Page 79 of Repluse

Logan’s up and sliding across the table towards me. Sam catches him by the hair and smashes his head into the table. Chairs tip back as everyone scrambles to stand and get out of the way.

“In your fucking seat, country boy,” Sam grits out with a yank on Logan’s hair as blood drips from his nose and a cut on his lip.

Giving it one last tug, Sam lets him go. Logan’s team help him back across the table into his seat and hand him a tissue as Sam takes his seat next to me.

“Damn, baby. That was fucking hot. Wasn’t that hot, Frankie?” I say, my voice a loud whisper.

“Fire,” Frankie says beside me.

“Thanks, guys,” Sam responds with a wink.

After everyone settles, I speak. “Twenty-five percent.”

Logan frowns.

“You can keep the family home. I never want to go near that place again. I want twenty-five percent of everything,andI want another twenty-five percent for Zach.I also want to know where Ella is,andI”

“Erm, Mils?” Sam interrupts. “That was another ‘oops’ we forgot to tell you about. Ella and Marcie are at Frankie’s apartment. We planned on surprising you this morning, but then everything happened the way it did last night, and?—”

“Oops?” I ask.

“Pretty much,” he replies with a nod.

My head spins with relief at the knowledge Ella and Marcie are safe. I close my eyes, not knowing how I’m ever going to beable to thank the boys for all they’ve done but knowing I’ll be eternally grateful they came into my life.

We spendan hour negotiating back and forth, with Logan refusing to settle on anything. It’s Saturday evening. We’ve all had enough, so we decide to leave it to the lawyers to work things out between them over the coming weeks.

I feel wired but exhausted, numb, but like every single one of my nerve endings is raw and exposed. As we leave the office, I stop next to where Logan sits and ask, “Why’d you marry me? If you like the things you like, and you like doing them with Alice, why’d you marry me?”

Leaning back in his chair, with his legs spread wide, and elbows resting on the arms, he looks up at me with narrowed eyes. “You were our guarantee,” he sneers.

“What?” I scowl.

“The rest moved away. Your sister and your brothers weren’t even worth worrying about, butyou… In case she ever came back, ever made threats, or ever asked for more, you were our guarantee. We thought you’d be pregnant by now. Thought we’d have extra security.”

The reality of it all hits me at the same time it must hit Sam and Frankie, because I feel them shift beside me.

“Fuck me,” Frankie almost growls.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Sam hisses.

“You knew?” I whisper. “You knew what he did to my mum?”

“Yep,” Logan replies with a grin. “Didn’t know she had a bastard kid but knew about her lies.”

I take a step back. “Her lies?” I question.

“Yeah, her fucking lies. The old man went mad when I first told him I wanted to marry you. Then he told me about your mum throwing herself at him and making up a lie about him raping her. He said he paid her off and she left town. Eventually,he decided you’d be good insurance in case she ever came back demanding more.”

“But she’s had dementia for years. She couldn’t tell anyone anything.”

“But before she did, she contacted Dad and told him she’d left a letter explaining everything. Upon her death, it’d be presented to you kids.”

“But you never found it,” I state, remembering what Amanda told me about the tin going missing between the hospital and the care home for a couple of weeks.

Logan shakes his head. “We put a private investigation company on to it. There was nothing in her possessions, and no trace of anything being recorded with a law firm, so we assumed she’d lied.”

“And they never found the letter? They never found out about Zach?”

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