Page 24 of To Have and to Hold

I shoved my hands in my pockets to stop myself strangling the guy when he rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath like a child, before shoving between us and shutting the door. “Well, come the fuck on then,” he said, turning and marching off.

Charlie made eye contact and shook his head, his nostrils flared and jaw tense. But we followed the man, and I wondered who he was. A guard? A gang member? What the fuck did Rafe even call his little crew? I’d never paid attention. He had a close group of men around him, but their roles weren’t obvious. HadCharlie not got as close as he made out? He didn't seem to know this man.

Les didn’t wait for us to keep up with him, turning corners at speed. But us Lewis men had long fucking legs, and we kept up with ease. I wanted to ask Charlie more about what the fuck he'd been doing when he'd snuck away, because it was damn bloody clear he hadn't been coming here.

“Where do you think she is?” I asked him instead, banking the interrogation for later, thinking of Violet, somewhere close, in this house.

He looked at me, confused for a flicker, before it dawned on him at the same moment it did me. Damn, he wasn’t considering her at all. Like with dad, her job was done to him. She was a pawn placed. “I don’t fucking know, Theo,” Charlie said, slowing as we reached a final hallway. “Focus on the task at hand, please.”

I had no idea what that was. But I was about to find out. We’d finished our little tour of Rafael’s vast house in what appeared to be an annex, the wealth more ostentatious than our own, with a grand staircase filling the foyer and half a dozen statues of people I didn’t recognize framed with lighting. The colors were heavy, lux, dark, overbearing. For someone that had never been in this environment, it would be intimidating. But Charlie and I were right at home amongst the greed and the gloom. A stranger with no information would never know who resided here, the power he held over people, the cult of buffoons that followed him.

I craned my neck as we moved through the corridors, trying to spot any sign of Violet, but she was a ghost. Probably locked away somewhere to be wheeled out at Rafe’s pleasure. Other members of staff flitted about, men and women, and I stared at them, hoping to get a reaction, a clue of Violet’s health. I wasn’t scared for her life, not yet, but that was about the only thing outof bounds with their boss right now. It wouldn’t stay that way. Her safety would be at risk soon enough. I fought the urge to follow the women, to beg them to tell me where Violet was, if she was with them or with Rafe.

My eyes lingered on a gold-framed mirror, so loud and intricate it would make my mother scowl. He liked it garish, she would cringe at the over the top decor. Not at him raping her daughter, though. Again, par for the fucking course, that was. That bitterness in my gut clawed at my insides, and I took a deep breath.

“You look like you’re going to be sick,” Charlie noted, his voice low, no sympathy.

“Nah,” I replied, biting back that sharp sting in my neck. It was pure anger. “Something just stinks.”

Charlie looked at me like I was nuts, but then Les came to a stop by an open door, turning to face us with a stroppy eyebrow raise. Keeping his eyes on us, he raised his hand to knock on the door, but paused when a voice drifted out.

“…she’ll be impregnated soon enough and we can move things along. I need that fucking heir.” I heard Rafe say with a laugh in his throat, and I stilled. His bitter voice sounded from the room, the guffaw of another man sounding too. No. Fuck no. I mean, I knew it, that it was the plan, but fuck…

“Hang on,” Les said, looking like he was leaning in to listen more, a hint of a smirk on his face.

A voice I didn’t recognize spoke. “I bet she’s a great fuck, submissive, tight—”

“—Her virgin cunt was so fucking tight I thought I was going to die, and when she cried? Those tears made the best lubrication, I fucking swear...”

Les snorted a laugh, didn’t try to hide it, and knocked on the door.

“Yes?” Rafe called, responding to the knock.

Les moved to push into the room, but paused, looking at us both. “He’s not wrong, you know, about that tight pussy.” He squeezed his crotch. “I’m glad he likes to share.” Then he slipped into the office, leaving me with steam coming out my ears and Charlie scoffing.

“Fucking disrespectful prick,” Charlie spat, but more like he was affronted at the insult to him, not the horror he’d shared about our sister.

“We need to get her out,” I blurted without thought, turning to him with wide eyes. Ready to kill. I whirled on Charlie, raging. “Did you hear that?” I whisper yelled at him, breathing through my nose like a bull. He’d heard it, but the irritation he felt was only the disrespect. No concern for Violet’s wellbeing. Now to see if he’d hide that fact. “Did you hear that shit? He’s going to fuck a baby into oureighteen-year-old sister, and that’s nothing to say ofmoving things along. For fuck’s sake, Charlie. We need to help her. And that’s not even mentioning Les’s fucking lies.”

Charlie looked one second from rolling his eyes. “It’s what she’s here for, Theo,” he started again, holding up a hand when I opened my mouth to bite back at him. “If she’s pregnant, he won’t hurt her. Let it happen. She’ll be safe while she’s carrying his baby.” Then he scoffed a small laugh. “For fuck’s sake, Theo, we were raised the same way. Why can’t you see this is for the best? Let it go.”

“No.”

“No?”

“No. I won’t.” I shook my head and stepped away from him, appalled at his words, his behavior, clenching my fists so I didn’t punch him again. He was still nursing his injuries from when I’d beaten the shit out of him days ago, and he scowled at me when he saw my tension.

“Fuck,” he said. “I never thought you’d be the aggressive one, Theo.” He sounded almost sad. “This is a new side of you and I don’t fucking like it. It’s going to get you killed.”

“Yeah, well, they’re fucking with Vi, and I don’t like that.” I was going round in circles, begging and pleading with everyone I could and getting nowhere. A pathetic muppet with their hand up my ass.

He muttered, “You never cared before.”

I was never confronted with it before. It had been withheld from me. Violet never told me in our text messages what was happening, what was planned. I didn’t fuckingknow.I thought she was being groomed to be a wife, not a damned sex slave. I thought Mum and Dad gave a shit about her wellbeing. I thought… Immaturity and pig-headedness had kept the worst of my family out of my line of sight until recently. Not even Connor told me what they had planned for her. I hadn’t connected the dots, and I was a fucking idiot—

Les was back at the door, holding it open for us, his beady little eyes darting between us. “Come in then,” he said, interrupting my spiral, yanking me from dark thoughts. I was losing myself, I knew that, but things had to change.

Charlie and I entered Rafe’s office and Les shut the door behind us, staying in the hall. Or fucking off to whatever pit that man came from. I didn’t care.

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