, she bites the corner of her pillow and never makes a sound.
When the doctor leaves, she looks at me.
“I’m okay, Miss Halston.”
Her voice is hoarse.
I pull the blanket over her shoulders.
“No one will ever do this to you again.”
For a moment, she only stares at me.
Then she starts crying.
Tears stream down her face, but she is smiling.
She knows.
The quiet woman who let Ivy leave my engagement dinner untouched is gone.
The old Scarlett is back.
Knox brings me his first report before midnight.
“Adrian spends every third night in Ivy’s rooms. He goes in after the staff turns in and leaves just before sunrise.”
I look toward the east wing.
The lights are still on.
“Anything else?”
Knox’s expression does not change.
“In public, Ivy calls him her brother.”
He pauses.
“Behind closed doors, she calls him babe.”
What a devoted little sister.
What a faithful husband.
Mom, you asked me to give people a chance.
I tried.
I gave Adrian every chance he deserved—and several he did not.
My husband uses me as a ladder into the Alpha family.
The woman he brought into my home whipped someone I love until she bled.
I close my eyes and take a slow breath.
When I open them, the last of my patience is gone.
“They don’t deserve my mercy.”