Page 59 of His to Keep

“She’smine,” Father Aaron sneers at Callum, kicking his chair back.

“She’s lying. She’s a fucking liar. Ava—” He turns to me, and it seems to only anger Father Aaron more. Circling the table, he grabs Callum around the neck, but Callum continues to plead that I believe him. “I didn’t go near her, I swear.”

My heart thumps hard against my chest, wanting to believe that he wouldn’t go near Maisie. But I can’t deny the pounding doubt. What about all the lies he’s told in the past? All he’s kept from me?

Turning back to Maisie, she’s still crying. Is she telling the truth? Why would she lie?

My stomach turns, envisioning him leaning over her, hand disappearing beneath her dress—

“John!” Father Aaron shouts as he wrestles Callum into the horror room. Still laughing, John downs a glass of wine before getting up. “Let’s make sure he never wants totouchwhat belongs to me again.”

“Soundsperfect,my Lord.”

“No! Wait!” I get up, but my legs won’t move as Callum’s dragged inside the room by them both. The door slams shut, and I can’t breathe. When I turn back to the table, Penny and Maisie are gone. Glancing behind me, I catch a glimpse of Maisie’s white dress as she runs from the dining room. I go after her. “Maisie?”

She’s gone upstairs, and I take two steps at a time, going after her. When I get to our bedroom, she’s sitting on the floor with her dress fanned out around her.

“What was that?” She doesn’t answer me. Enraged, I go to her to grab her shoulder, but that’s when I see what she’s doing. What she has. Callum’s sketchbook laying open on her lap. She’s looking at a real-life drawing of me asleep on the bed, my dress ripped open, my breasts poking out.

“I knew it.” Maisie finally points her glare at me. Hate and anger simmer ferociously in her eyes. “Iknewthere was something up with you two. I saw you both the other night. You were kissing in the bathroom when you thought I was asleep. But I wasn’t, and I couldn’t believe it when I saw him go in there while you were showering. I had to see for myself. And then today. I watched you throw yourself at him.”

My mouth goes bone dry. “Give me that.”

She scoffs. “I knew you were stupid and dumb, but I hardly believed you’re fuckinghim.” She gets off the floor. “You’re sicker than the lot of them.”

“Shut up!” I explode at her, heart banging furiously in my chest. “Shut up about things you don’t understand.”

“I understandperfectly. You think you’re a perfect little wallflower, but really, you’re just a slut.”

My fists ball in anger. “Why did you lie about Callum touching you?”

“Who says I was lying? You’re just a notch on his bedpost, Ava. Like this girl was.” She flips to a page in the front and shows me a different girl with long hair and angry eyes. She’s gorgeous and oddly familiar. And then it hits me—it’s Orla. Maisie turns the page, and I glance away, disgusted at the intricate drawing of her naked and standing in the bathroom with a scowl on her face. Like maybe Callum walked in on her. “Like he wanted me to be. You know he’s always angry at me because he wants me. You were soeasyfor him to use you.”

No.I shake my head, trying not to let her words affect me, but they are, and my stomach tightens with sickness. “You’re wrong.”

Flicking to a page at the back, a lump blocks my throat at this drawing. Hands that look like his wrapped around Maisie’s neck while she lies on a bed. She’s smiling at him. Angry and in a sexual way.

And yet, I struggle to believe it means what it looks like. It’s just a drawing. Callum isn’t how she’s painting him to be as a sexual deviant when he’s never touched me against my will.

“You’rethe one that’s wrong forlovinga psycho.”

“Give me the book back. Now.”

Lifting her chin defiantly, she smirks, and it’s like I don’t know who she is at all. “There’s more—”

Throwing myself at her, I grab the book, which she isn’t expecting. My grip on the book tightens as she tries to pull it back. But then there’s the distinctive sound of it ripping. The already worn spine of the book is being pulled to its breaking point.

“Let go!” I yell at her. “You’re ripping it.”

“Youlet go!”

Too late. It tears right down the middle, causing us to stumble back with a half each. A strangled sob leaves my mouth. “Look at what you’ve done! You had no right to look at it!”

Just as I’m about to charge toward her, the door bursts open with a thundering bang. Father Aaron storms inside with blood on his hands and eyes on fire.

“Come. Both of you. It’s time for the ceremony.”

Chapter Thirty-One

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