Grieving for the man I thought I knew.
My jaw clenched as I pictured his face, smiling at me and telling me he was the proudest man alive for having me as a son. Telling me how he couldn’t wait for the day I made him a proud grandpa.
Bile crept up my throat again.
He had another child.
A child he’d denied knowledge of.
An innocent child who deserved better than having a fucking rapist for a father.
A child who was my…sister.
Fuck.
I squeezed my eyes closed as the realization sank inthatBillie was my sister. This was all too much. I couldn’t think straight, not with Kiera’s broken voice ringing in my ears as she regaled how my father had pinned her down. Not with his face swimming behind my eyes. Not with the knowledge of learning I had a sister who was a product of rape.
I needed to run. I needed to beat someone until they didn’t have air in their lungs. I needed to do something with the restless energy vibrating under my skin. I spun, only to instantly freeze at finding Kiera sitting on the steps, her arms wrapped around herself and her head resting against the wooden banister.
My shoulders slumped at seeing the tear tracks marring her face and heartache shining in her eyes. Guilt stabbed me in my already shredded heart. For ten years, I hated her. Blamed her for causing me pain, when she was living in a world of her own agony.
The memories of the moment I tracked her down to the motel room the same day her father kicked her out of her house reared to life. I’d said such harsh words and called her cruel names, not giving her an opportunity to tell me. The same vile names I called her recently, believing she was nothing but a liar and a cheater, whenreally, she was a victim of something heinous.
Shame plowed into me like a sledgehammer, taking my breath away. Fuck. I’d put her through so much in the recent weeks, thinking I was getting my revenge, when all I was doing was hurting her over and over.
I was no better than my father.
Wiping the back of my arm over my eyes to clear the tears, I walked to where she sat, her eyes on me the entire time. There was so much I wanted to say to her, but words refused to surface. Sorry didn’tseemlike it would be enough.
Nothing would.
I collapsed next to her, keeping a small gap between us, and making a silent vowthatI would never touch her again. Not without her permission. For whatseemedlike an eternity, the two of us stayed silent, the only sounds ringingout around us were the distant call of a nightbird and the clicking of the cicadas from nearby trees.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”I eventually asked, my voice cracking as I broke the tension crackling between us.
Kiera sighed. “I couldn’t.”
“I would have believed you,”I whispered.Evenbackthen, I would have believed her if she had told me. I would have looked after her and the baby.
“I know. But my dad,”she paused, taking a second to suck in a deep breath.“He said if I told anyone, he would kill my baby in front of me, and…andthenhe’d kill you.”
My head whipped to her, my brows furrowed.“What?”
She met my gaze, her unshed tears glistening under the lights reflecting from inside the cottage.“I don’t think he knew we were in a relationship, but he knew how I felt about you. He said if I told anyone, he’d kill you.”A half-smile pulled at her lips, but there was no amusement to her tone.“He framed it as getting his revenge on your dad. You know, your dad hurt me, so my dad would hurt you. But I believed him. I believedthatif I told anyone, he would kill you.”
A second knife plunged into my heart.“You were protecting me?”
“I was protecting my unborn baby.”She paused, swallowing as she deliberated her words.“And yes, I was protecting you. I loved you, Jackson, I would have done anything to protect you, too. I hatedthatI was hurting you, but knowing you hated me was easier than putting you through what you’re feeling now. You hating me, but staying alive was easier than knowing I’d caused your death.”
Christ. All this fucking time, she was protecting me from her father. Protecting me from this unbearable pain filling every pore in my body. My fists clenched. If only James had kept his father alive for a little longer, I could have had my pound of flesh from him. After everything he put Kiera through, he deserved to suffer right until the last second.
As did my father.
And he would. He would regreteverlaying a finger on Kiera by the time I was finished with him.
Silence descended once again as my mind swirled, struggling to process everything I’d learned in a short space of time. I had zero clue where we went from here. How did you go back to living your life when your whole world had been flipped upside down?
I didn’t know a tear had fallen until Kiera’s soft touch brushed against my cheek to wipe it away. Lowering my gaze to her, I found she had scooted closer, closing the gap.
