In less than thirty minutes, Elizabeth was dried, dressed and ready to endure a night of complete boredom for the sake of her husband. The dress that Angel had picked out was one that she wouldn’t have dared choosing for herself. The black gown was ankle length and had a very high split up the left side. The top was a sort of halter top that showed off her...assets far too much for her liking. Angel had always enjoyed taking great pleasure in treating her like his own little doll to dress up. She couldn’t help but feel on display in this little get-up.
Elizabeth had always been a simple kind of girl when it came to clothes. Long before Angel, she had been fine with a pair of hip huggers and a plain t-shirt. Sure, she was able to doll herself up like any other woman when the situation called for it but preferred comfort over fashion. All that changed when she married Angel.
At first, he’d treat her to shopping sprees, buying various dresses and skirts without her knowing. With one puppy dog look from Angel’s chocolate brown eyes, she’d be showing off her knew threads even though she hated them. She wore them more out of gratitude than anything else. After the abuse started, he’d stop caring if she liked them or not and had stopped letting her shop for her clothing all together. It was his money after all and she’d wear whatever the hell he bought her. She learned that lesson the painful way the one and only time she’d argued with him on the subject.
Once her dress and heels were in place, Elizabeth went on to apply her make-up. Because of her latest shiner, she had to double up the amount of eye color, which forced her to double up on everything else. She didn’t see why she was covering it up. Everyone who was important already knew that Elizabeth was Angel’s little punching bag. They just didn’t care. As long as he kept up appearances and made them all look like royalty, Angel could do whatever he wanted to whoever he wanted...and that included her.
Finishing with her lip gloss, Buffy took in her appearance and cringed. How did she get here? How did she go from graduating in the top half of her major to this woman who had to put on tons of make-up to hide bruises that her husband had caused? How could she have let it get this far?
With a sigh, she turned from the mirror and held back a yelp when she saw Angel standing in the doorway.
“You scared me,” she breathed. Angel walked towards her with an innocent smile on his face. Elizabeth knew he was anything but innocent.
“Sorry,” he returned, sounding anything but. Elizabeth just looked anywhere but him and grabbed her small, black clutch.
“I’m ready. Sorry if I kept you waiting.” Apologizing was common thing when it came to her an Angel. If she wasn’t apologizing for something that she didn’t do, she was apologizing for something that she did do.
“I’ll deal with that later.” Angel waved off dismissively. “Right now, I want to talk about how delicious you look.” he finished with a caress of her cheek. Elizabeth forced herself not to cringe. His compliments had long ago stopped making her heart flutter with flattery. Now days, they just made her feel dirty.
“T-thank you,” she stammered out, still not meeting his eyes.
“But you’re missing something,” mused Angel with a playful frown.
“What?” she asked, looking down hesitantly at herself. Along with the dress, the shoes had been the only thing he’d left out for her.
“These.”
Angel produced a pair of diamond earrings from a small black box. “Put ‘em on,” he ordered.
Elizabeth had to admit that the earrings were a fine piece of jewelry. She still, however, didn’t want to take it from him. It was just like him to try to buy her off. As if a shiny trinket could make her forget about the hell he’d put her through.
“They’re beautiful,” she gasped and hoped he didn’t notice the reluctance in her movements when she took them from him. “Where’d you get them?”
All the playfulness seemed to evaporate from Angel’s expression. His gaze turned dark and his jaw clenched. Elizabeth realized that she had broken one of his golden rules. Never question Angel O’Brian if you what was good for you.
“Who cares where I got them, Buffy. Just put them on,” Angel growled. She knew that he was holding back, otherwise, she’d be half way across the room in pain by now.
“I’m sorry.” Elizabeth hurriedly turned towards her mirror and did as she was asked. Fingering them lightly, she took in her reflection.
*I look like a cheap slut.* she thought miserably. She’d never even think of voicing that to Angel.
“You are so beautiful.” Angel took her in from head to toe. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and hooked his chin over her shoulder.
“Thank you,” she smiled with as much gratitude as she could when in all honesty, she couldn’t care less if she was beautiful in his eyes anymore.
The words were barely out of her mouth before Angel had his meaty right hand wrapped around her neck in a firm grip. He wasn’t squeezing but his intent was blatantly obvious.
“Don’t embarrass me tonight, Buffy,” warned Angel. His lips trailed lightly over her ear and Elizabeth could easily hear the menacing tone in his voice. “There are some very important people attending this party and it wouldn’t do well for me and my career if you didn’t behave yourself.”
“I understand,” she said, meeting his eyes in the mirror. Angel smiled as if he didn’t have his hand around her neck and kissed her cheek.
“That’s my good girl. Let’s get going.”
***
Angel and Elizabeth rode in the back of limousine in silence. This didn’t surprise her one bit. She and Angel had long ago stopped engaging in conversation. Unless he was slapping her around or insulting her with his cruel words, Angel didn’t really say much unless they were in public. He had to keep up appearances.
To Angel O’Brian, appearances were everything. Again, everyone knew about his less than perfect marriage but he wasn’t going to parade what he did behind closed doors in the public eye. Unfortunately, Angel wasn’t that stupid.
Elizabeth held in a sigh when there limo pulled outside of where Angel’s party was being held. She hated these things. They were nothing more than a bunch of boring, stuck up people scattered about in a large room, with absolutely nothing in common other than their bank accounts. These people talked trash about one another and smiled in each other’s faces. They were fake and superficial and Elizabeth would sooner jump off a cliff than willingly surround herself with them.
Of course, she never did much of anything willingly these days.
The reason behind this big shindig was Angel’s victory on some important case. Elizabeth wasn’t sure about all the details. It had been a long time since she actually paid attention to Angel’s work. She did know that Angel won a client a large sum of money and the only reason why she had known that was because it was posted on every newspaper in New York.
As the car parked and driver got out, Angel took one of Elizabeth’s hands tightly in one of his own and squeezed. She bit back a wince.
“Remember what I said, Buff,” he said without looking at her.
“I remember,” returned Elizabeth without hesitation.
The driver opened the door and Angel exited the limo, not bothering to help her do the same.
“And try to have fun, dear; it’s a party,” he added as he walked toward the building.
Angel didn’t wait for Elizabeth’s reply and she had no choice but to follow him obediently towards the mass amount of people. She plastered a fake but well practiced smile upon her face and politely greeted anyone who spoke to her. She and Angel hadn’t been half way into the room before Angel’s boss was upon them.
Elizabeth groaned inwardly. Richard Wilkins was the sickest man Elizabeth had ever had the displeasure of knowing. Every time she was around him, she had to force herself not to cringe in distaste. Wilkins had a nasty habit of sleeping with girls half his age, despite the fact that he was married with two little girls. Since he owned the biggest law firm in the state of New York, no one batted an eye...not even his wife.
“Angel, you’re here,” Wilkins greeted with a huge smile. “For a while, I didn’t think you crazy kids would make it.”
“I apologize, Mr. Wilkins,” Angel smiled regretfully and shot a look over in Elizabeth’s direction. “You know how women can be,” he chuckled easily.
“Boy, do I!” Wilkins chuckled. He finally turned his perverted little eyes towards Elizabeth and looked her over with unmasked appreciation. “But if the end result always looked like you I wouldn’t mind the wait,” he said.
“You’re too kind, Mr. Wilkins,” was Elizabeth’s automatic reply. It took everything she had not to gag as he kissed her hand.
“Angel, why don’t you come and mingle with me a bit?” he asked as he dropped her hand. “There a few very important people I’d like you to meet.”
“Of course, sir,” agreed Angel. He looked to his wife and asked, “You’ll be okay, babe?”
Elizabeth knew that he didn’t give a toss about her being solo for the rest of the evening. As long as she played her part of the well behaved wife, he could care less.
“I’ll be fine, honey.”
Angel left her with a small peck on the lips and a threatening look of bodily harm later she acted less than expected. Once he was out of sight, Elizabeth headed for the bar and ordered ginger ale. She had never been much of a drinker. One would think with the hell that was her life, she’d be looking at the bottom of every alcoholic bottle there was as often as possible. Elizabeth knew that engaging in such a practice would only make her hellish life worse.
With a beverage now in hand, Elizabeth turned to the crowd of people and took in all in attendance. She found it amazing and a little disturbing that she knew each and every person there by name even though hadn’t really said more than five words to any of them. That’s what happened when your husband felt the need to know all of his enemies. All of these people were merely in Angel’s way of getting promoted to partner for Wolfram&Hart.
“Well, look what the kitty dragged in,” a dark voice broke into Elizabeth’s musings.
*Oh joy! Morticia’s arrived,* she thought with an inward groan. Turning to face her mother in law, Elizabeth plastered on her fake smile once more.
“Hello, Mrs. O’Brian,” she greeted.
“Buffy, deary, I’ve told you to call me Dru. Mrs. O’Brian makes me feel older than I really am,” she giggled.
Drusilla, Angel’s stepmother, was actually only eight years older than Elizabeth. Angel’s real mother had died years earlier. She was really beautiful, if you were into the really skinny and pale type of woman. She had long raven-colored hair and big, penetrating brown eyes. Drusilla was the type of woman that had every man in the tri-state area wrapped around her skeleton-like finger.
In the beginning, Elizabeth hadn’t minded the age difference between Drusilla and Angel’s dad, Henry. After all, a person couldn’t help who they loved. Soon, she realized that Drusilla was really a gold digging cow of a woman who wanted nothing more than to rob Henry of his mini fortune. Elizabeth would be surprised if Drusilla even liked the man. Henry, unfortunately, was completely unaware. He’d also been a big shot lawyer years ago. Now, he played an advisor to those who needed his expertise and Drusilla was right along with him, basking innocently in all the perks. Elizabeth didn’t know how but she could tell that Drusilla was cheating on him.
“I assumed you wouldn’t be attending tonight’s gathering.”
“I wouldn’t have missed Angel’s big night for the world,” Elizabeth lied. She would’ve rather jumped off a building than be here. She couldn’t let lady of the dead know that though.
“I didn’t mean to offend, luv,” Drusilla smirked. “It’s just that my boy said you were feeling a bit...under the weather the last time we spoke.”
“Well, I’m right as rain,” Elizabeth retorted with a tight lipped smile.
“Good.” she returned. Drusilla pinpointed Angel in the crowd of people and smiled. “No lawyer his age has managed to win such a case in years. Isn’t my Angel just wonderful?” Drusilla gushed.
“He’s definitely something,” Elizabeth agreed half-heartedly as she watched Drusilla watch her husband with unmasked lust.
Elizabeth had always been more than a little uncomfortable by how close Angel and his stepmother seemed to be. The two of them were, after all, closer in age. Angel always listened to Drusilla and didn’t hesitate to come running if she ever needed anything. She had this nagging thought in the back of her mind that Drusilla played a role more...intimate than that of a loving stepmother. Elizabeth, however, was too fearful to voice her opinions and turned the other cheek.
When the abuse had first started, Elizabeth had made the mistake of running to Drusilla in hopes of getting her to help. Sure, she had been dead set against the marriage at first but Elizabeth was certain she’d be on her side. Instead of having a shoulder for Elizabeth to cry on, Drusilla just laughed chillingly and told her that she shouldn’t have made *her* Angel so angry.
“Bad dollies always get what’s coming to them,”
To top it off, she revealed Elizabeth’s visit to Angel. The rest is painful history. Since then, Elizabeth couldn’t stand to be in the same room with the woman who would let her son, stepson or not, beat on his wife. She had learned that she wouldn’t be able to trust anyone in the world that she was forced to live in and didn’t make the mistake of telling Drusilla anything ever again.
“Drusilla, how are you?!” a squeaky voice exclaimed from the left. Both women turned simultaneously.
“Darla, luv, long time no see,” Drusilla greeted with a blinding smile. Both women hugged and exchanged more pleasantries as if Elizabeth didn’t exist. Darla finally looked in her direction and smiled, almost mockingly.
“Forgive my manners,” she began. “I’m Darla Stevenson; Angel’s personal assistant.”
Elizabeth resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She knew exactly who the blond bimbo was! Angel talked about her enough that she could write a book on the woman. And what made it worse was that Darla knew exactly who Elizabeth was as well.
“I know who you are, Ms. Stevenson,” she replied with a smile on her face but dislike in her eyes.
“Oh, Buffy I didn’t recognize you,” Darla laughed, seemingly apologetic. Leaning in as if she was about to reveal a deep secret, Darla continued, “You really should ease up a bit on the make-up. It’s very unflattering.”
Elizabeth tightened her grip on her glass and offered a thin lipped smile.
“I’ll do that.”
“Well, you must be very happy for your husband.” Darla moved on easily, sipping what Elizabeth guessed was wine.
“Ecstatic,” she returned feeling anything but. The blond didn’t seem to notice.
“All those long, grueling nights at the office really paid off. Angel worked me to the bone those nights.” Darla laughed and Elizabeth clenched her jaw in anger. “It was almost as if he got off on seeing me crack under the pressure. Isn’t that funny?” she asked, knowing clearing that it wasn’t.
“Hilarious,” Elizabeth said, barely restraining herself from slapping the bitch.
“I’m sure Buffy knows exactly how naughty our Angel can be.” Drusilla spoke up with a devilish grin on her face. Elizabeth blinked in surprise, forgetting that she was still there.
Elizabeth looked away to hide the humiliation that she felt while being in the presence of these two horrible women.
“Well, it was nice seeing you again,” Darla smiled innocently, as if she hadn’t just spent the last five minutes insulting her. Turning to the dark-haired woman, she continued. “Drusilla, we should really get together for lunch sometime soon.”
“I’d love it.”
With that, Darla Stevenson headed the opposite direction but not before flashing Elizabeth a smile.
“Well, I’m going to go congratulate the man of the evening. You’ll be alright here?” Drusilla didn’t even bother waiting for Elizabeth to answer before she walked off in Angel’s direction.
With a sigh, she headed towards the balcony. Once outside, she took in a deep breath of fresh night air.
Elizabeth didn’t know how long she’d be able to endure much more of this life. She knew she deserved better than this but couldn’t find the strength within herself to walk away.
*Face it, Buff; you’re stuck here. Better get start getting use to the fact that Angel will never let you go,* she thought miserably.
It was scary how the voice in her head was slowly but surely starting to sound like Angel’s.
***
Three miserable hours later, Elizabeth and Angel returned back to their home. Placing her clutch on the coffee table, she followed her husband into the bedroom.
“Are you hungry?” she asked nervously. “I could make you a snack.”
Angel hadn’t even looked at her on the ride home and Elizabeth wanted to gouge his mood. She had been on her best behavior tonight but she never knew with him. It was better to be prepared for his anger if he was in fact upset.
“I'm really not in the mood for another one of your cooking experiments gone wrong,” Angel returned snidely. He took of his dress jacket and unbuttoned in shirt. Elizabeth swallowed noisily and blinked back tears at his mean words.
“I could order something,” she offered. Angel moved swiftly to the closet and pulled out black pants and another white collar shirt.
“No need. I’m heading out anyway,” he said as he got dressed.
“What?”
“I’ve got some work to do at the office that can’t wait until Monday.” Angel clarified patiently. She looked over at the night stand and noticed what time it was.
“Angel, it’s after midnight.”
Angel stopped buttoning up his shirt long enough to glare at her.
“Your point being?”
“I-I just thought...." she trailed off fearfully when she noticed the look in his eyes. He shook his head with disgust.
“Well that was your first mistake; don’t think.” Angel grabbed one of his jackets out of the closet and put it on before walking towards her. Before Elizabeth knew it, the back of Angel’s hand met her cheek. She hit the wall behind her with a bang. Whimpering while holding her cheek, Elizabeth didn’t dare look her abuser in the eye.
“Your second mistake was thinking you could get away with questioning me like that. I don’t answer to you,.” he continued conversationally, as if he had never struck her.
“I’m s-sorry,” she stammered out.
“That’s one thing we agree on,” he grabbed his keys from the end table. “Don’t wait up,” he ordered, walking past her. “And wipe that crap off your face. You look like a two dollar whore,” finished Angel, never once looking back.
Elizabeth waited until she heard the door slam before letting the strangled sob escape her throat. Still clutching at her cheek with one hand, she walked over to her bed and curled into a tiny ball on top of the blood red covers. Instantly, she burst into tears.
Elizabeth wasn’t stupid. She knew that Angel wasn’t going to the office and if he was, working would be the last thing he’d be doing. She just knew that he wasn’t being faithful in their marriage but she had never caught him in the act. Angel did whatever he wanted, anytime he wanted but he never once admitted to sleeping with other women. Elizabeth knew better though and even though she stopped loving him a long time ago, it hurt to think that he would do something like that.
*Don’t act so surprised,* she chided herself. *There are a lot of things you thought Angel would never do.*
When the last of her tears dried, Elizabeth went to the bathroom and cleaned her face. Fortunately, Angel’s latest slap hadn’t left a mark. It was a little red though and she knew that it would be sore come morning.
Turning off the light, Elizabeth carefully stripped down and then put on a simple white t-shirt.
Snuggling under the blanket, Elizabeth was asleep within minutes.
***
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