Hidden Betrayal (O'Connor Girls Book 1)

by Rhonda Brewer

  “Eric was unstable.” Dean walked her to the sofa and sat her down.

  “He wasn’t always like that. He used to be fun, and it didn’t seem to bother him when I started seeing Ivan, or even after we got married, but when we moved to St. John’s, he snapped.” Hannah covered her face.

  Hannah seemed to be filling in little missing pieces of the puzzle. Maybe it was after they moved that he found out he had been the baby’s father. There was no way to find that out now. Eric was dead and unless he told someone there was no way to know.

  “He and Ivan were so close when we were teenagers.” Hannah smiled. “When I slept with Eric, it was after a night of drinking, and you know how teenagers are. Everything is about hormones. I guess it was cruel of me because I knew how he felt about me.” Hannah shook her head. “The past really comes back to haunt you doesn’t it. It's why I want you to know. The bruise I had on my face, and the sore ribs were because I wouldn't bow down to my cellmate.”

  It made him proud that she stood up for herself but then again Dean always looked up to his sister. The truth was he didn’t know what she was like as a teenager, but he couldn’t blame her for being wild. He was no angel growing up. It was hard to believe the same sister that gave him shit about running around did it because she'd learned from experience.

  For the next few hours, Dean read through the files again and again. Keith had come by to help, and they made a list of things that didn’t add up. Such as there not being any gunshot residue anywhere on Hannah when they arrested her. The only blood on her nightshirt was under her. The gun was in her left hand, but it would have been hard for her to shoot him in that position.

  They were still huddled over the table when Kristy arrived. She’d gotten a call from the hospital earlier in the day with the offer of a permanent position in the emergency department.

  “How did it go?” Dean asked when she came through the door.

  “Awesome, I start in two weeks.” Kristy’s excited expression made him smile.

  “I’m happy for you, Kitten.” He kissed her cheek when she stood behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

  “Congrats, cuz. You deserve it.” Keith stood up.

  “I’m so glad. It’s only a couple of months until Christmas, and I don’t want to have to work at the mall to make extra money this year.” Kristy chuckled. “I hate shoppers.”

  “You don’t hate shopping though.” Keith laughed.

  “Nope.” Kristy gave Dean a quick kiss on the cheek and moved away from him. “I also saw Zoey there.”

  “Zoey?” Keith glanced at Dean.

  “She was one of the nurses that worked at Comfort Life Care,” Kristy told him.

  “She’s working there?” Dean asked.

  “No, she’s a patient. She got hurt during the fire.” Kristy plopped down on one of the chairs.

  “Bad?” Keith asked.

  “A couple of small burns on her leg and hand. She got stuck by something falling on her. She’ll have some scars, but she’ll be okay.” Kristy sighed.

  “What’s wrong?” Dean knew by her expression she wasn’t telling them everything.

  “Zoey said that the night of the fire Leah and Gemma had a huge argument in Gemma’s office. Something about a guy Gemma was sleeping with. Zoey said she never got a chance to talk to Leah about it, but she said Leah ran into the staff room crying.” Kristy propped her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her fists. “They fought the night Peyton died too.”

  “I’m pretty sure James questioned both of those women. At least I think it was them. He said he’d got an odd feeling about an intense argument between two of the staff and he questioned them.” Keith flipped through the files on the table.

  “If it’s the argument they had that night then, it was over Gemma being in the staff room when she’s not supposed to be.” Kristy sighed. “Now that I say it out loud, it doesn’t sound very believable.”

  “According to this, James wasn’t convinced either. It says Leah seemed nervous and Gemma got angry.” Keith turned the paper so that he could read it.

  “It was a stressful day. Maybe they both had enough and didn’t like to be questioned.” Dean sighed.

  “Or maybe they had something to hide. Add that to the list, Bull.” Keith raised an eyebrow. “It may not mean anything, but it’s still a little odd.”

  “I thought your brothers were coming over as well?” Dean remembered Keith mentioning a guy’s night.

  “John will be over when the kids go to bed, James is pulling up as we speak, Mike and Ian are with him, A.J. and Nick will be here at the end of their shift.” Keith didn’t bother to look up as he scrolled through his phone.

  “That’s my cue to leave.” Kristy stood up, but before she had a chance to move away from the table, Dean grabbed her around the waist and pulled her onto his lap.

  “You don’t have to leave.” Dean brushed his lips against her cheek.

  “Me, you and all my cousins. Ummm…. No. I’ll run over and spend some time with Hannah. Maybe I’ll get Pam, Jess and Isabelle to come over and have a mini girl’s night if Hannah is up to it.” Kristy gently caressed the top of his head with her hand.

  “Kitten, don’t do that.” He growled into her ear.

  “Did you two need a minute?” James chuckled as he, Mike and Ian clomped into the bunkhouse.

  “I’m chaperoning, so no they don’t.” Keith laughed.

  Kristy slowly ran her hand across the top of his head one more time before she jumped to her feet and wiggled her fingers in a flirty wave as she made her way around her cousins and out through the door. The woman was going to drive him to the brink of insanity, but it would be worth it. He stared at the door long after she disappeared through it.

  “Can you stop mooning after her and pay attention?” Keith had papers spread out on the table in separate piles. James had plopped another bunch of files on the table as well.

  “What’s all this?” Dean asked.

  “Reports on the fire at Comfort Life Care, the investigation on the evidence collection last week, everything Sandy dug up on Humphrey, Poole, and the two nurses as well as any staff at CLC that even said hi to your niece.” James had one more file in his hand. “This one is the report on what happened to your sister in jail. One of the guards caught an inmate pounding on her in her cell. It seems she was hired to put a beating on your sister from someone on the outside. The inmate died of an overdose a couple of days later. So that’s all the information on that. Unless you can get more from Hannah.”

  "She told me about that, but she thinks it was because she didn't bow down to them." Dean scanned the report.

  James took a deep breath and plopped down on the kitchen chair that Kristy had vacated. He smiled at Dean and nodded toward the door when Kristy had left.

  “Things going well?” James rested his arms on the table.

  “Considering the situation, very well.” Dean glanced up as Ian dropped a couple of boxes of beer in the center of the table.

  “These situations make you stronger.” Ian opened the box and held a bottle of beer out to Dean.

  “And nobody knows that like the O’Connors.” Mike chuckled.

  “That’s for sure.” Keith popped the top of a bottle he grabbed out of the case.

  “If I forget to tell you later, thanks for all this.” Dean waved his hand over the table.

  “No need to thank us, you’re family.” Mike slapped him on the back.

  "Yeah, there's no escaping it now." James chuckled.

  Over the next few hours, he and the O’Connor brothers set out to figure out who was messing with his family.

  Chapter 22

  Her cousins were terrific men, and she loved them dearly but to spend an entire evening with them as they tried to sift through all the information they had was not her idea of a fun evening.

  Kristy knocked lightly on the door of the small bunkhouse next to Dean’s place. At first, nobody answered, and she kn
ocked once more. She was about to leave when the door opened, and Hannah gave her a forced smile.

  “Hey, did I wake you?” Kristy hoped Hannah wasn’t ignoring her.

  “No, not at all. I was in the bathroom, but I guess you didn’t hear me call for you to come in.” Hannah stepped back so Kristy could enter.

  “I’m sorry to drop by unannounced, but my cousins are …” Kristy stopped when Hannah held up her hand.

  “It’s okay, Dean told me you were coming over.” Hannah motioned to the small kitchen where she had two glasses waiting.

  “I mean I love them, but I can’t take all of them together with no other females to even out the testosterone.” Kristy sat next to the small island and picked up the glass filled with wine.

  “I can understand that. I only grew up with Dean, and I was practically an adult by the time he came around.” Hannah didn’t sit she stood on the other side of the counter and sipped her own glass of wine.

  “Would you mind if I called my sisters and cousin to come over and have a mini girl’s night?” Kristy didn’t want to call them without asking.

  “I don’t mind. It might be nice to have some other company to get my mind off things.” Hannah sighed, and Kristy’s heart went out to her. The woman was only a few years younger than Kristy’s mother, but she appeared to have aged quickly.

  Kristy sent a text to her sisters and wasn’t surprised to get a ‘hell yeah’ from Jess and a ‘grabbing a few bottles of wine from the restaurant’ from Isabelle. It took a few minutes before Pam answered, but she was on board as well.

  So she didn’t end up in the doghouse with her cousin's wives, she did text all them as well. Stephanie was not up for it, and Marina’s youngest was sick. Emily declined as well because she’d been up all night with baby Noah and Billie wasn’t feeling well. Sandy on the other hand, informed Kristy that she would be over as soon as the babysitter arrived.

  In less than an hour, Sandy had the five women that arrived laughing hysterically at the antics her two younger children caused.

  “I swear, Gracie has some sort of power over Alex. He’s easily manipulated and at four years old Gracie knows that.” Sandy pointed her finger at each one of them. “You four have no idea.”

  “I wouldn’t know either.” Hannah smiled. “Peyton was a pretty quiet little girl and because of her illness didn’t run around a lot.”

  “I can’t imagine going through that.” Sandy’s eyes filled with tears.

  “No, don’t cry. Peyton did have a great life considering but now that I think about it, she was very manipulative as a little girl. If she wanted something, she could really put on a show. Especially with my dad.” Hannah smiled.

  “See, they know who they can fool.” Sandy laughed.

  “Oh, come on. That’s not a kid thing. That’s a female thing.” Pam laughed.

  “This is true.” Isabelle refilled all the glasses.

  “So now that we have Kristy marinated a little, it’s time to hear all the dirty details.” Jess rested her elbows on the counter and propped her chin on her fists.

  “Oh God, yes.” Pam mirrored Jess’s pose.

  “What are you talking about?” Kristy feigned confusion.

  “Oh no, you don’t, Kitten,” Sandy emphasized the nickname that only Dean used.

  “I swear I melt a little more every time I hear him call her that.” Pam fanned herself.

  “Do you really think Hannah wants to hear about her brother and me?” Kristy glanced at Dean’s sister.

  “You have no idea how much I want to hear about this. You have to understand growing up Dean didn’t talk to anyone about his girlfriends. At least nobody in the family. There was a time I questioned his sexual orientation.” Hannah smiled. “I guess to him it was like talking to a parent about such.”

  “I think it’s a guy thing,” Sandy interjected.

  “It certainly isn’t a Sandy thing.” Isabelle nudged Sandy with her elbow.

  “Hey, I’m not about to hide the fact that Ian rocks my world.” Sandy grinned.

  “Oh Jesus, Stop.” Jess gagged.

  Kristy was glad they hadn’t noticed their focus had momentarily shifted away from her. It wasn’t that Dean didn’t blow her mind, but their relationship was new, and she’d waited so long for him she still wasn’t entirely confident that he wouldn’t turn tail and run.

  “Come on, Jess; you can’t tell me Jason still doesn’t make you want to lick him from head to toe.” Sandy was at the point in her wine drinking where her mouth lost all its filter.

  “Jason? As in my lawyer?” Hannah’s surprised expression had the girls laughing.

  “Yes. Jess and Jason used to date a while back.” Pam looked at Kristy as if to ask how bad a topic it was. Pam had been away for years and wasn’t around for Jess’s relations with the cute lawyer.

  “Look, Jas and I were over long ago and yes he is attractive, but the truth is, it wasn’t meant to work out. We were both on different paths, and I wish him luck on his. I’m pretty sure he’s seeing another lawyer from his firm.” For the first time in a long while, Kristy could see that her sister was over Jason.

  “So, are you going to tell us why you two broke up in the first place?” Sandy asked.

  “I don’t know why you all think it was such a big secret.” Jess laughed. “He told me if I joined the police academy we were over, and I told him to go to hell.”

  “But you didn’t join right after that.” Isabelle reminded Jess.

  “I know, but that had nothing to do with him. It was something Dad said a couple of days later.” Jess swirled her glass in her fingers.

  “Dad?” Kristy couldn’t see her father ever saying anything to prevent Jess from becoming a police officer.

  “I wanted to surprise him with my application for the academy, and I dropped by the department. He was talking to a guy about how he’d never have his daughter put in a dangerous situation while on duty. He laughed but said he would keep them on desk duty.” Jess glanced at Kristy and Isabelle.

  “Kurt said that?” Even Sandy was speechless.

  “Yeah, I left and never went back. Billie was the one to convince me to go for it. When I told Dad, he was so embarrassed that every time he sees me he apologizes that I’d heard him say such a thing. The truth was it was a joke between him and his old academy buddy.” Jess chuckled.

  “That’s what you get for eavesdropping.” Sandy laughed.

  “Hey, I don’t know if anyone else noticed, but the subject got changed from what we originally wanted to know, Kristy.” Pam tapped her finger on the counter.

  Fuck!

  “Oh yeah, you sneaky bitch.” Sandy pushed Kristy’s shoulder.

  “What?” Kristy laughed.

  “Spill it,” Pam ordered.

  “God, you guys are nosey.” Kristy shook her head and rolled her eyes.

  “We never said we weren’t. Now dish.” Isabelle leaned closer.

  “Things are good. He’s not running away anymore.” Kristy laughed.

  “And?” Jess smiled.

  “He’s sweet and makes me feel beautiful.” Kristy rested her chin on her palm.

  “And?” Pam waved her hand in a rolling motion apparently telling Kristy to continue.

  “He said he’s sorry he fought it for so long.” Kristy knew what the women wanted to hear, but she wasn’t giving it very easy.

  “For fuck sake, woman. The sex. How is the sex?” Sandy practically shouted.

  “You know for a woman that says she gets so much sex; you’re awfully concerned about other’s sex lives.” Kristy laughed.

  “Maybe she wants to make sure nobody gets more than her. I for one am not getting any.” Hannah laughed, and for the first time since she met Dean’s sister, it was a real one.

  “We can fix that if you like younger men.” Sandy laughed.

  “Are you offering your husband to Hannah?” Pam asked, and the shocked expression on Hannah’s face had all six women laughing hysterically.


  “Nobody is getting my Doc, but there are some pretty hot to trot men in this town.” Sandy reminded everyone.

  “True, too bad I’m related to most or might as well be.” Jess sighed.

  “So, the sex?” Sandy’s statement had all five sets of eyes back on Kristy.

  “You are not going to give up, are you?” Kristy laughed.

  “No.” Sandy laughed.

  “Fine, he’s gentle and tender…” Kristy felt a hand cover her mouth.

  “The screams I heard last night didn’t sound gentle or tender.” Hannah laughed as she released Kristy.

  “Screams?” Jess raised an eyebrow.

  “Yeah, screams don’t constitute gentle. Screams mean ecstasy and getting pounded hard….” Jess and Pam both slapped their hands over Sandy's mouth.

  “You’re like a freaking sailor.” Isabelle laughed.

  “I work with all men,” Sandy mumbled under their hands that still covered her mouth.

  “I work with mostly men too, and I don’t sound like you.” Jess dropped her hand from Sandy’s mouth.

  “Oh, trust me that will change.” Sandy laughed. “Sex?” Sandy swung her attention back to Kristy.

  “Dear Lord, woman.” Kristy laughed. “It’s hot, awesome; he makes me come so hard I see stars. Are you happy now?”

  “Okay, not what a girl wants to hear about her little brother but good for both of you.” Hannah laughed.

  Kristy was so glad that she’d invited the girls and particularly Sandy. She seemed to make everyone forget for a few hours. Hannah really seemed to enjoy herself, and by the time they were all ready to leave, she looked relaxed.

  “We have to do this again, soon. Jess said as she followed Sandy through the door.

  “Yeah, but next time all the girls should get together.” Isabelle agreed.

  “We have to get Abbie next time. She’s worse than Sandy.” Kristy laughed.

  “Hey. Nobody is worse than me.” Sandy pointed her finger toward Kristy.

  “I want to thank you for all this tonight. I enjoyed myself.” Hannah stood on the step next to Kristy as the girls walked away.

  “We will do this again. See you all later.” Kristy wrapped her arm around Hannah’s shoulder as she waved to her sisters and Sandy.