Total pages in book: 266
Estimated words: 250787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1254(@200wpm)___ 1003(@250wpm)___ 836(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 250787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1254(@200wpm)___ 1003(@250wpm)___ 836(@300wpm)
Adam steps forward. “I killed them,” he announces, and I run a hand through my hair. I wasn’t going to admit it, but I was also planning on taking his secret to my grave.
Ashtyn pushes herself to her feet. Her hand going to her growing belly. “What?” she whispers. “Why…?”
“Bullshit!” Saint snaps. “You were long gone by then.”
“Whose getaway car do you think Ash used the night she ran?” Adam asks Saint, and the room falls silent while Saint’s body grows rigid. Adam’s eyes slide to his sister’s. “I was trying to make it right.” Walking over to Saint’s desk, he steps in front of Ashtyn. “I regret not being able to save you the night Tyson called me. I know you don’t believe me, and you owe me nothing, but I’ve been trying to make up for that night ever since.”
Ashtyn shakes her head softly trying not to believe him but the way her eyes start to water tells me that she thinks he makes sense. She just never thought of putting two and two together. “No…that night in Saint’s room after everything went down here at Carnage with Benny, you told me you heard I had run—”
“I lied.” He interrupts her.
“You lied then, or you’re lying now?” she demands. “Because it’s hard to tell.”
“Fuck, Ash.” He sighs, rubbing the back of his neck.
She pulls her lip back with disgust. “I can’t believe anything you say.”
“You couldn’t even stand the sight of me,” he yells at her. “How could I tell you the truth when you didn’t want to hear it?”
I told her to run. I gave her the key to the tunnel, and I knew that Adam was inside Carnage, and his car was on the other side. The keys were in it.
It wasn’t like we had a plan that night. She wasn’t supposed to find them or be a part of it, but the plans changed, and we had to wing it.
“I had found out what happened to you and the fact that Dad knew Benny had raped you…and that he also knew Saint had cheated at the vow ceremony…it didn’t sit well with me.” Adam sighs. “Please know I didn’t choose to leave you, Ash. I was just doing what I thought would help.”
“Why didn’t you tell us this? That Adam was involved that night?” Saint demands, looking at me, knowing I had to be the one who told Adam everything. No one else inside these walls knew that I was still in contact with Adam at the time.
“I told her to run. The alarm was sounding, and our fathers were dead. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure what was going on. Then I ran into her in the hallway after she shot you,” I say, and Ashtyn drops her eyes to the floor. “By the time you woke up, Isabella had already arrived. Kashton and I were two weeks into training. Six months later, it just seemed too much time had passed.” I look at Adam. “He had followed her that night and knew where she was. He told me she had a new life. She was happy. I didn’t want what we did to be for nothing.”
“That wasn’t your call to make,” Saint snaps.
“Would you have brought her back if she had a child?” Adam asks, and Saint glares at him. “Hmm? If you had found her four years later and she had a child, would you have kidnapped them both?”
“She lost the baby,” Saint argues, and Ashtyn flinches at his words. “I could have been there for her, and he took that from me.” He points at me. “He’s her guardian, for fuck’s sake,” Saint yells, and I feel my wife stiffen on my lap. “He was supposed to take care of her for me. Not take her from me.”
“Don’t blame Haidyn.” Adam shakes his head. “I asked him to help her. For me. He gave her a life! The life that I wanted her to have,” Adam screams. “A better one…one that she deserved.”
Saint snorts. “She was a stripper fucking for money. Some life.”
Ashtyn’s head snaps up, and she glares at him. He lets out a long breath and reaches out for her, softening his voice. “Sweetheart—”
“Fuck you, Saint,” she snaps, storming out of the office and slamming the door shut. He rushes after her.
The room falls silent, and I run my hand down my wife’s leg, trying to reassure her, but I’m not sure of what exactly. That I’m here for her? That all the lies and deceit are over?
This is what brothers do—they fight. But once again, we’re all back here at home where we all belong.
CHARLOTTE
Haidyn is Ashtyn’s guardian. I’m not mad. I actually expected it, and it makes sense. He did so much for her then and now.
My mother was right about one thing—my husband has a big heart and will do anything to protect someone, even if that means giving his own life.