Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 79749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
The man swallows, and I can see the fear in his eyes, and it's not there because of us. It's there because of Damien fucking Gaines.
"Your silence right now isn't protecting you from anything," I growl when it's clear the man isn't going to speak.
"Samuel?" Aspen whispers. "He has more children?"
I can hear the disbelief in her tone. She had no idea about this.
"My daughter," the man says. "He has Sabrina."
Another sob escapes Aspen's mouth, and I see the same fear in Samuel's eyes that I've witnessed in hers.
"It's how he keeps us working," Samuel continues. "We aren't supposed to talk about it, but I know for a fact he has at least ten if not more kids. All are employees' children, and then, of course, Eli."
"How long has he had them?" I ask, wondering if this is something new.
"I haven't seen my daughter in person in almost two years, and it's been six months since I've been able to speak to her on the phone."
I look back at Aspen, and the look on her face tells me what I need to know.
"My father knew about this?"
Samuel glares at her as if she's been part of the problem this entire time.
"Your father is the one who ordered her to be taken."
Aspen shakes her head, instantly rejecting his words. I can't believe after the life she's lived and the things she has witnessed that she'd even think for a second that her father would be innocent in all of this. Blood related or not, the man was evil. He'd do anything to protect his safety and his empire.
"My father loved Eli," she says.
Samuel just glares at her rather than arguing.
"Eli gets to come home twice a year. Sabrina and the other kids don't get to do that. Macy hasn't seen her son in four years."
Aspen drops her head into her hands as she cries.
"Enough," I growl at the man. "Clearly she didn't fucking know what was going on."
I catch the look on Jersey's face from the corner of my eye and I know I'm reacting in the way a man who is too close to this situation would act, not like a man working a job.
I turn my attention back to Aspen, waiting until she looks back up at me before I speak.
"You have to keep our son safe," she pleads.
"We'll do everything we can to ensure your son's safety."
She swallows, her throat working as she shakes her head. "Your son."
My heart skips a fucking beat, and I swear this woman will either be the death of me or I'll end up a fucking vegetable after a goddamn stroke.
It seems when she's backed into a corner, she'll do whatever manipulative tactics she can use in order for her to get her way.
Chapter 12
Aspen
I jerk my head back, pushing all my weight into the back of the armchair I'm sitting in when he rushes across the room and leans down into my face.
The man I knew from years ago wouldn't frighten me, but the warning in my head is assuring me this man was no longer the one I once thought I knew.
"You manipulative fucking bitch," he growls, his scarred cheek twitching with rage and irritation as he glares down at me. "We're going to help the fucking kid despite you. But there's no fucking point in lying about him."
I swallow again, the lump that formed before I told my biggest secret refusing to clear. I look up at him. This is the only damn truth I have.
"I'm not lying."
I don't flinch when he moves in so close I can feel the warmth of his breath on my face. Even thinking he was dead, I've imagined telling him he's Eli's father a million times, but rage and barely withheld violence was never what I pictured when he learned the news.
His lip twitches as if he still doesn't believe me.
"I found out I was pregnant a week after Damien dragged you from the room." I pull my head back farther so I can dash away the tears leaking down my cheeks without coming into contact with him. "I knew he'd kill our child and probably me if he found out, so I lied. I had the wedding moved up, and when I went into labor, I had the help of a nurse to lie for me."
His eyes dart between mine, his beautiful green irises still trying to figure out if I'm lying to him.
"Can you imagine what I've been through?" I growl when he doesn't seem to believe me but also refuses to back down and give me some space.
"What you've been through?" he snaps, standing to his full height and pointing at the scar on his face. "Look at my fucking face, Peach!"
I hate that we have an audience. This isn't something that we should have to go through with witnesses. If he wasn't yelling at me, and if there weren't two other men in the room, making him think he has to act a certain way, I'd tell him how incredibly handsome he was even with the scar on his face. But I can't whisper those words to him. He has to prove how much of a man he is right now, and that means there's no way for me to win this argument.