CJ kicked at the air. “The fuck you did!”
“Willard…I got into a fight with him at the end of last school year,” Harley confessed. “And I-I beat him, then I-I escaped.”
“The Triplets saved me from Wallace,” Mattie added.
“And I beat the fuck out of Willard when he tried to snatch me,” Rebel said tiredly. “They wanted to humiliate us because we humiliated them.”
They looked as if their entire world had ended. Christopher knew out of the three of them, Harley’s experience was by far the most egregious. However, after Mattie’s exploitation by those two dead fuckheads and more recently Wally, Jr., this couldn’t have been easy for her either.
As for Rebel,herprivacy had been invaded.She’ddone nothing wrong. Even if she’d been swinging from a motherfucking chandelier with nothing covering her…
Heaving in a breath, Christopher scrubbed a hand over his face. He needed to tell Megan and Kendall, so they could talk to the girls. Bitsy needed to know an annotated version. This wasn’t a situation that could be hidden.
“I’m killing Ryan, Uncle Val,” CJ said bitterly. “He’ll be good practice for when I get my hands on motherfucking Nardo.”
Harley rushed to CJ and threw her arms around him. “No, CJ! You can’t go after Nardo,” she sobbed. “Please, he’ll kill you. He has an older brother and everything. Please. That’s whyDaddy can’t go after Mr. Grevenberg. Please! I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she said, almost hysterical.
“Harley, Harley, Harley…shhhhh…” CJ took her face between his hands to try and calm her. “Baby…Harley…”
“He told me he’s going to hurt you and Daddy. He called just before Mattie did and—”
“That motherfuckercalledyou?” CJ snarled.
Stretch jumped to his feet and shook his head at CJ. “Harley, can you call him back?”
The horror on Harley’s face when she turned and looked at Stretch told Christopher a lot.
“He’s not going to hurt you,” Stretch said gently.
“I thought Nardo was Pillar of Earth,” Harley said dully. “He has the video of Ryan and me. He’s going to release it to everyone.Everyone. The club members. The school. Everyone.”
Rebel and Mattie somehow managed to hug Harley at the same time.
“I need Nardo’s data, sweetheart,” Stretch said. “For his location and to try and get into his server to remove the video.”
“I’m sorry,” Harley chanted. “I’m sorry.”
“Diesel,” Christopher said. “Get Mort back here.”
“No, Uncle Christopher!” Harley said, halting Diesel.
As angry as Val was, his shoulders slumped at Christopher’s order. Mort would shoot the fuck out of Ryan.
“Mort got to know part of the story, baby,” Christopher said to Harley. “To protect that fuckhead, we leave out some facts for right now.” He looked at Rebel and Mattie. “But Megan and Kendall need to know everything, too. Set everything up in the conference room, Stretch—”
“Please, Uncle Christopher,” Harley said. “Please. I’d rather die—”
“That isn’t an option, Harls,” Rebel said fiercely. “Not for you, me, or Mattie. You’re smart and strong, just like UncleMort. He won’t let them hurt you anymore. Neither will my brothers, CJ and Diesel. My daddy. Our uncles.”
“Mr. Grevenberg will beat me again,” Harley said, crying quietly. “Or Nardo. And M-Mrs. Grevenberg won’t care. She’ll let them.”
Mrs. Grevenbergwas a dead bitch, so she’d never hurt Harley again.
Another sob escaped her and she removed her jacket.
Christopher wasn’t sure who the fuck gasped. It could’ve been every motherfucker in that fucking place. The bruises on Harley’s back and stomach, the marks on her neck, must’ve been so fucking painful.
“Jesus Christ,” CJ whispered. “Nardo did this to you?”
