A/n: WARNING: Mention of abuse in this chapter...holds all of your hands tightly...we're soooo close...

here's the deal: I only have 4 more chapters written/beta'd after this one...there is NO GUARANTEE that I can get the last 5 chapters written in the next 48 hrs...

So, you can have the remaining 4 chapters today and then wait til after my surgery Thursday for me to write the last 5 or...I can end here for today and give you the last 4 tomorrow. Still means you'll probably have to wait for the last 5 until Sunday or Monday...Let me know.

HUGE THANK YOU to my TEAM: Bnjwl, Lvtwilight09, Reyes139, Kitkat681 and Kiki The Dreamer for all their invaluable feedback, advice and words of encouragement while I wrote this story. I love you all!

Ch16

I woke up to the sounds of Tanya screaming at someone, so I strained to hear who it was.

Oh no, it was Bella. What was she doing here? Doesn't she realize that she's going to make things worse for me? Not that they could really be any worse than they are right now.

Tanya had taken to kicking me in the ribs sometime during the night after I passed out and failed to orally pleasure her. The thought of that crotch anywhere near my mouth ever again, made me want to throw up.

She had poured hot wax on my chest at some point and pulled out tufts of my chest hair with it. I didn't have a lot but the little I did have was now in small patches in between the purple welts now adorning my chest.

Tanya stormed into the bedroom, she threw the door open which caused it to bounce off the wall startling me. "It's about fucking time you woke up. Get your ass up and shower. Then you can cook me some food, I've worked up quite an appetite." She looked at me with such disgust it made me cringe. She stomped around and untied my legs and arms.

"Did you ever love me, Tanya?" I asked quietly as I tried to find a way to sit up without causing the radiating pain to shoot throughout my body. However, that was useless, I was beat to a pulp all over. Everywhere except my face. She always tried to keep my face free from her marks, as she once said, 'Can't hurt the pretty'.

She just laughed, "What the fuck does love have to do with it when money is involved?"

I've known all along that she was only after my money, I thought as I carefully made my way into the bathroom.

I never felt anything but utterly gross when I looked at myself in the mirror, which I didn't do often. I hated myself. I hated how weak I was. I hated how I looked because it initially attracted Tanya to me. I hated money because it's what kept me from my family. I hate my life, period.

How on earth, me of all people got mixed up in this mess still boggles my mind at times. I was just a shy, lonely guy who wanted to finish Law school and quietly go to work every day. I had one simple dream , to meet someone, someone like Bella, perhaps, we'd fall in love, get married and have a few children. We'd have a happy, peaceful life.

But, I'd rather die now than to have any of that with the demon I live with.

I managed to get the condom off my now purple and swollen dick. Ben-Gay, she had covered my dick in that shit and then sealed it on there by covering it with latex.

I really do not care if it ever works again, to be honest. Sex with her was like torture, anyway.

I turned the water on as I leaned against the cool wall to wait for it to warm up. I can only imagine what I looked like. I was too afraid to look in the mirror.

I fought back the tears as I stepped into the shower, the water burned my skin, especially the marks that covered my body.

I let the tears fall then because the pain was too much. The pain of my wounds, the pain of my heart, the pain of just living this life...I couldn't stop the sobs as they escaped my mouth.

As I laid my head against the tile, I saw Bella's face in my mind. Her soft voice in my ear, 'you can trust me, I can help'. The words replayed over and over again.

A small flicker of hope burned inside my heart that maybe she could, but there was no way that I would allow her to get anywhere near Tanya. I could not deal with one more person being put in the path of her destructive ways.

As if she knew that I thought about her, Tanya barged into the bathroom and screamed at me, "Get out of the fucking shower already, I'm hungry."

I stood up and waited for her to leave the room before I finished washing up as best I could. My legs were weak and it hurt to breathe, not to mention that every bit of movement forced my head to pound like there was a hammer hitting over and over.

I turned off the water and grabbed a towel to dry off.

I slowly made my way to the medicine cabinet to grab some aspirin and a glass of water to try and ease some of my pain.

I almost screamed when I caught a glance of myself in the mirror. I didn't even recognize my own body.

I threw up in the sink and quickly washed it away before I gently walked to the bedroom to get some clothes. All I wanted to do way lie down and sleep until I died.

Somehow I managed to get some clothes on before I shuffled into the kitchen.

"What do you want to eat?" I asked quietly.

"Something light, maybe some pasta with heart of palm, olive oil and sundried tomatoes. Oh and that salad that I like with the walnuts and grapes." She said flippantly and tossed her hair.

The sight of her repulsed me.

I cooked what she requested as I fought through the tears and pain. She sat there at the bar and laughed at me. "You know you'd make a good slave for some of those cold-hearted bitches I hear about in that BDSM club across town." She smirked as I looked at her incredulously.

"No, thank you, I have my hands full here." I retorted.

"You think?" She laughed, her voice full of sarcasm.

"Yet, you still never seem to do anything the way that I want it or need it done." I wanted to be able to smack the sneer off her face. My hands clenched into fists as I listened to her to tease and taunt me further.

"By the way, how was your family? I know that you spoke to your father yesterday. Did you tell him to just give you the money and all this could go away? I mean, I don't think fifty-million is too much to ask, do you?" She asked as I eyed her wearily.

Hell, at this point, I'd give her all of it if she would just leave me the fuck alone.

"How is his health? I heard he's not looking to good these days. It would sure be a shame if something happened to him. I mean, I might have to marry you then and take it all." She cackled and it made my skin crawl.

"Leave my family out of this!" I said as I sat her plate down rather loudly on the counter in front of her.

"We had a deal. I've lived up to my end, I assure you." I said through clenched teeth.

"Have you?" She asked with her head cocked to the side and her eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"Yes, you know damn well I have." I inwardly seethed.

She waved her hand in the air to dismiss me and I started to clean up the kitchen.

"I'm going out in a little bit and I'll be gone most of the night. You are not to leave this house, do you understand me. I am going to leave your phone, in case I need to reach you, but you know I will find out if you make any calls. So, it's probably best that you just clean up this pigsty and go to bed."

My only response was to simply sigh with relief.

I didn't know how much more of her that I could handle.

I contemplated how to get out of this without anyone else getting hurt by Tanya. I really didn't see any real hope for it, but once again, Bella's face popped into my mind. She seemed to be my only hope for getting out of this hell. Question is, could I really trust her?

A/n: Screams at Abusedward: YES, YES TRUST HER!