48. CHAPTER 43 #2
The color drains from my father’s face. His mouth opens and then closes. He stares at me, and I can see his brain fighting to understand what I just said.
“What are you talking about? What did Justin do to you?”
I don’t understand what is going on. “Did you think someone else raped me?”
He waves off my question. “I didn’t know what was going on. But you’re telling me that your brother, my son—Justin—did something to you?”
“He’s been drugging and raping me, Dad.” I wipe my face with the back of my hand, but the tears won’t stop.
My father’s face changes. He works through a series of reactions, and I can’t tell which one is winning.
“No.” He shakes his head. “Saylor, that’s—”
“Don’t.” I cut him off before he can try to explain anything away. “He admitted it. He fucking told me to my face that he’s in love with me and that I’ve always been his. He’s fucking proud of what he’s done. He thinks I’m going to fall in love with him too.”
My father puts his hand over his mouth. His chest is heaving, and he looks like I’ve just punched him in the stomach.
“He threatened me. He said if I tell Axl, Axl will kill him and Kynlee goes to auction. And he said everyone will find out.” I’m shaking so hard my teeth are chattering. “I can’t tell Axl. But you can help me, because you won’t kill him.”
My father stands up from the couch and walks to the window. He puts both hands on the frame and drops his head. His entire body is tense.
“Saylor?” His voice is rough. He doesn’t turn around. “I’m pretty sure I know the answer to this, but I have to ask. Are you on birth control?”
That question makes me nauseous. I hadn’t thought about that. And I don’t know if he ever once used any kind of protection, or pulled out, or what he fucking did. I wrap my arms around myself and feel violated all over again.
“Yes.” My voice is barely above a whisper. “I’ve been on birth control since I was seventeen.”
He nods. Some of the tension leaves his shoulders, but not much. He turns around, and his face is wrecked.
“How long?” His voice is steadier now, but his hands are still shaking. “How long has he been doing this?”
“I don’t know exactly. Years. He told me about the first time. I was at a party my senior year of high school. I passed out and he—” I can’t say it again. “He’s been breaking his Talon oath.”
“Jesus Christ.” He turns away from me again and puts his fist against the wall. He doesn’t hit it. He just holds it there like he’s deciding whether to put it through the drywall. “My own fucking son.”
“I need you to help me figure out what to do. I can’t tell Axl. And I can’t be around Justin and pretend—”
“You won’t have to.” He turns back and crosses the room. He crouches in front of me and takes my hands. His grip is tight, and his eyes are red. “I’ll take care of this. Justin is never going to touch you again.”
I nod because I don’t know what else to do. “But you won’t kill him? Please, Dad. Kynlee can’t go to auction.”
“I won’t kill him.” He squeezes my hands. “But I’m going to make sure that this never happens again. And this stays between us for now, okay?”
“I promise.” That’s the fucking problem. I can’t tell anyone, including the people I love most.
He pulls me against his chest and holds me. I press my face into his shirt and cry. I cry for every night I don’t remember. My father holds me, and his hand shakes against the back of my head. For the first time in days, I feel like there’s going to be some kind of end to this.
My mother’s heels click as she sweeps into the room. I pull back from my father and wipe my face fast. He stands and turns toward the doorway to greet her.
She looks between us. Her eyes land on my face, assessing me the way she always does.
“What’s going on?” Her tone is more annoyed than concerned.
“Nothing, Mom.” I stand from the couch and pull Axl’s hoodie tighter around myself. “Just catching Dad up on life at the Talon mansion.”
Not entirely a lie. She looks at my father, and he shrugs.
My mother crosses the room and puts her hands on my face. Her thumbs wipe the tears off my cheeks, and she tilts my head up so I’m looking at her. “I told you that you should have just gone to auction. Being his whore isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, is it?”
I pull my face out of her hands. “I’m not his whore, Mom.”
“Of course not, dear.” She smooths my hair back the way she used to when I was little. There isn’t a bit of comfort in it. “Whores get paid.”
“Jessica.” My father’s voice is sharp. “Leave her alone.”
My mother’s eyes cut to him, giving him a look of warning.
He doesn’t say anything else. He’s always given in to her.
You’d never know my father had been a Talon by how much he bends to my mother’s will.
His father controlled him, making him marry my mother from auction instead of arranging a match.
“I should get back.” I grab my keys from the couch. “Before Axl gets out of his meeting.”
“Have to be waiting in his bed with your legs spread, I take it?”
I fist my hands and fight every urge to slap her. “On my knees, actually. And isn’t that exactly where I’d be if some ancient asshole bought me at auction?”
“There’s a difference between a whore and a wife.”
I lunge toward her, deciding she needs to be knocked to the fucking floor, but my father grabs my shoulders and pulls me to the door. My mother stays in her spot, but I can feel her eyes on my back.
At the door, my father puts his hand on my shoulder. “I meant what I said. I’ll handle it.”
I look up at him. “Thank you, Daddy.”
Something crosses his face. It look like guilt, but then his expression softens.
“Of course, Saylor.”
I get in my car and sit there for a minute before I start the engine. I feel lighter than I have in three days.
Once my dad figures out a plan, maybe I’ll be able to tell Axl, and we can put all of this bullshit behind us.
I get my hair and nails done on the way back. I haven’t touched up my roots or had any self-care since before I moved to the mansion. Sitting in that chair while some girl pampers me feels so fucking normal I almost cry. My nails are now hot pink. Axl is going to love them wrapped around his dick.
I feel better than I have in days. The weight in my chest isn’t gone, but it’s lighter. My dad knows. He’s going to handle it. And for the first time since that day in Justin’s room, I don’t feel like I’m carrying this alone.
Axl’s going to be pissed that I left without telling him. He hasn’t texted me yet, but if he checks the tracker he has on my phone, he’ll know that I left.
I grin to myself as I walk down the corridor toward our suite.
Whatever punishment he has planned, I’ll take it.
I’ll beg for it. I want his hands on me while he makes me be good for him again.
That’s the kind of pain I want. The kind that ends with his hand around my throat while I’m tied up and fucked by the man I love.
I punch in the code and push the door open. The lights are off, but it’s not dark out yet, so I kick the door shut behind me and turn on the light. I gasp at what I fucking see.