Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 34042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 170(@200wpm)___ 136(@250wpm)___ 113(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 170(@200wpm)___ 136(@250wpm)___ 113(@300wpm)
“Fuck, Pepper! Why the hell did you stay with him?”
“You know why, Virgil,” I said softly. “I couldn’t leave when I was pregnant.”
“You could have come to me, dammit.” He sounded disgruntled in the extreme, but his arms tightened around me, and he dropped a kiss on my temple. “What happened then?”
“The man left, and I hid before he could see me. Dustin knew, though. He knew I was there and that I’d heard everything. He told me not to say a word or I’d be sorry. I could see in his eyes he meant business. I didn’t want to know why I’d be sorry so I agreed not to say a word. And I didn’t. I never would have. Dustin’s a swine, but he’s the father of my daughter.”
“You’re too loyal. He doesn’t deserve it.”
“I know that. Now. Hell, who am I kidding? I knew it before I got pregnant. I know how pathetic it sounds, but I liked knowing I was close to you. Having sex with him wasn’t something I’d planned, and I probably wouldn’t have if I’d had a chance to think about it. But I still didn’t want to leave Dustin unless it was to be with you, and you’d never have me. Not like that.”
“I would have if I’d known, baby. Tell me the rest.”
“So, this went on for a couple weeks. I didn’t say anything. I didn’t even talk to Dustin about it again, but I knew he’d done what that man had asked. The night I went into labor, Dustin was furious. I had no idea what happened at the time, because I had other things to worry about, but apparently, that was the day he got a visit from the police regarding whatever he’d done.
“He was on the phone when I got an Uber to the hospital, and I didn’t fight him on not going. I didn’t really want him there anyway.” I took in a shuddering breath. The pain of knowing the man I thought I loved didn’t care enough to come to the hospital to see his daughter born was a low moment in my life. “I’m so glad you were there with me.”
“Me too, baby. Wouldn’t have had it any other way. Except I should have been the man who gotten you pregnant in the first damned place.”
“Things would have been a lot different.” My voice was no more than a whisper. I was struggling to hold it together, but I knew I had to get through this so Rage could help me figure out what to do. “After I got home, he was gone. For three months. I had no idea where he was. He hadn’t even met his daughter and made no demands to see her at all. When he came back… I’d say he’d changed, but honestly, he had a hard streak in him before this happened. He told me he knew I’d been the one to turn him in. That he’d spent the last three months incarcerated until his lawyer could convince a judge to give him bail. Apparently, at the first hearing, they’d determined he was a flight risk because they couldn’t find the money he’d stolen.”
“So they set bail, and he made it.”
“I got the impression whoever he’d done this for was the one who bailed him out. He said he was even more in hock to him now because I’d turned him in. He said since this hasn’t been kept off the radar, he couldn’t get another job with access to that kind of money. Which meant he had to find another way to pay back his creditor.”
“Did he threaten you, Pepper?”
I nodded. “He said he could get a good price for me, and that my punishment would be to see him cut…” I stifled a sob, not sure I could even tell Rage what Dustin had threatened. The very thought of it chilled my blood. Would voicing it out loud bring it about? I wasn’t superstitious, but this was important enough to be worthy of superstition.
“He threatened the baby?”
“Yes,” I breathed. “Please don’t ask me to say how, because I can’t, Virgil. I can’t.”
“You don’t have to, baby.” He rubbed his hand up and down my back as he held me. The gesture was soothing when nothing else could have calmed me. I was clinging to this man -- the brother of the man who’d terrified me so much. I’d run with my daughter and dropped her off in the care of strangers. Rage was my lifeline when no one else could or would be. “You came here and left Cassie with me. What did you plan on doing?”
“I was going to try to help Dustin. I was going to tell him I’d do whatever he wanted, but he had to leave Cassie alone.”