Page 56 of Hold Me Before You Go

The woman didn’t look at any of us as she began speaking again. “I’m sure you know that we lost Amy when she was only ten years old.”

We said nothing.

“It was a spring morning,” she began softly. “Robert was at the end of his junior year of high school, Brandon his sophomore year. Brandon had left for morning football practice, and Robert was barely ever home. He was always out, running around with Monica or at school. When he did come home, it was late, and all of us were already in bed. Brandon found a place on the football team and trained for it all year round. He was trying to get a football scholarship. Anyways, that morning, I’d made Amy pancakes and went to wake her up…” A choked sob left Donna then, and she reached for a tissue, dabbing her eyes. “I opened her door and called her name, but she didn’t stir like she normally would.”

A sound came from Hayes then, and Donna was blubbering again.

“S-she was dead, and the week before, she had been sick with a nasty case of the flu. Her autopsy report came back clean, andfor the longest time, my husband and I assumed she passed from a complication.”

“But?” Dominic pressed after ten seconds.

“Brandon told me the truth,” she whispered as she looked up to me. “He told me the truth and I didn’t believe him. He told me Robert was a monster. Robert thought Amy was a mistake and that she needed to be corrected. Brandon told me Robert killed her, smothered her with a pillow. Brandon told me he’d gotten up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and saw Amy’s door open. He saw Robert standing over her, holding a pillow over her face. He said that she was kicking and trying to fight. When I asked him why he didn’t try to save her, his response chilled me to the bone. He told me he didn’t want his brother to kill him too.”

A chill settled over the room as my gut twisted.

“Why didn’t you report this to the police?” I clipped harshly, not having any sympathy for her.

She glared at me. “Robert’s my son.”

“And Amy was your fucking daughter,” I shot back. “Or did you not care for your other two children? Hm?"

She said nothing, looking away as she wiped one of her tears.

“Grayson,” Hayes warned.

“Keep going, Donna,” Dominic ordered coldly.

Over the next few minutes, Donna’s story turned into an actual nightmare, and by the time she was done, Robert Hale wasn’t only just Carrie’s monster, but a monster to the entire Midwest.

Carrie wasn’t just married to an abusive, sexiest asshole.

Carrie had been married to a serial killer.

Chapter Fourteen

Carrie

“Mags?” I called from my spot on the couch, looking at him. He was standing in front of one of the windows, staring out into the blizzard, the wind howling around us.

Denver, Mason, and Harmony had just left a few minutes ago.

Apparently, everyone here knew who Grayson was, not just Mags.

When my identity was out in the open, Denver had bitten off a curse, a new sense of rage oozing from him. I could feel it in the air, and I knew right then that Denver Langston wasn’t a man tomess with. Mason looked like he wanted to kill something, and when I looked over to Harmony, she dropped down to her knees in front of me with tears in her eyes and told me this wasn’t how we were supposed to meet.

I was shocked that they knew who I was, even more so when they mentioned Astoria.

Grayson had planned on taking me here, to Hallow Ranch, this summer to meet Mags and everyone. He and Mags had been making plans since Grayson came back to Astoria. At this news, I felt warm all over and, in that moment, I missed Grayson more than I ever had.

When I asked them how long I’d been gone, all four of them stared at me wide-eyed, looks of horror painted on Mason and Harmony’s faces and looks of fury on Denver and Mags.

I’d been gone for four days, now almost five.

To be quite honest, it felt like two weeks.

Then, Denver began drilling me with questions, Mason following suit all while Mags remained silent, staring at me like I’d grown a second head. Maybe I wasn’t what he was expecting, or maybe he was shocked his best friend’s lover had been kidnapped and then escaped.

Who knows?

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