Make A Wish

Chapter 26

"Hi, welcome," Angel said without turning around when she heard the bell above the door chime a week later. "I'll be with you in just a second."

"I've got all the time in the world."

Ice raced through Angel's veins at the man's voice as she straightened from leaning over writing something down on a notebook. Barely reaching up she hit a button on her phone before turning around to face the man of her past. "Bartholomew, how may I help you?"

"You can find a way to fix all the crap those assholes caused me," he sneered at her in disgust. "Then you will become my wife like we are supposed to be."

"Excuse me?" she asked in disbelief.

"You heard me slut," he leered at her. "You are going to fix what you destroyed by becoming my wife and then having those assholes restore my company. Once you are mine, everything will be perfect." He tapped the counter twice and smiled, "Now come along, it's time we leave."

"You're delusional," she gasped as she took a step back pressing her spine into the counter. "How did you even get out of prison?"

"Money," he shrugged like it was obvious. "My family still has ties despite you TRYING to destroy us. Guess your little slutty ass wasn't worth of an effort from those idiots."

"If I'm so horrible then why are you even here, Bartholomew?" she asked, confused.

"Because you are mine," he shrugged conceitedly. "You were supposed to be mine and everything would have been perfect but instead they took you from me and everything fell apart, duh?" He rolled his eyes. "But it's fine because once you become mine again then everything will go back to the way it was supposed to be. Now, I won't tell you again, we are already running late, come along Angelica, we must go." He reached over the counter and grabbed her wrist, making her wince.

"Let go," Angel pleaded as her body started to tremble. "Please."

"No," he said angrily as he yanked her around the counter and out the door, despite her trying to pry out of his grip. She tried hitting him, but it seemed like nothing she did phase him. He shoved her against his convertible and growled as he grabbed her neck, "Quit being a brat this instant and get your ass in the car, Angelica."

A couple of clicks suddenly happened behind his head as pressured was applied to his skull, "Release her now," a deep voice said from behind him.

"You're ruining things again," Bartholomew said clenching his teeth. "It's not supposed to happen this way. You're always ruining things!"

"It seems to me that you are the one ruining things, Mr. Jones," Owen said as he approached them while fastening the button on his jacket. "You were the one after all not treating our wife properly and the one embezzling money out of your company for your own desires. Tell me, did you even think of our wife when you were buying your toys and spending money on your mistresses."

Angel's breath caught as the tears spilled on Bartholomew's hand. "Shut. Up." He snarled as he tightened his grip on her throat. "Just. Shut. Up."

"No," Owen stared him down. "She deserves to know the truth about you."

"What about YOU?!?!" He yelled as he released her to turn and face Owen. Angel dropped and started gasping trying to get oxygen back into her lungs. "YOU left her! YOU made her cry! YOU treated her like she was nothing! I WORSHIPPED her! I DOTED on her and treated her like she should be! She NEVER had to worry about anything when she was MINE!"

Owen just stood there with a blank look on his face before raising on eyebrow skeptically. "So, you are stating Mr. Jones, that Angelica Blackbourne was supposed to be treated like she was nothing?"

"Her name is Angelica Jones!" he sneered as Raven kept pointing the tip of his gun to Bartholomew's forehead. "And I treated her like she is my world! You know nothing!"

"Your world?" Victor asked, "You cheated on her with multiple women! You don't replace someone that is your world with someone else! You also didn't let her think for herself! You decided what and when and how much of something she ate, you chose her clothes, you took away her identity! You treated her like she was nothing!"

"I'm supposed to, she is MINE! I AM HER MASTER!"

"WRONG!" Owen said calmly and loudly yet he still wasn't yelling, which made it even more terrifying. "She never consented to that decision which makes it null and void. See, the TRUE dominant has his submissive's consent on everything and you did not do that. You just took it without asking. "We," he waved his arm around to the group behind him, "have her consent with her blessing. She ALLOWS us to make decisions for her with the safety of knowing that if she wants something different, she won't be punished for letting us know, unlike you. How many times have you made her cry and then made her feel stupid and worthless for crying? How many times have you hit her in places that won't be stupid because she tried to ask you a question or tried to let you know something bothered her? How many times have you made feel like she had to lose weight to keep your attention while you still focused on someone other than the goddess before you? She knows that she NEVER has to worry about any of that with us. She knows that she never has to change anything about herself for us, we love her just the way she is. She takes comfort in knowing that she can talk to us about anything, and we will listen to her. We are her safety, her home, ultimately and forever only hers, and that, my good sir, is why you feel like we have ruined you when it is actually you that has ruined yourself."

"SHE IS MINE!" Bartholomew yelled as he turned and lunged at her, but she was no longer behind him. During their tirade Luke had come up to her and carefully pulled her away from him without him noticing. He turned back to the group looking around in a frenzy for her. He spotted her and lunged, shoving Luke down as he shoved Angel behind him.

She gasped as something sharp hit her back and head at the same time. Luke punched Bartholomew in the throat then pushed him away, making him fall to the ground gasping. "Shit, sorry Cupcake," Luke gasped as he sat on his knees and tried to help her sit up.

"LUKE!" She shouted seeing Bartholomew lunge at Luke's back. She pushed Luke to the side as fire erupted in her ribs. There was shouting as spots covered her sight. Something warm spilled on her as she fell to the ground and multiple hands were instantly on her. She tried to talk but the pain in her head made her just want to sleep it all away. Deciding that was the best thing, she took the sandman's hand and fell into a nice warm sleep.