Chapter 52
“It’s…he had me under his thumb, but I didn’t see it that way. Then, I was offered the one-man show at the gallery. We were both excited about it. It was a lot of work, putting it together.”
“I bet it was,” Shaun said. “Did he help?”
Ryan nodded. “But…” His mouth tightened. “When I took some of the drawings to the gallery, I ran into a friend there, and went out to coffee with him.” He went silent.
From the look on his face, Shaun had a good idea what happened next. “He found out and you got a beating.”
Ryan nodded. “That was the first time he hit me. Only two slaps, but hard ones. Then he grabbed me. I honestly thought he was going to…to rape me. He didn’t. He broke down instead, begging me not to leave him.”
“Damn. And you didn’t? Well, obviously you didn’t. Why?”