Samantha

Chapter Twenty-Two: Open Wounds

They got back to the penthouse faster than Samantha expected.

She stormed out the car as soon as Dominic had stopped and rushed over to the elevator. But unlike other occasions when he was likely to hurt her he didn't pursue. She jabbed at the button impatiently and waited for the elevator to come down. He came over and stood beside her just as the doors opened. As usual, the concierge was standing in there, but he had learned to hold his tongue. He pressed the button for the penthouse and the doors closed.

They rose up in silence. Neither one saying a word to each other.

They finally reached the top floor, and as the doors opened Samantha again stormed out the elevator and into the bathroom and slammed the door. Dominic sighed and walked over to the cabinet to pour himself a drink. He knew he couldn't keep her locked up as prisoner forever. She preferred Nathaniel, he always knew she would. But there was nothing that he could do to change that, and it aggravated him. He leaned down over the counter and rested his head in his hands, trying to think of a solution.

The silence in the living room was almost unbearable.

Samantha sat crouched on the bathroom floor, her face pressed in her lap trying to think of a way out. She couldn't stay with Dominic. She didn't want to and she knew it was dangerous for her to stay. She knew she had to be brave. She'd lived with an abusive mother and a useless father, and she knew  without doubt that she had no one left. Jonathan was god knows where, her sister, brother and so called best friend had disappeared. And she had no other family that she could contact. So she knew she would just  have to be brave.

She stood up,feeling braver than usual, and left the bathroom.

Dominic looked up from his place in the open kitchen and looked at her. "Have you changed your mind?" He didn't look hopeful, just put out and broken. Samantha had remembered how she had felt about him when she first met him. It wasn't so much like that had drawn her to him, it had been his looks, and the way his strength and power almost spilled out of him like sweat. That same feeling had been turned to fear and nausea when he had started abusing her. And all of that started bubbling in her stomach. She could feel her hands clenching and unclenching as she began to shake involuntarily.

She strode over to him until they were face to face.

"I have had enough of the way you've been treating me" She looked him square in the eyes as she spoke, only just able to control her voice so it didn't give away the small fear she had buried in her heart. "I'm going to leave, and you are not going to be able to stop me" He reached out to grab her. "Samantha, no". She backed away, unrelenting and unwilling. "Don't touch me" She gasped. She backed away a little before regaining her composure. She continued, as she backed away towards the elevator. "You will continue to be my manager. But you are going to treat the boys with respect. And me. I will never live with you again. I'll do whatever I want. And there is no way you'll be able to stop me". The elevator doors opened and she walked in. She turned around to face Dominic as the doors closed.

And just like that, she was gone. And his world crumbled around him.

Nathaniel

He was sitting in a roadside cafe, drinking coffee. And thinking. Wondering if his Samantha would ever be safe. And if she'd ever be able to be with him in peace, without Dominic always on his back, trying to claim her. He needed to learn when to give up. He paid the waitress and stood up to leave when his mobile rang. He took it out and saw that it was Samantha calling and he answered it straightaway. "Nathaniel? It's me" She sounded dead, and lost. He could hear traffic in the background. "What happened? Because I know Dominic would never let you out of his sight" She giggled quietly. "I walked out, forever. I laid it straight to him that our relationship was going to be purely professional from now on, and that he'd never be able to hurt me again" Nathaniel smiled with delight. He knew she had it in her.