Before I headed out, I left clear instructions for Micah. If anything happens to me, I’m asking him to step in and watch out for my sister. If anyone will, it’ll be him.
As always, the nunnery is dark, except for the sparing illumination of candles Lillian must have lit. When I step through the threshold, I see her standing at the fireplace, her back to me. When she turns, her smug expression vanishes. “What are you doing here?” she snaps, searching over my shoulder for the real person to show up.
“Don’t bother. No one else is coming.”
There’s no hiding the sudden nervousness in her eyes. “What? What did you do?” She grabs for her cloak and tries to step passed me. My arm shoots out, and I grab her bicep and push her back. Her heel catches on a loose board, and she stumbles into the mantel. “How dare you,” she hisses.
“No bitch, how dare you.” I step forward and watch the authority drain from her face. “You know, it’s funny. Fucked up people like you who abuse their power. Feed off the innocence of helpless kids.”
She snarls at my words, trying again to get passed me. “This is absurd. I’m not gonna stand here listening—”
I shove her again, and this time, she does lose her footing, falling backwards right onto her ass. “You clearly didn’t need the money, so why’d you do it? Why take us in? Was it to get off on your own pleasure of torturing—”
“Please. It was him. He wanted you bratty kids.” She straightens her posture from the ground, nurturing her scraped up hands. “You think I wanted you hoodlum children in my home? Your filth? It was him. Always him. And his sick obsession with them,” she hisses, hatred radiating from her eyes.
“Is that why you hated my sister so bad? Why you’d cut her hair while she slept? Sent her to school with spoiled food? Fucking made her wear dirty clothes when you refused to allow her to wash hers!” The stories Evelyn confessed. The way she was treated, and I never knew. I thought I was protecting her, but I was too wrapped up in my own life, I’d missed all the signs of abuse.
“She was a little snob who needed to be taught a lesson. You think she was any different than the rest? Flaunting herself at my husband?”
“Your husband’s a sick fuck who sexually abuses girls. And you let it happen.”
She blanches at my accusation. “I did not. Those were his choices.”
“And you never stopped him!” I yell, leaning over her. “You let a monster into the beds of these helpless girls. Girls who trusted you as their guardian to keep them safe!” Spit flies from my lips, the vein in my forehead popped. “I should fuckin’ end your life right now. Make all your victims feel safer at night. Then put a bullet through your fucking husband’s head next.”
The color washes clear from her cheeks. “Mas—Mason, this is just a misunderstanding. Listen, I didn’t know what he was doing.”
“Liar! You fucking knew! And you let it happen. Why? Was it your way of getting back at someone?”
“What? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Making others feel the same horrible fate you endured?” I stand straight, and watch the confusion set in her face. “Maybe it was you trying to deface all little girls the way you were.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” That’s when I rip out the documents stashed inside my jacket. She flinches and covers her face as I toss them at her.
“Oh, don’t worry. I’m not going to kill you yet. I’m not done having fun. Look,” I demand. With a scowl on her face, she picks up the pieces of paper and starts glancing them over. Seconds tick by until the acknowledgement of what she’s reading settles in.
“How did you get these?” she whispers, whipping through each document, any color left quickly fading from her face as if she was just confronted by a ghost of her past.
“It all makes sense now. The hate you have for your brother’s daughter. Is it revenge for what he did to you? How long was he abusing you before Mommy and Daddy caught wind? How long did it take for them to cover it up?”
“Shut up,” she hisses.
“Pretty fucked up for your own brother to molest his little sister.”
“Stop.”
“Medical records show some pretty damaging stuff. Makes sense why Mommy and Daddy didn’t want that shit to get out—”
“SHUT UP! Just shut up!” she screams and tries to scramble to her feet, but I kick her, pushing her back down. “I ain’t fuckin’ done. Pregnant. Your own brother got you pregnant. That’s how it came out, huh? Simple doctor’s appointment for their little princess only to find out their son was a sick fuck. And you just let it all disappear.”
“That’s not true! I tried to tell them. Come forward with what he’d been doing. I told my mother. But you know what she did? She accused me of playing the slut. An eleven-year-old slut who was in love with her seventeen-year-old brother. She told my father, and you know what he did? He didn’t hold me and tell me everything was going to be okay. Nooo,” she hisses, tossing hair away from her face. “He made it all go away. Him and his secret society of brothers. The medical documents, the police report I tried to file. Even me. He made it all go away.”
“Ahhh, explains the fancy boarding school. Man, what’d your poor brother do while you were away. Probably pretty upset lusting over his absent sister—”
“Fuck you!” She jumps and attacks me, her long nails slicing down my face. I allow her the one outburst, then raise my hand and wrap it around her throat. I press hard against her wind pipe, knowing I have the strength and anger flowing inside me to pop her neck.
“No, bitch, fuck you. Fuck you for the years I spent locked up and beaten to within an inch of my life. Nights where I starved. My skin scaled because I was so fucking dehydrated. You did that to me. Two years gone, because you wanted to play with my life. With my sister’s life. And for what? So, I can be your little toy in your game of revenge?”
“And look how that turned out. A disgrace. A weak boy who—”
I press harder, causing her to struggle. Her wide eyes protrude as her skin transforms in a dark shade of purple. I have less than a minute until she dies under my hold. With the strength of a thousand men, I toss her across the room, her body smacking against the mantel and dropping to the ground. Her whimpered groans echo against the hollow walls as she scurries upright, backing herself into the corner.
“You’re a fucking monster. Willing to ruin your own step-daughter, and for what? Vengeance? And why Megan?” I need to know.
“Why Megan, what?” She holds her limp wrist.
“Why her? What did someone as perfect and selfless as your own niece ever do to you that made you hate her so much? To ruin everything she’s ever worked so hard for? Why do you hate her so—”
“Because she’s his. He had a child. He took that away from me. You know what happens to a body when it’s abused and impregnated at such a young age? Do you! I almost bled out when they scraped that growing monster out of me. The one he put there. When I woke up, I was told I would never bare anymore children. That’s how my parents dealt with the situation. Not with their son or his disgusting sickness! They made sure he wouldn’t get me pregnant again! He ruined my life, my future of having children. So, I decided to ruin his.”
“Because of him, not—”
“Because he thinks he has everything! Perfect life. Perfect family. He needed to know how it felt to watch someone he loves suffer, just like I have.”
“She didn’t hurt you, Lillian. All she ever did was love you.”
“She’s a spoiled brat who, just like her father, deserves what’s coming to her.”
I take the minimal steps separating us, the sound of my booted shoes pounding with a ferocity on the old wooden floor as I make my way into her space. My hand reaches in the back of my jeans. My fingers squeeze around the cool titanium as I pull it forward and point it to the center of her forehead. “I will splatter your brains all over this place if you speak one more thing about her, you fucking hear me? You ju
st signed your death warrant.” My finger starts squeezing down on the trigger—
“Mason, don’t.”
My head whips behind me to the sweet sound of Evelyn’s voice. “What the fuck are you doing here? You need to leave.”
“Mason, no. Please.”
I turn back to Lillian, my hand beginning to shake. “She needs to go. She’s a virus for us all. You need to be free of her. We all do.”
“This isn’t the way, Mason.”
“It is!” I snap, pointing the gun at her forehead. “You’re fucking dead.”
“Mason, she’s right.”
I sway on my feet as Megan steps out of the shadows. “Megan,” I say her name on a strained whisper. God, I missed her. The peace she brought into my life. Her beauty that brought color into my dull world. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Neither should you.” She approaches me, raising her hand with caution, and stroking the back of her hand against my cheek. “This isn’t the way.” My eyes close at the intimacy of her touch. “Give me the gun, Mason.” My eyes squeeze shut. It is the way. This is how everyone gets to move on and out from under her spell and the claws of The Elite.
“Yes, thank you, Megan. Listen to my niece, Mason.”
Megan moves so fast, I don’t even see it coming. With an impressive quickness, she seizes the gun from my grip and moves in front of me, the bottom of the barrel back between Lillian’s eyes.
“You listen here, you sick, disgusting, waste of a life. For starters, I am not your niece. You are nothing to me. I’m sorry for what my father did to you, but that doesn’t excuse all the hate and travesty you brought among so many other people. You are no judge, jury, and definitely no executioner. You don’t have the right to play God with anyone’s life.”
“Oooh, look who’s passing judgement, the little whore—”
I jump forward to snap her neck and end this, but Megan puts her hand out, stopping me in my tracks. “I got this,” she says, then veers her attention back to Lillian. “Oh, Auntie. Your foul mouth doesn’t suit you. And what doesn’t suit me is murder, but you see, I can’t allow you to just walk away either. You’re done. This secret society? Your revenge on innocent people? It ends now.”
Lillian’s sadist laugh sends fury down my spine. “Oh, little girl, this is way bigger than just me. You can threaten me, get rid of me, but I’m the least of your worries.”
“Then we’ll figure out who’s in charge and destroy them too.”
Another burst of laughter. This time, Megan steps forward and punches her square in the nose.
“You little bitch!” Lillian howls, gripping her nose as blood spews between her fingers, while Megan grips her sore hand. “You know nothing. You’re just as foolish as I thought if you think you can take them down. There’s no destroying The Elite. They will just grow back and flourish even larger and more powerful than before.”
“That might be. But as they say, you have to start by weeding out the bad seeds.” This time, it’s Evelyn and I who laugh. God, she’s so fuckin cute. “So, this is what’s gonna happen. For starters, you’re done here. At the university, in this secret club. I want you to step down effective immediately. If you don’t, these papers will surface.”
“They do, and your name gets dragged into the mud just as much as mine and your daddy’s.”
“Then so be it. But at least I’ll go down for the better cause. Until then, consider this the last thing I’ll ever do for you. I won’t leak anything about this or The Elite. My focus is to shield my mother from any of this. Next, before you do so, I want Mason reinstated as a student. His classes, full housing, and his scholarship. I want it in writing and in the record books. Also, I want in writing about Evelyn’s as well. Can’t trust a snake like you won’t go back on her word, ya know?”
My girl is so ferocious. I want to hug her and kiss those fierce lips of hers. Praise her for the strength even after learning the horrible things about her father.
“You won’t get away with this.”
“I already have. We’ve been here long enough, and thanks to modern technology, I have your confession. Talking about The Elite. Your abuse. Your husband’s sick tendencies. The dean of the university. I do believe that will take a bigger hit than my job or smeared last name. I’ll be able to move on. But will you?”
Lillian takes those words and allows them to simmer thick in her mind. Her expression gives us the answer. She won’t. “I can’t just disappear. People will ask questions.”
“Let them. Take a spontaneous vacation, and when you come back, have a change of heart. Call it a midlife crisis. But you’re done here. Understand me?” Megan cocks the gun. Fuck, I think I’m a little scared of her right now. She leans forward. “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you?” she taunts.
Lillian, looking so far from her normal, put-together self, finally nods. “Fine. I’ll do whatever you want.”
Megan nods. “That’s more like it. Now, get the hell out of here before I decide killing is my new hobby and I shoot you right between your horribly Botoxed eyebrows.”
Lillian scrambles to her feet, and races passed us. She doesn’t look back as the old door slams shut and we hear her car roar to life and tires squealing down the long driveway.
We all stand there for another beat, until Evelyn finally moves and runs into my arms. “Oh, Mason. It’s over. It’s really over.” I hold her close to me, feeling a lifelong weight being lifted off me. “I love you, brother.”
I kiss the top of her head. “You too, Evie.” I steal a glimpse of Megan, who’s standing silent watching our embrace. I mouth, “Thank you,” and she mouths, “Welcome,” with a smile. Finally, Evelyn pulls away, looking between Megan and myself.
“Well, I’m gonna let you two talk. Um, Mason, I’m gonna just wait in Micah’s car.” She reaches up on her tippy toes and places a kiss on my cheek, then she’s gone, leaving Megan and I alone.
“Listen, I—”
“Your sister told me you thought you were in love with me.”
Her comment catches me off guard. Damn my sister. I slide my hands in my pockets. “I’m afraid to give you the wrong answer, with you still holding that gun and all.”
Not realizing she still had it, she suddenly drops it. “Shit, not sure what came over me there.” I laugh and take a step to eliminate some space between us.
“You were pretty bad ass.”
“Yeah?”
“Real Judge Judy bad ass.”
Her beautiful smile radiates, lighting up the entire room. “You think so?” She puffs her chest out. I throw my head back and let loose a loud chuckle.
“I appreciate the compliment, but you didn’t answer my question.” I bring my eyes back to hers. “Is it true? Are you in love with me?”
I stare into her beautiful hazel eyes, asking myself how to answer that question.
This wasn’t in my plans. With the thirst for revenge and hate flowing inside me, there was no room for anything else. I could barely see passed the retribution I set to viciously achieve.
But then she came along.
My heart was dead inside—only beating for the love and survival of my sister—And then this beautiful spark of life revived me. My heart beat like crashing thunder inside my chest at the sounds of her musical voice the first time she spoke. The exact moment I touched her bare skin. Fuck, her laughter and every moment of solace I found in her beauty, her mind. Her innocence.
I walked into a bar one night searching for something to silence my demons, and instead I was gifted this dark angel, waiting to numb my pain. My fears. But she didn’t just silence the bad shit in my head, she changed the course of it.
My plan was to hurt, deceive, kill. Nothing would stand in my way. My pride would destroy anyone beneath me to reclaim what I’d lost. Until her. Her humbleness broke me in every way. Cracked the hard shell that wouldn’t allow me to see past my abhorrence. My destruction. But she showed me worthiness. It wasn’t about my pride, but my te
mperance. It gave me the courage to restrain the hate and reform it into something worthy. She gave me the strength to forgive myself.
And now I stare at her needing to know how exactly I express all that shit without bringing myself to my knees. How do I tell her that her beauty gives me light in my dark world? That my heart aches at the mere thought of her not giving me another chance?
Her patience is quickly wearing thin, and the way she starts chewing on her bottom lip makes me want to throw her over my shoulder and take her home and fuck her until she knows just how much I do. So, I put her out of her misery. “I love you,” I reply, three simple words that don’t even sum up the whirlwind of emotions inside me.
I watch her chest deflate with the breath she’s been holding. “Phew! Well…good. That was the answer I was hoping for. Now that I know I’m also not a cradle robber, there’re some things we need to get clear. One, you’re no longer my student. We’re not to break any student/teacher rules, because I technically do love my job and want to keep it. But I think replacing the title, student with boyfriend has a better ring to it anyway.” She stops, waiting for my response.
“You want me to be your boyfriend?” I ask, a playful smile building.
“Yes. Along with my doctor, and a few more role-playing ideas I’ve been fantasizing about.”
I step toward her, lifting her chin. “I think I can handle that.” Dipping down, I cover her mouth with mine. I kiss her slow, but with intensity, as the weight of the world lifts from my shoulders. When I know it’s time to stop, I pull away. I catch her glazed-over eyes and give her some time to fully come to.
“I was never going to go through with that task. I would never—”
“I believe you.”
Relief washes over me at her words. “Thank you,” I say, because I needed that. I needed her to know, even if we parted ways, I would have never done that to her. I cared too much. “I didn’t want you to hear that shit about your dad.” The reminder of the information she learned tonight hurts all over again, and I kiss her lips to help with the pain I know it’s causing her.
Pride (The Elite Seven Book 2) Page 17