Maverick (Carter Brothers Book 5)

by Lisa Helen Gray

  I just want this to be over. Really over.

  “What about Lynn?” I blurt out, then blink, looking around the room. I must have spaced out for a while because Maverick is leaning forward, signing a piece of paper with his statement on it―one I completely missed him give.

  I want to kick myself for letting Lynn slip through my mind. She’s the mastermind behind all of this, the reason everything is happening. I should have remembered her.

  Maverick’s brothers and granddad walk in during my meltdown, scanning the room. No one seems to mind them being there, so I wonder if they asked them to come in when I was out of it. It’s that or they wanted to witness my frantic breakdown.

  “What do you mean?” Barrett asks from where he’s sitting.

  “Well, she’s the one who started all of this. Where is she? Do you know her full name yet, or why she’s even doing this? She was the one who got that thug to attack me in the first place. What’s stopping her from sending someone else?”

  “Calm down, baby,” Maverick says softly.

  “Unless Ian Richards, the man who attacked you, gives us something we can use, we have nothing to go on where Lynn is concerned. We’ll continue our investigation, but we’re at a dead end, Teagan.”

  “So what do you have?” I ask, getting up. I need to move, to do something. Pacing the floor, I glance at Barrett and Evan, knowing both have been working around the clock to try and find out who Lynn is.

  “We have a photo, darlin’,” Evan answers, concern written on his face as he watches me carefully, most likely thinking I’m crazy.

  You are crazy.

  “Let me see it. I mean, how do you know if it’s the right person? It could be why you can’t find her. You’ve probably been looking in the wrong place for the wrong person this whole time.”

  “Babe, come and sit down,” Mav calls softly.

  “I can’t, not when she’s out there. She only has to give the word and another one of her friends could come and finish the job, or worse, hurt you or Faith. I can’t live like this. I can’t breathe,” I yell hysterically, trying to catch my breath. Maverick stands up, but before he can pull me into his arms, I push him away, crestfallen. “Please sit. Let me get through this.”

  “Let me hold you. I need to hold you,” he says, looking helpless. Not able to see that look on his face, I step into his arms, dropping my head to his chest. “Do you have a picture?”

  “I don’t have it with me,” Barrett says.

  “Here, I have a copy on my phone,” Evan says and I move out of Maverick’s arms, taking the phone.

  My breath hitches and my eyes fill with tears. The picture isn’t the greatest, but it’s most definitely Lynn. It’s her. My shoulders slump with defeat, all hope fading slowly away. They have her picture, her first name, and still can’t find her. They’ll probably never find her. It’s my worst fear coming alive.

  “Is that her?” Evan asks as I wipe my tears away.

  “Yeah,” I whisper hoarsely. I hand him back the phone, but Maverick takes it, surprising me.

  “I forgot about this. I don’t think I even got the email that you sent me,” he says, then looks down at the phone in his hands. His posture is rigid for a second before he staggers backwards, falling back down on the sofa. He turns a ghastly white, his eyes wide, looking shocked and freaked out.

  “Holy fuck,” he chokes out, his grip on the phone tightening.

  Everyone pauses for a second, like time has stopped, but then chaos erupts as everyone starts firing questions at him, wanting to know what’s going on.

  Mark, Maverick’s granddad, looks over Maverick’s shoulder at the phone. I watch in confusion as he also pales, stepping back until he bumps into the wall.

  “That can’t be,” he whispers, seeming absent. He looks like he’s seeing the object of his worst fear standing in front of him.

  “Granddad, who is it?” Mason asks, stepping to Mark’s side, anxious.

  Mark shakes his head, tears falling from his eyes when he glances at Mason. He doesn’t say anything, and my stomach churns as unease fills me.

  I step forward, completely baffled about what the hell is going on. A sick feeling hits me in the pit of my stomach when neither Maverick nor his granddad are able to talk, which can only mean it’s really bad.

  “Will someone please tell me what is going on? Do you know her?” I ask, my voice shaky.

  Please don’t let her end up being one of their exes, I think as I bite my nail. Not that she’s in any of their age range, but then again, I don’t think age as ever been a problem where she’s concerned.

  “This can’t be happening,” Mark whispers. He looks so lost, so sad. It’s unlike him.

  Maverick is just as bad, his eyes staring blankly down at the phone.

  “Can someone please fucking explain,” Max says, looking between the two men.

  “C’mon, Granddad, snap out of it. Who is she?” Myles asks when they still don’t get an answer.

  My body heats, the back of my neck and palms beginning to sweat for reasons unbeknownst to me. My neck hurts and I start to feel a little dizzy, the colours in the room blending together.

  I know whatever is going to happen next is going to be bad―life-changing bad. The looming dread is hanging over me like a storm cloud.

  What hurts the most is that the answer to her identity is only a breath away, but neither man is telling us anything. Millions of scenarios are running through my mind, none of them good. I’m being irrational, I know, but not knowing is sending my emotions bouncing all over the place.

  “Tell us!” I scream, tears running down my face as I stare Maverick down, willing him to answer me.

  His head slowly rises and I gasp, taking a step back as his eyes come into view. He looks so haunted, so ashen and full of anguish; it’s breaking my heart in two. It’s with that look that I know he’s going to answer, and I want to take back my words, wishing he never saw the picture in the first place. I’d do anything to get that look from out of his eyes. I feel like I just lost the man I’ve fallen in love with, and I’d do anything to get him back.

  When the first tear falls from his eye, I cry out, covering my mouth with my hand. Nothing, and I mean nothing, could have prepared me for the words that leave his mouth.

  “That’s our mum, Maralynn.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  MAVERICK

  This can’t be happening. It just can’t. She’s been gone for so long that I never thought we’d have to deal with her, especially like this.

  I can’t even look at my brothers because I know what I have to do.

  I have to tell them everything.

  And it’s going to tear us apart.

  It’s like the ground is opening up beneath me and it’s going to swallow me whole. My chest feels tight and I have to rub at the pain, hating that I could lose everything with one conversation, one big lie and secrets kept.

  “They’re gone,” I hear Teagan say. She sounds distraught, broken, but I can’t bring myself to reassure her that everything will be okay. Because, fuck… I have no idea if anything will ever be okay again.

  There’s so much to process, so much running through my mind. I don’t even know where to begin.

  “Joan and Mary have the kids,” Harlow says gently. I can’t bring myself to look up to see who she’s talking to when no one answers, the room filled with an awkward silence.

  “Will someone start fucking explaining,” Malik explodes, and I look away from the floor to him. Harlow moves to his side, trying to calm him down. He doesn’t, just keeps his fists clenched and his eyes narrowed into slits in my direction.

  This isn’t going to be good. I don’t even know where to fucking start, so how the hell can I explain everything and keep them all calm? They’re going to hate me, that’s a certainty.

  “I need to tell you something and it’s not going to be easy for any of you to hear,” I begin, my voice scratchy.

  “So fucking
tell us,” Malik says, throwing his hands in the air.

  “Malik,” Harlow whispers, taking his hand.

  “It might be best if it was just us,” I say, not knowing how much they remember or have told the girls. And what I have to tell them is going change their lives―Mason more so than any of the others.

  “No, I want Denny to stay. Whatever you have to tell us you can say in front of her,” Mason says through gritted teeth.

  “Are you sure?” I ask, looking to each of my brothers. They all nod in agreement, pulling their loved ones closer.

  “Do you want me to go?” Teagan asks quietly, and I shake my head.

  “Come here,” I demand, needing her close. “I need you here.”

  “Okay.”

  “Granddad?” I call, looking over my shoulder.

  He shakes himself out of it, clearing his throat. On shaky legs he walks over, sitting next to me on the sofa.

  “Boys, before Maverick explains what’s going on, you need to understand why we kept this from you. Your mum…. She wasn’t well―”

  “She was sick and twisted,” I bite out, interrupting.

  A sad smile reaches his lips as he gives me a short nod. I know she’s his daughter but she’s nothing to us, not after I learnt everything. She hasn’t been since she walked out of our lives. It still blows my mind that he can act so surprised by her actions, especially considering everything he knows about his daughter and who she really is.

  “You boys were going through a lot already when you came to live with me. I didn’t want you going through anything else, so when we found out what we did, we decided it was best to keep it from you. It really was in your best interests. We just wanted you to be kids, to live your life and move on from what you endured.”

  “Just fucking tell us,” Max snaps, getting impatient.

  I nod, digging my nails into my palms to try and keep calm, drawing blood. “First, I should explain why she left.”

  “It was because dad was hitting her,” Mason says, remembering the story I told him over and over. Not that our dad didn’t knock her about because he did, constantly, but that wasn’t the reason she left when she did. I think in a twisted way she liked the pain my dad inflicted, because not once did I ever see her look scared or cry over anything he did to her.

  “Yeah he did, but that’s not why she left, Mase. At the time, I wanted you to have what other kids had, so I made her up. Instead of describing our mum, I told you about a friend’s mum. I made sure to drill it into your head that she was good and that she left because of Dad so you wouldn’t remember what she was really like. You were all so young still.”

  “So why did she leave?” he asks, jaw clenched.

  “She left because she was under a contract.”

  “Under a contract?” Myles repeats, sounding confused

  I clear my throat, gulping. “She was to birth five kids for him―originally girls, but obviously she had all boys, messing with their plans.”

  “For fuck’s sake, Maverick. Explain. Now!” Malik bites out, sitting down on the other sofa, resting his hands on his knees.

  “I’m fucking trying to, but this is fucking hard to get out. Do you think it’s been a laugh keeping this from you all? Do you? Well it hasn’t. It’s been a living nightmare for me. Each day I prayed that bitch would die from a drug overdose or some other cause so we’d never have to see her again. I never wanted her to come back,” I roar, pulse racing.

  “Son, calm down. They’re just scared. They have no idea what’s going on,” Granddad tells me. I look to him, sighing in defeat. This has been my burden to bear for so long that I truly believed I’d never have to tell anyone, let alone my brothers.

  Teagan runs her hand up and down my back soothingly. I flinch at first, feeling like I don’t deserve the kind touch, but as always, she has a calming effect.

  “I’m here,” she whispers. Glancing her way, my expression softens. She’s silently crying, her face pale as she gazes up at me. With the tip of my thumb, I wipe away the tears, mouthing, “thank you,” to her. She rubs her cheek into the palm of my hand before giving my knee a squeeze.

  Taking a deep breath, I face my brothers. “Mum and Dad weren’t married. It was a ruse to keep Granddad from finding out the truth about her, about what she was up to and, in a way, to get money from him.

  “From what I got out of Dad before he died and what I put together myself, we were a deal made between the two and an unknown third party. Mum got paid a chunk of money to have five kids with him, and in return, he would get to keep us, make a profit from us. The only reason we were biologically his was so no one would ask questions as to who we were, where we came from,” I say quietly, yet loud enough so they can hear me.

  “Holy fuck, the women he made me sleep with. It makes sense.” Mason heaves, turning pale himself. Denny also pales, realisation dawning on her before she falls into silent sobs next to Mason, clutching his chest.

  “What are you talking about?” Myles asks, looking close to freaking out.

  “Most nights, Dad would come into my room―”

  “No!” Max says, shaking his head in denial. “No! This isn’t true.”

  “Listen, Max,” Granddad tells him, his expression sombre and wan. His eyes are vacant when he turns back to me. I know he feels guilty over everything that happened, but in his defence, he only wanted to know his daughter. He couldn’t see anything past that. “Go on.”

  “He would take me to the basement where he’d make me sleep with women.” Mason’s voice is dejected, cold. I know there’s more to the story than he’s saying; he’s just sparing the others just like I wanted to do by keeping this secret.

  He thought he kept this from everyone, but I knew. I knew because I was made to do the same―with men and women. It’s the main reason I never liked been touched during sex. It revolted me to no end, always reminding me of their grimy hands all over me. It was better to keep women at a distance, not letting them close enough. Then Teagan came and changed that for me. Her touch is something I crave.

  “Why didn’t you tell us?” Myles asks, since the others are too shocked to speak. Mason gives him a dry, pointed look to which Myles nods, looking hurt.

  “And how did he profit from him and his friends beating me nearly every night?” Malik grits out. The anger he’s been able to tame since meeting Harlow threatens to surface. I can tell he’s hanging by a thread.

  “He recorded them like he did with me and Mason,” I whisper, ashamed.

  “I’m going to be sick,” Harlow cries before rushing from the room.

  “I’ll go with her,” Kayla says to Malik when he moves to go after her. Giving Myles a quick kiss, she leaves the room, following Harlow.

  “And how do you know all of this?” Malik asks, finally looking at me. Torment and pain shine in his eyes, the hurt from my deception directing all of his emotions towards me. It’s killing me to be on the receiving end of that look. We’ve all had our arguments over the years but nothing out of hatred, nothing like this.

  “Because I found the tapes the week before he died. It’s the reason he died.”

  “Now you’re talking in more fucking riddles, Mav. Just tell us. We’re not fucking kids anymore,” Max snaps.

  “I found a box of CDs one night when he locked me in the basement. I stole them and went to a friend’s house to borrow a computer. That’s how I found out it wasn’t just me he was hurting, but you two too.

  “The tapes went back to before we were born, and there was a little girl in most of them. She was so young and she went through the same. I looked up the name written on the tape online and she came up as a missing person. I… I… Fuck!”

  Bile rises in my throat and I can’t talk. I can’t say the words I need to. I’m so ashamed. Every time I think of Hanna, what she went through and how she died, it sickens me. But what makes it worse is what I did instead of what I should have done.

  “What Maverick is trying to tell you is tha
t he found the girl’s father. According to a police report I had a friend dig up, the girl was taken outside her home with no further leads as to who did it. Only later, we were told the dad owed money to a local gang member. When he didn’t pay up, she was taken and sold to your dad,” Granddad tells them.

  “This can’t be real,” Max mutters, cursing.

  “Instead of going to the police, I went to the dad,” I whisper, grim-faced. “I should have gone to the police, but at the time all I wanted to do was hurt him. I wanted him gone. I didn’t know at the time what was going to happen, just what I hoped.” I take a breather, running my hands through my hair before looking directly at Malik, knowing this will hurt him the most. He was the one who watched Dad die, getting beaten and stabbed by the girl’s father. “None of you were meant to be there. I didn’t know you were there,” I whisper.

  “He’s the bloke who killed Dad and that’s why you left, isn’t it? You didn’t actually leave us,” Malik says, everything coming together.

  “Yeah,” I whisper hoarsely.

  “This is so fucking messed up,” Max says.

  “So why is she back, and how does she know Teagan?” Mason asks through gritted teeth, still trying to process everything.

  “She―” Fuck! It all clicks into place. Never once since I looked at the picture of Mum did I realise why I was looking at it and who she was to Teagan. I’d been too focused and stunned over seeing her after all this time that I forgot she was the one who was going to sell Teagan’s virginity.

  It all makes sense, but at the same time, nothing does. It’s all messed up.

  “She was my uncle’s girlfriend. I…. She….” She looks at me, pleading to explain and I sigh, pulling her against me before turning to my brothers. I explain what she had planned for Teagan, leaving out parts about Faith and how she left, knowing that’s her story to tell if she wants to. Their eyes widen, looking at Teagan with a mix of sympathy and anguish.