Page 140 of Three Stepbrothers Save Christmas

“Of course, anything else I need to be aware of?” Travis asks as he helps her to place the safe back in the bag he brought it in. Trish shakes her head and turns her attention back to me.

“I am so sorry I couldn’t protect you. I tried so hard, but no one would listen to me, and the more I tried to tell you, the less you came. I knew the best thing to do was be quiet and watch from the sidelines. At least that way, you were still coming, and I could see for myself that you were okay.”

I know that must have been so hard for her. She did try to tell me so many things over the years, but I truly believed she was paranoid and suffering a brain injury. I never questioned it because I believed the doctor and my dad.

“We will get you out of here,” I promise as I hug her. “We will come up with a plan of action and get you out as quickly as possible.”

“Concentrate on getting your head around everything. I’m okay for the time being. I have it easy here now I stopped fighting them. Are you staying at the house?”

I shake my head as Travis tells her we are at his but will be looking for a house together.

“Take the house; it’s yours anyway. Your mum and her men built that house for them. She wanted it to be their forever home, so make it yours. It has everything you could need, including a room each.”

I promise her I will think about it as we all stand and say our goodbyes, knowing that the visiting times will be over soon.

Walking out of the room Travis places his arm around my shoulder and guides me out of the building, and towards the car.

“You okay, Sweetheart?” he asks as he opens my door for me. I nod as I lean up against him. He places the bag on the floor before wrapping me in his arms. “Do you want to go home or for a drive? Whatever you want, I’m here for it.”

“I want to go home. I’m tired, and my head hurts.” I admit as my head pounds from all the information my auntie has just added to the ever-growing pile of shit my father has left me to deal with. Travis kisses my head before stepping back from me.

“Let’s get you back to the guys. I need to check they haven’t burnt the house down whilst we’ve been gone,” he smiles as he closes the door once I’m safely inside. I watch as he walks to the trunk and places the bag in it before jumping behind the wheel.

“Thank you,” I whisper as I watch him putting his seatbelt on.

“What for?” he asks, frowning.

“For loving me,” I reply. Travis takes my hand and presses a kiss to my knuckles.

“Falling in love with you was the best thing that ever happened to me, and I promise I will never leave you like the guys left your mum. You are stuck with me forever, if you like it or not,” he winks at me as I laugh.

“I like that, a lot.” I reply as I kiss him once. “And I’m not going anywhere either.”

71

Travis

A knocking at my bedroom door, pulls me out of Henrys journal.

“What?” I know it will be one of my brothers, as Verity doesn’t knock before entering anywhere.

“Thought I would let you know dinner is nearly ready,” Ryan answers as he walks in. “How’s it going?” he asks, nodding to the diary in my hand.

“Trish wasn’t lying when she said it was best for Verity not to read this first. That man had a dark side to him. Listen to this.

“Today, she almost caught me. I waited for them all to go out to work and snuck into the house like I always do, knowing she would be in the dance studio she built herself. Watching her move through the hole I created in the wall isn’t enough anymore. I need to be able to watch her from all angles. She moves like a goddess; calling her anything else would be an insult. Today she wore a long flowing white dress which only heightened her angelic appearance. She moves with such grace and poise, it makes it impossible not to want her. Just being within a short distance of her I’m hard as a rock. I couldn’t stop myself from taking myself in my hand and pleasuring myself as I watched her move around the studio. The more she moved, the faster I pumped my cock, wishing it was the heaven between her legs I was fucking and not my hand.”

“Wow! Okay, I can’t listen to it anymore. What the fuck was wrong with him?” Ryan curses as he scrunches up his face.

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t make any sense. He really was obsessed with her, and when he wasn’t in the States he was stalking her constantly. He kept a note of everything she did. Some pages are just him tracking her. ‘She went to the shops and brought bread and milk. Then met with her sister for a walk around the park before going home and cooking some exotic dish.’ I don’t think this is the only notebook, because it’s full and I can’t imagine he just stopped once he got rid of the others.” I rub my face as I’m tired, it’s been a crazy couple of weeks and tomorrow I really do plan on just trying to relax, even for just a little bit.

“If he was so obsessed with her, why did he keep going back to the States when he finally had her?” Ryan asks the big question that’s been burning on my mind too. Which is why I want to find the other journals.

“The only thing I can think of without asking Nicholson straight is that he was in some kind of deal with him that meant he had to go. From what I’ve read of the notes Trish and Miriam passed to each other and what Verity has told me, he didn’t use to go for long. It wasn’t until Verity started getting older and Miriam became ill that he started going for a couple of weeks at a time. Before then, it was a week there and three weeks here. By the time she died it was two weeks there two here.”

“What was it by the end? One week here, three months there?” Ryan asks through gritted teeth.

“He wasn’t even here a week. Verity would be lucky if he spent more than a full day with her.” I lean back against the headboard as Ryan's jaw clenches.

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