“What the hell happened?” Hayden asks once more, but I tune them out when Rebecca begins to fill her in.
I don’t need to hear what had happened. I lived it.
Gone.
She is gone, and I can’t bring her back. The card Lucy gave me at the care home is burning a hole in my pocket. Rebecca offered to call them after she got a friend to come and get my car and take it back to hers. While we waited in her car, I filled her in on what happened, bawling until there were no tears left to cry. Until now. When I brought up not knowing if he had gone ahead with arrangements, she offered to call, but I couldn’t. I’m too scared to find out if he has. Then I’ll never get to say goodbye, and I want to hold on to the hope that I can. It’s all I have left in me.
Feeling eyes on me, I sluggishly lift my head, surprised to see Paisley standing there.
How long have I been staring into my drink?
Unable to see the pity on her face, I turn away, downing more of my drink. I can’t handle more today. She’s hurt and has every right to be angry. She can only see that a girl she befriended took advantage of her kindness.
And if I hadn’t lost my mum, I would let her take her rightful anger out on me. But right now, I just want to be left alone. I can’t bear any more.
The chair beside me scrapes across the wooden flooring and I hear her take a seat next to me. Tension swirls in the air and I bite my lip, keeping in the sob threatening to escape.
“I didn’t say you could sit there,” Rebecca grits out.
“I know you must hate me right now, and you have every right to. I slapped her, and at the time, it felt justified. I didn’t know the entire truth. But now, I’d like to. But not from you; from Evie.”
“Please go,” I beg, tears gathering in my eyes. “You have nothing to be sorry for, and I don’t need your pity.”
“Yes, I do,” she tells me, as Landon steps up to the back of her chair, squeezing her shoulder. “I reacted out of instinct without hearing you out. This isn’t pity, this is guilt.”
Her kindness is my undoing. I don’t deserve it, haven’t earned it, and yet she’s sitting next to me, her eyes pleading with mine to forgive her.
In a blubbering mess, I blurt out everything inside of me. “I’m so sorry for what I’ve done to you and your family. If I could turn back time, I would. I’d do it all differently. I never, not for a second, wanted to hurt anyone. I promise. You have to believe me. Even before the fire, before I got close to Wyatt, before I really knew any of you…” I shake my head, letting the tears fall, “I didn’t want to hurt anyone.”
She places her warm hand around my bicep. “Having calmed down, I know that. I should have from the start, but I could have lost my brothers. Reid got stabbed and I… it brought back nightmares from when I nearly lost Landon. When Wyatt told me his side of the story, I got angry and took it out on you. All I could feel was fear—fear that I could have lost my brothers, lost Reid.” She takes in a deep breath. “You could have told us he was your father.”
I force out a laugh, pitying her. She doesn’t get it. From everything Wyatt told me about their father, they had a great one. He was nothing like my sperm donor.
I try to focus on her when my vision begins to blur. “He is not my father. My longest interaction with him was when he hit me after stopping me seeing my mum. I hate him. He’s taken her from me,” I cry out.
“No, he hasn’t. After Rebecca shared that information, Landon and I started making some calls while we went to search for you. Landon’s uncle is a social worker, and he said he can help get the—”
“She’s dead,” I whisper hoarsely, and Paisley’s body jerks, a look of disbelief on her face. “She died five days ago, and no one bothered to tell me. She was alone when she died. I didn’t get to tell her I loved her. I didn’t get to hug her or hold her hand whilst she took her last breath.
“I’ve tried my hardest to make sure your family didn’t get hurt whilst trying to protect my own, and she died anyway. Her last few weeks were spent thinking I was poisoning her because of him. In the past couple of months, I was allowed to see her three times. I’ll never get that time back. Ever.” I inhale sharply before turning and looking at her dead in the eye, ignoring those listening around me. “I know you’re a good person, Paisley, one of the best, and you have every right to hate me. I deserve it. Yet you’re here, being kind to me. Right now, though, I need you to leave. It’s hurts too much to look at you; to be reminded of what I have lost.”
Her eyelids shut tightly before she opens them, letting me see the sorrow. “I’m so sorry. Please, let me make it—”
I push back from my chair, dizziness hitting so hard that I have to grip the table for balance. “Stop saying you’re sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for.”
“Evie,” Rebecca warns soothingly, standing up, Hayden following beside her.
I raise my hand up in front of me, stopping her. “You should never have talked me off that bridge.”
“Evie,” she chokes out, right before my world spins. I hear screaming, right before blackness blankets me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
WYATT
The whiskey isn’t doing worth a damn and I’m getting frustrated with the lack of effects and my interfering brothers who won’t just let me go to a bar. Instead, I’m being confined to the warehouse, listening to them bickering and trying to talk sense into me.
Jaxon is worried I’ll end up in hospital or worse: jail.
He’d be correct, but the smug bastard doesn’t need to know that. I’m itching for a fight.
“Shouldn’t you be at home with your wife?” I snidely remark.
“She understands why I’m here and told me to take all the time I need,” he replies, arching his eyebrow.
His calm and collected behaviour only gets my back up more. Why isn’t he angry? He nearly lost his fucking wife, his own life, along with his brothers’.
“Has Liam messaged you yet?” Eli asks, making another drink from the makeshift bar we turned Evie’s desk into. Just looking at it makes my stomach roll.
“He said to give him twenty minutes. He thinks he has a plan,” he announces, giving me a hard look. I know what it’s for. Earlier, I was determined to go find Andrew and put him out of his misery. I still have that urge. He needs to be put down.
They stopped me by hiding all the car keys and taking my phone away from me. Jaxon said he would come up with a new plan after handing the new memory stick to Liam.
“I had a fucking plan,” I growl. “It wasn’t that long ago that you wanted to go after him. We were wrong to stop you then.”
“That may be so, but deep down, I also knew it was exactly what he wanted. You were the one who warned me to be smart about it, not go in half cut. We’re Hayes’; we don’t get fucking caught, we get fucking even. You held me back then and you were right to. I’m returning the favour now because I can guarantee you, you’ll be behind bars before the night ends.”
I shove back against the chair, hating that he’s right. Black has hurt too many people, and from the way he acts, the way he struts in and out of places, he always gets away with it.
This time he won’t.
When the door to the warehouse slams open, we all snap to attention, relaxing somewhat when we see it’s Paisley storming in.
If this is about the damn duck I’m not in the mood.
The light casts down on her face and we all get to our feet at the sight of tears streaming down her cheeks.
“What the fuck happened?” I growl, searching Landon’s expression, not seeing anything that gives it away.
If someone had hurt her, he wouldn’t be so calm and collected.
Unless he has already disposed of the body.
“S-she—oh my God, s-she… I-it’s Evie,” she stutters out, tears coursing down her face.
I rear back like she has delivered a blow to the jaw. Even my sister is against me.
“I don’t care,” I tell her, fei
gning boredom as I sit back down in my chair.
She slams her fist on my desk, leaning over and screaming, “Yes, you do.”
“What is going on?” Jaxon asks when all I can do is stare in shock at my sister. She hardly ever gets mad. What I’m seeing goes beyond that. It’s fear.
She spins on her feet to face Jaxon. “Andrew Black is a m-monster.”
That has me listening. “Did he touch you?” I grit out, getting back to my feet. It would explain the fear, but not why Landon doesn’t look too concerned.
“Don’t insult me,” Landon snaps. “Listen to her, you fool.”
“Someone tell me what’s going on,” I roar, leaning forward to slam my drink down on the desk.
“She attempted suicide tonight,” she screams in my face.
I stagger backwards, a cold rush going up my spine. I don’t need to ask, but I do anyway. “Who?”
“Evie.”
“Explain,” Jaxon orders.
She wipes at her cheeks, taking in a couple of deep breaths. “I went looking for her after Rebecca left. I was about to give up when Hayden text me to let me know Evie was at The Ginn Inn.” Paisley begins to pace, wiping the palms of her hands down her dress. “I always admired how well put together she was, how flawless.” Turning to me, the life sparkles out, and misery pours out of her. “The girl I met tonight was the shell of the woman we’ve come to know. It was like the life had been sucked out of her.”
“What happened?” Jaxon asks, his brows pulling together.
“She didn’t want me there. She said it was too hard and that she was sorry. I believed her.”
“What aren’t you telling us?” I ask, reading her like a book.
“Her mum is dead.”
“How convenient,” I remark, but the minute the words are out of my mouth, I want to take them back. I don’t mean them. I’m letting my pride do the talking and I’m going to kick myself for it in the morning.
I have felt the loss of a parent. I know how excruciating it can be.
“Don’t be a dickhead,” Paisley snaps. “She was telling the truth. She never wanted to hurt any of us and tried to prevent that from happening by sending false or pointless information. Everything Rebecca told us earlier was true. All of it.”
“How do you know that?” I ask, hating the ugly pouring out of me. I’m not this person, not to my family, to those I love.
“You didn’t see her tonight,” she forces out, emotion clogging her throat. “Her mum was all the family she had left. She never lied about that. And Black has been keeping Evie from seeing her. She’s been dead for five days and not one person called to tell her because Black took her next of kin details off the form. No one is that good of an actress, Wyatt. The grief… God, she looked shattered.”
Landon grabs Paisley around the waist, pulling her flush against his chest. “She’s right, mate. The girl I saw tonight was fucking devastated beyond belief.”
My knees lock together and I collapse back into the chair, gripping the edge of the desk. I’m the world’s biggest fool.
The wall around my heart comes crumbling down, and regret and sorrow burn through me.
I should have listened to her.
My pride lost me the love of my life. Memories of her trying to tell me come flooding back.
‘There’s something I need to tell you before we do this again.’
She had been trying to tell me all along, and I fucked it up. I’m not sure if I would have acted differently than I did today if she had told me. I’d like to think that I would have.
He is still her father.
“She told me her longest interaction with him was when he stopped her from going in to see her mum. Remember that time she came into work with bruises on her arms? Black did that to her because she wouldn’t give him what he wanted.”
“Stop,” I croak out, letting my head drop forward.
“She fought to keep everyone safe. Today… it was too much for her. She left here hoping her mum would make it better somehow, only to be met with overwhelming grief when they informed her that her mum passed away.”
I squeeze my fingers around the glass, my eyes clenching shut. I’m crumbling with each word she speaks. “Please, just stop.”
“Rebecca knew where to look for her. She found her on the bridge on her way to the care home.”
“Stop!” I yell, slamming my fists down on the table.
She doesn’t, her voice softer with each word spoken. “She was just about to let go of the bridge when she got there. A second later and we would be having a different conversation.”
“No,” I whisper hoarsely.
“It was a miracle she didn’t fall. Rebecca managed to talk her down,” Paisley finishes, sniffling.
“Fuck! Where is she now?” Jaxon asks, sounding remorseful.
I can’t find words.
That anger, that fury, it’s still inside of me, but the love that has grown between us… it’s there, and every instinct inside of me wants to go to her.
If I hadn’t been so hard, so harsh, maybe she would never have got on that bridge.
My conflicted emotions are all over the place. For the past few hours, I let my hatred over her betrayal ride my actions. Now my love for her is breaking through all of that. What we shared, it was special, and I tarnished it with merciless words and not believing in her, in us.
I snap out of my thoughts when I hear Paisley’s reply. “She’s at the hospital.”
“What? Why? You said Rebecca talked her down,” I growl, grabbing my jacket.
“Stop!” she yells. “You can’t go to her. She’s been through enough for one day. If you go now, she’ll think it’s out of pity.”
“It’s not,” I growl.
“Then why are you going?” Jaxon asks.
I pull at the ends of my hair. “I don’t know.”
“Rebecca, Hayden and Mark Carter are taking her to the hospital to get checked out. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the stress has overwhelmed her. It’s why she passed out.”
“Is she okay?”
“Do you care?” Landon asks, curling his lip.
“Fuck you, Landon. You aren’t so perfect either,” I remind him, and a flash of fury lights over his face. “I fucked up. I should have listened to her.”
“Wyatt,” Paisley cries, affronted.
“You want to go a round, say the word, because I’ve been wanting to pay you back for waking me up at three in the morning to grab snacks out of our cupboard.”
I move around my desk, getting in his face. “Yeah, and I’m dying to pay you back for that split lip on New Year.”
“Stop it!” Paisley scolds.
His chest bumps against mine, and just when I think he’s going to make the first move, something shatters against the wall.
We pull apart, seeing Jaxon red-faced and livid.
Reid steps forward, holding his finger up. “I’m not going to be the one cleaning that up. Just putting that out there.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Jaxon barks, placing his phone on his desk. “That was Liam. We have twenty minutes to go get the memory stick and get to Black’s house. It’s time to pay him a visit.” He takes a deep breath, his eyes burning into mine. “Evie will have to wait. Right now, it’s time for payback. Not just for us, but for her, if what Paisley has said is true.”
“It is,” she snarls.
“We’re going to finally smash that fucker up?” Luke asks, squashing his fist into the palm of his other hand.
That’s what I’d like to know.
What Paisley has revealed has shaken me to my core, but I don’t think Jaxon will be that easily persuaded, especially when he still has his misgivings over Evie.
“No. We’re doing one better,” he retorts, grabbing his jacket.
I grab mine, blindly following him. He’s never steered us wrong. Whatever he has planned, I want to be there. Black has it coming.
“What are we doing?”
I ask.
He stops at the door, turning to us with a mischievous grin. “We’re going to watch his face as his reputation and family are ruined. And let him know it was us who took it from him by returning his memory stick.”
“Yeah… for those who aren’t that bright, explain,” Reid grouches.
“On the memory stick Evie gave us, it had an address book of every acquaintance and family member. On the memory stick the twins stole that Liam decrypted onto a disc, were videos of Black’s exploits with other women—amongst random stuff. Apparently, he is in to some sick and twisted shit. I’m not sure because I didn’t watch it. Liam, however, said Black loves inflicting pain during intimacy. Once that gets out, no one will do business with him again, especially men with daughters. Liam will email those videos to everyone in that address book, including his wife and children. We just need to notify him when we get there.”
“He likes them young?” I ask, curling my lip, revolted.
Jaxon doesn’t look any better when he meets my gaze. “They’re legal but young enough to be his daughter or grandchild.”
“Fuck.”
“If any of you think you can’t control yourself, stay here. I mean it. I’m not going to have anyone fuck this up. We’re finally getting somewhere.”
Isaac holds his hand up. “What if we can’t control ourselves?”
Jaxon lets out an exasperated sigh. “Isaac, just stay here and watch the place.”
“But I—”
“Want to get into a fight,” Jaxon finishes.
“Please, I’ll be good.”
“No, now let’s go,” Jaxon orders, before turning to Isaac. “If he decides to show up again, call one of us.”
“I’m coming too,” Paisley announces. “Landon can drive me.”
“No, you aren’t,” we all yell in unison.
She juts her hip to the side, glaring at us. “Why the fudge not?”
“Because I don’t want him to set his sights on you. Please, for my wellbeing, stay here,” Jaxon pleads.
She crosses her arms over her chest, not seeming too happy. “Fine!”
Conflicted, Jaxon bites his lip when he scans the room. “Don’t call the twins. I want them out of this,” he orders, making sure we all understand with a lethal look.
Eye for an Eye (Take a Chance Book 2) Page 26
