Chapter Eight #4
“When you would go away and Jaxon would be out partying, Mom invited him over. He’d come with his friends sometimes. Mostly he’d come alone.” My voice shakes. I take a steadying breath, but it doesn’t help. The words still scrape out of me like broken glass.
“He took a liking to me after that gala you held when you came back for Christmas. He told Mom I was the prettiest thing he had ever seen. That he wanted to marry me.” My throat tightens. “Mom took that as a stepping stone into the life she wanted. The money. The power. Everything.”
My dad’s grip tightens on his desk until his knuckles turn white. The entire room feels too quiet. Too still. Too heavy.
“I was twelve years old when she first left me with him.” The words tremble out of me.
“She told me to smile. To be polite. Don’t piss him off.
I remember her telling me that. I was terrified.
” My voice cracks. “The big bad wolf had finally come for me. And Mom…” I choke back a sob. “Mom sold me out.”
A shaky breath sounds beside me. Not mine. Not Jaxon’s. Not my father’s. Kade.
My body freezes at the sound. My hand clamps onto his in a vice-like grip, nails digging into his skin. He doesn’t flinch. He doesn’t pull away. He lets me hold on like I’m drowning and he’s the only thing keeping me above water.
“It happened almost every weekend,” I whisper.
“Jaxon would go out on another bender and Mom would make the call. I used to sit and think to myself… how did no one notice the expensive jewelry she had piling up in the closet? The jewels that didn’t come with receipts?
The lavish parties she was throwing that weren’t at our expense? ”
I loosen my grip on Kade’s hand, swiping at tears with my free palm. My chest aches. My ribs feel too tight. My voice barely works.
“He told me that I belonged to him. That he had paid good money for me and he wouldn’t let me go. That if I tried to run, he would have someone find me and do worse than he ever did.”
The room goes silent. Completely silent.
“That’s why when I turned twenty-one, I walked out that door and didn’t look back.” My voice trembles. “I didn’t tell anyone where I was moving to. Not you.” I look at my father. “Or you.” I look at Jaxon. “I couldn’t let her find out where I was.”
My throat burns. My eyes sting. My hands shake.
“I didn’t take the money you offered me when I moved out. Or the money Mom offered. Because it felt like a bribe. Hush money so Crane could keep his good name.”
My father’s face twists into something I’ve never seen before. Jaxon looks like he might tear the room apart. Kade’s hand slides to the small of my back, steady, grounding, protective.
“I won’t go back,” I whisper, a promise to myself more than anyone else.
My dad doesn’t speak. He stands slowly, eyes filled with unshed tears, and crosses the room to me.
His arms wrap around me in a bruising hug, the kind that feels like he’s trying to hold together every broken piece of me at once.
A shaky exhale escapes him, warm against my hair. My shoulder grows damp from his tears.
A strong body presses against my back.
Jaxon.
My brother, holding me like he’s afraid I’ll disappear if he lets go.
Both of them keep their arms around me, as if the second they step away I’ll crumble into dust.
“Kade.” Jaxon growls, voice low, dangerous.
Kade doesn’t speak. He just nods once and leaves the room.
His footsteps echo down the corridor, steady, purposeful, disappearing from earshot. The silence he leaves behind is heavy enough to crush bone.
“Petal, you need to go to your room.” My dad takes my face in his hands, forcing me to look at him. His eyes are red, furious, devastated. I shake my head once.
“I’m not leaving. If you’re doing what I think you’re going to do, I want to be here.” My voice is barely a whisper.
The door swings open.
Kade stands there with Senator Crane in his grip like he weighs nothing. Crane’s feet drag against the floor, his face twisted in shock and fury. My mother swats at Kade’s arms, trying to pry Crane free, her voice shrill and panicked.
“What the hell are you doing!” she shrieks.
My father’s gaze snaps to her, and something inside him breaks.
“Sit. The. Fuck. Down.”
She freezes, her eyes widen, fear flickering across her face for the first time tonight. Then she sits on the couch, trembling.
“Kade, put him there.” My father points to the dining chair in the corner of the room.
Kade drags Crane across the floor and forces him into the chair. Crane hisses in pain, his bandaged hand dripping fresh blood onto the wood.
“Jax, get that bitch out of here. You know where to put her.” My father barks the command, voice sharp enough to cut.
Jaxon doesn’t hesitate. His hands clamp around my mother’s arms.
She screams, kicks, claws at him, but he drags her from the room anyway, her shrieks echoing down the hallway as the door slams shut behind them.
The study falls silent.
Crane sits in the chair, breathing hard, eyes darting between my father, Kade, and me.
And for the first time in my life, he looks afraid.