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“Look, son. I have made several hard decisions over the years, and there are some I regret. This is not one of them. You have become a fantastic heir, everything I thought you could be. Am I sorry that you got your heart broken? Of course I am, but if the situation was repeated, I’d make the exact same choice,” Desmond states firmly, and that only winds Evan up further.
“You are a fucking asshole. You pretend that everything you do is for this family, when we all know every decision you make is for yourself,” Evan barks, pushing to stand up from the sofa, before he begins pacing around, struggling to rein in his growing anger.
“That’s not true.EverythingI do is for my family. You might not like my decisions, but sometimes it’s simply becauseyou don’t know all the facts,” Desmond replies calmly, his gaze moving over to meet mine.
With a very subtle gesture, he lifts his brows while giving me a slight nod. I know what he’s saying without him using words. Now's the time for me to tell Evan the truth. He may be mad at his father, but Desmond is right when he says Evan doesn’t know everything.
Before Evan can begin yelling at his father again, I cut in. “Evan, sit down, please. I’m not sticking up for your father when I say this, as I am beyond pissed over the way he manipulated us when we were kids, but I agree things aren’t always as they seem. Sometimes you don’t know everything going on in the background.”
Evan’s turn to look at me, his emerald eyes flashing with what looks to be betrayal, before his expression hardens. “What are you talking about?” he snaps.
Just as I’m about to reply, Desmond cuts me off. “You don’t have to explain yourself, Teigan.” He may have silently asked me to lead into this discussion for him, but he isn’t forcing me to tell the story.
“She fucking does,” Evan growls.
I give Desmond a reassuring smile, letting him know this conversation has been coming for a while, and I’m fine with it. “He’s talking about the part he played that led to me being sold to The Sheriff.”
Evan freezes, his body full of tension, before he slowly sits beside me. He turns to shoot a deadly glare his father’s way, before giving me all his attention. “Of course we can hold him accountable for that too,” Evan seethes, missing the point of my story.
I shake my head, wincing slightly as I explain. “No, Ev. I think you are misunderstanding me. I’m saying you don’t know the full extent of your father’s role.”
“Well then, tell me,” he barks.
Just as I’m about to begin explaining, Desmond cuts me off. “You don’t have to explain on my behalf, Teigan. Evan seems to have made his mind up.” His voice cracks at the end, and he sounds almost defeated.
“There’s a lot of fucking evidence against you,” Evan retorts sarcastically.
Without thinking, I grab hold of Evan’s hand, not caring that his father’s eyes widen at the gesture. All I care about is making sure Evan knows the truth.
“Let me tell you everything, and then you can make up your mind. Okay?”
Evan nods, gripping hold of my hand tighter, lacing our fingers together as his breathing increases, his nerves grabbing hold of him. “I can do that.”
I give him a bright smile that he returns, setting me at ease. “You already know that I went to your father for a loan, and that I started working in his clubs to pay off that debt. Inadvertently, he is the reason I ended up where I did, but he’s not the whole reason. There’s more to the story that he hasn’t told you.”
Evan’s eyes fly over to Desmond’s, but he’s just sitting in his chair, looking almost bored. I take a deep breath, squeezing Evan’s hand as I continue.
“The part you don’t know is that before everything turned to shit, your father actually tried to help me.”
Evan gasps, his eyes flicking between me and Desmond, looking frantically for any clue as to what I might mean.
“There was a time when he came to me, telling me he couldn’t keep me safe anymore. I’m guessing it was shortly after he’d made the decision to fake his own death. He explained the situation he was in with Whitlock, and that I would transfer over to become Whitlock’s property should anything happen to him. He told me he could release me from my debt.”
Evan’s gasp echoes around the room, and he looks stunned. I want to look away from the intensity of his gaze, but he deserves better than that. Every word I speak is aimed solely at him, and I keep eye contact with him as I continue.
“At this point, I’d already spent some time with Whitlock, and I had seen what he was capable of. He’d taken me to Club Crimson, and had loaned me to The Sheriff. I had seen the disgusting, depraved things they were doing there, and I’d met some of the women and children that were in a much worse situation than me.
“Desmond offered to wipe off my debt, to set me free, but I declined. I made the choice, at that moment, to stay where I was. I knew things could get more dangerous for me, but I wanted to help. Desmond strongly advised against it, saying once I belonged to Whitlock, nobody could protect me, and that I’d be on my own.
“I took his words on board, but I still told him I wanted to stay. I wanted to help bring down as many of those sick, twisted men as I could. To help free all the women and children that were stuck in that hellhole.”
Evan’s eyes widen as he shakes his head in disbelief. “You could have freed yourself, but you didn’t? You put your own life on the line to save others?”
I nod slowly. “Yes, I did,” I reply calmly, hating the way he stares at me like I betrayed him. I try to explain my motives. “When Desmond ‘died’, Whitlock became my owner. I think he knew I was valuable to Desmond—or the Doughtys—in some way, and he figured I might be a good leverage in the future, so I was treated better than most others were. I still saw all the disgusting and depraved things he was part of. I just wasn’t one of his victims.”
“You didn’t have to be a fucking victim, Tee. You didn’t have to be there at all. Stupid fucking hero complex,” he grumbles,trying to pull his hand away from mine, but I don’t let him. I hold on tight, keeping the fierce look in my eyes.
“Call it what you want, but I had to help those girls. Because I chose to be there, you and your family came to rescue me. Your need to free me, helped put a plan in motion, that will see an end to the flesh trade. Women and children will be saved because of us, because I stayed where I was. I can’t regret that,” I explain.
