Page 33 of Revenge of a Queen

He sees the look on my face and looks to his brothers at his side, to Ash, and then back to me. He takes a deep breath and then says, “I promise, Ells.”

I take one last deep inhale into my lungs and let Ash put his hand in mine. Taking the strength that he is offering before I let another person into my darkest secret.

“Greg Donovan is Cassie's biological father.”

Six words hang in the air like poison.

He laughs looking confused, “I’m sorry what? Is this your idea of a joke? He’s like five years older than us,” he swings his gaze back around to all of the boys. “Are you guys fucking with me? Because that really isn’t fucking funny,” he asks again, as he brings his eyes back to mine and when he does his smile disappears.

He sees it then, the truth. I know he knows what I am trying to say but he must hear it. I need him to hear the words from me. I need to get it out there and strip away all the lies and lay everything on the table. The only other person in this room who knows the story I am about to tell is Asher. All three Rebels are going to get the truth today.

“Greg Donovan took me from the woods that day. He drugged me, beat me, and then raped me. Elliot knew. They were planning to sell me. They had some sort of deal with my parents that went south and the collateral damage to be paid, was me. My parents agreed,” I pause briefly to take a breath and Ash squeezes my hand so tight I think he might break a finger. I know he is reliving that night all over again with me. “Asher overheard his father talking about me and followed him to where they were keeping me. He went to your father to ask for help. They both got me out of there and I left town with Zack, just wanting to forget everything.”

I speak with such a monotone voice that is void from any emotion because I won’t allow myself to break again for them. Asher is deathly silent beside me, Jace and Linc both look distraught at hearing the full story. Marcus is frozen as he absorbs my words. My heart is hammering hard in my chest, but I ignore it and push on, “Except, I couldn’t forget when I was carrying a reminder with me.”

He closes his eyes and starts shaking his head like he can rid himself of the images I have painted for him. If only life were that easy. I don’t know how we are going to be after this, but it was time for the lies to stop.

“Michael died because he chose to save me. Elliot murdered him for making a move against him. I’ll never be able to put into words how sorry I am. It’s my fault, I’m so sorry.”

As soon as I say the word sorry his eyes snap open and focus right on me. “Sorry?” He chokes out in barely a whisper before he jumps up and throws himself to his knees in front of me, clasping my hands in his. “Sorry,” he repeats again, in anger, “Ells, don’t let me ever hear you say that shit ever again.”

He takes my face in his hands as he cups both my cheeks. He wipes away a tear I’d let drop and leans in until our foreheads touch. We remain like that until he pulls back and it's only then I realize the others have left the room and only the two of us remain.

He takes a deep breath, I can hear when it catches in his throat, the emotions of what I have just revealed flow through him. I can see the moment when the anger takes over, his eyes become wild and black and I know he is just thinking of all the ways he wants to burn the world for me, for us. I won’t let them take him from me again. I reach over and grip his face in my hands until his eyes collide with mine again.

I force every bit of love I feel for him into that look and I open my mouth to speak but he silences me with a punishing kiss that steals my breath. He pulls me off the sofa until my legs go around his torso and he grips me so tight, it’s like he never wants to let me go. I feel safe, loved, at home. When he pulls back, we are both breathing heavily, lost in each other, as he leans in and plants one more soft kiss against my lips.

“These lips are mine, baby,” he says, as he leans in again and pulls my bottom lip between his and sucks. “You’re mine, don’t ever let me catch them on anyone else again,” he adds, before he nips at me unexpectedly.

“And are you mine?” I ask, with a whisper.

He laughs, “Ells, I have been yours since the day we met,” he says, with a pained grin. He reaches out and strokes a hair behind my ear before he adds, “we just got separated for a while as you ran and I was lost, but I won’t let that happen again. If you’re here, I’m here, if you run again then I will be right by your side, it will be you and me baby, and that beautiful little girl.”

I pull back from him and he frowns but I push my hand between us and hold it out to him, “Pinky promise?” I ask, and his frown changes instantly.

“Pinky promise,” he replies, and for once everything in my world feels right.

Chapter 19

MARCUS

“Greg Donovan is Cassie's biological father.”

Six words that just bounce around my head on repeat. Six words that are something I had thought of but dismissed as being unimaginable. Six words that have just blew my fucking world apart. Six words that are going to change the course of my life forever.

I won’t ever forget them or the way she said them. With no emotion and with complete and utter finality. Something she has had over three years to know and become accustomed to. How can she do that? Have no emotion about what they did to her.

I think about the fourteen-year-old girl who was my best friend. My sweet, innocent, little King who would get mad at me if I even killed a spider. What they must have done to her. Did they hold her down? Did it happen more than once? Did she scream?

I fight with everything I have, to stop the vomit from clawing its way up my throat, as I try my hardest to focus on Elle and only Elle. She is the only thing that matters, but all I can see is images of what they no doubt did to her. So many emotions flood my body, I’m hard pressed to narrow it down to a single one, I don’t know what to feel. That’s a lie, I do. I feel rage. Pure unfiltered fired up rage. They took her, hurt her, fucking raped her, and to make everything worse than that, they fucking got away with it.

Just like every other crime they commit. Their criminal roster is so fucking long it would take days to recite. Yet have they had any punishment? Of course not because if your wallet is deep enough then people will look the other way.

This town. This fucking town. A town I used to love is now nothing but a fucking shell of my broken heart and grief.

A town run by Elliot Donovan and his fucking lackeys. His own son included. A son that fucking raped my Ells. Fuck. You think they have already taken so much from you and just when you think you have nothing else to give, they come back for more. My chest tightens and I try to focus on anything, other than the numb feeling in the pit of my stomach. How can you feel so much love and contentment at the same time as your heart being ripped out and stomped on?

I pull Elle close again and enclose her in my arms tightly, like my embrace alone can shelter her from the horrors she has already endured. They will pay, I will make them fucking pay. I was already planning on killing them for what they did to my dad, but now? Now, I am going to fucking destroy them. Ruin them. Make them fucking bleed until my body is coated in their blood. And lucky for me, I know exactly who is going to help me.

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