Betrayed: Keeping her in the Dark Vol. 3 Read online

  Betrayed

  Leslie Sansom

  Keeping Her in the Dark – Vol. Three

  From the moment he saw her, he wanted to possess her, utterly… and now she is his, truly. But being the man she needs and deserves is harder than he thought.

  Copyright 2014

  Leslie Sansom

  Betrayed

  Keeping Her in the Dark – Vol. Three

  All rights reserved.

  Formatting by: Tugboat Design

  Front cover credit to:

  Thank you to my small flock who have been able to overlook the technical issues and simply enjoy the story. Your kind words are appreciated.

  Prologue

  My father was a very strong and intelligent man, but when he died he looked weak and he couldn’t even recognize me. The cancer had eaten his liver and most of his insides. He had had several rounds of chemo and had been in remission twice. But the last time it came back there was nothing we could do. All the money in the world couldn’t save him. He went downhill and he went fast. I watched him go from a very powerful, successful man to a body lying in a coffin.

  I had no control over the situation. There was nothing I could do. I often thought that if we had tried new things earlier, brought in specialists earlier, even tried new age medicines, maybe he would still be here. That’s when I decided I would never lose control again if there was any way around it. I wanted complete control over all areas of my life.

  When I was first introduced to the Dominant lifestyle I was hooked. I liked having the control over a single person. I liked telling her what to do and her doing it without questioning me. I had the control.

  That is until I met Norah. She brought me to edge of insanity and back again pretty much every day. She tested my limits, manipulated my opinions and even took control of our relationship at certain times. She drove me crazy with anger and love at the same time.

  Losing my father was a huge devastation in my life, second only to when I lost my mother a few years later. Her friends said she died of a broken heart. I thought it was just a stroke in her sleep, like the doctor said. I blamed myself at first. He said because she was alone, unable to get to a phone and had stopped breathing was her problem. He said it happened fast and she didn’t suffer much. But I still blamed myself. Not for losing control and having no say in her situation like with my father, but for not being there with her.

  I wasn’t angry about the control, because it was completely unexpected. I was angry that I was so consumed in my own life that I hadn’t been there for her. I had let her down.

  Her friends said she wanted to die so she could be with my father. Her heart couldn’t take living without him. Her life was never the same after my father died. Dying from a broken heart was something I completely believed in now.

  When Norah was taken from me, my heart felt like it was being ripped from my chest every day that I woke up without her. Now I couldn’t get close enough to her. I had lost the two people in my life that meant the most to me. I didn’t let many people get close to me for fear of losing them, but I let her in and almost lost her too.

  I wanted to share everything with her. I wanted to tell her everything about myself and learn everything about her. It amazed me that in the 2 years we had been together, there was still so much I hadn’t told her.

  I had kept her in the dark when we first met for her own good and my selfish needs. I had tried to shelter her from the world and lost her in the process. I knew I had to stop hiding. I had to stop keeping myself hidden from her. I couldn’t keep her in the dark forever.

  But old habits were very hard to break…

  Chapter One

  Norah

  Creating a seating arrangement is both tedious and time consuming. I would prefer to let people sit wherever they want but when you invite five hundred people to an event it is customary to tell them where to sit. It’s just so much harder than I thought it would be.

  I kept moving little cards with little names on them around a large piece of poster board that had a table arrangement for the Palazzo Hall. When I bent forward I felt his eyes on me and heard his sexy hum.

  “Well that is a beautiful sight,” he said and I heard his footsteps moving across the room. I stood up and he moved his arms around my waist. “Have you bought ‘Boardwalk and Park’ place yet? They will make you the most the money.” I just laughed.

  “They’re just people, Norah, and adults at that…so let them sit where they want.”

  He kissed my neck and I leaned into him then turned to face him.

  “It’s a lot harder than you think, ya know. You’re a man, so you just have to show up, it’s us girls that go through all the trouble.” He gave me a slow kiss.

  “Well I seem to remember it’s the men who write the checks to pay for all the trouble. So we do a little more than just show up.”

  “Touché, Mr. Hastings.” I kissed him this time.

  “Well you’re quite worth it, Mrs. Hastings.” We had been married for six months and it was still weird for anyone to call me Mrs. Hastings. I turned back to the table and made a few adjustments. “I don’t recall you going through this much trouble for our wedding.”

  “Yes, well it wasn’t this hard. This is a wedding in the very romantic city of Verona for five hundred guests. That of which, the Father of the Bride is dating the Maid of Honor, the Best Man is sleeping with the Mother of the Groom, and an Aunt, I can’t remember which side of the family, is pregnant with her sister’s husband’s baby. So as you can see, seating is an issue.” He laughed and covered his mouth and that is when I noticed he wasn’t wearing his ring.

  “Well I am sure you will figure it out, little one, you are very good at these things. Everything will work out fine and there won’t be a throw down at the wedding.” He kept laughing and went over to the bar in the study and made himself a drink.

  “This is a very important event, Liam.

  The last four months have been birthday parties, anniversaries, a few bridal showers, and two baby showers. This is major event. A wedding for five hundred guests in another country with very important people in the British Society. I want it to be perfect.” He walked to me and put both hands on the sides on my face.

  “Norah, darling, it will be perfect. It will go off without a hitch just as you planned it and all of London will hear about how perfect it was. Then your little event planning business will take off with exclusive and high paying events.” I took his hands from my face and looked down at the ground. I ran my fingers over his trying to signal I had noticed he wasn’t wearing his ring, but he didn’t get it. I wanted to say something about it but I was so busy with things I had to finish up for this wedding, so I didn’t have time for a fight right now.

  “I wish you wouldn’t say ‘little event planning business’,” I whispered. “It makes me feel so small and unimportant.” He lifted my chin with his hand.

  “I’m sorry, little one. I didn’t mean to trivialize what you do.” He kissed my nose and I nodded at him.

  I wasn’t sure if he really meant it or not. He always trivialized what I did. He gave me this business to humor me and keep me close to him. He bought this little event company as a favor for a friend and it was slowly dying. The friend had since moved on to bigger and better things and left the business with just a few employees and an almost vacant store front.

  I had hired new staff and completely revamped the store. I implemented my own marketing campaign and had managed to drum up enough business not only to keep us a float but also turn a profit. Liam liked profit so he supported me. But I was almost positive he had hoped the business would completely fold in
a matter of weeks and my quest to have a purpose outside of his house would be over.

  But that didn’t happen. Instead it flourished and I forced him to fake a smile to seem happy for me.

  I knew he was still worried about me. Nick was still out there and therefore a threat. He was controlling and demanding before, but now if I left a room without telling him where I was going he worried about me.

  It wasn’t just me he was worried about. It was him too. Liam liked the idea of having me as his wife, but the reality was different. He liked having me in his bed every night, being able to dominate me and to control most of all my moves. He liked it when I cooked for him and held his arm at his business functions. He liked having the ‘little wife’. But he didn’t like answering my questions or explaining things to me, or having someone else’s feelings to think about before his own. He wasn’t use to that. I figured him not wearing his ring was about control so I swallowed it down and decided to bring it up at a better time.

  He turned and left the room to go watch some television and shuffle through his own papers, so I continued to work on the seating arrangement. Every time I moved a name on the board I saw my rings on my hand and it just reminded that he wasn’t wearing his. He had been wearing it for the last six months. He picked it out himself and I had it engraved with our initials and original wedding date. He had it on the day before. I remembered it because after dinner we went for a walk and I ran my thumb over it while we were holding hands.

  After another hour or so of moving names on a board I was done for today. I went upstairs and took a long hot shower. When I got out I could hear him in the other room humming his favorite song. I didn’t think men like Liam had favorite songs, but he did. He had taken up the habit of humming and singing in a very low voice ‘The Way you look tonight’ and of course ‘Give me Love’ the song from our wedding. I knew he was in a good mood when I could hear him singing or humming those songs. Too bad I was about to spoil his good mood. I wrapped myself in a towel and grabbed a smaller one for my hair and walked out to confront him.

  “You should have told me you were going to take a shower, I would have joined you.” He kissed my neck and ran his hands over my shoulders.

  “You’re not wearing your ring,” I just blurted it out. He groaned and stepped back a little.

  “No, I’m not.” He turned back around and went back to changing his clothes for bed. I put my hands on my hips and huffed a big breath. I hoped he knew that wasn’t the end of this conversation.

  “I spent quite a lot of money on that ring that you picked out, and I even had our anniversary engraved on it.”

  “I know.” He still wasn’t looking at me. “Why aren’t you wearing it?” I walked to the end of the bed and grabbed the post in my hand. He turned to face me.

  “Because I’m a man, Norah. I’m a man that doesn’t wear jewelry. I’m not a Jersey boy or a professional athlete. It isn’t anything against you or our marriage. I just don’t like rings.” He turned back and pulled the covers down on the bed.

  “You don’t like rings?” I asked and he shook his head no. “You don’t wear jewelry, huh?” Again he shook his head.

  “Norah, please don’t make this a thing.

  It’s not a thing. Can we just to go bed?” He climbed in bed like everything was normal.

  “It’s not a thing?” I moved to the other side of the bed and yanked my dresser drawer open and grabbed the black pajamas that he hated for me to wear. He hated for me to wear anything to bed but he didn’t mind my nightgowns because he could get them off easily. These pajamas required a little more effort. I usually only wore them when it was ‘that time of the month’.

  “No.”

  “It’s not a thing?”

  “No, it’s not. And I will tell you why it isn’t a thing.” He paused to sit up in the bed and took advantage of the opportunity. I quickly put on underwear and my pants, and then yanked the tank top over my head.

  “No, I will tell you why it is a thing!” I was shouting a little too loud now and I could feel my wet hair dripping down my back.

  “The wedding ring is very significant. It is a symbol to the world that you are married. It’s a symbol of your love and respect for me and by wearing it you show that love and respect to the world!” He got out of bed and ran his hands through his hair.

  “Norah, please, I know the significance of the wedding ring. But if you really think the only way I can show the world how much I love and respect you is by wearing a ring, then you are out of your mind!” I picked the towel off the floor and tried to ring some of the water out of my hair. I walked with a lot of attitude back to the end of the bed.

  “Out of my mind?” I yelled.

  “Yes, but let me explain.” He held up his hands in his defense. “My father, whom I loved very deeply left me his glasses, two pairs of cufflinks and his wedding ring. I do not wear any of them. I don’t think that means I have any less love or respect for him.” He put his hand over his heart. “I keep those mementos in a cherished place and I think that is really enough!” He was raising his voice now.

  “Okay, first of all, your father left you a whole heck of a lot more than those three things. Second, you have them in an old cigar box sitting on the bookcase in your study, and third...” I paused to think of a third thing. “How would you feel if I didn’t wear a ring?” He shook his head and then looked back up at me with an angry look in his eyes.

  “Don’t start, Norah. Don’t start this tit for tat thing. Don’t start playing a game you know you can’t win. I don’t want to go round and round with you about this.” His face was starting to turn red and so was his chest.

  “I’m not about to do the tit for tat thing. I love my wedding rings and I intend on wearing them. What I would like to know from you is how are people supposed to know you’re married if you don’t wear a ring?” I walked a little closer to him. He slammed his hand down on the bed and it made a loud noise.

  “Oh for God’s sake, Norah! Everyone I ever met in my whole life was here in our backyard to watch us get married! I invited my gardener’s parents and even 2nd cousins from my mother’s sister’s family who I had only met 3 times in my life! And if they weren’t here at this one, they were at the wedding we had in San Diego where you invited every person you have ever met in your entire life. I danced with a woman who said she was your Aunt, but your mother doesn’t have any sisters!” He was getting angry now. Sometimes I liked to see him get angry. When Liam was angry he was very hot.

  “A ring doesn’t mean anything, wearing it, or not wearing it, doesn’t make me any less married to you. I wore the thing for six months and I am done wearing it now. That’s it. End of discussion.” I lowered my head and he stepped closer to me. He touched my chin lightly with his fingers and raised my face to look at him.

  “I love you so much, Norah. You are my wife, and I married you twice just to make sure.” He gave me a light kiss on the cheek. “I spent a large sum of money to have three hundred of my friends and business associates watch me marry you. Fifteen thousand of which was spent on the beautiful Vera Wang dress you wore and I had the pleasure removing later. I dropped another large sum of money at the ‘Ford Ranch and Garden Estate’ in San Diego, so two hundred of your closest friends and family could attend and another ten thousand more on yet another exquisite Vera Wang gown. Both of which are just hanging in your closet now.” I started to say something but he was on a roll with his accounting.

  Money was everything to Liam. Money equaled love in his opinion. So recounting just how much he had spent to marry me was important to him, so I let him finish.

  “I paid another very pretty penny to travel the Caribbean and parts of Europe with you for our month long honeymoon, when I would have much rather just stayed with you at a Bed and Breakfast in Paris.”

  “I never want to go to Paris again!” I couldn’t help myself. He held up his hand to me.

  “I know. And I didn’t complain, and I’m not
complaining now. Because I would gladly spend the two million dollars and do it all over again just so I could have the honor of calling you my wife.” I wanted to make a snarky comment about how he had paid more for the weddings than he had for me, but I knew better. Liam didn’t like me to talk about his purchasing me. It was in the past and that is where he wanted it.

  He pulled me closer and put his hands on the sides of my face. “Norah, my darling wife, I love you so much that if you had wanted the reception on the moon, I would have done all in my power to get it for you. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you…except wear this ring, so drop it please!”

  “Okay. I agree the no ring thing doesn’t mean we aren’t any less married. But it is symbol. And it’s fine if you don’t want to show the world.” I stepped away from him because what I was about to say was going to upset him. “So I in turn am going to change my last name back to Chandler.” He snorted like he was laughing. “Because I think Norah Chandler sounds so much better than Norah Hastings.” I turned my back to him and started to walk to my side of the bed.

  “Okay, let’s all return from Never land, because we both know that isn’t going to happen!” His voice was stern and I could tell he was gritting his teeth. But I acted as if I didn’t hear him.

  “I would have to change all my business cards and that will be a pain.” I was tapping my fingers to the side of my face.

  “Norah!” Liam raised his voice.

  “The business’s name is ‘Hasting’s Events’, but I guess I could just live with that, right?” I turned back to face him like I was asking what he thought.

  “Norah, stop it! You aren’t changing your name back and we both know it. Let’s drop this, please. Surely, there are better arguments to be had?”

  He was gripping the comforter and flexing his biceps. I decided to give him a break, besides I was tired.