by Chloe Saint
“Enough, Rohan,” interrupted Gunner. He looked exasperated, like the meeting wasn’t going according to plan. “She doesn’t know anything about this, remember? She doesn’t even understand why you hate her.”
“It’s true,” I said, clearing my throat. Strangely, seeing them argue with each other made me less intimidated. A part of me had expected them to use me for whatever perverted purpose they wanted, and then kill me.
Instead, I was slowly beginning to realize that they were intending no such thing. They were going to keep me.
And I didn’t know how I felt about that.
Chapter 5
“Let’s just tell her and get it over with,” Rohan snapped, crossing his arms and looking away. His body radiated dark anger. I was surprised my skin didn’t blister from the heat he emanated like a furnace. “And remember, this was your idea, not mine. I voted for the other approach.”
“We’re not going to discuss that now,” Derrick said, a hint of warning in his voice.
I could see the threads of a hierarchy forming between the brothers. Derrick was the oldest, and they looked to him to keep them all in line, although none of them would ever admit such a thing.
Killian was the reckless one, full of violence and wicked desires. He was the one the others had to keep in line, but they indulged him the way I expected older brothers to do for their baby brother.
Gunner was the leader. He spoke with authority, and the rest of them obeyed him, even though they could be occasionally reluctant. Somehow, I knew that he was the one who made the plan to kidnap me. I looked at his face, with its strong jaw and green eyes with a hint of gold, and tried to feel hate towards him for putting me in this position, but I couldn’t.
He looked like someone who should be leading a platoon of men into battle. There was something in the confident, loose line of his body that made me want to…trust him.
But trust was a dangerous thing to give someone, as I knew all too well. Daddy had taught me that much.
He had a faint scar on his face, I noticed for the first time. I didn’t have the luxury of drinking in his features earlier, but new things jumped out at me now, like the calluses on his fingers that he rubbed absently, and the light stubble on his chin that he didn’t bother shaving. It was the color of dark whiskey with streaks of red, just like his hair.
Rohan was the troublemaker. He was the brother who was often moody and sullen, prone to unpredictable fits of anger. I could tell from the practiced way Derrick and Gunner tried to calm him down, and pacify him. My skin prickled. I didn’t want to be anywhere near him when he was truly angry. I knew that for sure.
And what about him ‘taking his turn’ with me? No, no, no. Derrick and Killian were known quantities to me now…I couldn’t find it in me to be remotely afraid of them anymore, though maybe I should be. But Rohan…I wasn’t going to go near him until I knew him better.
Like I had any choice in the matter.
They all dressed similarly, like they were determined to differentiate themselves as little as possible. They all wore plaid shirts, jeans and thick boots. But while the clothes might be dirty or weather-worn, these weren’t the regular, scratchy clothes you’d expect a group of hermit men in the woods to wear. I recognized some of the labels they sported, and these men’s clothes cost more than the rent for the house we lived in with Daddy.
In other words, they looked like they’d be right at home in a fashion spread about ‘the lumberjack trend’.
“You must have a lot of questions,” Gunner said. I tore my mind away from my shallow analysis and looked at him. My expression must have been quite blank, because he elaborated, “About why you’re here, and…other things.”
“Yes,” I said immediately. “Obviously, I have questions.”
“So ask,” he said simply.
I raised my eyebrows in disbelief. “So I can ask and you’ll answer, just like that?”
“Is that so hard to believe?”
“Yes!” I exclaimed. “First you kidnap me in the middle of the night, then your brothers use me like a toy, and now you expect me to believe that you’ll answer my questions? Why now?”
“Well,” Derrick said, holding up a familiar looking shirt, “We thought we’d clear some things up for you.”
It was the shirt I wore when I went to their secret room in the basement. It was covered in cobwebs which inescapably placed me in their secret room. I went cold all over.
“I—I didn’t mean to,” I said, hugging myself, trying to make myself small and harmless looking. It was a reflex that stayed with me from when I was a kid. If I made myself into a tiny ball, Daddy wouldn’t hit me. That never worked, of course, but it was the defense mechanism I decided to use against all logic.
“I’m sorry,” I continued, sniffing. “I didn’t understand a thing in there anyway! But you have my Daddy’s photograph in there,” I added.
“Belle,” Derrick rumbled, looking at me with an intense focus. He hadn’t missed how I was wrapping my arms around myself, as though to ward of blows. “We’re not going to hurt you. You believe that, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I said. I believed that they weren’t going to kill me, at least. But ‘hurt’ was another thing altogether. People could hurt each other in all sorts of ways and not even know. I might even believe that Derrick wouldn’t intentionally hurt me. He was a gentle giant. But the other brothers, and Rohan especially? Well, I didn’t think the promise extended to him.
“We don’t mind that you went into the War Room,” Gunner said, “But it’s time that you understood what we’re doing.”
“What do you know about your father, Belle?” Derrick asked.
“He’s just…Daddy,” I said, confused by the question. “We moved to the town nearby a few months ago because his business wasn’t doing so well, but he says he’ll bounce back. He was excited about a business opportunity that his friend told him about…but I just don’t understand what else you want to know.”
“Belle,” Derrick said heavily, “Your father isn’t just a regular businessman. He’s a ruthless person, and a murderer.”
“I just…don’t understand how that could be possible,” I stammered, but I felt cold. What did they know? I thought I was the only person who suspected...
“Oh really, princess?” Rohan said, drawling bitterly. “Never wondered where all of Daddy’s money came from? How he bought a yacht or a town house in one of the most expensive cities in the world?”
“He—his business was doing well,” I stammered weakly. “People liked working with him.”
“Did they?” Gunner asked intently, leaning forward. “Or did they just like the sweet bonus that your Daddy let them have in exchange for partnering with him?”
I stared at him, and then at Rohan and Derrick. Their faces were flat and blank, but I could see something in Derrick’s face. He was too open. He gave away his sympathy and pity.
“Whatever you think you know,” I said, “You’re wrong.”
“We’re not wrong,” Killian said from behind me. There was no trace of a smile in his voice, and his hands at my waist made me realize that I was shaking violently.
“We know, Belle,” Derrick said, clearing his throat. “We know everything.”
“He never—I mean, they never,” I said incoherently. “I was a virgin when you took me.”
“But he still sent the men to your room at night,” Gunner said mercilessly dragging me back to my memories of long nights in a dark, unfriendly room, huge hands sliding up my thigh while another stuffed fingers in my mouth that wouldn’t let me scream…
“They still touched you in ways that you never wanted.”
“Stop,” I said, clapping my hands over my ears, “I don’t have to listen to this!”
“You might be interested in knowing that your precious father,” Gunner spat, “Decided that eighteen was old enough for your virginity to finally be sold. He got a very good deal for it, or so he bragged to me at a bar
last week.”
“You bought me?” I whispered.
But something wasn’t right. If they bought me…why did they kidnap me at all? Daddy would have let them have me on a silver platter.
“”We don’t buy people,” Rohan said curtly, “We’re not monsters, unlike your family. You should be thanking us. We saved you.”
“Why did you?” I challenged him. He looked surprised at the spark of anger in my tone. “Why do you care about my family or anything to do with us?”
“Because six years ago,” Rohan said coldly, “You father killed our parents.”
There was a frosty silence in the room, in which I tried to understand how that could be possible.
“Daddy wouldn’t,” I said, but my heart wasn’t in it.
Daddy used to send his associates into my room at night to ‘have fun’ with me…that told me that there wasn’t a lot that he wouldn’t do.
“Remember the Emery family?” Derrick asked quietly.
I blinked at him. The name pulled something loose in my memory: a smiling older man, a beautiful woman in a red gown, and a group of boys. All dressed in expensive suits, even the boys who were so young they looked like they were playing dress-up.
They drew every eye in the glittering ballroom…including mine.
“I saw them at a charity gala,” I said, forehead furrowing as I tried to remember. “Years and years ago. I was in middle school. One of the boys stole my hair clip.”
“That was me,” Killian said, a wicked smile lacing his tone. “But Rohan was your favorite back then. I was so jealous.”
I looked over at Rohan, startled. He refused to meet my gaze, but a faint flush grew in his cheeks. I could see his younger version’s face floating in my mind, sweet and kind. His eyes had twinkled with laughter.
Gunner had been too old for me to play with, and as a high-schooler he intimidated me. Derrick was a junior in college, so he wasn’t going to play with a silly little girl. But Killian was right. Rohan and he had been my playmates that night.
I played hide and seek with them, confessed all my secrets to them. They in turn promised to protect me for as long as I lived, if I agreed to be shared with all four of the brothers.
And I had, simply and innocently, not knowing that they would come for me ten years later and extract every inch of that promise.
“What happened to you?” I whispered, heart breaking as I realized that I had to know the truth...and that I would believe them. If they said Daddy murdered their parents, I had no choice but to believe it.
My entire life until now had been a lie, but it couldn’t go on. Daddy was twisted and wrong, but I thought only I had ever seen that side of him. I was so careful to protect my sisters from being used to ‘sweeten’ his deals. But it turned out that maybe he was doing all sorts of other things that were too evil to even think about.
Derrick began to tell the story, and though the events that he mentioned were too cruel to understand, I found myself relaxing into Killian’s arms. His words washed over me and painted a picture in my head, of betrayal, and a family broken beyond repair…
“Your father and our parents met the night of the gala, ten years ago now. They hit it off immediately. Our parents thought all three of you girls were so charming and happy…and of course, your mother was dead, so they thought your father was a good man for looking after you by himself. He certainly made it sound like he deserved a medal for it. A few weeks later, they decided to do a joint venture together, something in real estate. Your father said he had all his money tied up in investments, so our parents would have to foot the bill, which they were only too happy to do. They inherited quite a sum from their parents, and they thought they were helping a friend.
“They didn’t get a lawyer to look over the contracts, or they would have understood that your father made it so all the profits from the business went to him alone. But they signed, and maybe that still would have been all right. Our parents were clever. Even if they lost all their money, they would have made it back ten-fold later on. There was no danger of them living in poverty.
“But of course, that wasn’t it. Your father couldn’t have them going around blabbing to their rich, influential friends that he had stolen all their money.”
He stopped there, and took a deep breath. Even this retelling seemed to be hurting him. There were lines around his mouth that weren’t there before.
“What happened?” I whispered.
“I only heard about it after they recovered the bodies and identified them,” he said heavily. “I got a call from the police station, the night before my biochem final. Funny, the things you remember. I never did write that exam. They told me that my parents had driven off the road at a sharp bend, and their car had crashed into the side of the mountain.”
“No!” I said involuntarily.
“I couldn’t believe it either,” Derrick said grimly. “They said my dad had ten times the legal amount of alcohol in his blood. And that’s when I knew the police were lying.”
“What?”
“Dad never drank,” Rohan said dully. He was looking down at his hands. “Said he didn’t like the smell of alcohol. Mom did, but she wasn’t the one driving that night.”
“The boys came to stay with me, and I didn’t have to tell them a thing. The first words out of their mouths were ‘someone killed them’,” Derrick said with evident pride. “I had the car recovered from the scrapyard without the police knowing, and my mechanic friend took a look at it. You’ll never guess what he found.”
“The brakes were cut,” I whispered.
Now I had their attention.
“The—the same way my mom died,” I explained, clearing my throat. “The brakes wore out. Somehow. But the car was only a few months old. Daddy threatened to sue the manufacturers, but somehow he never did.”
Gunner nodded, to my surprise. “Your mom inherited quite a pile from her grandfather, didn’t she? That makes sense. How long have you suspected your father of this?”
“I never told anyone,” I said, and let my hair cover my face like a curtain. All I could see was Mom’s face, mottled purple and yellow with bruises, a white sheet covering the rest of her body. There was no trace of the floral perfume she liked to wear then, just the antiseptic smell of every hospital—and, it turned out, morgue.
“I didn’t believe it myself. I couldn’t believe it. But I was the only one who knew—that they’d been fighting about money. I just don’t understand why…why would he want your parents’ money if he already had Mom’s?”
“Sometimes, people have greed that can’t be quenched by anything,” Gunner said simply, his face shadowed. “But in this case, he didn’t even get your mother’s money. Because she left it…to you.”
Chapter 6
I gaped at him in shock.
“I—I don’t have anything,” I protested. “Anything. I swear to you, if Daddy thought I had anything to inherit, he wouldn’t have tried selling me to anyone—“
“You only get it when you’re twenty one, or married. He had no claim on it either way, something he knew well. So why let you grow up, leave the household and be independent, when he could squeeze something out of you? He sold you in return for an advance on the money. Your ‘owner’ gets the inheritance, all eighty three million, and your father gets a suitcase of five million…in cash.”
“How do you know all of this?” I demanded. I balled my hands so tightly that my nails left crescent-shaped marks on my skin. “Is this revenge? You’ll imprison me here for what my father did?”
“Let me finish,” Derrick said. I closed my mouth and swallowed more angry accusations. Anyone else, I wouldn’t have trusted.
But Derrick…I remembered the gentle dominance that he showed me that night. I was shaking, shivering like a newborn foal, and he’d taken me in hand. He somehow knew exactly what I needed…a firm hand and punishment for disobedience.
It was twisted, I knew it was, but that was the only way
I could function.
“So there I was, with three teenagers and no hope of finishing college. Luckily, we had grandparents to take us in. For a few years we lived with them, trying to get through the grief of knowing our parents were dead, and that they’d been murdered.
“And after our grandparents died, we only had each other. We didn’t trust other people. We were anti-social and uncomfortable with other people. At first, I only wanted the four of us to survive. Get jobs, settle down with families. Learn to finally be around other people. But Gunner…didn’t agree.”
“I was working with private detectives,” Gunner smirked. “I used my share of the insurance money to piece together what happened. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that your father did all of it. It’s taken us nearly a decade, but we’re going to see his empire in ashes.”
“He doesn’t have any money anymore,” I pointed out. “The four of us live in a two bedroom house in the middle of nowhere. We can barely afford groceries. There was a scandal, a few months ago. You must have seen it.”
“Seen it?” Rohan repeated scornfully. “We exposed it, obviously. Nobody else was going to do it. But every time we destroy one of his plans, he comes up with something else. He’s like a cockroach. And he has friends in high places. The last scandal, I was sure he’d end up in prison after it made the papers. Unfortunately, he played golf with a certain Senator who made a call for him. Hence, the sudden relocation.”
“But this time,” Derrick said grimly, “He’ll be done for good. His reputation in shreds. In prison for a long time. We took you that night to keep you from the monster he sold you to.”
“Don’t make us sound selfless,” Killian said restlessly. “We took her because we wanted her.”
“They never forgot you,” Derrick explained. “Killian, Rohan and Gunner. They remembered the dark-haired little girl who wanted to play hide and seek, and promised to marry all of them.”
I blushed at the memory of how young I was, and how silly.
