Page 41 of Bound By Secrets

He relents, shoving me away from him and standing up from the floor. His chest is heaving, and his hands are still curved into fists as he glowers down at Fraser. He lifts his booted foot and kicks the perverted bastard one more time for good measure before he takes a few steps back from him.

“Fuck!” He shouts, his hands scrubbing his face in frustration as he storms outside the shed.

A scraping noise brings my attention back to Fraser, who’s attempting to loosen his bindings as he lies sprawled on the floor. I walk over and haul the chair up, causing him to groan as his body is forcefully yanked upwards as well. When he’s upright again, I check the ropes and tighten them to ensure he won’t be able to go anywhere whilst I go check on Johnny.

I walk outside to find Johnny leaning against his fence, grouchily saying goodbye into his phone before ending the call.

“Who was that?” I ask, coming to stand beside him.

“I called Connor. Kid’s probably confused as fuck because all I asked was if Callie was alright…” He trails off as he stares across the fields that surround his house. “Why didn’t any of ‘em tell me what’s been happening with her?” His dishevelled appearance pulls at my heartstrings a little.

The man has a heart of gold, and he cares deeply about Callie and the twins. From what I've heard and seen, he's always been there for them, especially when they were younger because Derek sure as hell wasn’t around much. I know it pains him that he can’t see them often and that he can’t protect them from everything Derek does.

He called me one night when I was sitting in a motel room about six months ago. He was slurring and kept dozing off every few minutes but he still managed to tell me about how much he loved all three of them. He was openly sobbing on the phone when he spoke about Clarissa and Crystal. He was devastated that he wasn’t able to be there watching Crystal grow. He also felt guilty after learning about everything Clarissa had gone through over the many years she’d been with Derek.

I place my hand on his shoulder and give it a firm squeeze. “Callie struggled to even tell me, Johnny. Don’t beat yourself up about it. You couldn’t have known. No one could have. She’s okay though. She’s strong. Plus, it’s time for us to get some revenge on her behalf, that is why I have Fraser here after all.” He turns to me and smirks, pulling me into him for an extremely quick embrace.

“Let’s go have some fun with this dirty mother fucker then.” He turns to walk back to the shed, but I grab his wrist and halt his movements.

“We need a confession. We need some proof of what he’s done to her all these years. It’s not going to be easy and we can’tincriminate ourselves so we need to be careful, but we need something.”

He scoffs and yanks his wrist from my hold.

“I’m not stupid, Ryker. I know what I’m doing. I’m also going to try and get him to give me some incriminating evidence about Derek. That way, I can give everything to Johnson, and then we can get ‘em all. Everyone will be free from all these secrets that have had us bound for so long.” I nod in agreement, and then we both make our way towards the shed.

Johnny paces back and forth in front of Fraser like a lion that’s circling its prey. Fraser watches him intently. He hasn’t spoken since Johnny’s been here, and although I’m thankful for it because he was infuriating with his goading words, we need him to talk so that we can get this over with.

After a few minutes of pacing, Johnny walks away from Fraser and towards the corner of the shed that’s shrouded in darkness. I hear the clanking of metal hitting metal, and it sends a shiver running down my spine as I imagine what he’s getting. Fraser’s eyes widen as he tries to turn around and see what Johnny’s doing, he can’t see and it seems to make him even more terrified.

“What’s wrong, Fraser? Do you not like feeling scared? Do you not like that you don’t know what’s about to happen to you?” I question, hoping for a reaction.

He faces me and the old bastard smirks, his whole demeanour changing as fear is overridden by his arrogance. I lift my gaze over his head and see a red light now aimed towards me, flickering. It’s time to get this pervert talking.

“Why did Derek decide to offer Callie to you?” I ask, genuinely curious because I don’t understand. He eyes me curiously and then laughs.

“You don’t know?” he queries. I raise a brow at him, waiting for him to continue. He chuckles again and then shakes his head.

“Before I answer anything, tell me how this is going to go. Am I going to die by the end of this little interrogation?”

“Depending on what you tell us.” Johnny snaps, striding over to where I’m standing with a chunky metal mallet in hand, swinging it back and forth beside him. He looks like a complete psycho and I kind of like it.

Fraser audibly gulps. “Okay. I’ll tell you what you want to know, and then you can let me go – no police either!” he says hurriedly, panic evident in his voice.

“We’ll consider it. Now answer my question. Why did Derek offer Callie to you?”

“He found out that she wasn’t his daughter. Said she owed him for all the years he’d paid for her shit, so he found a way for her to make him money.”

Johnny growls in anger, “So you paid for her?”

Fraser smirks again, his busted eyes glimmering with mirth as he observes us both. “Yep,” he says. “Was quite expensive considering I wanted exclusivity, but she was worth every single penny. Sweet girl.”

A roar of anger escapes me as I charge towards him and throw my fist into his face, the impact sending him and the metal chair crashing down onto the wooden floor again. He laughs humorlessly, a cold and manic laugh that causes the tension in my muscles to tighten.

“You sick fuck!” I shout, smashing my fist into his face one more time before clambering off of him. He turns his face to the side, spitting out blood and chuckles. His eyes slice over to mine despite the awkward angle, his smug face continuing to make my blood boil.

“You know, a couple of times she used to call out your name as if she was begging for you to help her,” he says, his voice lowand cunning. My jaw clamps shut as my teeth grind together. My heart cracks a little at his statement, but I try not to let it show on my face, knowing he wants to get a reaction out of me.

“After the first time when she’d attempted to stab me, we didn’t trust her.” Johnny chuckles, and I feel myself smirk, making Fraser pause for a moment. “We drugged her after that for the first month or so. Every time, she was limp, and she kept passing out, but that girl still fought. When she was conscious, she would weakly try and push me off, begging me to stop, and when I didn’t listen, that’s when she’d call out for you.”

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