Page 25 of Hawk
“All I did was give you the tools to save yourself. And saving Hailey wasn’t on me,” I remarked, and it was her turn to offer a smile.
“I may have been the one to kill that bitch who allowed those men to hurt Hailey, but without you, I wouldn’t have been in the position to do anything. Thank you.”
“It was you who killed Melody?” I asked with more than a little pride in my voice.
She leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest as she replied, “Her name wasn’t Melody, but to answer your question, yes. I took great pleasure in watching her die. And I’ll do the same to anyone who thinks they can hurt Hailey and get away with it.”
I knew she was telling the truth and I had to wonder, who else has she killed and what else has she done to ensure Hailey was safe?
And then I questioned, if she believes Devlin or Lucian, who I refuse to speak about at her insistence, was to hurt Hailey, would they be saved from her wrath, or would they die like the rest who thought it was okay to hurt her daughter?
Heaven help the madman if he crosses his little sister.
Chapter 9
Stella
Ididn’t know why Ibelieved Hawkins—or Hawk, as his vest said—but I did. He was kind to me when I needed it, gave me the literal knife I used to save myself from years of torture, and took me away before anyone knew what I had done. He crisscrossed the country to get me to my redeemer, and from all indications, was a good friend to my daughter.
My daughter.
I never thought I would have the chance to have any kind of relationship with Hailey, and now he was offering me everything I’d ever wanted but was afraid to go after. The only thing I wasn’t sure of was what he said about my brother. It wasn’t that I thought he was lying, but I knew how manipulative my father was, and I feared my brother wasn’t much better.
Hawkins seemed a little shocked when I admitted to killing that bitch, but after I discovered what she had put Hailey through, and what the plans were for her, I knew she had to die. She was the second person I’d killed, but she was far from the last. Anyone who was even remotely connected to Hailey was silenced before they could drag her into their depravity.
“Can I ask you something?” he inquired, and I gave him a silent nod.
Whatever he wanted to know, I would tell him. I didn’t discuss my past with many people, but he saw me at my worst and delivered me to those who could make me better. He always seemed like a good man, and I wanted to be as honest with him as he appeared to be with me.
“If her name wasn’t Melody, what was it? How did she end up with Hailey when . . .”
He let the sentence die, not wanting to say the fateful words that would reveal the painful truth.
“When my father kidnapped me and delivered me back to the devil himself?” He didn’t need to say it because I’d told him about the betrayal during our long trip away from hell. “She was one of the girls in the whorehouse, and when we were liberated, she and I became roommates. She was always a bitch to me and Hailey, and I never understood why. After I was returned to Adrik, I questioned who she was and why she remained free.” I swallowed heavily before I admitted. “That’s when he told me who she was. Her real name was Alyona Volkovs, and she was Adrik’s younger sister. The night my father sold me to him, the first night that he . . . she was one of the other girls there. It was the night the daughters of the families were offered up as brides to the other families. She wasn’t a good wife to her husband and her punishment was to work in her brother’s brothel to pay off her ‘debt’. She blamed me for her predicament and when my father came to her, offering her a way out, she took it.”
I felt the anger building all over again and wished I could’ve tortured her before she died, like her brother had done to me, like she had done to Hailey. “She agreed to keep Hailey and train her to be a good wife,” I spat, and I could feel the anger rolling off Hawkins. “Adrik believed my father when he said Hailey wasn’t his daughter, so he had no problem leaving her with his cunt of a sister. She took her anger and frustration out on Hailey and subjected her to horrors that I can’t imagine a little girl living through.”
