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“Alright well, enjoy yourself. Tell them all I said hello.” I end the call quickly when I hear one of our other phones vibrating on the table.
Two steps and I’m standing over the screen; a notification of an incoming video vibrates, intriguing me to the point of opening the message. I haven’t even looked to see who the sender is when it starts to play.
It takes me a few seconds to realize what I’m seeing. It’s a video of both of Iris’ parents outside on a patio. Her father’s dressed in a suit while her mother has her hair in a towel and a robe wrapped snugly around her body. The camera view is coming from the side of the house, so I’m sure this is some sort of security footage.
The conversation starts to escalate until he backhands her across the face, causing her to fall to the ground. He follows her down, straddling her much smaller frame as he yanks the towel from her hair and holds it over her throat.
She gasps and tugs on the towel, not having the strength to overpower him and break free. He holds her down until her movement stops and her head falls to the side.Her lifeless body stops fighting.
Fuck.
The sound of the sliding glass door opening causes me to pause the video. Iris and King walk in and for a brief moment I consider hiding the video from Iris to protect her, but the thought is put to rest quickly once I see her face. I don’t want to have secrets with her. I can’t fathom living a life where we can’t trust each other and if she ever found out I hid something like this from her, she’d never trust me again. And I couldn’t blame her for it.
“Baby. We received a video you need to watch.” She stares at me suspiciously, slowly reaching for the phone in my hand. My heart aches as her fingers brush over mine because I know this video is going to shred her to pieces.
She takes it all in as I wrap my arms around her waist, standing against her back and seeing it again over her shoulder. King watches from beside me and I can feel the tension in the room grow the longer her father holds her mother down. The video goes on beyond what I originally saw, showing him stand and roll her over, face down before he straightens his suit jacket and strides back into the house.The video ends there.
She peers at me over her shoulder and I have to watch the explosion slowly building inside her as she processes the video. It’s fucked up and the fact she was looking relieved when she walked in but I had to ruin it, kills me inside. No matter how much I hate it, she had to know. Where we go from here will beentirely up to her, but King and I have wanted a reason to kill her piece of shit father since we were teenagers. I meet King’s stare, my thoughts reflected back as he's thinking the same damn thing I am.
All she has to do is say the word and we’ll make sure her father never breathes again. After the society’s bullshit tests, we could use a revenge kill to help ease some of the tension we’ve been carrying on our shoulders through it all. However, we won’t go off half-cocked and kill the fucker unless she wants us to.
Iris’ shoulders shake as a sob rips through her chest and I’m instantly drawing her into my chest, hugging her tighter. She needs to feel my strength right now, to know we’re here for her and there’s not a damn thing in the world we wouldn’t do for her.
“I got you, baby,” I murmur, leaning my forehead against her hair, allowing her to process this however she needs to.
King reaches out, taking her hands and squeezing. “We’re here, Iris. Talk to us. Tell us what you need. How can we make this better?”
Yes.Give us something.I’m better when I can fix whatever the hell is going on. I don’t say any of it out loud, but rather press a soft kiss to her shoulder. Everything she thought she knew in her world has crumbled. I couldn’t imagine witnessing my father kill my mother without taking his life in payment. I’d go fucking insane.
Her body rattles with her grief and all we can do is hold her, allowing her the moment to sob, scream, thrash, and wear the weight of her sadness before we figure out what the next step is. We need a plan, one where me and King end Iris’ father’s life for good.
Chapter 15
IRIS
I’ve always known the details around my mother’s death are shocking. The autopsy report claims her heart gave up and she died from natural causes. However, after watching the horrific video, I’m plagued with a million questions. Is it possible the medical examiner missed such an obvious cause of death? There had to be bruising and stress fractures or something. The video was kind of grainy, but even I’ve seen a few television shows with strangulation cases and what evidence is left behind in those deaths.
Flashes of the last time I spoke to her rotate through my mind, sending me straight into a panic. It’s taking everything in me not to let the terror win, allowing the sordid details to spin out of control and shove me face first into hysterics. It’s hard to concentrate on anything at the moment, aside from what my guys are doing. They have a way of keeping me rooted and I need their stability more than anything right now.
Kingston sends me a soft glance, looking worried, then punches in some numbers on his cell. “I need details on Jack Kensington.” His stern voice disappears down the hallway as he takes a phone call. I have no idea who he’s talking to, but I’m certain they’ll do whatever he demands.
“Come with me.” Beau grabs my hand, linking our fingers together and leads me out the door. “Deep breath in, exhale slowly,” he murmurs, taking in our surroundings to make sure it’s safe. “Walk next to me and with each step, take a breath. I want you to concentrate on that one thing, nothing else.” Beau’s calm words ground my mind in peace and even though the chaos is swirling just overhead, I find that allowing the fresh air to fill my lungs is more soothing than I’d expect.
He leads me down the beach, not saying a word. His presence alone is enough strength to ease my racing heart. “Thank you,” I whisper as another tear slides down my cheek. I can’t seem to stop crying; it’s like I’m mourning all over again for my mother. She didn’t have a peaceful death as I’d been told, but was killed by the person who should’ve loved her the most. I’m not only crying for her absence, but the brutality, the fear, and the pain she must’ve felt in her last few minutes of life.
My poor mother.
He slides his arm over my shoulders and pulls me in close as we continue to walk away from the beach house. His manly scent hits me and I can’t help but to lean into him and draw another deep inhale. I need him everywhere right now. “I’ve wanted this kind of normal with you for almost ten years. I want to be here for you when your heart hurts. When your world is out of control and even more so when we finally get our happy ever after.”
“That’s the best dream, Beau. I want it, too.”
“I think it’s our reality. Kens, I will do anything for you, just say the word and I’ll handle everything. King and I will erase anything oranyonewho threatens your happiness.” I listen to what he’s saying and even more importantly what he’s not. The kind of pressure that puts on me is suffocating and I can’t comprehend what it is I want right now. Hearing what my father has to say for all of this is necessary before I can make a decision that would haunt me forever.
“Not yet. I need to think.”
“I’ll be here when you change your mind.” He tugs me closer to the water, pulling off his shoes one foot at a time and tossing them up the beach. I copy him, doing the same, while never breaking my hold of his hand.
He leads me into the cool, refreshing water, pausing when it hits about mid-calf and then we continue our walk away from the house. A pier just ahead garners my attention, beckoning me closer as the waves slosh around the support columns.
