Chapter Eight #2
I shook my head and looked away from her. This place was nice, it was large, spacious, expensively furnished, and to her it was a step up from a basement. “Why am I here?”
She let out a long, suffering sigh, her face full of remorse. I could see right through it but I’d play along. “Because you need to finally know the truth, Waverley.”
“And you needed to kidnap me to do that?”
“Do you honestly think your father would let me walk onto their compound and ask for a chat?”
“With good reason,” I said, getting more comfortable. “You left us, when we were three, you walked out the door and never looked back.”
“Is that what he told you?”
“That’s what happened,” I leaned forward slightly. “I would believe him a hundred times over before I believe you. Especially now, after this,” I waved my hand around the room.
She closed her eyes. When they opened, the sadness in them almost caught me off guard. “I never left voluntarily,” she said. “I ran for my life.”
“Stop lying,” I half shouted.
Her lips pinched, going white around the edges. She sat forward and picked up a teacup I’d not noticed on the table. She took a few sips, looking at me over the rim of the cup.
“Didn’t anyone ever tell you there are two sides to every story?
” I didn’t comment. She lowered her cup to her lap and held it with both hands.
“It took me years to feel safe, to get back on my feet, to trust again and make a better life for myself. I always intended to come back for you and your brother but,” she lowered her eyes shamefully. “I was afraid.”
“My father might be a scary asshole but he doesn’t threaten and kill women,” even as I said it I thought of Tanya.
Dad had been this close to killing her for what she did to me.
That wasn’t anything close to what Danica had done here.
But what had he done all those years ago?
I hated that I needed to hear what she had to say. I couldn’t believe her lies.
“Waverley, you don’t know the real man your father is. Tell me, has he ever really been close to you? Talked to you, shown even a little bit that he cared about you?”
“You don’t know anything about my relationship with my father.”
“That’s true, but I know the man he is and I know he will never change. I had to fake my own death just to get close to you, that should say something about how much I fear him.”
I sat and looked at her, she sounded sincere but I knew my father, despite what she’s saying, he isn’t that person.
I can’t let her twist my way of thinking.
I don’t know this woman and I don’t want to.
I picture my brother in my mind and try to focus on him.
If what she is saying is true, my brother would know, and he would have told me.
“So you’re scared of him, you faked your death so you could get to me. Tell me, why the fuck did you think it was a good idea to have that skank come into my home, kill one of my best friends and kidnap me?”
It’s funny watching her try and compose herself. She’s clearly trying extremely hard to keep her shit together, but I can see the fury. She’d already shown her hand the first time we met.
“Speaking of that skank,” I tilt my head, lifting my brows.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen. I didn’t want you to find out like that. She never should have come here and I’ve dealt with it.”
“Dealt with it? You slap her around too?”
Her long red nails tapped against the side of her teacup. I leaned back. She’s pissing me off now.
“Kristy has given everything to help get you back to me. She spent a long time there and I fear she lost her way a little. She’s changed quite a bit since she went over there. It’s taking her some time to readjust. Being around the man who tried to kill me wasn’t easy for her.”
“So who is her daddy? Some other asshole you managed to get your claws into.”
She laughed, I wasn’t expecting that, and I tensed up again. “You’re feisty. You remind me of me when I was your age.”
“I’m nothing like you.”
“We’re more alike than you think, Waverley.
For one, we’re both smart. Smart enough to know when there are things being kept from us.
And, it may be a little late to say it, but I apologise for Kristy.
She wasn’t supposed to act the way she did, when she brought you here.
And she wasn’t supposed to show up here and confront you.
She’s strong willed. That is only because I raised her to be that way.
I want my daughters to know they don’t need men to make them strong. ”
“You had no hand in raising me.”
“And that is why I’m here, now. Why I did the things I did to get you back. I’ve missed you Waverley. I missed out on so much.”
I swallowed. There was something missing from this bullshit story. “What about Warren? He’s your son too.”
She set her cup on the coffee table, sniffing a little. Fucking hell, did she really think I was going to fall for this act?
“I’m afraid it’s too late for Warren. He’s never left your father, he’s been steadfast in his loyalty, he will never turn his back on him.”
“You think I will? Because what you’re suggesting is I turn my back on my twin brother too.”
“No, of course that isn’t what I’m saying. I know he’s your brother and you love him, but don’t you see, Waverley, he is one of them. He is a part of that MC, and you will never break him away from them. You already tried that and where did it get you?”
Shifting in the chair I tried not to let those words dredge up old memories.
My brother choosing to join the MC and not come away to college with me.
Not coming after me the night I walked away.
I’d forgiven him, for all of it because I loved and missed him.
It didn’t take away that it happened though, all the hurt and the years of loneliness. How did she know?
“What do you think is going to come from this? You kidnapped me. Whether you condoned it or not, your daughter killed my best friend.”
She turned her head, her eyes lowering to the ground. “I honestly do regret that and, when I say Kristy has been dealt with, I’ve done it in a way that I know will hurt her the most.”
Danica rose then, graceful as a swan, her hand fluttering near her pearls. It was such a damn cliché, I almost wanted to ask her if she was actually joking with me.
I didn’t understand what she wanted to gain from this, and I meant more than just taking me and the crap that she had caused. I meant the act, the way she was trying to ingratiate herself to me. It was so fake I almost wanted to stand up and applaud her for trying.
“And what’s that, did you take away her trust fund?
” I joked. Danica paused and looked at me.
The incredulous laugh that burst out of me only made her frown, or I thought she was frowning, her face was so full of Botox and fillers it was hard to tell that was what she was doing.
“Oh my God, that is what you did? Took away her credit card to punish her for killing someone?”
“You and Kristy are very different.”
“Newsflash.”
She rolled her eyes. “She’s young and she has been spoiled her whole life and all she wanted to do was help me get my revenge. When she did what she did, I had to act.”
“That doesn’t explain any of the crap the Kingsmen have been pulling for the last few months,” I got to my feet too.
I didn’t like feeling as though she was looking down on me.
She already thought she was above me. I towered over her, even in her heels.
I had my dad’s height. “What about Declan? My…ex.”
I hesitated over what to call him. It still felt weird I’d not physically spoken to Declan about what happened between us.
He was certainly no longer my boyfriend.
Deep down inside I always knew that I would never be able to love him, not in the way he deserved.
A certain blond haired asshole would always have that part of me.
I shrugged off those thoughts because Danica was staring at me and she needed to answer for this.
“They almost killed him.”
“You might think I control the Kingsmen but they’re still members of a filthy, corrupted and vile motorcycle club. Do you know what they did to me, all those years ago?”
Danica was too busy being offended to hear the shuffling sound, but I sure did. In the hallway that led to the bedrooms, it had to be Mace. He was listening?
“They were my family, and they were going to sell me, to a Mexican drug cartel who would sell me on, make me into a sex slave.” She stopped pacing and looked at me. “But you already knew that,” she gave a sarcastic little laugh. “So he told you that part of it.”
“He told me more than that.”
“Oh, I clearly didn’t give him enough credit.”
“You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know.
If you’re trying to convince me of something, then it isn’t working.
If all you wanted to do was talk to me, get to know me, then attacking the MC wasn’t the way to do it.
I don’t know how you think I will be able to forgive you for all the things you’ve done. ”
“Look, this is getting out of hand. This isn’t how it was supposed to go at all. Can we please, just, sit, stay calm. Please let me get you a cup of tea.”
“Do I look like I want to sit around drinking tea?”
“No,” she smiled softly. The kind of smile a mother would give her child. It made my gut clench.
“Pretending like I’m not being held here against my will. That I wasn’t attacked while in my cell by someone who is supposedly my sister, and my mother is the one behind me being stuck here? Yeah, sure, let’s sit down and have some tea,” I threw my hands up in exasperation.
If I didn’t know there were five locks on the door, or that Mace would come out of hiding and grab me, I’d have made a run for it, certain I could take this bitch.
“Okay, fine, you need me to give it to you straight? To prove to you that there are good reasons for why I’m going after your father. Then I’ll tell you. I didn’t want to do it like this, I didn’t want to just blurt it out. If it makes you see I’m not the bad guy, I’ll do it.”
This woman has done nothing but cause destruction for me and my family, the things she set in motion have ripped my heart wide open. I don’t care about her revenge or her reasons for it.
“I wasn’t the only one who ran from the Kingsmen. There were more women they were trying to sell, not just the club girls, but other members daughters too. And I hate to say but I didn’t care about them, I couldn’t save everyone. But I could save myself. And my sister.”
Wait. What? “You have a sister?”
“Had a sister,” she turned her back on me and this time, I didn’t see anything fake in the pain in her face as she did. “She was five years younger than me, only nineteen when we ran. The Devil’s Chaos took us both in.”
I didn’t want to ask. I didn’t want to be drawn in. I didn’t trust her. “What happened to her?”
She turned her head so I could see her side profile but she didn’t look at me, her arms went around her stomach. I could see her nails digging into the fabric of her blouse.
“Your father killed her.”
“No he didn’t.” It was a reflex, the words automatically came out. I believed them, my dad couldn’t, wouldn’t do something like that.
“Yes he did,” she said softly, turning and sitting back down on the chair. “I know, because I saw him do it. When he knew I was a witness, he was going to kill me too. So I ran. I ran as far as I could. I had seen him do it. He was capable. I was terrified.”
“I don’t understand,” I said, slowly lowering myself back on to the sofa. “My dad isn’t that person. He wouldn’t.”
“Like I said, Waverley, you don’t really know him.
This is why I’m scared for Warren, for you.
I know I can’t get to Warren, but you can.
If I convince you I’m not lying, that your father is a monster.
I went about it all wrong, I know I did.
The other night when you were in that basement, I was so mad at Kristy, so mad at everyone for what they had done, I took it out on you.
All my careful plans, the way I wanted to approach you.
I… I didn’t realize but I should have done. ”
“Realize what?” I asked quietly.
“The Kingsmen aren’t just doing this to help me, they’re doing it to get revenge too. They blamed your dad for what happened.”
I frowned, what in the hell is she talking about now?
“It was because of him. That was what Delaney found out, it was why he killed her,” her eyes welled with tears, my whole body tensed up. They looked real.
“I don’t know what my father did but whatever it was, it was stupid, foolish but he got away with it, he convinced the Cartel to give him another chance, he’d get them their money.
Until King went to the Cartel and convinced them believing the Kingsmen was a bad idea.
He wanted to take over the business, make more money for the Devil’s Chaos.
He gave the Cartel information they needed to attack my family and force my father’s hand. ”
She looked up at me, everything about her begging me to believe her.
“Your father started this whole thing.”