Page 57 of Make Her Bleed
"Well, adoptive sister if you want to get technical. Her biological mother abandoned her outside the hospital Kai's mother was working at. She took care of Lillian in the hospital and adopted her."
I guess that makes it a little less disgusting but still the idea of Kai and Aria being related in any way makes me want to hurl.
"There were a bunch of rumors around this town before I dated Lillian that something was going on between her and Kai. He wouldn't ever say anything about the rumors but he would get really pissed off about it. Lillian never said anything either. I guess looking back now I was probably stepping on his toes when I asked her out and that's probably why he got involved with …her." He points to the brunette in the photograph.
"Who is she?"
"Kai's high school sweetheart, Teigan Harper.”
I gape at him from the name I recognize. “You mean … my Aunt Teigan?”
Coach frowns then slowly nods. “She was also Lillian's best friend. He didn't get involved with her until Lillian and I started dating. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but I also had no idea how psychotic he was. They were together for two years until she died."
My whole family is well-versed in the details of her murder. All of Royal City is, but I had no idea she would be tangled up in this. If it wasn’t for the look Coach Patrick is giving me, I might shrug it off, but he looks like he has a secret to spill.
What is it?”
"There was only one witness to tie her father to the crime scene. Any guess as to who?"
I knew immediately where he was going with this.
"Kai?"
"Bingo. No one ever suspected Kai had anything to do with it, except Teigan's father. Even her mother thought Kai was innocent. This, of course, is all speculation."
"If it's just your assumptions then why are you telling me?"
Darkness covers his features as he sets down the picture on his desk. "Because it's a part of a much bigger story that I've realized is really going on. The exact reason why he's so obsessed with torturing Aria."
He pauses, almost like he's getting his emotions in check. "What I'm about to tell you, you can never tell Aria about. Her knowing it will do nothing but damage her. It will change how she sees herself, how she sees me, and everything else about who she is and the people in her life. It's the kind of thing that rocks your life to the core. I've done everything I can to protect her from this and I need you to continue shielding her from this truth."
Everyone has secrets. Lord knows I have a full closet worth of skeletons.
"Sure."
He takes a deep breath, the kind someone takes when they finally reveal a secret they've been holding in for far too long.
"I was in college when Lillian found out she was pregnant with Aria. It was like a celebration, except Kai was anything but happy. He told me that Lillian was screwing around on me. I didn't care if she was. God knows I made a lot of mistakes and Lillian didn't think any less of me. You've never really seen Malakai Harris angry unless you think he might actually kill you. I thought he was going to kill me and her if I didn't go along with what he wanted."
"What did he want?" I ask, almost afraid to ask. What is it about his story that connects to what is happening to Aria right now?
"For Lillian to be punished. He hates nothing more than lying and her not telling me if she was seeing someone else was lying in his eyes or so he said. What happened in that room is something I'll never forget or forgive myself for. The way she cried and begged for help was something I hear in my nightmares, something that truly haunts me. I haven't spoken a word to her since that day, and she never reached out." I have an understanding of what happened but I'm not going to push for details. It's not important enough.
"If you never spoke to her, how did you get Aria?"
The muscles in his face loosen before he looks at me pensively. "Kai held Lillian hostage in that house until she gave birth to Aria."
"What house?"
"The same house he lives in now, his mother's house. The room he kept Aria locked in after the accident? It's the same room she was born in. That's why there are bars on the window. That's not Aria's room. It's her mother's. He is dragging her right back to where she came screaming into this world before he ripped her from Lillian's arms and threw her at me to raise. Who knows? Maybe he planned all this from that day? Maybe he’s just been patient so he can continue the cycle of pain that he started with her mother. It’s so beyond messed up. It makes it even worse that she trusted him. He was her favorite person in the world when she was a kid and now he’s her tormentor.” He seems to have lost the point in his rant.
“Sure, it’s messed up, but what happened to her mother?” I know there’s a piece of this puzzle I’m still missing.
“You mean, how did he punish her?”
“Sure.”
A darkness falls in Coach Patrick’s demeanor as tension rises in his shoulders. “I’m sure you can recall what happened to my daughter in that classroom.”
