CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Harper
I didn’t want to tell him. I didn’t want to relive the memories my nightmares were made of. I knew that I had to share this part of myself with him if I wanted to have a relationship with him, but knowing it didn’t make it any easier to get the words out.
“Baby, I know this is hard for you. Do you think it would be easier for you to give me a brief summary of what happened and then I could ask questions?” he gently asked.
That was a perfect example of why I had so effortlessly fallen in love with him. He understood me; he seemed to know what I needed without me saying a word. “Yes, that would make it much easier. Thank you.”
He kissed my cheek. “Take your time. I’m not going anywhere.”
I took a few moments to gather my thoughts and prepare myself to venture back to the most horrendous time of my life. I just needed to give him an idea of what happened. I could do that without going into detail. It was the details that got to me every time I tried to talk about it.
I took in a deep breath and started, “When I was 10 years old, I was kidnapped. The man that took me had 10-year-old twin daughters, and one of them died. The surviving twin was having a hard time with her sister’s death, and nothing was helping her deal with the loss. I looked almost exactly like them. I don’t know how they found me, but they did, and they took me. As long as I remembered to act likeher, everything was fine. I was there for almost three months before Duke found me and rescued me. He moved us to Devil Springs immediately after my rescue. Aunt Leigh and Judge took us in. I lived with them until I was 18 years old. I moved to Sugar Falls for college, and here we are.”
He gave me a few minutes to myself before he spoke. “May I ask you a few questions now?”
I nodded. Surprisingly, I was okay. I had never made it through a long or short version of that story without turning into a hiccupping mess of snot and tears.
“Did anyone hurt you while you were there?”
“Define hurt.”
“Were you sexually abused in any way?”
“No.”
“Were you physically abused?”
I swallowed audibly and felt the color drain from my face. “Yes,” I whispered. “If I didn’t act like her, I was punished.”
I watched the rage build inside of Chase. His muscles tensed. His fists balled. His nostrils flared. “How?” he asked through his clenched jaw.
“Corporal.”
He stood and began to pace. I watched him warily. I wasn’t scared of him, but I didn’t know what to expect from him either.
“The thought of someone hurting you infuriates me. I’m just trying to work off some of my rage. Let’s keep going.”
“Okay,” I whispered.
“What happened to the family?”
I didn’t like reliving this part of the story either. “I don’t believe anyone knows this part, other than Duke and me and I’m only telling you because you’re a Blackwing. Okay?”
He stopped pacing and met my eyes. “Okay.”
“Duke killed the father. The mother killed herself not long after her husband’s death.”
“You sure he killed him?”
I could feel the bile churning in my gut. “Yes. He didn’t make me watch him do it, but he made me look at his dead body before he took me out of the house. Duke said I needed to see him to know that he could never come after me again.”
“What happened to the other little girl?”
I swallowed thickly. “She went to live with her aunt and uncle in another state. She struggled after losing her entire family and ended up in a mental hospital for years. When she was 18, she was found dead in her apartment from an overdose. Not sure if it was accidental or intentional.”