Surely her mother had no excuse for this in a man. Every reason she could find fell flat against his obvious intentions. Her father had spanked her as a child, as had her nanny. After all, she was fiercely independent and strong-willed. Everyone around her had accepted it while still attempting to rein in the willful child. But, she wasn’t a child anymore. She was his wife and while Elsie had begun to get accustomed to his quick to anger nature, he’d never taken his anger out on her so violently.<br/><br/>The bedpost was her livelihood and she clung to it with her life. He admitted to her lack of safety and she believed him. This was not a place of solace any longer. Within mere minutes Oscar had transformed the room into her own version of hell. And he was just getting started.<br/><br/>His hand running down her spine caused her to press into the bedpost harder. He handled her as if he was assessing an object he might want to invest in - not like the woman he already had. A deep blush of embarrassment spread throughout her body when he opened her up to his view and she hid her face between the wooden post and her arm. Before, his touch had evoked confidence, but this time it was humiliation he was after.<br/><br/>Silence spread between them, until the crack of the belt split it open. The leather wicked her skin with an electric sort of pain that left her gasping for air. He still refused to call her by the name he had given her by law, reducing her to the wild child she had been before becoming a woman in his hands. Her silence was met with another lick of the belt and this time she cried out in pain when it ripples her flesh, leaving behind its signature throbbing welt. Heat pooled along the long lines he’d left and she forced back tears caused by both the pain elicited and the horror of what her beloved husband was doing to her.<br/><br/>The next set of questions made her weep into the bedpost, her curved frame trembling. There was no right answer. Her truthful opinion would infuriate him and a lie would be a punishable offense.<br/><br/>“Not all men.” She whispered into the object that supported her body. “Not to you.”