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‘But Layton Cooper believed differently?’
Jax nodded. ‘Yep. And all of the leads I followed led me to the same conclusion. Her friends confirmed she completely changed after her trip to New York. She went from a straight A student who was popular and outgoing, to someone who was withdrawn and barely spoke to anyone.’
‘And the baby?’
‘Bethany told people that it was her high school boyfriend who’d knocked her up, but I spoke to the kid and he flat out denied it. I put some pressure on him too, amigo, but he said he and Bethany had never got past third base.’
‘But Foster though? She would have been fifteen when he met her?’
Jax nodded. ‘I know. Sick fuck! But I had a friendly chat with the coroner,’ he said with a flash of his eyebrows.
I knew from experience that Jax’s friendly chats were anything but and the coroner would have been lucky to escape with just a broken bone or two.
‘And he confirmed that he was paid a significant amount of money from someone in the Carmichael administration to confirm the death as suicide, despite there being no note and some defensive wounds on Bethany’s wrists.’
‘Fucker!’ I hissed.
‘And if that wasn’t enough, Bethany apparently confided in her best friend, Karen, that the baby’s father was an older man she’d met in New York, who had basically invited her to his office, drugged her and convinced her that she had begged him for sex. She didn’t name this man, but said he was very powerful. Karen also told me that Bethany was clearly terrified of this guy and what he was going to do to her.’
‘But what’s the connection between the Coopers and Carmichael?’
‘Layton Cooper did some contracting work on Foster Carmichael’s lake house. I spoke to some of his employees and from what they said, Bethany used to enjoy going to work with her dad and his crew sometimes. Cooper took his daughter to Carmichael’s lake house and apparently while she was there, Cooper objected to the unhealthy interest Carmichael showed in his young daughter and he stopped her going there. I had someone look into Bethany’s social media accounts and she had arranged to meet someone in New York a few weeks later during her class trip. Carmichael was in New York at the time.’
‘And Carmichael, or at least someone from his administration, paid to cover this up?’ I asked, knowing all too well how easily corrupted some officials were.
‘Yes,’ Jax said with a solemn nod of his head. ‘You think Alana knew about any of this?’
I shook my head. ‘No way. She volunteers forty hours a week at a shelter for abused women and kids. I can’t believe that she would be involved in anything like that.’
Jax let out a low whistle. ‘You’ve married into one fucked up family, amigo, and that’s saying something.’
I nodded my agreement. ‘At least my family are open about what we are, but Carmichael pretends he’s some sort of fucking saint. And worst of all, Alana believes he is too. It drives me fucking crazy how loyal she is to that son of a bitch.’
‘She’ll see through him one day, amigo.’
‘I fucking hope so. I won’t have my children anywhere near that sick fuck!’
By the time I got home a few hours after my meeting with Jax, I was still raging. And if I couldn’t take my frustration out on the Carmichael who deserved my wrath, then his daughter would have to do. Besides, she could soothe my anger way more effectively than anything else I could think of.
I stormed through the house looking for her and found her in her usual spot, reading in the den. She was such a bookworm and I’d come to realize that reading was her favorite way to unwind. But, it most definitely wasn’t mine.
She looked up from her book as I walked into the room — all huge brown eyes and innocence.
Did she really have no idea what a monster her father was? Or was she covering for him. Did she know all about poor Bethany Cooper and the fact that her father had raped and murdered her?
I shook my head. I couldn’t believe it of her. She was too good. Too good for her cunt of a father, and too good for me. Pity I was too much of a monster myself to let her go though.
I walked over to her and held out my hand. She put her book down on the sofa beside her and took my hand without questioning why, or where I was taking her.
I pulled her up and led her out of the room and up to the master bedroom. As soon as we were inside, I closed the doors behind us and she stood by the bed, staring at me and trembling slightly. I crossed the room to her and brushed my knuckles across her cheek.
‘I’ve had a fucking awful day,’ was all I could think of to say. All I could offer as justification for what I was about to do to her.
She nodded in understanding. ‘Okay,’ she breathed.
‘Take off your clothes and lie on the bed,’ I growled.
She obeyed immediately and started to slide her yoga pants over her hips and down her legs before kicking them off. She wasn’t wearing panties and her compliance with my rule almost made me smile.
