CHAPTER 23
Jannie
She couldn’t sleep.
Again.
Jannie glanced at her phone on the nightstand.
Over the past few days, Erik’s stunning photos had filled Adam’s private Instagram feed, many of them showing Bestemor having the time of her life, from enjoying high tea at Fortnum he had never shown up for any parent–teacher conferences or school events.
“She’d been secretly buying things for the baby and hiding them in the basement behind some boxes of old shoes.
One day, a pipe burst down there and flooded the entire area.
He went to move some things to get to the problem and discovered her stash.
Turns out he had suspected it for a while.
He came upstairs with two blue newborn outfits and threw them in her face. Flat out asked her if it was his.”
It.
Jannie’s stomach twisted. Blake had called their babies that.
“She was so shocked and scared that she took too long to answer, and he lost his mind. They’d had fights before, but this one … it was different. He got in her face, she shoved him away, he raised his fist, and then …” He swallowed hard. “I tried to intervene.”
“Of course you did.” Jannie rubbed her cheek on his shoulder.
His eyes turned wide and haunted. “He had her at his feet, backed to the counter, and was kicking her. He had on steel-toed work boots … I had to get him away from her. He was so much bigger than she was, and I was afraid he’d…
” He closed his eyes. “It worked, for a few seconds. But then he turned on me and … well, I was no match for him. He did a number on me. Left me on the floor and beat her nearly unconscious.”
Horror seized Jannie’s throat. A clear image of thin, sensitive teen Nick drifted across her mind. That his own father had hurt him so very badly, both physically and emotionally … she couldn’t imagine. And she ached for him.
“What did he do then?” she asked.
“He left us there, threw some things in a duffel, and took off. I never saw him again.”
“Did you call the police? Report this?”
“The hospital beat me to it.” Nick smiled bitterly. “He died in prison. I heard he messed with the wrong inmate.”
At least the monster had paid for what he’d done.
Nick fell silent for a beat, and Jannie lay there, rubbing his shoulder. What was there to say that wouldn’t sound like lame platitudes? She couldn’t relate to this; all she could do was listen.
“Looking back, I think he’d been trying to find a way out, and that was it for him, I guess. I later found out from my cousin that when he married her, she’d promised him she’d never get pregnant, and a lot of … things … finally made sense.”
His father hadn’t wanted him. Outrage burned, hot, in her chest. No wonder Nick was the way he was in high school; the man who was supposed to love him most had done just the opposite.
“Anyway… I called an ambulance. It took so goddamned long to arrive …”
Jannie made a sympathetic sound, gently running her hand up and down his chest. “It must have felt like forever.”
“It was.”
“I remember your mother. She always had a smile and something nice to say.”
“She was the best. She might be here today, if only I’d driven her myse—”
“Don’t.” She vehemently shook her head and pressed her fingertips to his lips. “She needed emergency care. You did exactly what you were supposed to do.”
He closed his eyes. “When they finally got her to the hospital, they tried everything to save them. But within the hour, they were …”
“Gone?” she whispered.
Nick nodded. “Yeah. She didn’t make it. Internal injuries to the neck and chest, and …
it was too early to save my brother.” His face was a mask of pain.
“There was … there was so much blood when they loaded her in that ambulance… I still see it in my nightmares. And I still see the savage way he beat her.” He blinked hard as if to chase away the image.
“This is the last thing I should be telling you.”
“I asked, remember?” She gripped his chin, compelling him to meet her gaze.
“If I had taken her to the ER—”
“You did get her to the ER.”
“I was weak. He picked me up and tossed me across the room and then he … If I’d been stronger, I could have gotten him off her and—”
She stopped him with a kiss. Cupping his cheeks, she took his lips, conveying all the compassion and understanding she couldn’t put into words. At first, he didn’t respond and simply let her kiss him, but when he finally did, it was soft and gentle and unlike any kiss he had ever given her.