After the Storm(167)
“Get her up and get her out of here,” Walt bit out, the words seemingly coming from a mile away. “She’ll learn soon enough that she’ll do exactly as I want or suffer the consequences.”
CHAPTER 40
TRAVIS paced the floor of his father’s cabin, wondering for the hundredth time if he’d been wrong. What if his father didn’t come here? What if he was hundreds of miles away? What if he’d been so arrogant and so sure of himself that he had taken Eve back to California?
His father didn’t even know that Travis knew of this place. Or that he had the security codes to access the gate and to disarm the security system. No, his father thought him an inept idiot. At one time Travis had been bitter over that fact. Devastated at first and then bitter. And then finally resigned. He realized he no longer cared. He’d stopped craving his father’s approval when he was old enough to understand what a monster he was.
He saw how his father treated Eve, who was the sweetest person Travis knew. Eve had more integrity in her little finger than Walt could ever dream of. And it appeared Donovan as well.
Grief welled in his heart, spreading until his entire chest ached. How could he have been so wrong about Donovan? How could he have done what he did to Eve? How could he have lied, said he wanted them to be family when all along he never had any intention of loving and caring for Eve? No matter that he cared for him and Cammie. How could Travis ever be happy in a family that didn’t include the one person who loved him more than anyone did or ever would? Who’d sacrificed so much for him and Cammie?
The accusations Rusty had hurled at Donovan still rang in Travis’s ears. He winced, hearing them over and over, the shock of them still paralyzing him. He drew in a deep breath, pushing aside his grief.
He wouldn’t let Eve down. Not when she’d risked everything for him time and time again.
He froze when he heard the sound of a door opening. His grip tightened on the gun he carried and he rested it against his thigh, prepared to do whatever was necessary to defend himself but more importantly to get Eve out of his father’s grasp.
His father strode into the room and blinked in surprise when he saw Travis standing there. Then his eyes gleamed and Travis could see him calculating. Coming up with an excuse, a story. Bullshit was his specialty. Travis had learned that at a very young age and he could spot it a mile away.
“Well, well, well,” his father said in a dragged-out fashion. “What a surprise. I’d ask how you got here, how you even knew to get here, but it doesn’t matter. It merely saves me the trouble of getting both you and Cammie back.”
“What did you do with Eve?” Travis demanded. “Where is she? Did you hurt her? Did you kill her like you killed my mother?”
His father’s eyebrow rose. No, he wasn’t his father. He couldn’t refer to him as his father. He was Walt Breckenridge. And he was a bastard of the first order.
“I didn’t kill your mother. Eve did that all on her own. As for where Eve is, she’s in a place where she can get the help she obviously needs. She’s brainwashed you and Cammie both. What did she do, give you some sob story about me abusing your mother and then killing her?”
Travis’s jaw tightened and he raised the gun to point it at his father. It shook in his grasp and despite his efforts to settle himself, the gun still quivered. It pissed him off that Walt noticed and triumph entered his eyes. He didn’t think Travis had the balls to pull the trigger.
“You killed my mother. You abused my mother. You abused Cammie, you sick bastard. You tried to abuse Eve. I don’t need Eve to tell me those things. I have eyes. I have ears. I lived under the same roof. Do you think I’m stupid? Do you think I didn’t see the bruises? Didn’t hear the lame excuses? Now what did you do with Eve? Tell me or I swear to God I’ll shoot you.”