“What did Liam say?”
He glances away, letting out a sigh. “That there were videos of her in her flat. One of you and her here at the office.”
“Fucking bitch,” I swear, tasting the bitter words on my tongue.
She is gone.
I take one last look at Jaxon before storming out, the door slamming against the warehouse wall from the force.
“Wyatt! Where are you going?” Jaxon yells, chasing after me.
“To get her out of our fucking lives.”
“What are you going to do?”
I stop, facing all three of my brothers, my fists clenched. I’m disgusted they’d even think I’d hurt a woman, even though I badly want to. “I’m getting her stuff. She can find somewhere fucking else to whore herself out. Because that’s what she did.” I laugh again as I walk away, still talking. “I can’t believe I thought we had our whole lives ahead of us. I’m so fucking stupid.”
“Maybe you should calm down,” Eli suggests.
“Are you not fucking mad?” I snap, stopping again.
“Of course I’m fucking mad. I’m livid. But maybe there is more to the story than what Black said.”
I turn to Jaxon, arching my eyebrow. “You nearly lost Lily and your unborn baby.”
“Lily’s pregnant?” Eli gushes, smiling at Jaxon, then frowns, his mind clearly clicking on to my point.
Boiling with fury, Jaxon grinds his teeth together. “Don’t.”
“She’s been giving him information. You said yourself you thought it could be her, but I was too strung up on her pussy to even question her being a fake. She’s been informing on us the whole time. She double-crossed us and we let her.”
Jaxon steps forward. “I fucking know what happened, Wyatt, and I’m just as furious as you. In fact, the second Liam confirmed it, I wanted to kill her. But something doesn’t add up for me. Liam said—”
“And what’s to add up? She’s his daughter,” I bark sarcastically. “Not all girls are like Lily. They aren’t perfect and pure. Evie was spreading her legs for information. It’s simple. She was selling herself for her father. That’s a definition of a whore, Jaxon, and nothing you say can change that.”
“That’s what I don’t get,” he says, pointing at me. “I’ve seen her with you. She truly loves you. That’s not a lie.”
I rear back like he has punched me. “Then you are blind because she took me for a fool,” I roar, slamming my fist against my chest. “No one who loves someone would do that. She made me fall for her. She wanted me to, and probably laughed to her dad behind my back the entire time, stating what a fucking twat I am.”
“Wyatt, stop—”
“No!” I bellow. “You don’t get it. None of you do. I loved her. I pictured a life together and it was a lie. I don’t just feel humiliated, Jaxon, I’m fucking broken and so fucking furious I could tear down a building right now and not break a sweat.” I take in a heavy breath, feeling my pulse racing. “Until you have had your heart ripped out by someone you loved, someone you trusted, shut the fuck up. I’ve stood by you through everything, even when I knew it was going to end bad with Carter’s.
“A traitor has come into our family, wormed her way into each of our lives and done it to be deceiving, so she could spy. Why you aren’t angry is beyond me, and I don’t want to hear any more.”
I carry on to the bed and breakfast, ignoring the others telling me to calm down. I can’t be calm. The woman I love has deceived me. I’m an idiot, and she played me like a fiddle.
A few minutes later, we are walking up the road to the bed and breakfast. Paisley, hearing our approach, looks up from watering her plants, her smile dropping when she takes a good look at us. “What’s going on?”
“What’s going on?” I yell. “What’s going on is that Evie is a fucking slag who has come here to spy on us.”
“What?” she asks, looking to Jaxon for answers. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, don’t worry, we didn’t know she was Andrew Black’s daughter either.”
Her eyes widen and her hands begin to shake. “What? No! She said her dad was dead.”
“Yeah, because she’s a sick bitch and knew it would tug on our heart strings.”
Her face reddens. “Why are you here then? She isn’t here.”
“And she won’t be for much longer,” I growl, stepping inside. “I’m packing her fucking bags.”
Fully agreeing with me, she follows. “I’ll fucking help.”
When Evie comes back, she won’t have a place here, and I don’t want her around long enough to talk her way out of it.
Hell, I don’t want to be here when she returns. I never want to see her cunning face ever again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
EVIE
My nerves are going haywire as I drive into the lane leading to the Hayes farm. It didn’t matter how many times I practiced what to say in the car on the way over here, I know I’m going to fuck this up. When I get emotional or upset, I tend to forget what my mouth is for.
The turning on the left for the bed and breakfast comes into view and I signal before turning onto it.
My foot nearly presses the accelerator to the floor when I recognise my clothes being thrown from a window on the upper level.
This isn’t good, and when I catch sight of Jaxon, Eli and Reid standing outside, looking up at the window with forlorn expressions, I know that to be true. Not one of them look happy, yet they all have a touch of concern written on their faces.
My heart begins to race as I pull the car to a stop and meet Wyatt’s gaze through the window.
It’s him throwing my things out of the window, and my heart catches in my throat when his gaze meets mine. His eyes harden, and he doesn’t bother making the effort to hide his despair and anger. Everything around me comes crashing down and I pull the car to a stop, narrowly avoiding a pair of my boots and some makeup.
He knows.
It’s the only explanation. When he steps back from the window, my heart comes to a stop and I shakily exit the car, slowly closing the door behind me.
“What’s going on?” I ask, trying to keep the tremors from my voice. It’s useless.
Jaxon opens his mouth to answer but Wyatt storming through the door distracts him, and one by one, we all turn to him.
“You fucking bitch!” he roars, taking long strides towards me.
I stagger backwards, clutching my chest. The hatred pouring from him, directed at me… it’s too much. What I have truly done to him hits me with that one look, those few words, and it chips at my heart, cracking it.
I never wanted this to happen.
I know from his expression he isn’t going to listen to reason. He isn’t going to listen to me. He has already made up his mind about me, and I deserve it. All of it.
My heart cracks more, and the gaping hole left in its wake only makes it hurt that much more.
“W-what’s going on?”
I need to hear him say it. I want to confront it all head on. Not all his family are here, but each and every one of them need to hear the truth, and Wyatt needs to hear my side of the story, even if he doesn’t understand it.
He snorts, his chuckle dry as he grips the glass figurine my mum inherited from her mother. “Like you don’t fucking know.”
“Stop,” I cry out when he throws the figurine to the ground.
Shards of glass fly in every direction and tears gather in my eyes. He knew about that figurine and how much it meant to me. My mum used to place the glass fairy that sat on her lily pad on the windowsill, so that when the sun shone through the windows, the light reflecting off it would make rainbows around the room. She told me her mum had made sure to leave the expensive ornament to her before she died.
“That is how I felt when daddy dearest came to visit. I’m surprised you weren’t there to greet him.”
The blood rushes from my face as I look up from the broken glass. “W-what?”
<
br /> “Yeah, he came in wanting something you told him we had. How could you?” he spits out. “We let you into our home, into our lives, and this is how you repay us?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“Don’t fucking lie to me. How many fucking men have you slept with for daddy? Huh? How many?” he roars, spittle flying from his lips.
I have never seen this side to Wyatt. He looks crushed. He can’t even look at me without curling his lip.
“Please, listen—”
“Did you tell him about the Franklin job? Is that why it was set on fire?”
My shoulders drop. “It was a mistake. I was—”
“You knew exactly what you were doing.”
“Please, just let me explain,” I cry out, tears coursing down my cheeks.
“You could have killed Lily—an innocent in all of this—and my unborn baby. You knowingly gave her that address,” Jaxon grits out, his arms crossed over his chest. The menace pouring off him has me catching my breath.
I wrap my arms around myself, feeling cold to the core.
“No, I—
“Yes, you did. I called Lily to confirm it.”
I swipe the tears from my cheeks, gasping for air. “I didn’t—"
“Stop fucking lying,” Wyatt roars, his temples pulsing.
“I’m not. I—” I try again, my lip trembling as more tears slide down my cheeks.
He lets out a bitter laugh. “You had me fooled. Not many can say that they have. You made a good act, but now the act is over. Now fuck off with your crocodile tears because they aren’t going to work with us.”
“Please, I love you,” I sob, taking a step towards him. I reach for his arm, but he steps back, out of my reach. “I love you. Please, listen to—"
His lip curls. “If you were a man, I’d punch you right now, but fortunately for you, I don’t hit women.”
“I do,” Paisley growls, her face tight as she steps forward, not giving me a chance to protect myself before her hand swings out and she slaps me across the face.
I cry out, holding my hand up to my stinging cheek. “Please,” I plead, begging Wyatt to listen.
“You’ve done enough damage,” Paisley answers when Wyatt refuses to even look at me, his jaw clenching. “You are one sick bitch. You told me your father was dead. It was a lie, and you used our grief to make us feel for you.”
I feel bile rising in my throat. “No.”
Paisley’s usually soft features harden as she takes another step forward, but Landon steps up, pulling her into his chest. “You make me sick.”
A sob hitches up my throat as I turn back to Wyatt, desperately needing him to hear me out. “Please, Wyatt, hear me out. Just five minutes, then I’ll go.”
His narrowed gaze lands on me and a cold chill runs through me. “No, because I’m done being made a fool of. Your pussy is good, but it isn’t that good,” he snarls. “You fucking played me and didn’t even blink, nor once made me feel like you were guilty of that. Hell, even Jaxon questioned you and I point blank told him you’d never do that to us.”
Hearing his voice crack breaks my resolve and the tears come down faster. I struggle to swallow past the lump in my throat. I take another step forward, bringing myself closer, and reach for his arm. “It was never like that. Please, just five minutes.”
He shrugs me off and I flinch, taking a step back. My foot twists on a stone and I fall. Wyatt tries to reach for me despite his hatred, but it’s too late. I scrape my knee on the ground when I turn to save my fall.
I don’t feel the sting when blood begins to leak from the small wound through my torn jeans.
Feeling utterly embarrassed and at their mercy, I force a wall up, shutting out the pain, the hurt, and the heartache as I get to my feet.
I look him dead in the eye, not feeling anything. “I love you. I never once lied about that. Everything between us was real.”
He takes a step forward, narrowing his eyes at me. “Get your stuff and fuck off back to daddy. I don’t want to look at your face for a minute longer.”
I jerk my head into a nod and slowly turn back to the car, reaching in for my handbag and grabbing the memory stick from the front pocket. I don’t dare look at Wyatt or the others. No, my gaze is for Jaxon. And although he’s still angry as hell, his eyebrows draw together when I head over to him, handing him the memory card.
“What’s this?” he rumbles, his voice deep but no less menacing.
“Everything we could put together on Andrew. His clients, blackmail, meetings and a timeline. I’m not sure if it’s any use, but there may be something there you can use.”
“Why?” he asks, looking over my shoulder, but I ignore it, feeling numb to it all.
“I never meant for any of you to get hurt. It was never my intention, and I never purposely sent Lily there or gave him that information.”
Before he can utter another word, I turn to make my escape. I’m done with this, done with life. I feel nothing but void. Andrew Black has won, and I never expected anything less, no matter how hard I tried to believe otherwise.
“Get your stuff,” Wyatt growls. “I don’t want your skanky arse back here.”
I stop, resting one arm over the car door, and turn to him, not really seeing him. “It doesn’t matter. None of it does. The only thing that mattered was the figurine you smashed. But like everything else in my life, it’s gone.”
“Get your stuff, Evelyn,” he grits out, and I flinch, feeling that name to my soul. I hate it when I’m called by my full name and he knows it. He just didn’t know the reason. Andrew was the one who took that away from me too.
I see the sliver of doubt in his eyes when I blank him, getting into my car. I don’t try to turn in the carpark but instead reverse out, spinning at the end of the road to face the main road out.
Once I’m out of sight, I pull over to the side of the road, and through the tears I grab my phone, typing out a text to Rebecca.
EVIE: Andrew beat me here. I don’t know why or what he said, but they hate me. I can’t do this anymore. He’s won, Becca. He always does, and I’m tired of fighting him.
Turning my phone off, I then throw it down on the passenger seat before pulling back onto the road. I have a destination in mind.
When a girl loses the love of her life, whether that be from a break-up or from death, she needs her mum. Every girl does. And right now, I just want her to hug me and tell me everything is going to be okay. That won’t happen, but I’ll take just being in her presence right now. My heart is shredded.
I’m stupid. So unbelievably fucking stupid. I knew Wyatt would be mad, even furious, but I expected him to hear me out, to love me enough to listen.
I wipe at my eyes once more when the tears cloud my vision as I pull into the care home car park.
It’s full since visiting hours have started. I find a spot towards the back, next to the river. It’s the same river that goes under the bridge we drive over to get to the care home.
I shiver as I get out of the car, still feeling frozen from my interaction with Wyatt. I close my eyes, giving myself a moment before heading towards the entrance, not meeting anyone’s gaze as I do.
Family members walk around to the side entrance, but I bypass them, going straight to the reception area since I’ll need permission to go in. I’m not in the mood to be denied and there is no way I’m going to leave here without seeing her. It has been too long. I have tried twice since my last visit when Wyatt accompanied me, but they turned me away each time. Now, I’m not in the mood to listen to their bullshit. I’ll barge my way through if I have to.
Lucy, one of the nicer receptionists, doesn’t look wary like she normally does when she sees my face. She’s one of the ones who hates the confrontation, and if I had to guess, she doesn’t like turning me away. She is the only one who seems to have a caring bone in her body, and she is wasted in a soul sucking place like this. However, seeing her watching me with confusion and concern… a tin
gle shoots up my spine.
Did Andrew make do on his promise and hurt my mum?
“Before you tell me no, I’m going to straight out tell you to ring the police to escort me out because there is no other way I’m leaving without seeing her.” I take a deep breath, feeling more tears gather. “I need her.”
My gut clenches at her pitying stare.
“Let me call Mrs Ballenger.”
I reach out, gripping the edge of the high desk area. “No. Please, just let me see her.”
She scans the room before standing, leaning in closer. “I’m really sorry, Miss Wilson, but your mother passed away five days ago.”
I take two steps away from the desk, shaking my head. There is a roaring, ringing sound in my ears and I can’t make out what she is saying.
“No!” I whisper, slumping forward.
“I’m sorry, I assumed you knew. Your father said he’d inform you.”
“He is not my father,” I scream, pushing away from the counter and heading towards the door that leads to Mum’s room.
She isn’t dead.
“Evie, you can’t go through there,” Lucy yells, no longer being formal.
I don’t believe her. My mum isn’t dead. She isn’t. This is another one of Andrew’s cruel tricks, and they tricked Lucy into believing it. Why else would she look so heartbroken for me?
“No. I’m seeing my mum. You can’t keep her from me.”
A security guard tries to keep me from entering when he walks through the open doorway, unknowingly giving me access. With strength I didn’t know I possessed, I push him out of the way, my feet slapping against the puke green carpet as I race to Mum’s room.
She is in there. I know it.
This is all a joke.
Her door is open when I arrive, and I come to a halt in the doorway. Her belongings are no longer in their place around the room, and her favourite bedsheet isn’t on the mattress. The bed is stripped, and on top is a lone box that’s filled with her belongings.
The room around me begins to spin as my body shakes.
“No,” I hoarsely cry, feeling my knees buckle. “No!”
Falling to my knees, sobs rake through my body, my chest tightening each time I try to draw in a breath.
Eye for an Eye (Take a Chance Book 2) Page 23