The thought that anyone would ever want to hurt Sophie, for any reason, especially not like this. She never asked for any of the pain that’s thrown her way in life, for men to want to abuse her, and I should have been there to protect her. That’s always been my purpose in life, since the day I met her, and I have dropped the ball, ashamed of the failure.

I drag my eyes up to stop the torture the marks are inflicting on me and realize she has her eyes closed to my touch, breathing ...