Released(Devil's Blaze MC 3)(62)
“What happened?”
“He went crazy. He was so upset. He said he’d kill them for killing his son. He was shooting and waving a gun around. I thought Katie and I were going to die that day. I would have almost been glad for it, except I was carrying Gabby. I wanted to survive so she could live.”
Christo!
“Colin told grandfather he couldn’t kill them because his brother Dom would take over the family, as he had no heirs left,” she explains. “Grandfather said he would use Katie and me and the whelp I was carrying to ensure he had heirs…”
“Let me guess: that’s when your grandfather found out you weren’t really Donahues.”
“Yeah. Matthew delivered that news…”
“I wish we could kill him again.” She smiles weakly at my words and kisses my chest, as if to bring me comfort. “What happened next, querida? Let’s get it all out and we’ll never visit it again. It’ll be as dead as the ones who caused you this pain.”
“Grandfather gave up after that. He seemed broken. But the next day, he came in and he had been drinking… heavily. You could smell it on his breath. He centered his rage on Katie, I think, because she’s the one who told him who was responsible for Redmond’s death. He was choking her. He was going to kill her, Skull. I had to save her.”
“What did you do?”
“Matthew had left my chains off that morning. I don’t know if it was by accident or if he thought he left me too weak to be able to do anything. Grandfather had left his gun lying on the table when he decided to choke Katie. I crawled to it and emptied the chamber into him…”
I want to concentrate on what she’s telling me, but all thought stops when she says that one word that leaves my blood cold.
“Chains?” I roar.
Beth pales. I know I should rein it in and get a handle on it. I’m just not able.
“What the fuck did they do to you Beth?”
Why didn’t I think while I was talking? I start to pull away from him. I need distance from him. I need to… Oh, God. His face is a mixture of fury and misery and I know I’m the cause of it. I try again to pull off of his lap. His hands dig into my hips, refusing to let me get away.
“Tell me, querida.”
“Skull, it’s not important now,” I tell him, trying to calm him. Apparently that was the wrong thing to say because his face is almost red with fury.
“It is! You’re important! I need to know what they did to you!”
“Why?” I cry, wanting this entire conversation to just disappear. “Katie and I got away, we survived, and that’s all that is important! I’m here with you now. We have our daughter and a second chance!”
“Because I have to know, Beth. It’s something I need to be able to share with you. I need you to give it to me to carry so you can be free of it,” he tells me, and I know he’s making an effort to be calm.
“I am free. It’s over.”
“You’re hiding your body from me,” he states, and he is much calmer now, but that’s bad news for me because he is methodical.
“Skull…”
“Torch mentioned torture, but fuck me, I glossed over it in my head. Even knowing what kind of monsters I had been dealing with, I thought since they viewed you as family, you’d be mostly safe, especially after Torch promised me they didn’t rape you…”
“They didn’t rape me,” I whisper, seeing the question on his face.
“Then tell me why you hide your body from me Beth. Trust me this time, mi cielo.”
His words threaten to undo me almost as much as the pleading look on his face. I take a breath because I know this is going to take every ounce of courage that I have. This may destroy me.
“Let me up,” I whisper, hating that I have tears in my eyes, yet unable to stop them.
He lets me go and I slide from his lap and slowly pull myself up. I stand in front of the bed, facing him. My legs are shaking and it’s all I can do to remain standing. I bite the inside of my cheek and use that to concentrate on the pain, anything but what I’m about to do.
“Skull…”
“Créeme,” he tells me. Trust me…
With shaking hands I gather the ends of the long-sleeved shirt he left on me. I fist them in my hands, hating this, hating everything about this…
“Créeme,” Skull urges again.
I close my eyes and pull the shirt over my head in one quick movement, and even when I hear Skull’s curse, even when the cold air hits me, I keep my eyes closed. I squeeze them closed so tight they may never open again.