“He set you up, Saint,” Adam growls. “Quit being pissed off for two fucking seconds and think about it.” Saint narrows his eyes on his brother-in-law. “My mother had her raped, and my father told you…he wanted you to cheat on the vow ceremony.” Saint swallows, starting to see the situation for what it was meant to be. “I think it was a way to get you out of the picture.I don’t know if they were going to kill you or make you their prisoner but definitely deny you as an option at her being your Lady. I’m telling you, they all wanted Ashtyn to marry Haidyn. All four of them were in on it.”
“It’s true,” Bill speaks, jumping in.
“How the fuck would you know?” Saint barks.
“LeAnne.”
“Bullshit—”
Adam interrupts Saint. “LeAnne knew because she was here in our father’s office that day Haidyn and I met with our fathers.” He sighs and adds, “At the time, we didn’t know that Ashtyn had been raped and that you cheated. Then I was forced into hiding, and you ended up marrying her in secret before our fathers could force Haidyn to do it. It wasn’t long after that Haidyn messaged me that Ash was pregnant, and she was freaking out because Laura had told her she was raped, and you cheated at the vow ceremony. She said the baby wasn’t yours. If Laura knew she was pregnant, then my father knew, which meant all the fathers knew. I had to do something. To save her…to save you…” He trails off. “It was just another reason I had to kill them.”
Saint turns his attention on me, and his green eyes look tired, but I can still see the hurt in them. It may always be there. We may never be the brothers we once were, and I take all the responsibility.
“Saint?” Ashtyn tugs on his arm.
“Yeah, sweetheart?” He looks down at her.
“I love all of you.” She reaches up, cupping his face. “But you’re my husband. The only one I want to spend the rest of my life with. I just want all this fighting to stop.” The first tear slides down her cheek, and he leans forward to kiss her forehead. “I just want it all to end so we can move on. Please, Saint.”
“Of course, sweetheart,” he assures her.
The door opens to my right, and my wife walks out of the room with Blakely. I reach my arm out moving over to her, and she immediately cuddles up to my side as I hold her tightly to me. Leaning down, I kiss her hair and catch sight of the smile that she and Blakely exchange as Ryat goes to his wife. At least one good thing came out of that bitch other than my wife.
“How do we find out how many founder families there are?” Tyson asks, and I couldn’t be more thankful for a change of subject.
“We don’t,” Bill answers. “The only advice I can give is to test everyone the Spade brothers currently have here at Carnage and everyone in the future that the Lords send them. Keep a record.” He looks at me.
Kashton crosses his arms over his chest. “There could be five or there could be thousands. All the bitch does is lie. I don’t trust anything she says.”
“Did women even start the Lords?” Saint asks Bill, letting out a long breath.
He’s over this fucking day, and truthfully, so am I. I’m over this past week. I think we all are. Ashtyn’s idea of letting it all go and moving on sounds pretty damn good.
“Yes and no,” Bill answers.
“It’s one or the other.” Saint snaps, and Ashtyn reaches out to take his hand in hers, giving him a soft smile to calm his nerves.
“I believe that she believes that’s how it started,” Bill says.
EIGHTY-NINE
HAIDYN
I’m sitting at my computer and look up across the room to see my wife curled up on the couch, facing me. She passed out the moment she lay down. Saint and Ashtyn have gone to bed, Kash left to go somewhere with Sin and joked for me not to wait up for him. Honestly, makes me a little nervous. If any two Lords could fuck some shit up, it’ll be them. Especially together.
The door opens to the office, and I sit back in my chair, crossing my arms over my chest as Bill shuts it behind him. “You wanted to see me?” he asks, looking at Charlotte.
“Have a seat.” I gesture to the one opposite my desk.
He pulls it out and sits down, running a hand down his face.
“You punched my wife.” I haven’t had the chance to speak with him alone until now.
“I did what I had to do.” He shrugs. “You’d do the same.”
“No.” I shake my head. “I’d never hurt…”
“So you’re saying you’ve never done anything to her that you regret?” He arches a brow in question.
