Page 115 of Roots of the Wicked

“Chase,” I whispered, appalled by the impact of his revelation. I was flooded with the same depth of hatred for James as I had felt for my mother. The tears standing in Chase’s eyes crushed my heart, but I realize they weren’t tears of sadness, they represented the blinding hatred he fought to keep under control.

“I’m so sorry that happened to you, Chase. And that you grew up with this colossal asshole.” My grip on him had grown so tight my hand shook from the force of the squeeze.

“It’s okay,” he whispered. “They both died horribly when they got ahold of the wrong teen boy.”

All eyes landed on James who showed no remorse for how he had hurt everyone, especially Chase. Amanda had even quieted and relaxed enough, that TK allowed her enough room to twist her neck to get a look at James.

“Son, I thought you understood that every decision I made on your behalf was to make you stronger. As far as you and Jax, I thought breaking you two up early on would do the trick in keeping you apart. I was keeping you both from making a mistake.”

This mother fucker was talking like his son hadn’t just called him out for pimping him out as a sex slave when he was a teen. What kind of fucking devil was James? He just kept right on with his explanation, like his words alone were all it took to smooth things over.

“Son, love is nothing but a fallacy that people foolishly convince themselves is real. I give the two of you six to eight months, max. Why go through the stress of maintaining a relationship that is doomed to fail anyway?”

Chase’s laugh was a deep rumble that shook his chest. Blessedly, Amanda remained quiet behind us. I had broken several of my nails attempting to jump out of her car until the crazy bitch pulled that gun on me. I aimed my broken nails at James when he twisted his mouth, preparing to feed Chase more bullshit. I was sick of listening to him.

“I’m calling my father. See how smug you’ll be when Alexander Saint-Pierre gets a hold of your raggedy broke down ass. Your money can’t save you from everything.”

“Jax,” TK called, but the raw fury coursing through me stopped me from answering him. “Jax!” TK yelled, yanking my attention from the asshole I wanted to kill.

“Please don’t get your father involved in this.” The stress in his pinched gaze, and the desperation in his tone wasn’t missed.

“What the hell do you know about my father?” My gaze was stuck on his face. TK, for the first time, appeared to struggle with what he had to say.

“TK!” My loud shout made my nails sank deeper into Chase’s arm.

“He’s never revealed, why, to any of us, but an order from Alexander Saint-Pierre is always followed. And it’s not money. We’re not paid monetarily. We’re paid with training. There are people that would kill to work under your father, taking on the side job of keeping an eye on his daughter is a very small price to pay for what we receive in return.”

“What the fuck are you talking about TK?” The secrets and lies were flowing like the rapids of Terminator.

“From twelve to fifteen you had Sabrina. She was much more than your nanny. From sixteen to eighteen, the new nanny, Kim, was put in place. Your college years, Chad, the friendly jock who lived next door to you the entire time, wasn’t a college student. The friendly neighbor, Mr. Harrison, in the first apartment you rented after college. And finally, it was me.” TK finished, leaving my mind blown.

All eyes were aimed at him, as I attempted to pick my jaw up from the floor. My father blamed himself for what my mother had done to me. He’d often told me how much he wished he could’ve prevented it or noticed the signs earlier. And now, years later I recalled his words as he held me the night he killed her.

“The most precious gift to ever enter my life, will never be left unprotected.I’ll never allow anyone to hurt you again. From this moment forward, I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe.”

On one hand, I was grateful he kept his vow to protect me, but on the other hand, his methods of doing so were as far-fetched as James’s attempt to run Chase’s life.

With murder on my mind, my gaze remained on TK, who dropped his gaze. Amanda struggled to pull herself from his grips but failed. I would apologize to my son later for the cursing I had done and was about to continue to do.

“The fucking plot keeps getting thicker. My life’s a fucking roadmap of secrets. Anyone else feels the need to spill more secrets while we’re airing all this dirty ass laundry?” My infuriated gaze was pointed at each person and finally stopped on Chase.

“Can we get the fuck out of here, before I find a way to beat the shit out of two grown ass men?”

TK was on my shit list as much as James, and my father. He’d been lying to me for years. I considered him a friend, and this whole time he’d been one of my father’s watchdogs.

“I’ll deal with you when the idea of murdering you no longer brings me pleasure.” I spat my infuriating words at TK. My pores seeped anger, but thoughts of how often TK had been there for me when my father couldn’t, kept me from blowing a fuse.

“We’re not going anywhere.” Chase stopped me from moving.

“We need to reveal another secret, starting with who the hell your father is?” His hard glare cut into TK before it rested on me.

James glared at me expectantly, wanting to know as well.

Chase housed a hint of anger in his eyes, but when his gaze dropped to my protruding belly, it disappeared.

“We have a long talk ahead of us,” He said, and it wasn’t a request.

I nodded, knowing I should’ve disclosed to Chase that my father had stopped being a regular cop a long time ago, especially with us bringing a child into the world. It pleased me James’s money hadn’t been able to buy my father’s cover.

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