Mind to Bend

Copyright © 2023 by Aurelia Knight All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This book is dedicated to anyone whose ever fantasized about a sexy psycho stalker breaking their brain and fixing everything that’s wrong with them. This one is for you! CONTENTS Warning Chapter 1 Sera Chapter 2 Sera Chapter 3 Shane Chapter 4 Shane Chapter 5 Sera Chapter 6 Sera Chapter 7 Shane Chapter 8 Sera Chapter 9 Sera Chapter 10 Shane Chapter 11 Sera Chapter 12 Sera Chapter 13 Sera Chapter 14 Sera Chapter 15 Sera Chapter 16 Shane Chapter 17 Sera Chapter 18 Shane Chapter 19 Shane Chapter 20 Sera Chapter 21 Shane Chapter 22 Sera Chapter 23 Sera Chapter 24 Shane Chapter 25 Seraphina Chapter 26 Shane Chapter 27 Sera Chapter 28 Sera Chapter 29 Shane Chapter 30 Sera Chapter 31 Shane Epilogue Also by Aurelia Knight Acknowledgments About Aurelia Untitled WARNING Mind to Bend is a dark romance with dark themes throughout. This book contains graphic, violent and sexual content that may be upsetting to some readers. The following lists some, not all, of the potentially sensitive subjects included. If you have a specific concern please reach out on www.AureliaKnight.com or in Aurelia’s Facebook group Aurelia’s Illicit Library. Dub-con, murder, breath play, manipulation, stalking, abduction, hypnosis, cheating (not between main characters), dissolution of a marriage, religious abuse (historic, off page), spousal abuse (both emotional and physical on page) CHAPTER ONE SERA “This isn’t my fault, Tim.” My hands tighten on the steering wheel, taking the worst of my aggression out on the leather. I stow the rest of the heat simmering beneath the surface. I don’t have many options left, and none of my standard problem-solving techniques have stopped my husband from being a jerk these past two weeks. Why give up your lost cause now? A sarcastic voice asks. The light on the side of the road flips to red, and I press the brake. Tim makes a noise of displeasure, and I’m unsure if it’s because of my driving or the conversation. A mechanical arm drops across the road, keeping us out of the railroad crossing while the flashing yellow lights warn a train is approaching. The first car hasn’t passed yet, but I can tell from the sound that it’s one of the long freight trains overflowing with construction materials and tanks of liquid rather than a passenger train. We’re going to sit here for a while. My gaze slides to Tim, and my heart clenches a little. It’s like yearning, and I hate feeling it for my husband. His blonde hair drapes around his sky-blue eyes, and I have a knee-jerk reaction to tell him to cut it. I know that judgmental voice is not my own, and like I often do, I push my father’s opinion out of my head. My father is a hateful person, and so is Tim’s. On days like this, which is every day, I genuinely despise the man for the hatred he tried to sow in me, all in the name of his God. Most of the time, I’m not sure I believe in God at all, certainly not my father’s definition, and other days I believe as fervently as he does. And that is when I hate God even more than my father or myself. Tim’s weathered band t-shirt clings to his abs, making him look forbidden and alluring, as does the general distaste for me radiating off him. I crave his approval so badly I could scream. I would crawl on my knees and beg for it if that wouldn’t turn him off more. He’s my husband, and we’re young. This is the part of our marriage where things should be easy—they are anything but. My gaze drifts over the brick buildings surrounding us. This area used to be the state capital, but that was a few hundred years ago. Now, it’s run down, mildly impoverished, and crumbling away in places. The discolored red of the buildings sits in stark contrast with the blue sky, and I wish I could tell Tim how beautiful I find the world. But, unfortunately, I can’t because he hates it when I do. Tim’s eyes prowl over the sidewalk. Despite knowing why he’s so hyper-vigilant, I can’t help the stabbing in my heart every time he monitors our surroundings. Rationally, he knows we’re far from home, but somewhere inside, he always thinks anyone could be watching the pastor’s daughter and the town drunk’s son. Violent alcoholism did not preclude Timothy Baker senior from attending church or hinder his relationship with my father, the Pastor. In fact, the mean bastards are the best of friends, joined by their self-righteous indignation. Though they can’t find us here, I shiver at the thought of that possibility. Tim and I married at twenty-two, fresh out of our local state college, though we had tried to do it at eighteen. The day after high-school graduation, we intended to elope, but his father got it into his head that Tim wanted to marry me because I was pregnant. His father beat him so severely that we needed to hold off, wait for him to heal, and attend the local college. I stayed by his side through all that. Marriage was the only way for Tim and me to get free without our fathers trying to stop us after the first terrifying debacle. Once it was proven that I wasn’t pregnant, his father started to back our relationship. I believe as an admission of guilt over what he’d done to Tim. But whatever the case, they would have never let us leave the state alone, and our marriage was necessary. Regardless of the rather bumpy start, I thought we married for love. I believed we wanted