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“Did you know Robin got a good look at the men who attacked her? She told me all about it. How you were going out to the store or something with Bethany. All a very convenient way to make sure Robin was alone. It was all just a little too perfect how they were able to enter your home, take Robin, and you didn’t have a clue.”
Robin’s body went completely cold.
Preacher continued. “You see, I took Robin to Billy. You know, the guy in charge, and he had one of those sketch artists. We were able to run the images from her memory through his computer and you know what we found?”
Reaper didn’t say anything.
“I know those men and I know they’re your boys. The only way they could have gotten to Robin was if you let them. If you gave them the motherfucking key to your house. They would be under your instruction the entire time.”
No, this couldn’t be happening.
“You can’t prove anything.” Those were Reaper’s words. No denial. No nothing. The pain, the soreness, it was his fault. He had hurt her even worse than she could have imagined.
Tears flooded her eyes.
Pain.
Anger.
Hatred.
All of it combined to make her shake. “It’s true,” she said, stepping out from the shadows where she’d been standing.
Reaper whirled around. “Robin, what are you doing there?”
“You sent those men to hurt me?”
“Preacher doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
“I just heard everything!” she screamed at him. Bethany started to fuss. She rushed toward her daughter. While Reaper was likely trying to figure out whatever lie would get him out of this, she grabbed her baby and took a step back. The tears already fell thick and fast. She felt sick, alone, lost. This couldn’t be happening to her, and yet it was. There was no getting away from what he’d done and was going to keep on doing. “You sent those men to hurt me.”
“Robin, I had to.”
“You had to get them to beat me up? To rape me? Did you know they were doing that? Did you know they pissed on me and laughed as they did? They shattered my foot, and there are nights I lie awake because the pain is still there. I will never fully recover from what they did to me and it was all you. You did it? How could you do that to me?” she asked.
“Why did you do it?” she sobbed.
“Look at you, Robin. You still have the stench of Preacher on your body. You think I didn’t see what was happening to you? You wanted him back. Having my baby didn’t change anything.”
“This was to punish me for having feelings?”
“No,” Preacher said. “This was so he could be the one to rescue you. Those men were expendable, right? Are they still alive or did you kill them?”
She kept looking at Reaper but she couldn’t believe it. “Do you know how guilty I felt for having feelings for Preacher? It wasn’t easy for me. I didn’t know what to do and you nearly had me killed to be a hero. A good man doesn’t hurt the woman he loves just so she can fall in love with him. I can’t … I won’t…”
“Robin, please,” he said.
“No, don’t talk. Don’t even try to tell me anything. I don’t want to hear you. I don’t want to even acknowledge you. I hate you more than anything right now.” She held Bethany close to her.
“I’m her dad. You can’t take that away.”
“No, she doesn’t have a father,” Robin said. “You will never be good enough to be her father.”
She felt sick. “Preacher, would you please drive me back to Anne’s?”
****
After dropping Robin and Bethany back with Anne, Preacher drove back to where he’d left Reaper. He didn’t tell Robin about what he had planned. He had to wonder if she even knew what he was going to do or if she wasn’t thinking that far ahead. Either way, Reaper would be taking his last breath.
