by Ravenna Tate
Would they now try to talk their way out of here in a hurry? Would Merrick let them go, or did her husband have other plans for them?
Uncle Ted made a noise that came out halfway between a laugh and a gasp. “Um, I don’t recall.” He glanced at Uncle Tom. “Do you?”
“Not really.” Her Uncle Tom’s eyes were glued to Merrick’s face. “Why are you asking?”
Uncle Tom always had been the more aggressive of this pair, with her father bringing up the rear in that department, as he had done in most things. He might be the oldest brother, but he certainly wasn’t the most mature of the trio.
“Oh, just curious.” Merrick glanced down at her with a triumphant look in his eyes. His tone of voice told her that he was anything but curious. He was closing in for the kill. “That party you told me about, remember it?”
She nodded, her pulse racing. What the hell was he about to ask her? Dear God … he was going to make her say it. She knew it as certainly as she knew the smell of lamb chops cooking, drifting into this room from down the hall.
“Is it the same party we’re talking about now?” he asked. “The one where I met you and your uncles for the first time?”
He already knew the answer. He wasn’t asking for clarification. He was giving her an out. This was her chance to confirm for him, without any doubt, that the story she’d told him was a lie. It hadn’t involved two fictitious teenage boys, who were the sons of one of her father’s business associates. The story she’d told him had instead been about the two men sitting across from them. It had been about her Uncle Tom and her Uncle Ted.
Lynda stared into Merrick’s eyes. They were filled with a palpable energy and a demand to know the truth. She owed him that much, and she loved that he’d orchestrated this trap. It was fucking brilliant. He was the most intelligent and conniving man she’d ever met, and his deviousness turned her on. If that was sick and twisted, so be it.
She turned her gaze toward her uncles, and the fear and loathing she saw in their eyes pushed her into an easy decision. Fuck them and the hell they’d put her through. She wasn’t a kid anymore, and she did not want this hanging over her head, lying in secret, for one more damn second. They had raped her, plain and simple, and they should not be allowed to get away with it any longer.
She took a deep breath and held their gazes as she answered her husband. “Yes, it was the same party. There were no teenage boys there. It was these two who forced me to give them blowjobs. They raped me.”
They both protested at the same time her husband jumped up. From out in the hallway, four men she now recognized as part of his security team rushed into the room. Lynda watched in horrified fascination as Merrick pushed Uncle Tom against the back wall and slammed his body into it.
Merrick’s right hand closed around her uncle’s throat, and the other hand pinned her uncle’s right arm to his side before he could even think about throwing a punch. The sound her uncle made was cut off as Merrick pressed on his windpipe.
Leo, one of the security detail, had Uncle Ted in a similar position on the east wall just as quickly. Two of the other three men placed themselves next to one of her uncles, holding their free arms. The third stood in front of and off to the side of Lynda, as if shielding her from the scene.
“Tell me what to do, Lynda,” said Merrick, his voice hard and raw. “Should I kill him for what he did to you?”
Her jaw dropped open.
“Get them to confess first,” said Deke, another security staff member. He was currently holding down Uncle Ted’s left arm, and had his right leg wrapped around her uncle’s left calf.
“You’re right. I want to hear them say they did it.” Merrick released Uncle Tom’s throat, but only enough so Lynda could now hear the labored breathing and coughing sounds he made.
“I’ll kill you, you son of a bitch!”
Merrick laughed. The sound was cold, and it sent shivers down Lynda’s spine. At the same time, her heart soared with joy. His disgust over what they’d done and his fierce protection of her were completely unexpected. It also filled her with hope for this marriage that hadn’t existed until now.
“Tell me what you did to her.”
Lynda’s breathing grew rapid, and her heart pounded. Merrick pressed harder on her uncle’s throat again, and his strangled cry was now accompanied by a look of pure terror in his eyes. He knew Merrick would kill him. He tried to speak but couldn’t, so Merrick eased up again on the grip.
“All right! All right.” Uncle Tom coughed a few times. “We did … we did it. But we were drunk. And Todd knew. That’s right. Her father knew we did it. What do you have to say about that?”
Lynda fell back onto the sofa as her knees gave way. Merrick glanced at her, a question in his eyes. “Is that true? Did he know?”
“I told him, but he didn’t believe me.”
Merrick’s expression changed to one of such tenderness that she had to force back tears.
“Bullshit,” said Uncle Ted. “She didn’t have to tell him. He already knew.”
What?
Merrick turned his attention toward her uncle Ted. “Explain.”
“He saw us. Lynda didn’t know he came into the room, but he did. He stood there and watched. He was as drunk as we were. I thought he was gonna join us, but then he just started jacking off instead.”
Lynda’s stomach roiled, and she broke out in a cold sweat. The world tilted sideways, and she clamped a hand over her mouth before she ran from the room. She barely made it into the guest bathroom before what little was left from lunch came up.
She had no idea how long she sat on the cool tile floor. At one point, she got up and wet a washcloth, then put it against the back of her neck. She stayed like that, next to the toilet, listening to the noise from the great room.
She’d left the door open so she could hear everything, but the words made no sense to her. Nothing ever would again. Her father had told her that his brothers would never do something like that, and had admonished her for making up stories. She remembered that conversation as clearly as she remembered every detail of that party.
It couldn’t be true that he had been in the room. They had to be making that up just to upset her further. Her father had not jacked off while watching his brothers rape her. He had not then accused her of lying to him. It had to be a lie. Her father was no saint and she’d always known that, but he couldn’t have done this to her. It wasn’t possible.
She heard more shouting, but couldn’t go out there. She simply could not face any of them now, including Merrick. When he realized what a fucked up family he’d married into, the pre-nup wouldn’t matter. The company was gone anyway. The reason he’d married her no longer existed. He’d get out of this sham as quickly as possible, and she wouldn’t blame him one bit.
Lynda scooted closer to the wall, leaned against it, and closed her eyes. She forced her memories back to that fateful night, struggling to recall whether she’d sensed anyone else in the bedroom. Her uncles had dragged her in there and then took turns holding her down. Even if someone had come in, she doubted she’d have known that. She’d been concentrating too hard on getting through it, and praying it would be over quickly.
She’d never been that frightened in her life, or felt more betrayed. Not until discovering the videos Rey had made, that was.
It took a few moments for her to realize the noise from down the hall had stopped, and then she heard footsteps. She glanced up and there was Merrick, his beautiful face filled with concern. She couldn’t hold back the tears as she stared into his eyes. Words bubbled up, but nothing came out. All she could do was watch him while she sobbed.
He lifted her up into his arms and carried her down the hall. They went into the library, where he sat in one of the large armchairs and cradled her on his lap, stroking her hair and back. His whispered words were unintelligible sounds. She still couldn’t process speech. What the fuck was wrong with her brain?
The heavenly smell from the
kitchen now made her want to puke again. She briefly wondered whether he wanted to eat his dinner, but she didn’t have the strength to ask. When the fog finally cleared and his words began to make sense, she asked what had happened to her uncles.
“They’ve been taken care of.”
Lynda stared at him, wanting her suspicions to be true, but at the same time frightened of the obvious implications. “What does that mean?”
He gave her a long, searching look. “It means they will never harm another girl or woman again. It means you’re free of them forever.”
She pulled away slightly so she could look into his face straight on. “Merrick, did you kill them?”
“Myself? No. But I wanted to.”
“But … but they are dead. That’s what you mean. Right?”
“Does that bother you?”
She shook her head, unsure how to respond.
“Lynda, what’s worse? Cheating business partners out of profits from a company, or kicking a puppy until it dies?”
She flinched at the image. “Is that a trick question?”
“No. I’m trying to make a point. If a person does the latter, they might be slapped on the wrist with a misdemeanor, depending on where they live. And only if it can be proven they did it. If they do the former and there is proof of the crime, they face considerable jail time and likely must also make restitution. Their reputation in the business community is ruined, or at least tarnished. And yet which of these two crimes evokes the more emotional response in most people?”
“The puppy, of course.”
“So why is it wrong if two pieces of pond scum like your uncles pay for ruining their fifteen-year-old niece’s life?” He asked it so quietly she barely heard him. “They won’t stand trial for this. Even with the change in the statute of limitations laws in this state, there is no DNA evidence. The confession I and my security staff forced from them would never be allowed in court. It would be their word against yours. The press would learn what your father did, and everything in your past and his would be dredged up.”
Her shoulders slumped as she realized how right he was.
“I’ve managed to keep out of the press the fact your father and my former attorney have betrayed us both, but if we pursue your uncles, it will be front page news. What Rey Santos did to you would be in every tabloid across the country.”
“You’re right,” she whispered.
“I’m not telling you this to upset you. I’m explaining why I took care of matters for you in my own way.”
A nasty shiver ran down her spine. “You make it sound like you’ve done this type of thing before.”
There was that horrible, painful look on his face again. This time, she couldn’t pretend she hadn’t seen it. But then his expression took on the mask of cold, hard businessman just as quickly.
“Lynda, there are things we don’t yet know about each other, but I’m not going to apologize for who and what I am. I don’t expect you to do that either.”
“What else do you want to know about me? I’ll tell you everything. I have no reason not to now.”
He tilted his head slightly. “Let’s start with that party. I didn’t know that while I was busy sizing everyone up in terms of how they could help me advance my career goals, a very pretty young girl I’d met earlier was being forced to commit sex acts on her two drunk uncles.”
She didn’t respond because she wasn’t sure where he was going with this.
“And I also didn’t know that one day, my business dealings would cross paths with that girl’s father.”
“Merrick, I’m so sorry that I—”
“I’m not trying to extract an apology from you. You don’t owe me one. I understand now why you told me that bullshit story about the teens. What I want to know is what did your father say when you told him what your uncles had done?”
“He accused me of lying. He said his brothers would never do that. He was really upset with me.”
He shook his head, and the tender look was back in his eyes. “Was there no one else you could have told?”
“No. There was no other adult I trusted by then. I held it inside and avoided them as much as possible.”
“Did they ever try anything again?”
“No. But what happened that night is one of the main reasons I left home as soon as I could. I never felt safe in my house again.”
He pulled her close for a few moments, and then looked into her eyes. “If you meant what you said before, and are determined to tell me everything, I need a straight answer to this question.”
“Okay.”
He took a deep breath first, as if asking the question was difficult. “Why did you marry me?”
She frowned, certain she’d misunderstood. “What do you mean? You already know the answer.”
“Tell me anyway. I want to hear it straight from you.”
What the hell had her uncles said to him while she’d been sitting on the bathroom floor? Lynda wasn’t certain she could take any more shocks tonight. She only wanted to sleep now, not talk about the company, her family, or the reason they had married. She wanted everything to go back to the way it had been earlier, before her uncles had arrived.
She’d learned too much tonight to believe things would ever go back to the way they’d been mere hours ago. Her husband was a killer. Or at least, he had people killed. That fact wouldn’t stop bouncing around her brain. Who else knew this? Had her father known? He’d lied about everything else, so he’d probably known that little tidbit, too, and never bothered to mention it to her.
“Lynda, I’m waiting.”
She studied his face, wondering if she’d ever truly know this man, or whether she even wanted to. A few hours ago, she’d been contemplating the possibility of them falling for each other. Now, that seemed like nothing but a fairytale. They were back to square one. Forced into a marriage neither one wanted, and still strangers.
But she’d come this far, so she might as well play his game through to the end.
Chapter Twenty
Lynda sighed. “My father told me you wanted Shelton Energy because of the wind turbine technology, and also because it’s—correction. Because it was the largest wind energy supplier in the country.”
“Yes, that is why I wanted the company. What else did he tell you?”
“He said you both agreed that since he’d fucked it up so badly, the only way to save it was for you to take it over and work your magic on it.”
He nodded. “Keep going.”
“He told you about the trust provisions. They meant he couldn’t sell the company to you because technically it belonged to me. The only way for you to acquire it before I turned thirty was to marry me, and then I could turn it over to you. He said it was in so much trouble that if you waited a year for me to turn thirty, when I could have sold it to you, it would have been too late for you or anyone else to save it.”
“All true. But there’s more, isn’t there?”
She didn’t like the look in his eyes. Something wasn’t right. Why was he making her say this now, after everything else that had happened tonight? Hadn’t her world been ripped apart enough for one evening?
“He told me that you agreed to marry me, but also assured him it would be a marriage in name only. That you would never love me. The decision to marry you on those terms was mine to make. I agreed to save my family’s company by marrying a man who only wanted the business, not me. As opposed to walking away and letting the business fall into ruin.”
She shook her head and snorted as the irony of that statement hit her. “If I’d known what I know now, I’d have told my father to go fuck himself.” She wiped her eyes. “He got what he wanted on all fronts, didn’t he? He got away with what he’d done at that party, and he got the profits from a company that probably was only in trouble to begin with because he…”
Lynda’s eyes widened as another probability finally struck her. “Oh fuck me sideways. There are two sets of books,
aren’t there? There have to be, or he’d never have been able to get away with the embezzlement. You’d have checked the books before you agreed to this. And if you’d suspected he’d been stealing from the company, you wouldn’t have gone through with it. Son of a bitch!”
She watched his face, wondering why he was looking at her like that. “But you already know this. What else do you want to hear?” He said nothing. “Merrick, tell me what’s going on.”
“I never told him that.”
Lynda was confused now. “You never told him what?”
“I never told him this would be a marriage in name only, or that I would never love you.”
She couldn’t speak. Her mouth had suddenly gone bone dry.
“Lynda, I did not say that to him.”
“Are you saying he tricked me into this?”
His face filled with regret. “Your father told me you had other reasons for agreeing to this marriage.”
“What reasons?” Her father had played them against each other. How could he have done that to her? “What did he say to you?”
“He told me you agreed to the marriage not because you gave a shit about the company, but because of what I could give you in terms of material comforts and social standing.”
She tried to wiggle off his lap but he held onto her too tightly. “What the fuck? Merrick, that’s horseshit! You know how I lived. I left home as soon as I could. You saw me at that ridiculous wedding reception, and you saw the way I reacted when I first got here. This isn’t me. This has never been me. I don’t give a shit about any of this. I did not marry you for your money or your social standing, whatever the fuck that even means.”
He finally released his grip on her enough that she was able to stand and face him. “God damn it all to hell and back. He lied to you. He lied to me. He used us both. He tricked us into this, and now we know why. He had this planned all along. Son of a bitch! He screwed us both, Merrick.”