AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“So, it was all about money? All of it?” Sean asks. But Jasmine shakes her head before looking directly at me.
“No, it was revenge. She wanted you to suffer and to lose someone you love as she did.” I’m staring at her confused. She looks from me to the shoe box. “Do you recognise that?”
I turn to look at it and for a second I don’t, but then it hits me.
“It was the shoe box I got from under the floorboards in the house when we went to get your stuff.”
Jasmine nods. “Open it.”
I look at her before picking up the box and opening it. It’s only small, maybe for childrens shoes. Inside is a small teddy sitting on a bundle of letters, and a picture. I look at the photograph and freeze.
“Those letters were from my father when he left, or I thought they were. I never told you this before but when my father disappeared my grandparents changed our names. I wasn’t born Jasmine Rose Connors. I was Rose Jasmine Grant, my father was.”
“Connor Grant,” I finish for her as I look at the letters and the picture in my hand.
“Yes,” I hear her sigh as my hands shake and the realisation hits me.
“I killed your father,” I whisper as I look up to see Jasmine nodding. Tears slide down her face. “I didn’t know.” I barely got the words out.
“Me neither. Mum told me last night. Apparently, Tommy got drunk one night and let it slip. That’s why the marriage ended,” she whispers through the tears.
“Who was Connor Grant?” Maximus asks next to me.
“My first kill,” I answer unable to tear my eyes away from Jasmine.
“When you were fifteen?” Sean asks. I nod before it becomes too much, and I fall on my knees in front of Jasmine.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I didn’t want to. Hardy made me. It was him or Jason. Please forgive me, sweetheart!” I beg as I clutch her hand as I kneel in front of her. “I’m so sorry.” I can’t stop the tears that breakthrough then and cry harder than I have since that night. I feel Jasmine move and expect her to run from me, but she doesn’t.
Jasmine throws her arms around my neck as she holds me straddling my lap. I freeze for a second before wrapping my arms around her waist and burying my face in her neck as I continue to cry.
“I don’t blame you,” she whispers into my ear as she runs a hand over my head.
“Jason had a gun to his head, I had to do it. Your dad even told me to do it to save my brother,” I gasp and hear Jasmine shushing me. “Please forgive me. Don’t hate me. I can’t handle you hating me as much as I hate myself,” I beg. Jasmine leans back and holds my face in her hands.
“There is nothing to forgive. You were only fifteen. I know how much that death has haunted you. I don’t hate you. I could never hate you. You are my Daddy and I love you. You were willing to save my mum because you know it would have hurt me to see her die.” A small part of her lip lifts in a smile. “It was a waste of time though as I ended up killing her anyway,” she chuckles nervously before crying again. I hold her to me, unable to let her go as we both come to terms with the fact, we each killed one of her parents, both of us doing it to protect someone we love.
43
Jasmine
It’s been two weeks since I was rescued. Two days later the guys and I boarded a private plane and flew to Majorca and we’ve been in their villa since.
I love it here, it’s always felt like my second home. The guys have brought me back every year around my birthday and this year was no different, except I’m different now. Not only because I have my four Daddies who I love more than anything in the world. But because of my few days being held by Hudson and Taylor. I wish I could say I haven’t been plagued by nightmares, but I have. I’ve also watched as Christian has been tormented by them too and it breaks my heart. A big part of me wanted to hide the truth from him, to do all I could to protect him from the pain I knew it would bring him. But I know that what I have with Christian and the guys is forever and I don’t want to hide anything from them, especially something this big.
Jason asked me a few days after we got here if I felt differently about Christian now, and I admitted that I do, but not in the way he expects. Christian may have taken my father from me, but if he hadn’t someone else would have. Maybe they would have killed me and my mother too. I’ve always respected him but seeing what he did from such a young age to protect his brothers just made me respect him even more.
Christian told me the hit was put out for my father due to him selling drugs for Hardy to make money. From what we know now we think the problem was Mum kept getting into his drug stash and using it. One day he couldn’t cover the cost of how much she had used so Hardy accused him of using it himself. Rather than let Mum take the bullet my dad stepped up and took the blame. Tommy was also in trouble with Hardy and to make amends Hardy wanted to teach Tommy a lesson by dragging his kids into it. The result was Tommy and Mum got away with everything scotch free and my dad lost his life and Christians was altered forever. Christian may not look at it in the same but I know what he did took a lot of courage for a fifteen-year-old and I will never forget that.
As the cold air starts to stir around me, I stand and dust myself off as I turn back towards the villa. I look up at it in the fading sunlight and sigh. We are going home in two days and part of me wants to stay here forever. I don’t want to go back to face the girls, and I don’t want to be asked a hundred questions about where I’ve been. But more importantly, I don’t want to go back and for Christian to find every excuse to be away from me.
Since we got here, Christian has been distant. I know we both have a lot to get our heads around and I know he feels guilty about what happened but there is more to this. He doesn’t give me the Daddy look any more or discipline me. It’s like he thinks I will break if he tries, but I won’t. What Hudson did to me was horrible, it hurt, but it could have been so much worse and I know that. It will haunt me for the rest of my life. I don’t want it to take what I have with the guys away from me. But Christian seems to think that if he dominates me I will become this fragile shell of a woman. Where I need it, I want him to be my daddy again. More than anything I need him to show me that although we know the truth now, it doesn’t change us.
I reach the back door and wipe my sandy feet on the mat before walking into the lounge area. As I close the patio door Christian and Maximus walk in.
“Hey sweetheart, you been on the beach?”
I look up to Christian and nod, just to see what he says. He gives me a smile before turning back to Maximus who’s frowning at me.
