Page 30 of The Tower

Her story makes my chest tighten, anger fueling me as I think about how unfair all this was. Her own family abandoned her, sending her away all by herself and not even offering comfort after she had to go through the traumatic experience of losing her child in the womb.

"What about the father?" I want to know. "The boy who got you pregnant?"

She lets out a dark laugh, shaking her head next to me.

"Oh, I don't think he ever found out about it," she says. "It was just a fling; one of many I had at the time. I was irresponsible, and I never told him because I knew we wouldn't be the child's parents, no matter what."

She sighs, shifting next to me, her naked skin caressing mine and sending another spark of lust down my spine. It's just a moment, a simple brush of skin against skin, but it brings back the images from just a few minutes ago when she exploded beneath me. Her eyes rolling back into her head as she came on my cock, looking so utterly divine and at peace as she climaxed.

And that smile at the end. That happy smile.

I want to see it again. Soon.

"I told you, I wasn't a good girl," she says, cutting off my lust-filled train of thought. "I was an attention seeker, and since my family didn't deliver, I turned to boys. Lots and lots of boys."

"That doesn't make you a bad person," I add for consideration.

"It did in my family's eyes," she says. "But at least it made them aware I existed."

"They are the last people to judge."

I bite my tongue, but it's too late. The words slipped out, and once again, there's no way of taking them back.

Libby turns to me, and I'm certain she's carrying that same questioning look on her pretty face that I've seen so many times by now.

"What makes you say that?" she asks.

Oh, fuck it.I'm tired of this. Libby has been living a lie all her life, and she has suffered enough as a result.

All because of them.

"Your family isn't exactly as picture-perfect as they make you believe, Libby," I say, approaching the matter carefully. "We wouldn't be after them if that was the case."

Libby doesn't say a word in response, but I can feel her body stiffen as if she was preparing for something to hit her. A painful truth, raining down on her like a spate of hitting blows.

"I know," she whispers eventually, much to my surprise. "Or well, I didn't know, but I kind of suspected something. There were so many deaths, so many rumors whispered at funerals, so many secrets."

She stops, swallowing hard before she asks, "Was that all you? Did you guys kill them? Any of them? My grandparents? My aunt who died a few years back? My... parents?"

I turn around to her, supporting myself on my elbow while carefully placing my other hand on her heaving chest. She's trembling, afraid to hear answers that may hurt even more than not knowing at all.

"Not me personally, but yes, the people I work for," I tell her truthfully. "The Abbott family has a long history of being a part of the most influential crime syndicate in the area. There have been a few, but powerful nonetheless, involved in fraud, thievery, and even complicity to murder, if you count the many times they helped factories cover up chemical leaks that led to the deaths of many employees."

"But-but…" Libby stutters. "All those fundraisers they organized? My aunt did so much good in the family name."

I huff in disgust. "That's what she wanted everyone to believe. It's one of the Abbott's most commonly used frauds. Taking advantage of other people's goodwill, spreading lies and building on false hopes. They faked numbers and bribed the right people to direct most of the proceedings away from those who were promised to receive them."

A few moments of tense silence follow as Libby lies next to me, stiff and breathing heavily. I expected her to cry, to yell at me that it was all a lie and she doesn't believe a word of what I'm saying.

But nothing of the sort happens. She just lies there, letting the ugly truth wash over her. And when she finally speaks, she surprises me once again.

"I'm… not even shocked," she says, sounding bitter. "After what they did to me, how they treated me all my life even though I was the child of my aunt's brother. They were never a family to me; they never treated me as such."

She quivers, trying to hold herself together but unable to keep the tears from coming.

"After what my uncle did to me?" she adds. "He was willing to kill me, throwing me in your arms to save his own ass. No half-decent person would ever do that to anyone, let alone their own kin."

I nod along, my hand traveling along the untouched side of her torso, caressing the soft skin as I try to comfort her.

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