The Degradation of Shelby Ann by Emma Cole
Chapter Sixteen
Shelby
Moving was agony, and I couldn’t stop the whimper that escaped when I tried to move from the soiled bed. The only reason I was even trying to get up was to prevent whoever was knocking at my bedroom door from coming in, but I just couldn’t make it.
“Miss Shelby? It’s Jerry. May I come in?” I wanted to cry at his attempt to cajole me into granting his request. The soothing tone had been interspersed with a higher, more urgent pitch. I didn’t want anyone seeing me in my current state. “Miss Shelby, I’m going to have to insist if you don’t answer.”
That threat was enough for me to find my voice, rough and hoarse from screaming as it was. “I’m not feeling well today, Jerry, but if you wouldn’t mind having some hot tea sent up and left outside the door, I’d sure appreciate it.” My emotions were still too ragged to even try to remember the diction courses. Not that I really cared what words I used or how they came out right then.
“I’d really like to come in and assess you myself if you don’t mind?” From his voice, I could imagine him wringing his hands on the other side of the door.
“Sorry, Jerry, I don’t want to infect anyone else if I’ve come down with a bug. I’m just going to take a hot bath and go back to bed. Thank you for checking on me though.” Truth be told, I’d be lucky to make it that far, and there was no way I would be getting back into the bed until it had been changed. I couldn’t remember exactly when I’d lost control of my bladder, so I assumed it was after I passed out. After Winston finished terrorizing me. Well, he hadn't quite been done. The beating had stopped, but then he'd jacked off onto the split and swollen skin between my thighs. My screams had renewed when he rubbed it over my burning nether lips and farther up into the bloody welts on my behind. It was after that that I’d lost consciousness, and there was little doubt he would’ve had something to say if he’d noticed I’d wet myself.
I nearly yelped in fright when Jerry responded. I’d thought he’d left already. “Very well, Miss Shelby, but don’t run the water too hot. I wouldn’t want you to get sick from the heat. I’ll prepare a tray and bring it up in a bit.” I thought he was done until he added in a lower volume, “There are some salts under the cabinet along with a bottle of witch hazel.”
He knows.
I’d imagine they all know. Now, get your ass up and set yourself to rights. We have plans to make.
Tears dripped down the already raw skin of my cheeks, and they definitely weren’t doing any favors for my puffy and sore eyes. Not that any part of me didn’t hurt. If there was a place that hadn’t been struck, it was sore just from the constant clenching of muscles. I was in no shape to be making any sort of plans, let alone implementing them.
I didn’t say today, you ninny. Now, get up! Moving will help, and you have to make sure there aren’t any injuries that need a doctor.
Like I’d know how to differentiate that with my current level of pain, but all the same, I got up and took a bath, then a shower, so I could wash my hair with the least amount of effort.
* * *
By the time I’d managed to clean up, treat my wounds, which while ugly, didn’t appear severe enough to need more than care at home, and get dressed, someone had come in and stripped my bed. I couldn’t believe Jerry had ignored me. How had he known I was in the bathroom...unless I hadn’t heard him come back? Maybe he’d gotten worried because I didn’t answer. I had been in there a long time. But it didn’t stop the embarrassment from settling in even though I was relieved at not having to deal with it. The tray on the dresser cinched it; the steward had done what he thought best regardless of my wishes. The thought felt uncharitable, but everyone had their own opinion on what they thought was best for me and acted accordingly. Truth be told, it had gotten rather old.
Needing to not dwell on it all, I grabbed the little orangey-brown tablets first, assuming they were pain relievers and not really caring if they weren’t. The epsom salts and witch hazel had helped to a point, but that crap had burned too, so I’d take my chances that they were basic over-the-counter medication and not some random horse tranquilizer. They’d have to be a lot bigger if the latter was the case. Realizing my thoughts were wandering worse than usual, I tried to organize them a bit better, not that I was too successful. But my missing bag drew my attention away anyhow.
After hunting around the pristine room, I nearly smacked myself for being stupid and checked the dressing room. There it was. Empty, its contents put away. That was fine; I’d just have to pack it again when I was ready to make my move. I had a plan, one I’d been called a dumbass for a few times, but it was still what was happening.
* * *
Carter
Iknew the situation would devolve when I let Shelby walk into the suite. I’d tried to get her out before the wedding, knowing something would happen sooner or later, but when Nina flew out of Dirk’s rooms to avoid the fallout, I had to retreat to the security room to prevent myself from intervening. I kicked the guards out and entered my passcode to gain access to the feed from Shelby’s bedroom. It was just in time to catch her lipping off to the bastard she’d married, and soon her screams rang out into the room, making the small speakers on the monitor crackle with the high pitch. Stoically, I sat there until it was over and she’d passed out, then copied it all onto a flash drive before erasing it from the mainframe. I didn’t need the other guards making their own copies; some of them were sick enough to get off from it, not that I hadn’t briefly gotten hard when Shelby had been secured in place, but that shriveled up and died quickly enough when the rest ensued.
As I called the guards back in to resume their duties, I sent Jerry a message that Dirk had had an episode and Shelby would need assistance in the morning. He wanted details, but I was too ashamed to share them. Instead, I went to scald myself in the shower, not that it helped erase the taint from my soul. And Jerry was pissed, to say the least, even though he knew the score. He’d reamed my ass for leaving her like that, but I had orders to follow too, and Winston had told me to leave his son’s marital issues alone when I’d contacted him after bathing. He’d had other choice words, but nothing that would be helpful to Shelby. Despite my warning to stay out of it, I logged in again at Jerry’s request and let him know when she was in the tub. He’d made me take care of the bed while he got her tea, broth, and painkillers. Having to see the aftermath up close brought my shame and disgust to all new levels, and I knew if I didn’t get a handle on my emotions, we could all end up dead. If only she’d run when I asked…
* * *
Three days passed before she ran. She refused to come out of her room before that, and Dirk was gone on business until the morning she decided to take off. Her timing couldn’t have been worse, but she couldn’t have known she’d never had a chance, not without help at any rate. If the girls had only listened when I said everything was monitored, maybe she’d have wisened up, but that detail must have slipped her mind. I was sure she wouldn’t make that mistake again.
* * *
“Carter, if you’d be so kind as to shadow my wife, I’m going to shower before I follow. I believe she needs more of a lesson to understand that her vows were for life.”
My gut turned to stone as he closed the door to the sitting room. He was calm, nonchalant, and even more lethal for it. I reminded myself yet again that my soul was already damned, then set out after the fleeing woman.
After checking the feeds to see which direction she'd gone, I left the grounds in my own dark gray SUV. I had to give it to her—she was resourceful. She hadn’t even set the guards off. No, she had flounced right out of the house like nothing was wrong and climbed into the car she'd ordered from the service the family used. The only thing remotely out of place was the backpack she had hitched over her shoulder and the slightly stiff way she moved. I knew she had to be sore as fuck, but she did a good job hiding it.
She was dropped off at a café downtown instead of continuing with the hired car, and moments after it pulled away, she walked back out of the building, heading down the sidewalk until she found a taxi. Once they were on the interstate and had taken the exit for the little town she'd grown up in, I passed the taxi, and on a hunch, went to her mother's place. I almost felt bad that she'd be spending a good chunk of the funds she had squirreled away in the cigar box on the long drive, but the fewer resources she had to run with, the better it was. Besides, it saved me from having to take it away if Dirk discovered it.
I figured I'd gained at least enough time to have a chat with the woman after speeding through the back roads to beat Shelby home. To be certain not to spook her while she still had an avenue of escape, I parked my vehicle behind the dilapidated carport that housed a gaudy golden monstrosity of a car. Before I went into the old house, I messaged Dirk to let him know where I was since last I’d checked, he hadn’t been too far behind.
To say Judith was less than pleased to see me was an understatement, but she quickly came around to my way of thinking after I explained what was going on. Besides the fact that she'd washed her hands of her daughter, there was no way she'd cross Winston Sr.—not with their history.
Judith went to the door as the crunch of tires ceased out front, picking up again a moment later. When she opened the door, I could see the taxi disappearing down the driveway and Shelby just coming up the first step. I stepped back into the shadows as Judith clutched the handle on the screen door, keeping it tightly shut.
“Mama,” Shelby greeted, nervousness blatant in her voice.
“I told you not to come back here, Shelby Ann. Now, get off my porch!” Judith sounded manic, but from what I knew, that was her default, so I doubted Shelby would notice anything wrong. Even if she did, it wasn’t like she was going anywhere unless it was on foot.
“Mama, please, I-you were right. I should have stayed away from Dirk, but I left him. I can’t stay there anymore. He-he, you don’t know what he did, Mama. I’ll get out of your hair tomorrow. Can I please just stay tonight? I won’t come out of my room, I promise.”
Shelby’s pleading threatened to break my resolve, but I knew there was no room for sympathy. It was a weakness I couldn’t afford. Besides, Dirk would be pulling in any minute. It was too late to help her, not that I’d considered it for more than an instant.
But it did have some effect on Judith, whose fingers trembled on the door. “I can’t help you, Shelby Ann. I warned you, but you refused to listen. Now your chickens are coming home to roost! God save your soul and mine, but you’re on your own, girl.” Softer, so I doubted that Shelby could hear her, she whispered, “I couldn’t even help myself.”
“But, Mama—” Her anguished voice cut off at the sound of an approaching car. “I’m so stupid! I shouldn’t have come back for you.” And that was the real reason she was here… As badly as Judith had treated her, Shelby couldn’t bear to leave her mother to face the fallout alone. She’d have been better off going to her old boss, not that it would have changed the outcome any.
“Goodbye, Shelby Ann. Don’t come back here again.” Judith slammed the door on her daughter, slipping to the floor where she tucked her head against her updrawn knees and rocked as she softly keened and muttered about devils in suits.
I left her there to slip out the back so I could observe what transpired between Dirk and Shelby. He’d brought Milo, of course, and I knew it was only a matter of time before Dirk let him off his leash. Disgust rippled through me at the thought, but I wouldn’t intervene. While I kept an ear out for Shelby’s refusal to go back and Dirk’s sincere-sounding apologies, I sent an update to Winston. Unfortunately for Shelby, she’d become the lynchpin that I needed to pull to bring down both men. I just hoped I could deal with her hate when she found out she’d been used. Maybe she’d remember the time I’d tried to help her and she refused to go, but I held out little hope for that.
Finally, Dirk lost his patience, and Shelby’s screech of pain pulled my attention from the screen of my phone. Milo had her thrown over a shoulder as he carried her to the town car they’d driven out here. He unceremoniously tossed her in the back, and Dirk followed shortly. As soon as Milo was in the driver’s seat, they pulled out, and a message came through. Not from Winston, like I’d expected, but from Dirk. Luckily, unless Winston ordered it, I didn’t have to follow Dirk’s demands, and this was one of those times. But then the same message, worded differently, of course, popped up, so I headed back inside, disgust roiling through me, to tie up a decades-old loose end.
It seemed Judith would be finding out if her soul was safe sooner than she’d planned.