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“I connect…” I look from one set of eyes to the next. “Through my mother. She was a…” I hate how the words stick in my chest. “She knew Colum.”
“She was a club whore?” Kane asks. His voice isn’t quite as hard as it was earlier. “Was your mother sold?”
“She was not a whore,” I seethe. “She was not a fucking whore.”
“My sister was a club whore,” Jessica murmurs. Her voice crackles, her hands shake as she strokes her stomach, and when she leans forward, I realize it’s because she’s looking through the boardroom windows in search of… well, I guess her sister.
The blinds remain open, and the men we saw on the way in remain exactly where they were. They might not be able to hear us, but they see. They see every move we make.
“She was unwilling,” Jess says. “She tried to kill herself because of what happened. But the fact remains she found herself a victim inside Abel Hayes’ club. She was sold, and her involvement was directly related to Colum fucking Bishop. The man that will, technically, be my late father-in-law. Was your mother a club whore?”
I swallow the bitter pill that is the truth. “Yes.” I cough to clear my throat. “Yes, I believe my mother was one of Colum’s whores. I visited a club only one time, so maybe she got out when she got pregnant or something. I’m not sure. But it wasn’t part of my everyday life.”
“And now your mother is dead?” Sophia asks. Her eyes are sympathetic, even if her words are hard. “How did she die?”
I glance down when Libby slides her hand into my lap and clutches to mine. I lick my lips to moisten them, because I swear, it almost feels like I’m inside that club again. My stomach wants to blow, my throat is desert dry, and my lips are cracked.
“With her legs open,” I choke. “She died with her legs open, laid out on a desk while Colum was fucking her. I walked in at the wrong moment… or the right moment. I don’t know. I walked in and she saw me. I figure he was trying to buy me, but she didn’t want that for me, so she told me to run. They murdered her right in front of my eyes.”
“And then you ran?” Jess asks.
I clamp my lips shut and nod.
“How old were you when that happened?”
“I was eleven.” I meet Jess’ bright eyes and swallow. “It happened twenty-two years ago, when I was eleven.”
“And why was Colum trying to buy an eleven-year-old boy?” Jay asks.
“Because that boy was Colum’s son,” Sophia whispers. Her eyes are wide, and her arm flexes as she grips Jay’s hand beneath the table. To hold him down, perhaps. To keep him on his side of the table.
“Fuck.” Kane finally breaks character and shows me something other than a machine. He sits back with a groan and presses the heels of his hands against his eyes. “He’s Colum’s son. He’s Colum’s fucking kid.”
“That makes him our brother?” Jay’s eyes flicker from me to Kane. He’s not the enraged boyfriend from yesterday, but confused now, vulnerable. “Fuck me dead, Theo Griffin is ourbrother?”
