“Don’t you dare,”I growled, cocking the gun.“Don’t you dare fucking saythatyou wouldn’t have touched her if you’d known she was my girlfriend. She was fifteen fucking years old! Fifteen, and you fucking raped her, and left her to raise your child all on her own!”
My finger curled around the trigger, my heart pounding furiously against my rib cage, when an almighty bang rang out from behind me. Keeping the gun raised, I spun to find the door to the games room had been flung open with my mom standing in the doorway with thick tears streaming down her face.
“You…you raped Kiera?”she asked, her voice weak and shaky.“And you got her pregnant?”
I lowered the gun, briefly squeezing my eyes closed. Fuck. She must have been outside listening to the conversation.Thatwasn’t how I wanted her to find out.
“Sweetheart, go back to your crocheting and let Jackson and I talk,”Dad said soothingly, lowering his arms.“There’s been a mistake.”
“Is it true, Jackson?”she asked, her sorrowful eyes finding mine.“Did he rape Kiera when she was fifteen? Is he the father of Kiera’s child?”
“Mom, why don’t you let me and Dad finish talking, and I’ll come and find you?”I pleaded, desperate to get her out of the room.
“Tell me the truth, Jackson.”Her eyes fell to my father again, her features awash with disgust.“I deserve to know.”
I couldn’t argue withthat. She did deserve to know the kind of man she’d spent the last thirty-five years married to.
“Yes.”
A strained sob fell from her mouth, and my heart shattered for her. She loved my father deeply, a love I thought he returned. I muttered a curse aimed at my father for the far-reaching consequences of his actions.
Putting the safety on my gun, I was about to step toward my mom, intent on getting her the hell out of here so I could murder the cunt who I shared DNA with, when she did what I had done only moments before.
She reached behind her, pulling a gun from behind her back, and pointing it at my father.“You motherfucker! I hope you burn in Hell.”
The first gunshot rang out, swiftly followed by a second. My head whipped to my father, two pools of bright red on his chest instantly staining his shirt. He glanced down at the wounds, his eyes wide in surprise as his knees buckled and he collapsed to the floor.
Another thud reached my ears, accompanied by a wail of despair. I turned back to my mom, sprinting across to where she was seconds away from collapsing, having thrown the gun on the floor.
I pulled her into my arms, twisting her around so she didn’t see the crumpled heap of my father bleeding out. She clung to me, wracking sobs making her entire body shake.
“Ssh, it’s okay, mom.”I stroked my hand down her hair in an attempt to calm her, my mind racing.
“I’m…sorry, Jack…Jackson,”she cried, her tears soaking my shirt.“I’m so sorry.”
I held her for a long minute, glancing over my shoulder to make sure my father hadn’t moved. But he lay in the same position he’d fallen in, his entire body still. Noteventhe slightest rise and fall of his chest.
When my mom's sobs began to fade, I gently pulled her out of my arms.“Let me go check on him. Stay here, okay?”
I didn’t bother to grab my gun from where I’d thrown it on the bar. Without a doubt, I knew my dad was dead. Sure enough, as I towered over him, his eyes stared up at the ceiling, glazed over and unseeing.
“The cleanup team are on their way,”I said, returning to the living room where my mom sat, staring into thin air.
For someone who’d not only shot and killed her husband, but had discoveredthatthe man she had spent most of her life with had raped someone, she was surprisingly calm. Still, I poured her a glass of neat scotch and handed it to her.
“What happens now?”she asked, taking the glass from me and downing a large mouthful.
I sat next to her, my head still spinning with how the events played out.“James will approach Harrison and Gabe and tell them what Dad did to Kiera. She was a child of Legion when he…”
“Raped her.”
“Yeah.”I swallowed the acid crawling up my throat. I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a part of methatwished I’d been the one to end my father.“James thinks they won’t call for my punishment for killing a Legion member.”
“Don’t you meanmypunishment? I was the one who killed him.”
“No. I mean mine, Mom. James and the others can’t knowthatyou pulled the trigger. I may have some grace being an heir, but you won’t,”I replied, clasping her hand in mine.
My mom was part of Legion, but other than being married to a leader, she wasn’t a high-standing member. James had assured me I wouldn’t be punished for killing another Legion member, but he’d never offered the same reassurance for anyone else.
