Page 20 of To Have and to Hold

"To our predecessors and the world they created for us," he spoke, and in unison, all his disciples copied.

Again, my attention narrowed in on Violet, the slightest whimper from her mouth as she lifted and lowered her arm, returning the barely sipped juice to the table. She’d hurt her side, I was sure of it. Maybe even broken a rib or two from the way she was favoring herself. The wrist, the pain, her inability to sit right. I didn’t want to imagine what he’d done to her. But I let myself, I let the worst thoughts in, negligible compared to her, but for a beat, I let myself suffer it.

There was no way I could leave her with him. Not a fucking chance was that monster going to destroy my sister. I had to get her alone, figure out a plan, and get us the fuck out. Run away, we needed to run away. Steal something, get some cash and—

“Theodore?” Father hissed, his tone harsh enough to let me know this was not the first time he’d repeated my name. I was tense, I realized, squeezing the champagne flute so tight the glass squeaked.

“Apologies, I was miles away,” I said, forcing myself to relax. But everyone was watching me, curious. The brothers at the door had moved to flank Rafe, and both observed me with open hostility. Father looked angry, as did Rafe. Charlie was too hungover to care, and Rafe’s family all watched with curiosity, eating their food, their gazes not straying from the tension on this side of the table. Violet’s eyes stayed cast down, almost as if she was asleep, bracing herself through every painful breath.

“I was just asking when you would be returning to Chicago?” Father’s voice was cold and flat, telling me everything I needed to know in that short sentence. He wouldn’t let me stay. I was his least favorite child. Based on the way I lay ignored, useless unless they required someone’s hands getting dirty, my life wasa chore to him. Charlie was his heir, I was the spare. The girls — women — had uses between their legs.

My mind wandered again to an image of Violet, her thighs shaking, her eyes wide as my hand pressed into her mouth while she shuddered through an orgasm. Fuck. I wanted to bring that feeling back for her. Give her something good, loving. Even if it was the wrong kind of love from me, going deeper than familial, I ached to make her feel it. I loved her, the woman beside me, my sister, the fucking bride, the wife of the absolute cunt at the head of the table. As a sister, as a lover, as something else entirely? I loved her. I had to do more to stay, discover another way.

“Soon,” I replied. “I was going to spend a little more time with Charlie before I left.” I looked at my big brother, to find him peering up from between his hands in suspicious surprise. He knew how much I despised him. I smiled at him, harsh and in warning, like a shark, then dragged my gaze over to my brother-in-law, flashing my teeth in what I hoped was a passable grin. He didn’t bother returning it, glaring like his lackeys behind him.

“You enjoy it here?” Rafe asked, and for a split second, his eyes flitted to his wife.

“Love it.”

“Perfect,” he replied, and bitter icicles wrapped around my gut. He stared me down hard for a beat longer than necessary, like he was assessing me, or could dig into my memories and see what I’d done to his precious virgin wife before he’d got his hands on her.

I’d never wanted to kill someone as much as I did him. But then I’d never been one to fuck my sister before, either. This wedding was changing us all. I needed to end this fucker.

Chapter 12

Theo

“Youhavetoletme come,” I begged Charlie, chasing him around his hotel room as he packed up, all obligations complete. A maid had already done it this morning, but he yanked it all out the second she left, repacking to his liking. Persnickety fucker. “I don’t like him, Charlie,” I whispered harshly, trying not to roll my eyes at how ridiculous my brother was, clawing at control when he had none. He was our father’s bitch in every way. Like rolling his socks rather than folding them would make him feel any fucking better about himself.

“It’s not up to me,” Charlie said, yet again, waving his hand in my direction as if to dismiss me. “You know that. Talk to father.”

“I already did that!” I yelled, then winced and lowered my voice. This hotel was full with all the wedding guests, everyone packing and leaving and filling the corridors. Anyone could pass by and overhear me. But fuck, the rage in me was boiling hot. Ihated even being this far from Violet, let alone another fucking state. “I already did,” I repeated, lower. “The fucker said no.”

“Then the answer is a firm fucking no, isn’t it?” Charlie responded, not looking at me, continuing to roll his stupid socks into neat and tidy tubes like he was some precious little housewife with no brain cells and all the time in the world.

“He’d never agree with no good reason.” I flopped onto Charlie’s well made bed, disturbing his folded laundry. “Give him a reason to need me. Chicago will be fine without me. Please, Charlie.” I clenched my fists, trying to keep a level head as I stared up at the ceiling. “We all know Chicago is a dud’s job. Anyone could do it. Amaryllis could do it. A fucking dachshund could.”

“A little sausage dog could shoot wastes of space at point blank and not get caught by the cops?” Charlie asked, stopping what he was doing to glare down at me.

“Yep,” I said, doubling down. Knowing I was driving him crazy and not caring one lick.

Charlie stared at me, looking down, studying like he might figure out all my secrets through my skin. But there was no heat behind his eyes. He was just as fucking hungover as the rest of the family and in no mood to travel or argue with his dogged younger brother. “Why?” he asked. “Explain to me why, and I’ll consider it. I could need an assistant.”

My jaw clenched, lips squeezed together. I pretended, for just a moment, to kill the man. God, I hated him. I couldn’t tell him why. Not really. Couldn’t tell him I’d discovered something dark about myself between our sister’s thighs and now I had to murder her new husband. That I was more protective than I should be, that I’d been actively betraying the family for years and couldn’t bear to wait a second longer to blow it all to shit.

“Theo,” Charlie implored, though it was clear he was getting even more fed up. He rubbed his temples just like our father did,and paused his packing to gulp from a bottle of water discarded on the bedside table.

I sat up and ducked my head, trying to think of the best way to get him on side. “He’s going to hurt her,” I muttered, attempting to manage the anguish in my voice. It was real. I wanted him to hear it, but not too much. “Kill her, even. She… she came to me yesterday, begged for help…” I imagined murdering my brother as I fought for a way to make him see reason.

Charlie let out a long, slow sigh through his nose, and sat down next to me, kicking his suitcase to the floor with a loud thunk. “Anyone at breakfast could tell he was already getting started on a fun little mission to hurt her, starve her or whatever the fuck he wants. But it’s the way of things, Theo. It’s her purpose.”

“Her purpose is to be beaten and killed? Starved? That’s acceptable to you?” I asked, turning to him in shock. He was built in dad’s image, sure, but to be so cold? Already, after only a few years deep in the business? Ice washed over me at his blase expression.

He shrugged, though he did look bashful about it. “It’s the way. It’s what the other two will be in for, too. It advances our family. The connection we now have with Rafe is worth her suffering.” He paused. “And it’s not just being beaten, killed, it’s making a baby or three for the man. Who cares about her wellbeing?” He shrugged again and pulled a face of mild disgust.

My mouth fell open.

“Those three girls were a boon to the family name. No one wants to buy a big, bulky man, but they sure fucking will spend their money, their businesses, on petite little pussies they can destroy. Especially if they come with a powerful blood-line attached.”

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