Page 38 of Claimed
Bryn scoffed and smirked. “Jasper’s a rare bird in many ways. He had a tough upbringing. Our father was a monster, and he tried to make Jasper the same kind of fiend he was, but it didn’t take. I think it was because although Amelia was shitty to me, Asher, andSpencer, she treated Jasper as if he was hers.”
“Maybe he was,” Katie said.
Bryn’s body stiffened. Again, Katie had said something that made a lot of sense, but Bryn wouldn’t let herself believe it was true.
“That guy, your father… my father…” Katie muttered the last part of that. She cleared her throat and readjusted in her seat. “He liked to fuck young girls. Did you knowthat?”
Bryn’s mouth was caught open. Her mind raced back to that rank scent in the dark room behind the cabinet. She recalled her father’s fingers fondling her anthill-sized tits. Katie watched her, and Bryn felt it was time to admit the truth to herself.
She nodded. “I knew,” Bryn whispered. “He never touched Amelia sexually or otherwise. She was fucking the butler, Nigel. He’sstill around.”
Katie snarled. “Yeah, Arthur was vile.”
“Randolph. That was his name.”
Katie’s disturbed gaze fell on her lap. “Yeah, that’s what I’ve been told.”
Then Bryn remembered something. “You said ‘Arthurs,’ didn’t you?”
Katie nodded. “There were two guys who called themselves Arthur.”
Bryn asked Katie to wait as she rushed to her room to get thecell phone that she had snuck onto the compound. When Bryn returned to the room, holding the device, Katie gasped.
“Jasper didn’t take that away from you?” Katie asked.
Bryn smirked as she performed an Internet search. “I hid it in my hair.” She shook her head. “I wore a chignon.”
Katie smiled at her. She seemed impressed.
Bryn showed her a photo of Arthur Valentine.“Have you ever seen this guy before?”
Katie took the phone from Bryn. She gasped as her eyes expanded. “Yes, that’s one of the Arthurs.”
Bryn threw up her hands in excitement. “Shit, Katie. We have him. We fucking have him.”
Katie wrinkled her eyebrows as if she were beyond confused. Bryn explained who Arthur Valentine was.
“But he was with your—I mean our—father,”Katie said.
“I don’t give a fuck. Do you?”
“No,” Katie said, sounding offended. Then Katie held up the device. “But can you use this to call someone?”
Bryn regarded her new sister shrewdly. “Zach?”
“Yes.”
“Absolutely,” Bryn replied.
After that call to Zach, everything changed so swiftly.
The newsof Katie and who she was had somehow spread through the house like wildfire after lab technicians arrived to draw her blood. It was just like Jasper to be thorough no matter how impersonal things felt. After Katie’s blood was drawn, Spencer, who had been working in one of the offices, introduced himself to her. Ever since their father died, his wholedemeanor had changed, becoming more subdued, as if he was taking a stab at behaving more like an adult. Bryn was certain the new him wouldn’t stick around for long.
Once Zach knew where Katie was, he wanted to be with her. Bryn assured Katie that when Jasper returned, he would definitely bring her boyfriend to the compound. Then Dale came upstairs to meet Katie. He was blown away by thefact that Asher, Katie, and Bryn were triplets. He told them an interesting story about three brothers who had discovered they were triplets, but before he could finish it, Asher and Gina had come to Katie’s room.
When Gina learned that Holly was able to find the house in Chattanooga from her lead, she was able to give them the name of a madam who supplied the girls to houses like the oneKatie had grown up in.
“That old bastard,” Asher hissed. “I’m glad he’s dead.”
