EPILOGUE ONE #2
Eve told me there was lots of yelling and she thought she was in a cabin. Evan had drugged her, and she couldn’t remember much. “You said you paid three million dollars for her,” I say, trying to remember what I’ve been told.
“I did. I wired three million to Evan right then. But it wasn’t for Everett.
Isabella had already promised her to me, and she wouldn’t go back on that.
She wouldn’t risk her life by being regifted to a random Lord who had the possibility to take down Dollhouse or overthrow her because of Eve.
I paid him the money to walk away from Everett.
I was walking out of that cabin with her either way.
The money was an agreement I made with him to stay out of her life. ”
“He didn’t,” I grind out.
“I didn’t know that,” he snaps. “Eve never told me—”
“He fucking had her brainwashed,” I shout, interrupting him. “You think he didn’t have his claws in her? He took your money and still managed to be in her life. To him, he had the best of both worlds.”
Bill looks away and I take a calming breath. “I thought I was doing the right thing.”
I snort. “You abandoned her.”
His eyes shoot daggers at me as he slowly gets to his feet with his hands on his desk. “I was there for her. She was in Gavin’s clinic for three months recovering from broken bones, surgeries, and withdrawals.”
I snort. “You’re proving my point. You were playing house with that fucking bitch while you left Eve alone.”
“I was there around the clock,” he yells.
“Do you think Isabella fucking cared that I was her husband? No. All she cared about was that she wasn’t passed off to a Lord who was going to destroy her life.
” He huffs and falls down into his seat.
“Trent let her do whatever the fuck she wanted to do. I promised to do the same.” He lets out a long breath.
“When Eve was ready for release, she wanted her own place. She found the house, and it wasn’t much later that your fathers were killed, and Adam was on the run. ”
“How did she end up with Adam?” I demand. “Was that your doing too?”
His eyes meet mine. “You know how stubborn your wife is.” I snort at that.
“She wanted to help. Her exact words were she ‘wanted to be useful.’” I get a pain in my chest at how many times I’ve heard her say she’s useless.
“The missing girls were all over the news, and she wanted to do something. I set her up with a friend who then connected her with Adam.”
The detective from the private jet—Adam’s boss. “And you let her go off to Vegas.”
“It wasn’t the best decision I’ve ever made.”
I give a rough laugh at that and stand.
“You know how you felt when you thought your wife died?” he asks and I stiffen.
“How helpless you were? That you failed her? That’s how I felt when my wife was sentenced to be a breeder.
I begged the Lords. I offered to trade places with her, but they wanted her.
I vowed to devote my life to her kids. That I would save them.
” He slams his fists down on his desk. “And I failed at that too. Everett…I don’t deserve the forgiveness that she’s given me.
And Charlotte…I had to try and save her from the future I knew Isabella had planned for her.
She was hell-bent on making Haidyn pay for killing her husband. I had to choose—”
“So you chose to save the one who wasn’t already broken,” I growl.
“I couldn’t fucking save everyone,” he shouts. “I’m only one man.” Taking a calming breath, his regretful eyes meet mine. “I gave her to you.”
I frown, not understanding.
“While Eve was at Gavin’s clinic recovering, she talked about a woman in Carnage. A woman who was caged and how her son would bring her food.”
I swallow nervously.
“I knew who she was talking about—you and your mother. Then she mentioned you on the Isabella. She said she hadn’t put two and two together at first, but that the man who saved her that night told her his name was Kash, and that was the same name of the boy—Kashton—who fed his mother.
” He gives me a soft smile. “I knew she needed you.”
Taking a step back, I speak. “It was you. You arranged for Haidyn and me to pick up the Lord that night from the cathedral.”
“I did.” He nods. “The Lord was a sacrifice.”
My brows pull down. “What do you mean?”
He sighs, running a hand through his hair.
“Eve was in deep with Adam. I didn’t know he was going to give her ‘jobs.’ I never stopped to think how far she would go.
I had to step in. I had to stop her.” His eyes plead with me to see his side.
“Adam was going to get caught, and in doing so, they were going to catch Eve as well. I committed a crime and framed the Lord for it. He was sentenced to a confessional that I knew Eve would assist. I put her in your path. You had seen her. You had found her. I knew it was only going to be a matter of time before you made your presence known. But then everything with Haidyn and Isabella happened. When Sin was in my office and got the phone call for his assignment, I made the deal with Adam to save Eve. Just in case you didn’t come through like I planned. ”
I nod in understanding. “If you controlled him, you controlled her. But I came to you…to marry her, and you acted like it was impossible.”
“I wanted to see how far you’d go.” He smiles. “Eve deserves a Lord who is willing to risk it all.”
I run a hand down my face. “And her assignment with Dollhouse? Is that why the Lords had you help me?”
He crosses his arms over his chest. “I set that up.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Lords never gave her an assignment, Kash,” he admits.
I just stare at him.
“Think about it,” he goes on. “Her assignment was a hallucination. It didn’t make her prove her loyalty to anyone or anything.”
Practically the same thing that Eve said to me the night we got married. She didn’t think her assignment meant anything other than that the Lords wanted her to go crazy. “You put her through hell.” My teeth grind. Son of a bitch.
“You said she could handle it,” he counters.
“So what now? The Lords are going to force her to do another assignment?” I growl. She can’t go through something like that again. My wife is strong, but she’s been beaten down too many times. I’ve promised her a better life.
“No,” Bill assures me. “She’s been through enough. Eve gets to live a real life with someone who loves her.” He smiles. “She gets to have the family she’s always dreamed of.”
Adam said he got his information from Bill. “How long have you known that Garrett was taking her eggs?” He fucking knew she could be a mom one day. Maybe not carry them, but have kids, nonetheless.
“Laura had a big mouth. I knew she had an in with your fathers. They had her husband, and they wanted her help with Eve. LeAnne, Isabella, they were all in their fucking pockets. If a woman wanted to be anything in our world, they started with the Spade brothers.”
“Answer the question,” I demand.
Looking away, he licks his lips. “I had a hunch” is all he says.
I run a hand down my face. “What about the Lords? Eve was working for them at the cathedral. How did that come about if Garrett kept her hidden all those years?”
“Also my doing.” He nods. “Eve needed to appear busy. Devoted to the society. If she was working for them, then maybe they wouldn’t look into her life and see she was helping Adam. So I had Isabella set it up with LeAnne for Eve to help out at the cathedral.”
The doors to the study open behind me. “Bill, honey? I’m sorry to interrupt—”
“We’re done,” I inform Janice. I turn and give Bill my back, but he makes me pause.
“I’ll be right there,” he assures Janice.
I turn to him and she slips out.
He leans back in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest.
“Spit it out.” He’s going to tell me something that I don’t want to hear.
“There’s a rumor…” Glancing down at the picture on his desk he continues. “That there was another baby.”
I frown stepping forward. “Who had another baby?”
“That Everett was a triplet.”
“Who…who told you that?” I fall down into a chair, needing to sit.
“Vivian was allowed to run free. Word spread about the green-eyed blond-headed girl who was spotted at the cathedral from time to time with a woman. But I didn’t believe it until bodies started popping up and they were targeting Eve.”
“What’s that have to do with a third baby?” Does this mean there’s another one out there who’s going to try and frame my wife?
“Supposedly Vivian talked…and, well, she mentioned another sibling.” He shrugs carelessly and it just pisses me off. “Of course, you know how rumors go…”
I run a hand down my face. “Fuck.” I stand and start to pace. “When is she going to catch a fucking break?” I give a rough laugh.
“I suggest you keep this between us.”
I glare at him. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’m dead serious,” he states, standing. “Eve is still recovering mentally from a past that was nothing but lie after lie. If she finds out she might have another sibling, she may spend the rest of her life looking for them. Is that what you want?”
“I—”
“What if it’s a lie too?” He shrugs. “She could be chasing a ghost. She finally gets to have a family. Do you want to chance her giving that up on a rumor?”
“Fuck you.” I shake my head and my voice rises. “For making me keep this from her.”
Bill gets to his feet. “I just told you what I know, Kashton. What you do with that information is up to you.”
I turn and exit his office, slamming the door. Starting up my car, my cell rings, and I see My Life light up my dash. I take a deep breath to calm my nerves and hit Answer. “Hello, angel.”
“Hello, handsome,” she responds playfully.
I smile. I wouldn’t say my wife is a different person, but it’s amazing how much someone can change when you show them what they deserve. Her training is going well. It’s something that we work on every day.
“How was dinner with the girls?” She went out with all of them tonight. It’s good for her to have relationships with the Ladies. To know what it feels like to have friends.
“Good, but my night will be better when you get home and crawl into bed with me.”
“I’m on my way to Carnage—”
“I’m not there.”
I frown. “Where are you?” She’d better not be at that damn biker bar. I do not want her anywhere near there.
“Your house.”
“Why didn’t you go to Carnage?” I ask, already knowing the answer.
“I want you to play with me.”
I shift in my seat, my cock instantly growing hard in my jeans. “Well, why don’t you get started?”
She laughs softly. “What do you have in mind?”
“Are you still dressed?”
“Yes.”
Not for long. “Take off your clothes. Leave your heels on.”
“Consider it done. Anything else?”
“I want you collared and your hands cuffed behind your back.”
Her breathing picks up through the line, and I can’t wait to bury my face in her wet cunt.
“Wait for me like the good girl you are at the door,” I order. “Do you understand, Eve?”
“I understand.”
Click.
She hangs up, and I look in the rearview mirror, relaxing in my seat. Life is going to be different now. Better than I ever imagined it could be.
Bill was right. If my wife knew she might have another sibling out there, she would dig until she found what she was looking for.
That night we sat in the cemetery talking about her mother, Eve told me that she had dug into her mother’s past after Bill saved her—Eve wanted to know if her mother had more children.
I can’t let her spend her life chasing an idea of something.
And what if she tries to get Haidyn on her side?
Eve needs someone to put all their focus on her and that’s what I’m going to do.
I’m going to spend the rest of my life with the woman I love, and I’m going to make sure no one touches what’s mine.