Chapter 23 #3
“Thankfully through counseling, she finally began to live again, but she was different. Then I noticed changes. Suddenly, she’d appear in new clothes, lavish clothes there was no way we could afford.
She said she had an admirer. She seemed happier.
Then I barely saw her. She was staying out late.
Phone calls. Just different things. It was crazy.
When I finally confronted her, she told me she was in love. ”
“Just like that.”
“Just like that. Long and short, she fell in love with a powerful man.”
“This real estate developer you mentioned.” His nostrils were flared as if he was putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
“Yes. Walter Emmett. When I finally met him, I instantly didn’t like him. I didn’t find out who he was for a couple months. By then, she was a completely different woman. No one I recognized any longer.”
“Why?”
I laughed. “Not only was he one of the richest men in Savannah, but his fucking son was a huge bully. He ran the high school. He was older than me and as soon as he figured out I was the daughter of the woman his father was seeing, I became the target. I’m not just talking about locker pranks.
I’m talking about stalking and strange things showing up like dead roses.
It was crazy. I tried to ignore his antics, but he and his friends made it their mission to terrorize me.
I think they did because I wasn’t one of the girls who fawned all over them.
They had plenty of those, but they wanted me as their plaything. ”
I could tell by Sinclair’s body language he was shifting from trying his best to listen without judgment to absolute rage. And I wanted him to be angry. To be my hero.
Even if I knew that was impossible.
“What did your mother say?”
I had to laugh, taking another sip of wine. “She was too busy planning their wedding getaway. She was lost in the man. I tried my best to talk to her about Zane, but she just said boys will be boys. I was forced to live in this big house with them, hating every moment of it.”
“Did Zane touch you? Did he fucking touch you?” He caressed my cheek and the feel of the rough pads of his fingers was even more soothing than his passionate kisses. I closed my eyes briefly, struggling with how different he could be from one minute to another.
Even so, I found it difficult to answer him.
“Tell me, Josette. I need to know.” The darkness in his tone was thrilling.
“He tried a few times in the beginning, but I fought him off. Then he told me he was sorry for his atrocious behavior, even becoming nicer to me. Things were almost normal for a little while. Or I was just na?ve. I went off to college about forty-five minutes away. Posh and for all the elite children in the South. He was ruling another university, but for a little while, I was free of his bullshit.”
Sinclair was even more attentive, but the rise and fall of his chest was a clear indication he was furious I’d been touched at all.
“My stepfather had insisted and paid for my college. I had no other options. I’d already decided as soon as I got my degree, I was moving far away.
I made the best of it. I was out of the house, working toward my degree.
Until my mother asked me to visit her. I did.
She told me I was getting married to some son of a bigwig friend of my stepfather.
If you think I’m rebellious now, then I was a wild child at that point just to keep myself sane.
It all sounds crazy, but I swear to you that’s what happened.
And I knew in the back of my mind that my life would be made miserable if I’d stayed.
You should have seen Zane when he gloated over it, acting as if my future husband would be sharing me. With my own stepbrother.”
Sinclair narrowed his eyes and I could tell he was doing everything in his power to keep from overreacting in my presence.
“A true pig.”
“From what I learned later, women were chosen for them. Arranged. Why me I had no idea, although both my mother and Zane made the arrangement sound as if my supposed fiancé’s father was doing Walter a big favor. You know, marry the sad little goth girl.”
“Fuck. It’s not crazy at all, Josette. There are worlds where women are seen as commodities and nothing else, used to forge alliances and control everything from governments to the power wielded by influential families. Who are you?”
“Daniella. My name is Daniella Dunham.”
His fingertips brushed down from my cheek to my neck, his index finger slowly swirling around my angry pulse. When he dropped his hand completely, he fisted his fingers. The look in his eyes was terrifying.
“Who was your father?”
“Jameson Dunham.”
“And who are these other monsters?”
I squeezed his arm. “You can’t fight them, Sinclair. They are too powerful.”
The way he laughed sent a shiver down my spine. “You underestimate both me and my family. Who are they?”
“Don’t you understand that not only is my stepfather very powerful, but he’s one of a dozen? Maybe three dozen. All wealthy families with ties to everything from politics to commerce. The largest and some of the wealthiest men are involved. You’re one family.”
His laugh continued. “With significant connections of our own. Tell me.”
“I don’t know all the others involved other than what I read.
All the suspects you might imagine. The Carringtons and the Franklin family.
But there are others. Truly the most powerful families in the country.
I just wanted my life back. Discovering my own mother had sold her soul, no longer caring about her only child was too much for me to take. ”
As soon as I’d listed the names, his expression hardened.
“How did you manage to alter your identity? That takes skill.”
“All you need to do is ask enough questions on the internet and you can find anything you want. For a price. I’d worked several jobs and saved some money, so it took almost everything I had but I fought my way into this life and no one is going to take it from me. No one.”
In truth, I also meant the man who I craved, who’d shown me endless passion, someone I wanted to trust.
He pulled me closer, cradling my body against his.
“How did you make the leap from your past to the people who attacked us and who stole from me? Did you recognize one of them?” When I wasn’t quick enough with my answer, he lifted my chin.
There was so much emotion in his eyes I was momentarily mesmerized.
“No.”
“The tattoo wasn’t what scared you when you pulled the mask off the assailant’s face. Was it?” His voice was so comforting, so relaxing.
“No. It was his necklace. A dagger where the handle was laced with diamonds. Zane always wore one. The other boys in the group as well. So did my stepfather. It was as if the symbol was their membership card.”
When he took a deep breath, I could tell his wheels were turning. “What about your phone. You were sent something instead of contacting your friend. Weren’t you?”
“I almost forgot about that. Yes. Pictures. I barely got a look at them, but they were of me. Taken in the park both before the mishap and after. With you. Then another one when we were standing on my driveway.”
“Zane.”
“Or someone reporting to him. It had all the earmarks of something he’d do. He did that when I was in school. Even a couple pictures in college. Like proving he knew what I was doing at all times.”
“You should have told me.”
“To what end?” I searched his eyes. He was angry, but not with me.
“Nothing has changed. I will keep you protected. If your stepfather or any member of this Brotherhood is after you, I will give him a painful lesson in letting go.”
“I want to be involved.”
“Not a chance.”
“I need to watch to watch him burn, even though it’s only metaphorically for what he did.”
As soon as I offered the words, I could tell he wasn’t going to let it go. “What did he do to you?”
“Nothing I couldn’t handle.” My pulse was racing. I knew exactly what would happen if I dared tell him the truth. Yet I wanted to. Goddamn it, I wanted nothing more than to tell him everything. “I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not. There’s more. Talk to me. Tell me. I will never allow him to hurt you again.” His voice was just as dark, but there was something even more powerful with the tone. This was very personal for him because someone had hurt me.
And he wasn’t going to stand for it.
Sinclair was so close. I could feel his heated breath. I could swear I heard his rapid heartbeat. When he cupped the side of my face, I shuddered visibly, the cracked moan telling.
“He hurt you,” he growled.
With little energy left, all I could do was nod.
“He touched you.”
I tried to look down, but he refused to allow me to escape either the moment or the man. “Yes.”
“He attacked you.”
The hard pitter-patter of my heart echoed in my ears. All the years I’d blocked out what Zane had done to me, how he’d returned to my dorm room that very night, his friends holding me down while he took his time doing vile, horrible things, came flooding back.
Only almost instantly the tears began to slow. No longer would I play the victim, or would I run from the man and what he’d done. Now I was ready to fight for my freedom.
I was ready to take back my life.
“Yes. He came to my dorm room hours after I said no. He and his friends.”
His entire expression changed, the same hard, cold eyes I’d experienced reflected in that moment.
But not directed at me. At the man who’d hurt me.
“Then he will die by my hands.”
Another promise made.
And one I wanted him to fulfill.