This side of him I haven’t seen since we first started dating. The guy who actually has feelings. That seems to give a shit about someone other than himself.
What a pity I know who he really is.
“Then Dad told me everything. Told me what the church really worships. Their twisted beliefs. Why they are obsessed with bloodlines… that you were actually my… cousin.”
Daniel shakes his head hard, like he’s trying to fling that sick fact from his skull.
“I felt so sick. Still do.” His eyes flick up to mine. “It’s been eating me alive, Abbey. I’ve hated myself ever since.” A sob lurches past his lips. “I swear to you, I really didn’t know. I would never have gone along with any of it if I had known you were my cousin.”
My stomach churns, and I can tell Daniel truly means what he’s saying, but the damage is done. Apologies won’t put me back together again.
Some things are irreparable.
“Is that why you were weird with me those days leading up to what was meant to be our wedding in that chapel?” My glare turns savage as I curl my lips in a sneer. “Is that why you wouldn’trapeme, even though Donny and his uncle did?”
Daniel nods quickly. “I spent two days trying to figure a way out. My dad warned me not to tell Mum. Said she wouldn’t understand. But I couldn’t keep it from her.” Anger twists his face as he stares at nothing in particular, his hands balling into fists at his sides. “She had no idea what was happening right under her nose. Who her husband really was. So I told her the morning of the ceremony, and she begged me to leave with her. To run away and never look back.” Daniel shakes his head, his shoulders slumping as he speaks. “I stayed because…” He gulps, tears springing to his eyes. “Because… what if the babywasactually mine?”
My brows shoot up as my stomach rolls.
I hate this! I want to scream. I want to claw the guilt off his face and throw it back at him!
How dare he sound remorseful after everything he’s put me through!
Ugh! But deep down, the old me lingers, crying at me to forgive this piece of shit.
What a pity she’s too far gone to resurface.
What Daniel did to me… what all of those sick fucks did to me didn’t just change me. They rewired me. Hardened me. And now, forgiveness is the last thing any of them will get.
“I couldn’t leave you, Abbey. Not if the baby was mine.” He shrugs. “So I stayed and my mum ran.” He gulps, taking a moment as he struggles with emotions I don’t care for. “I figured if the babywasmine, I’d have more power to protect it.”
Daniel breaks then, tears bursting from his eyes as he shakes his head, pain-filled whimpers falling past his lips.
“I d-didn’t want to h-hurt you.” He cries, his voice pleading. “I chased you from that chapel thinking I could get you somewhere safe. Somewhere we could hide and figure out how to deal with Banes, my old man and your fucking psychotic mum.”
He swipes at his tears, but they keep falling as his face morphs into horror.
“I d-don’t know w-what came over m-me. Out in t-that forest… it was a split second of p-panic… y-you were right there within arm’s r-reach and I thought…” He gulps, his whole body trembling. “I thought w-what if… what if y-you and the b-baby died?”
His anger falls away then, his face softening, almost child-like as he obviously remembers that day out in the forest when he and Craig were chasing me.
“At least then you’d be free. You wouldn’t have to be wrapped up in this crazy bullshit. Your baby wouldn’t have to be dragged into it…” His eyes meet mine, and even though I already know what’s coming, it’s not any easier to hear. “So I pushed you.”
I have no control over the swing of my fist or the way it crashes into his cheek with a crack, or the way a lick of delight flashes through me at the way his head snaps to the side. But I do find the control to stop myself from doing it again, knowing I still need him alive.
For now.
He may not know where his mum is hiding with my daughter, but when we do find them, I’ll need Daniel as leverage. A bargaining chip, or bait, or whatever I need to get my little girl back.
“How did your mum get my baby?” I snap, curling my lip as I fight to keep in control, and I start pacing again to keep myself busy.
Daniel shifts uncomfortably, his eyes darting to Ringo and the other men positioned around him before coming back to me.
“She’s got a close friend who works in the maternity ward at the hospital. Somehow, she convinced her friend to help, and they dragged the doctor into it too. That’s all I know. I swear. You can check my phone if you don’t believe me.”
He hasn’t even finished talking when Vender rushes forward, patting down his pockets and locating his phone before holding it up to Daniel’s face to unlock it.
Passing it to me, Vender gives me a nod, and I offer him a thankful smile as I take the phone and open the message app.
