Total pages in book: 331
Estimated words: 315585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1578(@200wpm)___ 1262(@250wpm)___ 1052(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 315585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1578(@200wpm)___ 1262(@250wpm)___ 1052(@300wpm)
“What the fuck is going on?” Haidyn snaps at Bill. “Why in the fuck was my father in this room with Eve?”
Adam squares his shoulders and answers. “Because…Everett is your sister.”
“Half sister,” Bill corrects him.
Silence blankets the room at their confession. Saint and I both look at our brother.
Bill sighs and adds, “She was the woman you chose to save when you were forced to pick.”
“Pick for what?” Saint beats me to it.
I can’t seem to speak at the moment; my mind is trying to process everything I just saw.
Haidyn stares at them unblinkingly. His face has paled, and he looks stunned. Finally, he blinks, taking a step back. Then he runs a hand down his face, sighing. “Sophomore year at Barrington. My initiation. My father made me choose between two women. I had to kill one. I chose the other.”
“I bet you wish he would have killed you.”
I turn, fully facing him. “Wait.” I take a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart. “So this whole time, you’ve known who she is?” I demand. He knew she was his fucking sister and never told me? He knew her before I met her on the Isabella?
“No,” Haidyn growls. “They were chained up in the basement of Carnage. Both were naked but had collars and hoods on. I never saw their faces. They were gagged so I never heard their voices.” He closes his eyes and hisses. “Goddammit.” When they open, he narrows them on Bill. “The kid in the beginning of the video had a hood, and she was wearing a metal collar. This was the same night, wasn’t it? After I chose to spare her life, our father sent her here? Garrett kicked her and said he didn’t want to see her again.” He doesn’t allow Bill to answer before he continues. “He was mad that I didn’t kill them both. Told me that women are no use to me unless I’m fucking them. That they are only for pleasure and reproduction.”
“This was the same night,” Bill agrees.
“So she was at Carnage?” Saint asks, confused. “How did we never know that Garrett had another child?”
“We rarely stayed there.” Adam is the one who answers.
He’s right. We hated being there. We were at Barrington during the day and hung out at the House of Lords most nights. We weren’t at Carnage unless our fathers told us we had to be. And even then, it wasn’t like we wandered around. We did what needed to be done and then got the hell out of there.
I turn back to Bill, and he holds out a manila envelope. I rip it from his hands and tear it open, letting it fall to my feet when I remove the contents. There’s a picture of Everett lying in a hospital bed. Her arms and legs are secured in medical restraints. She’s got a patch over one eye. I wouldn’t even recognize her. She looks less like herself than she did in the video we just watched. She’s so frail. Sunken cheeks and ashen skin. She’s covered in bruises of various colors and sizes. Cuts mark her skin. Her nose appears to be broken and her lips split.
It makes me physically ill to see her like this. To know that this was once her life.
Haidyn’s shoulder bumps mine, and as I read over the information, Gavin clears his throat. “When Bill brought Eve to me, she was severely dehydrated and malnourished. She had a broken wrist, the injury obviously old, and hadn’t received proper care. She had a positive drug and rape test, along with a few bruised ribs and a collapsed lung. Plus, she needed plastic surgery on her nose due to disfigurement.”
My hands fist, wrinkling the paper.
“She was used,” Saint says.
“She was beaten,” Gavin corrects him.
“You mentioned drugs.” Haidyn looks at Gavin. “We watched Evan give her drugs. For a year, he pumped her full of who knows what… Is she an addict?”
I’ve never seen her do any drugs, but alcohol? Now I understand why she drinks so much.
“No. She’s not addicted to drugs,” Bill assures him. “She went through detox afterward.” He sighs heavily, and it makes me wonder how hard that was on her.
“Suicidal?” Haidyn growls. “They mentioned in the video when she arrived that she was suicidal. How the fuck did she try to kill herself?”
Bill drops his eyes to the floor before he glances back up at him. “First time she was in a car wreck. Garrett had someone transporting her. Eve managed to run it off the road.”
“First time?” Haidyn snaps when he doesn’t give more information.
“Second attempt, she was here in Dollhouse and tried hanging herself,” Bill states.
“Jesus,” Haidyn hisses.
My hands shake as I hold the papers. “When was this?” I gesture to them before I throw them over to Haidyn. I clear my throat, trying to wrap my head around all this information about my girl. My girl wasn’t just raped, she was beaten. She survived so much but tried to end her life twice.