Third time's a charm, right?
She laughed quietly to herself and shook her head. She really didn't want to be a glutton for punishment when it came to this man. Kyle had made it clear that he wasn't selling the building at any cost, so there was absolutely no reason for her to stay in the city, or with him, any longer. Even if she dreaded dealing with the horrendous traffic congestion through Chicago on her commute back home.
If she was smart, she'd tell him she changed her mind and leave. But then she remembered how he'd apologized for what happened in the past and how genuinely contrite he'd been for the accusations he'd made against her sister. And truthfully, Ella knew Gwen wasn't blameless in the entire scheme of what had transpired, which Ella had learned after the fact. But that one hot summer night had been frightful and terrifying, with her father discovering Gwen in the bathroom, delirious and covered in blood as she miscarried the baby they hadn't even known she was carrying.
I'm going to kill the son of a bitch who did this to you, Ella had heard her father, Charles, yell just as she came home after spending a few stolen hours with Kyle, the two of them making out down by the creek that ran through the woods. Tell me who the father is, her dad demanded.
Ella had reached the bathroom at this point, and she'd gasped when she glanced inside and saw all the blood smeared along Gwen's thighs and her sister wailing in agony on the floor with her father kneeling beside Gwen to help her through the pain that seemed to consume her.
It was Todd Coleman, Gwen finally confessed when she could speak, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Shock at her sister's confession made Ella go numb. Completely the opposite of Kyle in every way, Todd had always been a punk and a troublemaker bordering on delinquent, and he was also three years older than Kyle. At twenty-one, he had no business messing around with such a young girl-even if her sister was known for being a bad girl who liked whatever attention she could get from a guy.
He's the father but he didn't want the baby. He gave me money to get rid of it, but I couldn't do it.
The rage that had transformed her father's features was unlike anything Ella had ever seen before. He was usually such an even-tempered man. Charles pushed past Ella on his way out of the bathroom, his face red and his eyes blazing with contempt.
Where are you going? Ella asked before he could leave.
To make that asshole pay for what he's done, he said bitterly. You stay with your sister. I already called an ambulance to get her to the hospital. Once they take her, I need you to close up the store for me. William has to leave. I'll meet you at the hospital after to be with Gwen.
Everything that had happened after that had been like living a nightmare. Half an hour later, the ambulance arrived at the house, and once Ella was assured that her sister was in good care with the paramedic and her miscarriage wasn't life-threatening, she'd driven to the store as her father had requested. All the while she'd worried about her dad going head-to-head with someone as volatile as Todd, and possibly Kyle's father, who always seemed to be at home and drunk.
Just as she was getting ready to leave the market to head to the hospital to be with her sister, Kyle had arrived, and the grim look on his face and the tense set of his shoulders nearly made her heart stop in her chest.
What happened? she'd blurted out in a panic, and listened as he relayed the story.
Kyle had been home when her father had banged his fist repeatedly on the door, rousing his dad, Frank, from where he'd been passed out on the couch. Kyle had been the one to answer the door, but his father, who'd been pissed off and furious with the noise, stumbled over to confront whomever was making such a racket. According to Kyle, when Ella's father demanded to talk to Todd, his older brother had no qualms facing off with the man.
Belligerent and antagonistic, Todd repeatedly denied ever touching Gwen. Ella's father's fury pushed him over the edge and all hell broke loose. Accusations segued into pushing and shoving between the two men, and when Ella's father threw a punch that clipped Todd in the jaw, Kyle had stepped in to keep his brother from taking down Ella's father, and managed to keep the two of them separated. Kyle's father threatened to call the police to press charges for trespassing and assault, but somehow Kyle had been able to diffuse the situation.
Your brother needs to step up and be a man and take responsibility for what happened to Gwen, Ella had stated angrily to Kyle, livid that Todd could be that much of an asshole that he'd deny any involvement with her sister, even while she was recovering from a miscarriage at the hospital.