Hate, anger, and rage burn inside of me as I turn in my chair to lower Gabby onto the floor. Her legs kick out until I make sure she’s standing strong, then she takes off running towards my brother. I watch as he scoops her up and her face explodes in happiness as she giggles. It destroys me. He blows on her stomach and makes noises, then kisses all over it. Gabby laughs louder and pulls on his hair when he stops.
“Uh-g-in! Unka Torch! Uh-g-in!” she shrieks, and he repeats. I watch until I can’t handle it anymore. I need to know what happened to Beth.
“Did he rape her?” I growl, and the room goes still. Even Gabby picks up the anger in my voice and buries her face into Torch’s neck.
“What do you care?” he asks. “You said you were through with Beth,” the bastard cockily shoots back at me.
“Did. He. Rape. Her.” I ask, punching each word singularly and with hardened anger. He’s about two steps away from feeling a wrath that I have never given one of my brothers before. The only thing saving him from being thrown across the room right now is the fact that he’s holding my daughter.
“Brother, you treat Beth like shit for the choices she made, but her choices saved my woman’s life. For that, she has my thanks and my loyalty. So, I’m not telling you. It’s Beth’s story to tell, and if she wants to tell you, then she will.”
“Everyone out!” I growl.
Silence rings through the room, except for little Gabby who whispers, “He mad.” Regret fills me. I don’t want her to see me as the monster I’ve become. I just can’t seem to stop it. I have so much rage boiling inside of me that it’s slowly killing me. Chairs begin scraping across the concrete floor as the men finally obey.
“Sabre, you take Gabby.”
“Sure thing, boss.”
Once everyone clears out and we’re left with just the two of us, we stare at each other in a tense showdown.
“Tell me,” I order, waiting.
Torch is silent and looks me over. I do my best to keep my face impassive, but I know I failed to lock down all of my emotion when he leans back and stares me in the eyes.
“You still love her.”
“That doesn’t concern you, motherfucker. Answer the question. La violo?”
He stares at me a few more minutes. Just when I’m about to go off, he answers, “No.”
Relief floods through me and I stand up. I need some fresh air. Shit. I’m lying to myself. I know I need to let out some of the anger inside of me… let it run free where no one can see me. That’s the only way I’m able to function these days. My thoughts immediately turn to Pistol. He may meet his end today like he’s been begging me for.
I’m almost to the door when Torch stops me. “Skull?”
“Si?” My voice is hoarse, the monster inside of me too close to the surface.
“There can be things that a woman endures. Things that are worse than or at least just as bad as rape,” he says, and any relief I felt earlier is gone in an instant. I’m left with a coldness that is deep and freezes me to the bone.
“What…” I clear my throat and try to breathe.
Before I can finish my question, Torch continues. “Whatever hell you blame Beth for putting you through, brother, believe me when I tell you that she paid for it over and over.”
“I don’t—”
“And her hell almost killed her, brother. It almost ended her. It was so bad that it caused the sweet innocent woman you fell in love with to take a man’s life. Think about that.”
I can’t say anything to him. I couldn’t if I wanted to. Mierda! Right now, I’m having trouble standing. It takes me a little bit to go over everything he’s told me. When I finally do speak, my voice is thick with emotion.
“She should have told me,” I growl, trying my best to hang on to my anger.
“Katie said Beth tried. She said Beth stood tall and faced the devil and told him to go straight to hell, even,” Torch says.
“Then why?” I growl, frustrated.
“Redmond played his trump card. He showed her a video of you in the scopes of a rifle, telling Beth your life was in her hands.”
Fucking Donahues and their stunts they pull. I’m so fucking tired of the way they have manipulated and ruined my life.
“It still doesn’t mean shit. She should have…”
“Maybe so,” Torch agrees, again interrupting me. Fucking asshole. I don’t want logic—not right now. “But the asshole also dragged Katie out, bound up, crying, gagged, and having been badly beaten. A sister she loved. A sister that, up until that point, Beth believed was dead and lost to her forever. I think that might just tip the scales a little, don’t you? Especially if you’ve lived the life that Beth has, sheltered and guarded from the world.”