by A. P. Jensen
“You’re dead to me!” Mom shouted.
Juliet dropped her hands as Mom walked out of the office with her head held high. Callie stared at Gray with tears pouring down her cheeks before she raced after Mom. Juliet was so stunned that she didn’t register that she was alone with Gray until it was too late. The blow was so quick and unexpected that Juliet didn’t have time to cry out. One moment she was staring at the empty doorway and the next, she was flat on her back, staring at the ceiling as her cheek throbbed. The man that looked down at her wasn’t the stoic man she faced five minutes ago. The emotion he suppressed in front of his wife was now exposed and it made Juliet’s heart pound in panic.
“Seventeen years I was able to avoid that scene,” he said conversationally. “I paid Nora five million and this is how she treats me? I’ll deal with her after you.” Gray crouched beside her and tilted his head to the side as if she were a piece of meat. “Margaret had her first kid at fourteen. I took what was offered. Nora blackmailed me the first time I fucked her daughter. They planned it.”
Her father was an upstanding citizen known for strict morals, yet he slept with a sixteen-year-old when he was married, had four kids and was in his fifties.
Blood trickled from her lips. She trembled like a leaf. He had never hit her in his life.
His hand circled her throat. Her hands automatically reached up to grasp his wrist to pull it away, but his hand tightened like a vice. Juliet’s eyes bulged as she stared into eyes laced with blatant hatred.
“You’re the spitting image of Margaret, including the way you spread your legs for any boys who asks. That’s your legacy. You’ll never be up to Scarlet or Callie’s caliber with that whore’s blood running through your veins. If I’d known about you, I would’ve forced Margaret to have an abortion, but she was too smart to let on until it was too late.” His hand tightened, cutting off her air and she kicked in panic. “Do you know how many times I wanted to do this when you were a child? I could have killed you, but Nora would have said something. I was forced to raise you, forced to be around you. I loathe the sight of you. Every day for seventeen years I wished for your death.”
Juliet’s fingernails broke as they tried to penetrate the thick material of his suit. Black spots swirled in her vision. Juliet stared into his eyes and knew she was going to die.
“All these years of restraining myself for the way you disobeyed and crapped over the Grant name… Your only saving grace is that no one knew you were mine. Everyone thought I was such a saint for taking in Margaret’s mongrel who could be from any man.”
“Daddy, stop!”
Callie bowled into Gray so hard that he lost his grip on Juliet who gasped for air. He sat back as Juliet rolled, coughing and gagging. Callie’s hands shook as she wiped blood off Juliet’s face.
“A-Are you okay?” Callie stammered, eyes glazed with shock.
Juliet clung to her as everything began to sink in. Gray tried to kill her. He would have if Callie hadn’t interrupted. Juliet tried to regulate her breathing as her lungs burned.
“M-Mom locked herself in t-the b-bathroom,” Callie said as she clutched Juliet to her. “S-She won’t open the d-door. I-I t-think you should…”
Callie couldn’t finish. She rocked Juliet back and forth. Juliet waited for Callie to be ripped from her arms. She could hear his harsh breathing just behind Callie’s back. Juliet buried her face against her sister’s chest, terrified that he would kill her.
They sensed his toxic presence leave the office. They stayed on the ground, embracing one another, trying to digest everything that happened.
“A-Are you okay?” Callie whispered.
Juliet shook her head and Callie tightened her arms around her.
“Oh my God,” Callie sobbed.
Juliet swallowed hard. There was no going back from this, no covering it up or acting like he didn’t just try to kill her and confess that it had been a dream of his for seventeen years. Juliet shuddered and sat bolt upright when they heard a shout from upstairs. Juliet looked into Callie’s terrified eyes before they both rose. Juliet staggered but was right on Callie’s heels as they ran upstairs to their parent’s bedroom. Was Gray going to try to kill Mom for slapping him? They passed through the empty bedroom and skidded to a halt in the master bath where the door had been broken and lay in pieces. The sight that met her eyes, made everything inside of her seize.
Gray cradled Mom in his lap. There was blood everywhere. So much blood that Juliet’s mind couldn’t comprehend what she was seeing. Callie screamed, a blood curdling sound that made every hair on the nape of her neck stand up. Juliet fell to her knees, grabbed a towel and tried to staunch the flow of blood from the deep wounds on Mom's wrists.
“No, no, no,” Juliet chanted hoarsely, tears streaming down her face.
“She’s gone,” Gray said.
Juliet raised her head and stared at him. His eyes were glazed with shock before they focused on her. Juliet dropped Mom's wrist a moment before he lunged at her. Juliet’s head cracked against the tub as his hands went around her neck again. Juliet screamed, but the sound was abruptly cut off when his hand tightened around her throat. Since his hands were coated in Mom's blood this time, she managed to get away. She ran out of their bedroom and down the stairs before he caught her. He grabbed her hair and threw her to the ground in the foyer. He raised his leg and she rolled, but wasn’t quick enough. His shoe landed in her side and she felt something snap. He kept kicking and she tried to defend herself but he was relentless. Her head swam from the pain.
Juliet wasn’t sure if she passed out, but the next time she opened her eyes, she saw Callie fighting with Gray. He shoved Callie out of the way and started for Juliet again. She didn’t have the energy to defend herself. She was going to die here covered in Mom's blood. Juliet closed her eyes and prayed it would be quick.
“You’re going to kill her!” Callie screamed and stepped in front of Juliet before Gray could reach her.
“This has nothing to do with you,” Gray said.
“I won’t let you do this. She’s your—” Callie began.
Gray backhanded her. Callie cried out and sprawled on the floor.
“She is nothing to me and nothing to you, you understand me? She’s trash. I should have done this a long time ago.”
The door opened and they all froze.
Kai appeared, face worried and ashen. “I heard screams…” He blinked when he got a good look at all of them covered in blood. “What the hell?” Kai dropped down beside Juliet’s body, which was contorted in odd positions. “What happened?”
Juliet reached for him. “You didn’t leave,” she whispered.
“Get her out of here,” Gray said. “If you don’t want your dad to lose his job at Grant Shipping and if you don’t want me to take everything you possess, keep your mouth shut about what you saw tonight. You hear me, boy?”
“What did you do to her?” Kai asked, clear defiance in his tone.
“I taught her a lesson she won’t forget. Annie committed suicide tonight and she’s the cause of it,” Gray said and pointed at Juliet. “Get her out of my sight.”
Kai slowly eased Juliet into his arms. She was a quaking mess and pressed on her broken ribs as he picked her up. Callie stood off to the side, hand over her mouth, eyes streaming with tears. Juliet was dizzy with pain, but she sensed Gray step close. She looked into his cold eyes one last time.
“You leave here and never return. You are not a part of this family and you’ll receive nothing from me. If you speak of this to anyone, you’ll wish you were dead, you understand me?” Gray hissed.
Juliet was too numb from the night’s events to do anything but nod. She’d never been in so much pain in her life. Kai got her through the front door, which slammed behind them. He carried her down the steps to his truck.
“We need to call the cops,” Kai said.
“No,” Juliet wheezed. “He’ll fire your dad or worse. Besides that, they’re all on h
is payroll.”
“Shit, Juliet, he tried to kill you!”
“Get me out of here,” Juliet begged, knowing Mom lay lifeless on the bathroom floor. It was her fault, all her fault. “Please, get me away from here.”
Juliet couldn’t sit with broken ribs, so she lay with her head pressed against Kai’s thigh on the bench seat of the truck. Kai brushed a hand over her face, a little panicked.
“Did your mom really commit suicide?” Kai asked.
Juliet couldn’t hold back a sob. Her lungs burned and she grit her teeth as she pressed on her broken ribs.
“Shh. Sorry. We have to take you to the hospital.”
“Can’t.”
“You’re all beat up. Your ribs are probably broken. Jesus, Juliet, why’d she do it?”
Juliet squeezed her eyes shut. There was a scream bottled in her throat. She wanted to beat her fists against something and rage, but she was forced to lay here as still as possible so she wouldn’t pass out from the agony.
“She did it because of me,” Juliet whispered and was engulfed in guilt so heavy, she wished Gray had finished her off. How could she live with herself, knowing that she was the reason Mom was dead?
“So, it’s true? Gray’s your father?” Kai asked
Juliet’s eyes were as dead as her voice. “No.”
Chapter Sixteen
Since the bug was filled with Callie’s belongings, Juliet drove to the cottage and unloaded the car with single minded focus. The bubble of contentment she’d been floating in for the past week popped. The awful truth was being relayed to others—her mother an underage prostitute, her father despised her and she was responsible for her step mom’s suicide.
Juliet slammed her foot on the gas pedal on her way to Dominick’s house. She needed to get away. Juliet raced upstairs, yanked his house key from her ring and feverishly gathered her meager belongings. She wouldn’t let Gray test her relationship with Dominick. Brent couldn’t control Gray. No one could. Gray would take away Brent’s shares and Brent would fold. Gray was too smart to leave a trace of his deeds and even if they knew the truth about Annie, she was still at fault. Nothing changed except now they knew she was really their blood, which meant nothing anyway. They turned their back on their adopted sister. The fact that she was a half-sister from a prostitute was something they’d want nothing to do with. They might help Gray run her out of town. After all, image was everything to them and their livelihoods were tied to Grant Shipping and therefore, Gray.
“Juliet?”
Her head snapped up. Dominick stood in the doorway. She’d been so focused on her task that she didn’t hear him. She wanted to throw herself at him, but she stayed where she was. She felt as if there was a layer of filth on her. Dominick’s eyes darkened as he took in her swollen face.
“What the fuck happened?” he shouted and started forward.
“Nothing,” she said and stuffed the last of her things in the paper bag, which split. “I-I need to leave.”
“Who hit you?”
Juliet stared at the bag and realized that she didn’t need any of this. She turned away and stopped several feet from Dominick who barred the only exit. “I need to go.”
“Go where?”
“Seattle.”
“Over my dead body.”
When he started forward and tried to grab her arm, she backed away.
“You don’t even know me!” she shouted. “I need to go.”
“Calm down and tell me what happened.”
“It’s nothing new. Its just history repeating itself over and over. I shouldn’t have come back. I wanted closure, whatever that means.”
Dominick gripped her arm, sat her on the edge of the bed and crouched in front of her. “What happened?” he asked, running his hands gently down her face.
She jerked back. “Don’t touch me.”
He ignored that. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”
“No! This is none of your business!” she bellowed and tried to get up, but he put a hand on her shoulder to keep her seated. “I need to—”
“You need to talk to me.”
“I need to make a flight—”
His eyes burned as he leaned down so their faces were only inches apart. “You aren’t going anywhere. You’re going to tell me what the fuck is going on.”
She glared at him. “This doesn’t concern you!”
“What did I tell you about being mine? Once something’s mine, I never let it go.”
“You don’t want me to belong to you. You don’t even know me!”
“What don’t I know about you?”
“I’m dirty,” she said and her face began to crumple. She turned her face to the side so he wouldn’t see her tears.
“Talk to me, Juliet.”
“No!” When he brushed his lips over her swollen cheek, she jerked away. “I need to go.”
“I came home to make love to you and find you with your face black and blue and packing to leave me. What happened?”
“I never should have come back. It was stupid to think I could have a life here,” she whispered. “I thought because I was older that I’d be more prepared. I wasn’t.”
“Talk to me, baby,” he murmured and wiped her cheeks, which were wet with tears.
“You’ll want me to leave after I tell you,” Juliet said solemnly.
“Try me.”
Juliet rose from the bed, rubbing her hands up and down her arms as she paced. She caught a glimpse of her face in a hanging mirror and looked away. She faced Dominick who stood in front of the door, guarding it to ensure she wouldn’t run.
“I’m not adopted,” Juliet began and twisted her hands together. “Gray’s my real father. He had an affair with a sixteen-year-old intern named Margaret Lindsey.”
She couldn’t decipher Dominick’s expression.
“Margaret and her mom blackmailed Gray for millions to keep quiet about me. Margaret died in a car accident and Gray was forced to take me in.” Juliet shuddered. “Margaret’s mother got terminal cancer and told me the truth when I was at a graduation party. Kai was with me. I told him to take me home and I confronted Gray. He denied it at first, but Mom made him confess. She committed suicide while Gray and I were in his office.”
Juliet didn’t know Dominick moved because she couldn’t see past her tears. He wrapped her close against him and she gripped fistfuls of his shirt.
“What Annie did isn’t your fault.”
“I should’ve kept my mouth shut,” she whispered.
“Feeling guilty about her suicide won’t bring her back.”
Juliet tried to push away but he held her tight against him.
His hand trembled as it cradled her cheek. “Tell me who hit you.”
“Gray.”
His eyes burned, but his touch remained light. “What happened?”
“Callie wanted me to help her move her things and Gray cornered us in her room.” His body began to vibrate and she brushed her hand over his face. “I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine.”
“I got off easy this time.”
She realized belatedly that was the wrong thing to say when Dominick tried to push her away so he could walk out the door. She clung to him.
“He just got in one punch. Brent interrupted him,” she said desperately. That’s all she needed, Dominick showing up at the mansion. Brent would be incensed that she involved another person in this three-ring circus.
“And?” Dominick bit out.
“Callie decided to come clean after all these years.” Juliet sighed and rested her forehead on his chest. She was so fucking tired.
“Confess what?”
“About the affair.”
Dominick’s hand drifted over her hair and she gasped when he touched the knot on the back of her head.
“Shit,” he said and carried her into the bathroom and turned on all the lights. He gently prodded the back of her head and she moaned. “Hospital?”
&nb
sp; “No.”
Mumbling under his breath, Dominick stripped both of them and stepped into the shower. The emotional roller coaster took everything out of her. She was too tired to wash her hair so Dominick did it. Neither of them said a word as he bundled her into a robe and then got a frozen bag of vegetables, wrapped it in a towel and placed it on her face. She was trying to think of a way to make an escape when the doorbell rang.
Juliet sat up, overcome by panic. “I don’t want to see anyone. I’ll leave. They don’t have to pay me off. I—”
“Stay here,” Dominick barked and walked out of the room.
Juliet buried her aching face against her knees. God, she was a plague. No matter where she went, she trailed crap behind her like a cape. Kai tried to help her and was ostracized. She had to move out of Maile’s house in case Freddy tried to retaliate… What did she really have to offer anyone? She was living in Dominick’s house like a parasite. There was a ninety-nine percent chance that whoever was at the door was her problem, not his. Dominick liked his privacy and she brought all of her problems into his home.
Juliet was in the process of getting out of bed when he walked in. He pushed her back against the pillows.
“Who was at the door?” she asked cautiously.
“Brent and Scarlet.”
Juliet hid her face behind the bag of vegetables. “What did they want?”
“To talk to you. I told them no.”
She swallowed hard. “Thanks.” When he said nothing, she glanced at his rigid profile. “I’m sorry about all this.”
“All what?”
“My crap. You don’t deserve this.”
“And you do?” Dominick growled. “You’ve been carrying this burden since you were seventeen. It’s about damn time your siblings knew the truth. They’ve blamed you for years, called you a whore when you’re anything but. You didn’t break Annie’s heart. It was Gray’s betrayal of their marriage that pushed her over the edge. That’s not on you.”
Juliet said nothing.
“They’ll be back,” Dominick said.
“I shouldn’t have come back.”
“If you hadn’t, Callie would still be under Freddy’s thumb.”