The woman beside me shook her head. “Oh, no. You must have misunderstood. We were just having an animated conversation. My husband would never hurt me.”

I stared at the redhead incredulously. He’d been gripping her so tight I could see hints of bruising on the woman’s arms. But she was going to back up this asshat? I turned to face Alexi, and I saw we weren’t alone. Gemma and her mother had followed him.

The older woman stalked over to the red-headed woman. “Emily, Richard, you’ll have to forgive Alexi and Gemma’s guest. Obviously, she misunderstood and shouldn’t have gotten involved. Emily, why don’t I take you inside so you can freshen up?”

Alexi stood firm by my side, but I could feel the chasm between us widening. “I’m not lying, Alexi. He was going to hurt her.”

“Gemma, do me a favor and make sure Abbie gets the fuck out of here.”

The bottom fell out from my stomach. He doesn’t believe you. In his world, things like this are par for the course. And he was clearly pissed that I’d embarrassed him.

“You know what? Forget it. I’m done here anyway.” Hot tears spilled onto my cheeks as I stalked out of the garden.

26

Lex…

I relaxed only marginally as Abbie retreated. Fury nearly blinded me when I’d rounded the corner of the garden and seen the prick’s hands on her. My first instinct was to give in to the violent rage that simmered just below the surface. The rage that had saved my life all those years ago. The rage I’d promised to never lose control of again.

But if I’d done that, I would have scared the hell out of Abbie. She would never look at me with trust again, and I didn’t want that. Getting her the hell away from the arse was the only solution. She’d sounded hurt, but that couldn’t be helped right now.

I stepped in Sir Richard Wembly’s path as he stared after Abbie. “I think we’ve all had enough disagreements for one day. Wouldn't you agree?” The idea of that piece of shit going after Abbie made me want to kill something. And with my jiu-jitsu training, I would probably do some serious damage.

Rage clouded the older man’s eyes as he shifted his focus from her retreating form to me. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay out of my way.”

I forced my body into a relaxed pose, though I was anything but. I’d seen the bruises on Emily Wembly. I doubted that Sir Richard would attack me, but as the man had physically assaulted his wife and just tried to go after Abbie, I stayed alert.