Within His Reach

Chapter 16

Trigger Warning- this chapter might be a little bit triggering to some readers. Although there is no graphic depictions of sexual assault, it is still spoken about so READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

THEO POV

"It has all been handled, we caught them red handed trying to get into our warehouse."

Unfortunately I could not enjoy a carefree night with Briar due to sorting out this business instead. A rival group had attempted to steal our weapons, it had been going on for the last few weeks and although we knew that there had to be a mole, we did not know where. Therefore I'd had a nightmare trying to sort through every single person associated with me so that I could find the traitor. That's a hard job when you have over a hundred people to check and you cannot instantly trust any of them. But I'd found them.

A man named Patrick Hill. He'd been working for us for three years as a weapons shipper. It was what made it so easy for him to find our base and feed information back to his own group so that they could attack us. But what he did not know was that I already knew he was planning something so just in time I was able to prepare my men.

They had taken care of it now. They killed everyone on the spot except Patrick. He had a special role. Our traitor was taken and tortured until he released the coordinates of his own gang's base. From there we were able to plan an attack as well as move our warehouse incase of any more unexpected attacks.

It was a lot of manic work but now that it was over, I could re-focus my attention onto Briar. I was originally going to have this meeting at the house, but I figured by having it here I could take her with me. She would experience a change of scenery and finally be able to overcome some of her social anxiety. After all, the best therapy was exposure but I had to be careful not to over do it. That's what made the casino party perfect. It was not too busy but still had a calm and fun vibe to it.

I picked up my glass of whisky, remembering Briar's reaction to it's taste on our wedding night. She hated it... but she certainly did enjoy the champagne. I knew that there would be plenty of that around tonight so hopefully she'd be able to taste it again.

"Sir?"

I turned away from the men I was having a conversation with, facing the guard whose face was one of pure panic and terror. There were another three of my men behind him, all of whom had the same expression.

"What?"

I spoke. I'd told them only to interrupt in case of an emergency so although their intrusion was irritating, I knew that something important must have happened.

"It's Mrs Emberson, Sir."

I instantly placed my glass back down on the table and began to walk out of the main part of the casino, of course the guards followed after me. I could feel the men from the meeting staring at me as we walked away. They were probably panicking just as much as the guards, knowing that if something had happened to my sweet Briar then there would be hell to pay. No one wanted to be around me when I was angry, that would be like walking straight into a burning forest. Incredibly dangerous and stupid.

"Has she escaped?"

They shook their heads, leading me out to the cars and gesturing me to go inside.

In some ways that made me even more scared. At least if she'd escaped then I could hunt her back down again. After all, I had the slightest suspicion that tracking down a naïve girl who had no experience with the outside world would be that hard. She'd be like a tiny mouse trying to find its way out of a maze- lost. Very, very lost.

"No Sir."

They were only adding to my confusion, making me completely oblivious to the situation. All of their useless explanations were doing nothing to shine clarity on where the fuck my Briar was.

"Well then what the fuck is going on?"

BRIAR POV

I didn't remember much. Only that one moment I felt absolutely brilliant and then all of a sudden I felt so sick I couldn't even hold my own weight up. But I knew that whatever had happened wasn't good because no-one would tell me what had happened to me while I was unconscious and Theo was nowhere in sight. I could therefore only presume the worst.

I had been raped... or at least I almost was. It was unclear when you'd been too drugged up to remember anything and nobody was willing to tell you what was going on. No doubt it was because Theo hadn't given them permission yet. Did he know? Had he been told or was he still out partying. I suppose in a way it was a good thing that I couldn't remember though. At least I didn't feel it. Though in some ways the not knowing felt worse.

Vaguely, somewhere in the back of my mind, there were vivid memories of guards coming into the hotel room and taking me home. I knew they were real memories and not just dreams because they explained how I got here. Back home.

There was a knock at the bathroom door, so I drew my knees up to my chest, dragging bubbles towards me to cover myself. The door opened a few seconds later and Jona came inside. He placed a pile of clothes down by the sink, along with some towels. He didn't look at me but simply turned around and left even quicker than he'd arrived.

I was lying in bed when I felt two arms wrap around my waist. I jumped, still extremely on edge from what had happened. But the arms only drew me in closer.

"It's just me."

Theo. He was back. For some reason, I had never felt so relieved to see the man. Despite all the trauma he had caused me, I felt safe in his arms.

"Did Jona tell you what hap-"

"Shhhh. Just go to sleep, Briar. You need to rest."

So I rested. Or at least I tried.

I could feel his hands on me. Fingers, digging into my flesh and grabbing my body. His hands, ripping my clothes away from my body and squeezing me. I could feel everything but I could do nothing.

I tried to stop it, but every one of my movements were delayed and prevented by the drugs that swan through my system. I wanted to cry but even that was impossible to do in my state.

I felt him touching me, preparing himself to-

I shot up from the bed, sweat clinging to my forehead and my breathing way too fast for me to keep up with.

"Hey, hey, hey...Briar..."

I felt Theo wake up from beside me and he instantly pulled my body onto his lap. I instinctively grabbed onto him, clutching onto his bare chest for dear life. It was almost as if he'd slip away from me if I let go, abandoning me in the dark forever. I didn't dare loosen my grip. But he didn't mind, Theo just held me close to him and for a moment it felt like we really were in love. I could imagine that he'd do anything for me and would never, ever lay a finger on me. But deep down I knew the truth and it was only a matter of time before my fear wore off- leaving me to see the unmasked truth again.

Our relationship was a ticking time bomb, able to explode at any second. My one aim was just not to be in range when the fire began to grow and destroy everything in its path.

"No one will ever try to hurt you again Briar. I won't let them get the chance."

And for once, I believed him.

Hi guys!! Sorry this chapter is a bit shorter... I covered everything I wanted to and it didn't feel right to add anymore. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it!

Thank you- theatramentouswriter

WORD COUNT- 1381