Chapter 44 Kashton #4
“I loved her mother,” he snaps and then lowers his voice.
“My wife failed her assignment and was forced to become a breeder. Garrett paid a lot of money to get what he wanted from my wife. I knew Everett existed, but I couldn’t get my hands on her.
After Garrett took Everett to Carnage, I couldn’t get close to her.
I offered him money. I tried everything to convince him to give her to me.
He wanted sons, not a daughter, but he refused.
Said he found a use for her. At the time, I didn’t know what he meant.
After he sent her to Dollhouse, it took me a year to get her out of it.
But I promise I spent all that time trying. ”
“All this time,” Haidyn whispers. “You told me about the breeders that night at the cathedral when you informed me of what Charlotte’s future was if she failed, but you didn’t mention Eve or your wife to me.”
“I didn’t…” Bill trails off, glancing away.
“Didn’t what?” Haidyn demands.
“I didn’t want you to know about her,” he answers softly, as if ashamed.
“That wasn’t your decision to make,” Haidyn shouts.
“Look at what she’s been through,” Bill tries to reason with him.
“What your father put her through. Do you really think she wants to know you?” He steps up to Haidyn, and I brace myself to take Bill down if they start swinging.
I need to knock the fuck out of someone right now.
I can barely handle the rage I feel after what I just found out Eve has been through.
“She’s known about you all her life. Everett was raised at Carnage.
She’s also aware you’ve been living there since your father was killed, and she has chosen to not want you in her life. ”
Haidyn shakes his head, not wanting to accept that she didn’t want to know him. “And you?” He glares at Adam. “You knew she was my sister and didn’t tell me?”
Adam swallows and glances away from us.
I understand why no one told me. They didn’t know I’d fallen in love with the gorgeous blonde the night of our initiation on the yacht. But to keep something like this from Haidyn is pretty fucking shitty. Even for Adam.
“How long have you fucking known?” Haidyn demands.
“Four years,” Adam admits softly.
Haidyn steps forward, but I grab his upper arm. He spins around to face me. “How are you not as pissed as I am? They kept her from us.” He points at Gavin. “Even him.”
“I am. But not at them. I’m pissed about what she’s been through. That she’s known she had a brother and has chosen not to come to you.” She must feel so alone. I know what it feels like to have no one, even when you know they are there. I never want her to feel that way again.
The conversation that Eve and Adam had while I hid in her closet comes to mind.
“No. Bill knows I want nothing to do with them.” She didn’t want to be around me because it would lead to her being around Haidyn.
And Carnage? It must have taken a lot for her to finally step inside that place to be there with me.
To feel safe there after Garrett hid her there.
“Are you blaming me?” Haidyn snaps at me.
“No,” I say through gritted teeth and look at Bill. “You said that Garrett had found use for her. What the fuck does that mean?”
He peers at Haidyn and then Saint. My pulse picks up for a different reason when he clears his throat. “She was to be their personal breeder.”
I fucking knew it. Motherfucker. “You’re saying Garrett…her own father…raped her?” He said their, which can only lead me to believe all of our fathers.
“Surely Garrett wouldn’t—”
“He was a disgusting son of a bitch,” Haidyn interrupts Saint but keeps his attention on Bill, waiting for him to answer my question. “I put nothing past him.”
Bill rubs the back of his neck. “He did. They all did.”
I run a shaking hand down my face, letting out a shaky breath.
“Unbelievable,” Saint hisses to himself.
“In the video. The kid said that she had been pregnant but was sterilized. Why would my father allow that to happen if the Spade brothers wanted to use her as a breeder?” Haidyn asks, confused.
“It’s why she tried to commit suicide,” Adam answers. “She caused the wreck on purpose after she found out she was pregnant. That’s why the medical records state a miscarriage. Garrett found her shortly after…”
“Eve survived, but the fetus did not. There was extensive internal damage that resulted in a hysterectomy,” Gavin explains. “She was in a coma for two weeks.”
“Christ,” Saint whispers.
“You treated her?” I snap at Gavin.
“Not then. Only after Bill retrieved her from Dollhouse,” he rushes out. “And…” Gavin trails off.
“And what?” Haidyn growls.
“She was lucky to survive both times,” Gavin finishes, and I watch Haidyn flinch at his words.
Not sure lucky is the best word to use. My girl is stronger than I gave her credit for.
“You said they wanted her as a breeder. What in the fuck were they going to do with these extra children?” I question. “I understand that Garrett hid her, but kids? What the hell were they going to do with them?”
“We can’t answer that.” Gavin shrugs. “Because the only ones who can tell us are dead.”
I take a step back, dropping my chin to my chest, trying to comprehend all that I’ve learned. I knew she was keeping a lot from me, but this? I could never have guessed her past. I knew Dollhouse was part of it, but it’s so much worse than that.
Our fathers raped her in hopes of knocking her up. Now I see why she wanted nothing to do with me. “I’m not the same person I was back then.” I thought she was joking. Challenging me. Now I realize just how right she was.
“How is LeAnne involved in all of this?” Haidyn asks.
“I’m not sure what you mean,” Gavin says, sharing a questionable look with Bill.
“Charlotte told us that she saw Everett at the cathedral when Charlotte’s father took her there. LeAnne was running an offering, and Eve was in attendance without a cloak and mask,” I explain.
“That can’t—”
“The Spade brothers were friends with LeAnne’s husband.” Bill interrupts whatever Adam was going to say. “It’s possible.” I don’t miss the heated glare that Adam throws at Bill. I go to ask what the fuck that was about, but Haidyn speaks before I get a chance.
“Have you fucked her?” His mind must be bouncing all over with all this information.
I tense, knowing that’s a yes. I hate that he’s fucking touched her, and I know Haidyn will too. Just for different reasons.
“It’s complicated,” Adam answers softly.
“Fucking complicated?” Haidyn shouts, stepping forward. He swings, knocking him in the face. “You knew what she’s been through and fucked her anyway?” He hits him again.
Bill grabs Adam’s arm and yanks him away from Haidyn while Saint gets a hold of Haidyn. I wasn’t going to stop him. He can beat his face in for all I care. But can I be mad? The rational part tells me no. The other says hell yes. He knew who she was and didn’t help her connect with Haidyn.
Am I any better? No. I now know just how dark her past is, and it’s not going to stop me from loving her or fucking her. I’m going to make her my wife. It doesn’t matter what happened to her; I will make sure it won’t be in her future.
“Haidyn—” Adam wipes the blood from his busted lip.
“Fuck you, Adam. Both of you,” he snarls. The sound of a door banging open makes me jump. I look over to see Haidyn exiting the room. Saint stands next to me, head down and hand resting on the back of his neck.
I feel Adam’s eyes on me, but I can’t look at him. Or Bill. He might have saved her from being sold, but the damage was done. You can’t erase a year of something like that. Especially when drugs were used to get results.
It makes me understand why I found her on her kitchen floor with a half-empty bottle while she told me she didn’t want to be my wife. She thinks she’s a whore who can’t be loved. That she doesn’t deserve to be happy. She was never told that she deserved the world.
EVERETT
I’m sitting on Haidyn’s bed, petting Muffin and talking to Charlotte. She’s having a good day today. She went out and did some shopping with Blakely and wanted to show me what she got for the babies.
Three babies. I hate that I’m going to be an aunt and can’t even tell her that.
I want to hug her and cry. Tell her how excited I am.
That I’m going to spoil them and will drop everything if they ever need me.
But I can’t say those words, and they’ll never get to know I’m here for them. It’s for the best.
“EVE?”
Charlotte and I both look up when we hear Haidyn shouting my name. I frown, getting up off their bed and walking to the bedroom door. Sounded like he was coming from the hall.
I open their door and see him exiting Kashton’s room.
“Everything okay?” Charlotte asks him.
He stops and glares at me. He looks pissed. Breathing heavily, like he just left the gym, I notice his hands are clenched.
The sound of the elevator dinging has me taking a quick glance to see Kashton and Saint exiting. They come to a stop and watch.
I give Kashton a smile, thankful to see him. For a split second, I thought that something had happened to him. That’s what scares me the most. Falling for him. You never have to experience loss if you never allow yourself to love.
“Did you know?” Haidyn demands my attention.
I feel like this is a trick question and am not sure how to answer.
I swallow nervously. My gaze shoots to his wife before returning to him.
I’ve got to tread carefully because I don’t know what he’s been told.
I’m guessing Kashton has filled them in on Evan.
That I’m keeping secrets about how I know so much about Dollhouse.
“Haidyn—”
“Did you know that you’re my sister?” he snaps at me, interrupting Charlotte.
“What?” She gasps now, looking between the two of us, and I get a glimpse of Ashtyn opening her bedroom door to see what the commotion is about.