Page 67 of Tainted Rose

Xander

Istruggle to swallow past the lump in my throat. The pain in her eyes over this whole incident is like getting knifed in the heart over and over again. It’s fucking killing me. I’m not ready to go into details with her about what we heard before we made ourselves known to Justin and my father or what was said among us while she was blacked out. For now, it’s enough to explain what we’ve pieced together the motive behind everything. “So first, we have more to tell you about this, but Justin is sick in the head. He’s disturbed and latched onto you. Unfortunately, my dad took full advantage of that. Our best guess is exactly what you thought—Joseph has been using that motherfucker Justin to get to you—thereby hoping to hurt Sebastian.”

Sebastian eyes me for a second, then takes over, as I’m having difficulties. “He found out you’re my daughter. The day I put the money into the scholarship fund for you with the bookkeeper at the school, Joseph was also there. He shouldn’t have overheard what I was doing, but he did. He must have figured it out from there. We may never know everything.” He clears his throat. “I believe he was hoping that by bringing your existence to light it would destroy my marriage with Isabella. I think somewhere in his twisted brain, she’s still his, and Joseph wanted to make me pay for taking her from him. I wasn’t supposed to know what he was doing, either, but I guess Justin has a bit of a drug problem. He was caught with his stash on campus more than once. Apparently, Joseph was paying the school off so that Justin could stay.” He expels a harsh breath. “I was concerned when I heard this, so I put a private investigator on it. Frankly, anything concerning Joseph makes me nervous because it has the potential to adversely affect multiple members of my family.”

Scarlett pales. “Oh, no. What did he find out? Am I allowed to ask?”

He lets out a deep sigh. “We found out this wasn’t the first time Joseph has paid someone off to keep things quiet. Scarlett, I’m sorry to tell you this, but six months ago Justin raped another girl, and it got swept under the rug. Joseph paid big bucks to make it go away.”

“June knew about the findings, didn’t she? She told me to be careful. I had no idea why.” Her hands shake, brow furrowing.

“She overheard me on the phone with the investigator.”

Scarlett nods as her teeth sink into her lip. Her gaze meets each of ours in turn. “So, if it’s really true that a Rose can get away with anything…”

Sebastian locks eyes with her. “They won’t be so lucky this time. I’ll make sure of it.”

I wonder if Scarlett’s realized that, technically, her connection to Sebastian makes her one of us now. There’s no way he’s going to let them get away with this.

“My aunt and uncle …” She swallows hard. “Do they know what’s happened?”

I eye her with worry. “Yeah, I’m sorry. I called and filled them in while you were sleeping so you wouldn’t have to do it later. I hope that was the right thing to do.”

Scarlett gives me a soft smile, and my whole world rights itself again with the curve of her plump lips and the shine of love in her eyes. “Thank you. It would have been hard for me to explain—especially since I haven’t been forthright with anything lately. I feel awful. I didn’t want to be a burden, and instead, I ended up in the hospital, worrying the hell out of them.” Her eyes fly to Sebastian’s, and I can tell from the flush in her face that her emotions have swung wildly in another direction. “Do they… do they know?”

“About me? Yeah. I spoke with them, too. Your aunt is pissed off at me, and rightfully so. I’m hoping we can have a frank conversation when they get home.”

For the first time ever, the identity of Scarlett’s father is fully out in the open. I can’t imagine how it feels to go from never knowing who he was and thinking she was alone in this world to having her father at her side.

She takes a few seconds, then inhales deeply before she asks, “What time is it?”

“Eleven.”

“At night?” She frowns, and if she wasn’t lying in a hospital bed, I’d tell her she’s fucking adorable. Her head turns to the window where we’d drawn the blinds to keep the bright sunlight from waking her.

“No, Red. It’s Saturday morning. You passed out after they brought you in here around ten last night.”

“Oh. Wow. And you’ve both been here the entire time?” She seems to be taking it all in. “Am I going to be able to go home today?”

I nod. “The doctors said as soon as you were feeling up to it, yes, you could leave.” I feel like she’s doing better than expected, all things considered. My girl is fucking strong.

Sebastian’s phone rings, and after a quick glance at the screen, he stands. “I’ve got to take this. It’s your mom, Xander.” He hurries out the door, more flustered than I’ve probably ever seen the man.

“Has he told her yet?”

I groan. “Yeah. Last night. She’d been calling, panicked because of the way he tore out of the house to meet me, and he didn’t want to leave you once you were here, so he had to tell her.”

She worries her lower lip with her teeth. “How’d she take it? Is she okay?”

I hate that I haven’t seen my mom face-to-face yet to really get a good read on how she’s doing with the news. “Well, she has a new stepdaughter she didn’t know existed, which means Janie has a half sister. Who also happens to be her son’s girlfriend. Her husband kept a massive secret from her. It’s been a lot for her to take in.” I lift my hands in a classic I don’t know gesture. “The two of you already get along, so hopefully she’ll be okay. Sebastian should have told her before this. She has every right to be upset.”

She nods. “I get that. For sure.”

I squeeze her hand briefly and press a kiss to the back of it. “Scarlett, I’m sorry to bring this up but you should know. They examined you when you were brought in because there was some concern about what had happened before we got to you—we were relieved to be told there was no evidence of any sexual assault.” I swallow past the lump in my throat that forms every time I imagine Justin’s hands on her, or worse, my father’s. “It doesn’t appear you were harmed in any way beyond the drugs.”

She pales and is quiet for a few moments, emotion snaking swiftly through her, plain as day on her face. Finally, she looks me right in the eye. “Well, I guess they’re lucky they didn’t touch me like that.”

I cock my head to the side, waiting for her to continue.

“I’d hate to think what you’d have done to them.” She lifts her shoulders to her ears before dropping them. “I know you well enough to know you wouldn’t have stopped until they were unable to ever hurt me again.”

I lean in, catching her lips with mine. Gentle at first, then more urgent. Yeah. She’s going to be fine. Rose or Thorn, it doesn’t matter, so long as she’s mine.

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