Eye for an Eye (Take a Chance Book 2)

by Lisa Helen Gray

  A cunning look flashes across his face, which freezes me in place. He steps forward, producing a thick, folded document from his suit jacket. He unfolds it, pretending to read what he most likely has memorised.

  “This is a Lasting Power of Attorney document for your mum,” he announces, handing me the document.

  He waits, watching my reaction with a sick fascination. I glance down, my eyes scanning the words as the breath catches in my throat. I can’t believe I’m seeing this. It’s his name and signature at the end, along with my mum’s.

  “I don’t understand. I’ve never seen this before,” I tell him, but the sinking feeling in my stomach tells me this is exactly what he says it is. There’s no way he would produce a fake one and risk me going to a lawyer. But why is he revealing these now? I looked after my mum for five years before her illness progressed and she was sent to a care home.

  His smile is smug, like he knows he’s already won. “Tonight, I moved your mum to a private care home. One that a good friend is a founder of.”

  “No,” I whisper brokenly.

  “Yes. It’s a lavish one, where she will get the best care.”

  “But?”

  “She will stay there as long as you do what I have asked,” he tells me, his voice firm, domineering.

  “And if I don’t?” I grit out, ignoring the cramps in my stomach.

  He stands straighter, his eyes gleaming. “Then I’ll make sure she is put in one of the worst care homes in England.” He can’t do that. He can read the ‘no’ on my face, so with a twisted smile, he says, “I wouldn’t say no to me, Evelyn. I can do much worse than leave her in a low-income care home. I can stop you from visiting her. From what my doctor informed me, I understand Olivia is deteriorating by the day. If you were to cause her… upset, then you’d be a risk to her health.”

  “You bastard,” I croak out, feeling my stomach bottom out.

  “So, you said yes,” Rebecca guesses once I’m finished.

  “I went to the interview like ordered, but I didn’t get the job. He got so mad, Becca. He slapped me. He’s been angry before, but he’s never hit me,” I tell her, and she reaches for my hand, squeezing. “He told me how worthless I was and that I didn’t deserve to have his blood flow through my veins. Even reminded me that he was happy I didn’t carry his name, so I couldn’t tarnish it.” I take in a deep breath, placing my other hand on the table. “Basically, he reminded me of what an embarrassment I was to him and said that he should have known I’d fail him.”

  “I fucking hate him,” Becca grits out, sitting back, stunned. “But you got the job. How? Please don’t tell me he forced you to do something you didn’t want to.”

  “No, nothing like that,” I tell her, shrugging. “Jaxon called me a few weeks later and offered me a full-time position, so I went into training. I would have turned it down, but I was struggling to find another job. I had rent due. I didn’t think Andrew would find out. I thought because I didn’t get it, he would leave me alone. But he did find out. And he reminded me of what was at stake.

  “But he lied when he said it was them. I knew from day one of working there that they are good people. Not perfect, but good. When I refused to give him information, he refused to let me see Mum. So, I gave him things that I assumed were useless. I couldn’t give him what he wanted because that would mean he’d won. He would have ruined too many people’s lives and I couldn’t sit back and watch that happen. But I needed to be there for Mum.

  “So, I let him think I only had access to certain documents. When what I sent wasn’t enough, he got pushy. Then Thursday, I accidently sent this week’s move rota.”

  “Is that bad?” she asks, trying to get a read on me.

  I wipe my nose with the back of my hand as more tears fall.

  “Yes, because today they were nearly killed at a large property they were clearing,” I explain, and she gasps. “It was petrol bombed by a group of lads. Reid got stabbed after escaping the fire and Wyatt was pretty banged up too. They got hurt because of me. Me! If that isn’t enough to hate me, finding out he’s my dad will be. They know he was behind it, and from what I could gather, this isn’t the first time he’s done something to them. Everything he said was a lie. It’s him after their business, after them, and now, because of me, he has an in, and I don’t know how to get out of it without everyone, including me, getting hurt.”

  “Breathe,” Rebecca rushes out, squeezing my hand.

  “I can’t,” I cry out. “Either way, I lose. The guy I’m into is also the guy I’m betraying, which is why I can’t even give in to his advances like I desperately want to. Wyatt’s the kind of guy I could fall for, and I know you think he’s a player and he most likely is, but when he looks at me, I feel alive.”

  “Then don’t tell him,” she demands.

  I give her a pointed stare. “You know I couldn’t do that to someone. Even if by chance I do keep it in, you know Andrew will find out and love revealing everything.” I pause to take a sip of my drink before forcing a smile. “I’m fucked, Becca. If I tell them, which I really want to do, I’ll never see my mum again. He could put her in a home where they’ll hurt her. You read articles all the time about how some care home treated patients badly. That could be Mum. Please, Becca, please tell me what I should do,” I plead, more tears slipping free.

  “First, you are going to relax and get drunk,” she orders gently as I cry into my hands.

  “What am I going to do? They’re so good to me, and today, I could have gotten them killed.”

  “You really do like them, don’t you? All of them.”

  I nod. “Yes. Even their sister has been welcoming. I’ve not had that before. You know Seb and Kate turned everyone against me growing up. I’ve only ever had you as a friend. But she invited me for lunch today, along with some of her and her partner’s family, and it was going good. They all get along and love each other. They tease each other but in a good way, not in a taunting way. I thought I could do it—you know, be friends with them and be Andrew Black’s daughter.”

  “You aren’t his daughter. You might share DNA, but he’s never been your father.”

  “It doesn’t matter. They’ll all turn on me. They’re protective of each other. We were having a good time too. That is, until Maddox got a phone call about the fire. He was pissed because Lily, Jaxon’s wife, was there.”

  “Shit, that’s Lily Carter. I heard they got married.”

  “Huh?”

  She pales somewhat, sitting back. “I went to school with Lily for a bit. She was a year older than me, and trust me when I tell you, her family is fucking crazy. I wouldn’t be surprised if your dad is found dead in the woods soon. I heard Hayden, one of the Carter triplets, murdered a cop in the woods not that long ago.”

  I scoff. “She didn’t.” I met her. She seemed… “Did she?”

  Lifting her hands, she shrugs. “Who knows, but it’s her dad I wouldn’t trust.”

  “Oh God, they’re going to kill me by association. It’s all my fault, and although I didn’t light the petrol bombs, I’m still involved. They could have died. Reid was stabbed,” I tell her, feeling hysterical.

  “You haven’t done anything wrong. You weren’t to know.”

  “I knew my biological father is an asshole. I knew that.”

  “Everyone knows that; so are his son and daughter. You got lucky and followed your mum in personality. They had evil from both parents.”

  “What am I going to do?” I whine. “I’ve lied to them too much. How do I get out of this?”

  “When you’re ready to. If they don’t see what a good person you are, or hear you out when the time comes, they’re just arseholes. But we don’t care what they think. As for your dad, forge the information he wants. It will fuck his business up. He wants clients or whatever taken from the Hayes family, then why not take his clients from him.”

  “And how am I meant to do that?”

  “Well, you have an amazing best frien
d whose dad just so happens to own the golf club Andrew attends. We can go to his office, pretend to be dropping something off so his receptionist doesn’t question us, and then we can search his office. Maybe if we can do more damage to his business, he will focus all his attention on that and not on you and the Hayes family.”

  “You don’t think it’s too risky? What about Mum? He could take her away from me.”

  “I’m going to look into it. There’s always a loophole. Don’t let him ruin your life or happiness, Evie. You were forced to take shit off his kids most of your life, without him even acknowledging you. He can’t come in now and give orders.”

  She’s right. If it wasn’t for Rebecca getting transferred during year ten, I’d never have survived. Sebastian and Katherine made my life hell, especially since they knew who I was. I was the daughter of an affair their dad had with my mum, which meant they instantly hated me for it. Didn’t matter that my mum hadn’t known Dad was married at the time or that he strung her along. My mum was in love with him. How? That’s something I’ll never understand. She’s naïve and kind, loving and generous, but whenever it came to Andrew Black, she was selfish because she always put him before others. Including her own daughter, who I know she loved and adored. He took years of my childhood the day he left. My mum spent six years hoping he would leave his wife, which he never did. The day his wife found out about Mum and me, he ended things with my mum. From there, my mum became a shell of a person. He broke her and didn’t care a single bit.

  “I know,” I whisper.

  “Which is why you can’t let him win. I want you to be happy, Evie. If you like this guy, go for it. Don’t let Andrew keep holding you back.” She pauses, taking a breath. “You’re a good person, Evie. Too good. Which is why I say this with as much love as possible: your mum is a bitch for putting you in this position.”

  “Becca,” I exhale sharply.

  “No, I’m not saying she was a bad mum, or that she deserves to be ill—she doesn’t—but she spent years loving a man who didn’t love her back. She knew he wouldn’t leave his wife; she had to. She let him walk all over her, but worse, she let him treat you like you were nothing. Don’t let him string you along like he did your mum.”

  “I’m not,” I snap defensively, because it hurts that she’s right. “I’m going to do what you said: give out fake information or lie and say there’s nothing new or I can’t access it.”

  “I’ll help you in any way I can. Now, with a plan in place, do you feel better?”

  “Yeah,” I admit, sagging against my chair.

  “Good. Now that’s sorted, let’s get fucked up, because guess who just walked in looking sexy as sin.”

  “What?” I ask, turning to the door. My jaw drops when Wyatt and some of his family walk into the pub. Rebecca is right. He does look good.

  His dark purple shirt clings to his muscles, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, showcasing his ink.

  His dark jeans fit him like a glove, perfect for his round arse. Even his hair is styled, and I like it, but I love his unruly look at work more. It always looks untamed, like he constantly runs his fingers through it.

  I’m willing to bet he smells fucking good too because he smells divine at work. So good, in fact, that it’s hard not to jump him just to keep breathing it in.

  I sigh, feeling wetness seep between my thighs. It’s the first time I have seen him outside of work and my arousal is just as bad.

  Even his battle marks from today are making me hot, and minutes ago I was crying over them.

  Laughter spills out of Becca and I turn, glaring at her smug expression. “Bab, did you just have an orgasm?”

  “Fuck you!”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  WYATT

  For a moment, my gaze stays on the taillights of Evie’s car as she drives away from Hayes Removals. I watched her get in her car, watched as something set her off enough to bang her fists against the steering wheel, and I watched as her head hung as she spoke to someone on the phone. The only thing that stopped me from going out there was the look in her eyes before she walked out. She was distraught over something and it made me wonder if that was why she had stayed when she was supposed to finish hours ago.

  The thought that she might want to talk to one of us about something important is bothering me more than I care to admit.

  As cliché as it sounds, Evie is a mystery to me. She dresses in the finest clothes, yet she isn’t a snob. She has a 2016 plate, and a phone that should have been updated a few years ago. She isn’t a materialistic person, and although she dresses to impress, she isn’t vain. If I were to take a guess, I’d go as far as to say she doesn’t even realise how beautiful she is. Each time I have come on to her or one of my brothers have—much to my dismay—she almost seems taken aback.

  The other thing I don’t understand about her is her continuous defence to keep us all at arm’s length. If she didn’t work so hard at it, I wouldn’t have even paid attention. Someone must have messed her around so badly in the past that she has those walls built like a fortress.

  “Do you think we scared her off? She looked petrified before she rushed out,” Paisley asks, resting her head against my shoulder, both of us looking out at the yard.

  “She seemed off,” I agree, kissing the top of her head.

  “She’ll come around,” she says, sounding so sure of it. “Once she sees we will protect her, she’ll relax.”

  I don’t bother to tell her that I don’t think what happened today is the reason for Evie’s reaction or her quick departure. Paisley will only go searching for answers and I’m worried it will scare Evie away if she thinks we’re digging into her past. She clearly has a reason for those walls, and until she trusts us not one of us has a hope of getting close to her. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out she doesn’t let anyone get close.

  “Yeah.”

  “She lost her dad too,” Paisley whispers, and all I hear is the pain of her losing our own dad.

  “She said that?” I ask, intrigued yet also sad. I know what it’s like to lose a dad, and I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about him or have something remind me of him. It was hard on all of us when we lost him.

  “Yeah. She also said her mum is sick. She’s an only child too,” she reveals, and I’m curious as to why she’s telling me all of this, but not enough to question her.

  I glance down at my sister, eyeing her closely. “How did you get all of this information out of her?”

  I’ve been trying since day one to get Evie to open up to me about herself and she has deflected my questions every time.

  Paisley grins, clucking her tongue. “When have you ever known the bed and breakfast to be guest-free? When have I ever had the girls round during the day?”

  I smirk at my sneaky little sister. “You wanted her to relax.”

  She gives me a sharp nod, looking smug as hell right now. “And what better way than to have Charlotte there, who can make the most anxious of people relax, and Hayden, who can’t help but force secrets out of people. Hope was just a bonus, and I think Evie relaxed more because of her. She was in her nurse’s uniform.”

  “And Hayden never gives up until she has an answer,” I add.

  Laughing lightly, Paisley’s eyes twinkle. “And because Hayden doesn’t give in until she has an answer,” she repeats. “She’s nosey by nature.”

  Before I can stop myself, I have to ask, “Did she say anything else?”

  “You like her.”

  She doesn’t ask it like a question, more like a statement. I smirk, winking. “I like everyone, baby sister.”

  “Eww,” she whines, smacking my arm. “I don’t mean like the other girls you use for one night. You like her as a person, which is different for you,” she states. “If it’s any consolation, I like her too.”

  “I don’t really know her,” I answer defensively.

  “But you know enough. Even holding back fro
m us all, you can tell she’s a good person. But if I find out someone has previously hurt her, I’ll wring their neck and feed them to the pigs. She’s been through enough as far as I can see. No one’s that closed off without a good reason.”

  I open my mouth, about to ask her to elaborate, when the arguing escalates behind us.

  “We aren’t going to leave this unpunished, Jaxon. Lily is family, and she could have gotten hurt today,” Landon growls.

  “Even you have to understand that,” Maddox snaps. “You made two different doctors look her over.”

  Jaxon bangs his fists on the table, looking worn out and stressed. He always carries everything on his shoulders, like he doesn’t have seven brothers.

  “She’s my wife, or have you guys forgotten that? I know exactly what happened today—I was there. I lived it. We went easy on Black because we couldn’t risk losing more business at the time. It’s the one reason we never understood his obsession. He clearly makes more profit than we do. Why he would want ours makes no sense. We stay small for a reason. We don’t want the extra headache another location would cause, and we like that this is a family business. It’s expanded over the years thanks to each and every brother bringing something new for us. Him coming at us nearly crippled what we built.

  “But we can survive without our company. What we can’t survive without is our family, and whether you muppets like it or not, Lily is my family too. And we protect what’s ours.”

  “So, you’re going to let him destroy your business? You aren’t going to fight back?” Maddox asks, his top lip curling at my brother.

  Jaxon’s lips twist into a creepy smirk. “No. He was ruined the second he called that group to set fire to the house, but he signed his own death warrant because Lily was there, whether he knew that or not.”