Page 121 of Trove’s Purpose

Chee looked up at him through her lashes. “They who?”

“The Imperium.”

“Hm? Oh, you mean Hyde?” She began gnawing on her lip. “Hyde offered me… he offered me something truly precious.”

“What? What are they giving you?”

She shifted her weight between her feet, not answering immediately. She had to take a breath and try to start a couple of times before she successfully managed to speak.

“You remember how I told you about my dad?”

Trove came up short, turning to face her. “Your father? How he protected you?”

Chee smiled slightly, but she nodded. “Yeah, he did. He’s fantastic. I love him so much. He saved me. Maybe even my life itself. There’s no telling what my uncle would have done to me. What he might have done to cover up his crime.

“My dad killed my uncle. Stabbed him. And both of us had burns from the boiling water my uncle threw at us. His was on his arm. He said he barely even felt it. But mine was on my face, and he considered that to be the most important thing. So, he took me to the hospital. He left my uncle there, dead in our kitchen.

“On the way, he called my mom. She was at work. He didn’t tell her much, just that I’d been burned and he was taking me to the hospital. He asked her to meet him there. He was so calm about it. Like nothing was wrong. He didn’t give her the full story until she was there in person.

“I don’t know what that conversation was. They had it away from me. But mom looked like she had been crying when she came back. Dad returned, he kissed my head, told me I was strong and I had done nothing wrong and that I should only tell the truth. Then, he left.

“He went back home and called the police. Told them that he had found my uncle molesting me and so he attacked and killed him with a knife. He told them that my uncle was definitely dead, there was no need for the ambulance to rush, and that he would be waiting on the porch.”

It was more information on a story that Trove had already heard. He didn’t know what this had to do with anything, but he listened, waiting patiently as she gathered herself. Her eyes were swimming again with unshed tears.

“The cops arrested my dad,” she finally said. “He had admitted to murdering my uncle and it was just part of the process. They told him they understood; that they had to go through the investigation. They even sympathized with him.

“But then my grandmother got involved.” Chee’s voice tightened. She began to shake. Not with sorrow but with badly concealed rage. “She freaked out. Called my uncle her ‘sweet baby boy’. Said he would never do something like that. Said my father was jealous of him, that he’d killed him for no reason. She lost her mind about it.

“The lawyer that prosecuted my dad was vicious. And heartless. And he twisted the story. Said there was no proof my uncle had touched me. And there wasn’t. It was mine and my dad’s words, and my words were discredited because he said I would lie for my dad to keep him out of trouble. Since there was no proof of my uncle touching me, there was reasonable doubt about why my father would kill him. And since there was no proof of what he did but my word, which wasn’t allowed to be submitted as evidence in court because I was unreliable, they said it was murder.”

She was crying again, and he was beginning to understand what was happening. He didn’t understand the Earth legal system, but he had already put together the pieces of what she was saying.

“They put my father in prison for murdering his brother!” She yelled, her voice breaking in pain, in injustice, in frustration. “He’s been locked away for most of my life, and he isn’t even eligible for parole! Every time we try, my stupid grandmother keeps coming up with these wild stories about how my dad was jealous of him and how he made up this whole story, and no one believes me! No one will listen to what I have to say!

“Do you understand?! My dad has been locked up for over two decades now. He’s treated as a murderer. All because no one will listen. Because I wouldn’t talk before he did it to tell anyone what had happened. That makes it my fault.”

“Chee, no-”

“And I don’t know how Hyde found out. I don’t know how he knows everything, but he does know everything. He said if I did this for him, if I brought you this job and let you mate bond to me, he would get my father out of prison. He would bring him and my mom here and the three of us can start over where my grandmother can’t find us. Where no one can ever accuse him of anything ever again. We can have our lives and our family back!”

Chee was panting when she finished. Breathing hard like she had just finished a long sprint. Her eyes were wide and wild, tears pouring down her cheeks.

And Trove was only made angrier.

“I’m going to kill that ecter where he stands!” He announced, stomping towards the door.

He was brought up short when Chee grabbed his hand as he tried to pass her by and pulled him back. She looked confused.

“What are you talking about?”

“The Imperium. Hyde,” he sneered the fake name like an insult. “I will kill him for doing this to you.”

She pulled him back again. Only more confused. “Doing what?”

“Blackmailing you like this!” He gestured around them at her fabulously furnished room. “For holding your father’s freedom over your head and forcing you to fuck a male you don’t even want. It is disgusting and I will kill him in your honor.”

“Trove!”