He Ordered My Torture, Then Said I Love You Chapter 01

He Ordered My Torture, Then Said I Love You Chapter 01

My concert tour had just wrapped. What I didn’t know was that my husband Arthur Sterling had quietly arranged the itinerary, and somewhere along the route, his men were waiting.

They beat me until I could barely stay conscious, and then, over a phone in that room, I heard my husband’s voice.

“Destroying her reputation isn’t enough. Break two of her fingers, Jade can’t stand watching her play.”

The hired muscle paused. “Mr. Sterling, she’s your wife. You sure you won’t regret this?”

Arthur sighed. “Years ago, she paid people to sabotage Jade out of jealousy, and took her spot as the principal soloist.”

“Jade still has nightmares. The doctor says the only way she’ll heal is if the person who did this to her loses everything.”

“This is what Claire owes her.”

“As for the fingers, call it interest, for every year Jade spent in the dark. Once the debt is paid, she’ll still have the Sterling name.”

The hammer came down. I bit down so hard I tasted blood.

Five years ago, Jade Young had cheated her way through a competition and made real enemies in the process. If I hadn’t stepped in when I did, she would have been destroyed backstage.

I never imagined that Arthur had spent all this time convinced it was me, that I was the one who’d come after her.

It wasn’t until they had their photos and my fingers had been smashed to pieces that Arthur came crashing through the doors of the waterfront warehouse.

He pulled me into his arms with shaking hands. “Claire, I’m sorry… I should have been here sooner…”

“It’s done now. Let the stage go. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll stop.”

But the song was over, Arthur, and so were we.

***

He went still, caught off guard, maybe, that I hadn’t fought back.

“Claire.” His voice was thick with guilt as he reached up to wipe the dried blood and tears from my face. “That’s all behind us now. No more ghosts between us. You’ll always be my wife. I love you, and I’m not going anywhere.”

A broken laugh tore out of me. Love me, not going anywhere, and yet he was the one who had just ordered my fingers shattered.

All of this, every bit of it, because Jade couldn’t bear to watch me perform.

“Arthur.” My voice had gone raw, and every word scraped against my throat. “You arranged this, didn’t you?”

I already knew. I just needed him to say it out loud.

His arms tightened around me. He wouldn’t meet my eyes, and when he spoke, his voice came out low and muffled.

“Claire, don’t put this on me.”

“Jade hasn’t been okay. The doctors say she’s in a bad place, suicidal thoughts, the whole thing. Whatever actually happened back then, her career is gone. Because of you. She can’t set foot on a stage anymore.”

“Every time she sees you perform, she spirals. She’s talked about ending it.”

He settled me into the passenger seat and buckled my seatbelt.

“I had to give her something to hold on to. And honestly, this frees you too. With your hands out of the equation, she won’t have anything left to hate you for.”

“Claire, I did this for us.”

He lifted my uninjured left hand and pressed his lips to it.

“I’ll make it up to you, ten times over. A real wedding, kids someday, everything. Anything you want. Just not the stage.”

Just not the stage.

The stage had been my whole life since I was a child, and he knew exactly what my hands meant to me.

The wind had dried the blood and tears on my face by the time I turned to look at the man I had loved for seven years.

“So you decided to break me, to make her feel better? And you call that love?”

Panic and pain flashed across his face.

“This isn’t about making her feel better. It’s about making things right. Claire, this is something we owe her. What happened five years ago, it’s been a splinter left to fester.

“We couldn’t move forward until it was out. Do you think this was easy for me? Watching you, it was gutting. But I had no other way.”

“Let it go. From now on, you’re my only priority.”

The look in his eyes was so genuine it stopped me cold for a moment.

Then his phone rang, the screen lighting up with the name Baby Jade.

What a name to save her under.

In seven years of marriage, he had always called me Claire. When I’d once asked him to save my name as something sweeter, he’d rolled his eyes and told me I was being ridiculous.

He followed my gaze, and something uneasy shifted behind his eyes.

He answered anyway. Jade’s face filled the screen, and she was falling apart.

“Jade, hey, I’m here. What happened?”

I had never heard him sound like that with me, not once, that urgency, that softness.

“Arthur… I had a dream that Claire came after me, she brought people, and they…”

“I’m so scared. I don’t deserve to be here. Maybe I should just…” [a sharp, broken sound]

Arthur’s face went white. “Jade! Don’t you dare, put the knife down! Listen to my voice!”

“She can’t touch you anymore. I already… I handled it. I’m coming right now. Stay where you are. Please, just stay.”

He hung up, jerked the wheel, and hit the gas.

“Jade’s in trouble. I have to go.”

The force of the turn ripped through my wounds, and blood soaked through at once.

“Arthur…”

“What about me?”

I held up my right hand, bone showing, blood running down my wrist in a steady drip.

“Arthur, I… it hurts. If I don’t get this treated right now…”

“It’s a few broken bones. You’ll live. Jade has a knife. She could be dead before we get there.”

He didn’t even turn around, his voice flat, sharp.

“Don’t be selfish, Claire. She’s like this because of you. Once I’ve talked her down, I’ll have the doctor come take care of you.”

Selfish.

A moment ago he had been holding my face and begging for forgiveness. Now he didn’t even spare me a glance.

When a man’s heart was already gone, guilt was just performance, and promises were just noise.