AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 9
PENELOPE
Later that evening,after Phillip—I refuse to call him father or dad—showed up at my office and tried forcing my hand, Kai and I are at my house. Wesley, Taylor, Camila, and Harley are here as well. Taylor and Harley are on the love seat, their anxious eyes pinned on me. Wesley stands by the sliding glass door that leads out back, arms crossed over his chest, his own worried expression pointed directly at me. Camila’s pulled a chair from the dining room table and sits on the other side of the coffee table.
Kai sits beside me, and his presence sends a calming warmth through my body, giving me the courage to reveal to my siblings the secret I’ve kept from them for years.
When I grab Kai’s hand, I expect to look up and see surprise in my sisters’ eyes, but their expression doesn’t change. It’s then that I know that either Wesley or Jersey must have told them about Kai and me. I’m grateful it’s one less thing I have to explain.
“What’s going on, Penelope?” Wesley asks. “Spencer said he arrested Phillip earlier today because he came to your office and caused problems. It’s been a few years since we’ve seen or heard from him. Why was he at your office?”
I look at my brother. Wesley’s four years older than my sisters and me. He’s always been the protector of the family, especially while we were still living at home. I can’t count how many times he’s stood between Phillip and my sisters and me and took the brunt of his anger. I hated that he felt he needed to do that, but I loved him for it too. When he turned eighteen and could have left for college, he turned down the ones that weren’t close to home. He refused to leave us behind because he would be leaving us in the hands of a sadistic father. Instead, he stayed home and went to the local community college. It wasn’t until my sisters and I left for college that Wesley moved out.
I lick my suddenly dry lips and meet his eyes. “I’ve been paying him off for years,” I admit one of my truths.
The muscle in his jaw ticks and his eyes spit fire. “What the hell, Pen?” he asks, his voice calmer than his expression. “Why would you do that?”
I slide my eyes to each of my siblings before settling them back on Wesley. “To keep him away from the four of you.”
“What do you mean, keep him away from us?” Camila asks, drawing my attention. “He can’t hurt us anymore.”
“Just because we aren’t scared kids anymore doesn’t mean he can’t still hurt us. There are other means of inflicting pain. Emotional pain can be just as hindering as physical. We lived with that man for years, endured his abuse for too long. If there was a way to keep him away from the rest of you, I wanted to take it. Paying him was that way.” I look at them all. “I don’t regret my decision. I only regret that I can’t continue to keep him away.”
Harley gets up from the love seat and comes to sit down beside me. She takes the hand that Kai’s not holding. “How long have you been doing this?” she asks quietly.
“Since a few years after college when I opened the doors of Adair Marks. He heard how well I was doing and came by to see me. He saw an opportunity to swindle money from me and threatened to harass the four of you if I didn’t. The five of us dealt with him long enough; I didn’t want you guys to have to go through it again. So I paid him once a month, as long as he stayed away. One of my stipulations was he wasn’t to contact me in any way. We made a time and place to meet each month.”
Camila presses her lips together and her brows drop into a frown. “Why did he come to your office today?”
“Because he wanted to up the amount I had been paying him.”
Camila looks at Kai. “I heard it was you who put a stop to him going after our sister,” she says. “We all want to thank you for that.”
“It was very much my pleasure. I just wish I had gotten to her office sooner.”
I squeeze his hand and look at him. “What you did was enough, and I haven’t even thanked you yet.” Leaning forward, I press a quick kiss against his lips. “Thank you.”
“I’ll always be there when you need me.”
I give him a soft smile.
When I look back to my family, I find my sisters watching me with a mixture of curiosity and awe. I’ve dated several guys over the years and have introduced a few to my family, but Kai is different and they can tell.
“What aren’t you telling us, Pen?” Wesley asks, pulling my attention to him. His posture is stiff. “I don’t buy you paying him off to keep him away from us. There’s got to be another reason.”
I drop my eyes from him and pull my hands away from Kai and Camila to clasp them together in my lap. I can’t touch either of them when I tell them my next secret. Shame heats my cheeks, and I swallow past the hard lump in my throat.
I look across the room, refusing to look any of them in the eye.
“When we still lived at home,” I begin, my voice barely loud enough to be heard in the quiet room. I almost wish they couldn’t hear me, but it’s time for them to know. “Phillip used to… come into my room at night.”
Gasps come from my sisters at the same time Wesley shouts “What?” Kai doesn’t touch me and I can’t see him from where I have my eyes directed, but I can feel the waves of anger coming off him.
I continue. “He never forced himself on me. All he ever did was touch me. At first it was on the outside of my clothes, but when he realized how much he could control the situation, he moved to touching me under my clothes.”
“My God, Penelope,” Camila’s choked voice comes from beside me. “How long did this go on?”
“From the time I was ten until the day we left for college.”
