Filed to story: The LORDS Series Free PDF by Shantel Tessier
I stare at her, my breath getting caught in my lungs. It can’t be. I don’t believe her.
She tosses the test into the trash can next to her and places her forearms on top of her desk. “What are you going to do if Saint finds out it’s not his?”
“It’s his,” I whisper. I’m a hundred percent sure of that.
She arches a brow at me.
A fresh tear runs down my cheek, and I sniff. “I haven’t been with anyone else.”
“Ashtyn… we need to talk.” Laura sighs. “I didn’t want to tell you this, but you were raped.”
I frown. “No.” I shake my head. “Everything Saint has done to me has been consensual.” I allow him to have his way with me. Even when I fight him, it’s because I want him to overpower me.
“Not by Saint. But a man raped you. In your house before the vow ceremony…”
“No.” I interrupt her. “I bled.” I saw the blood. I was even worried about Saint going down on me afterward.
“I promised your mother I would look after you, and I’m afraid I’ve failed her. I thought…I thought not telling you was the best thing, but you need to know that this baby may very well be from that night.”
Tears burn my eyes, and I drop them to my lap. “I…Saint…”
“He cheated the Lords, Ashtyn. And he will be punished if anyone finds out what he’s done.”
I didn’t want to believe her. I ran out of her office and into Haidyn. He immediately took me to see Gavin, and the dates lined up. There was no way it could have been Saint’s.
My eyes lift to Saint’s and see he’s facing Ace.
“You’re lying.” Kashton is still in denial. “We were there the night of the ritual. She bled at the ceremony. She hadn’t been with anyone before Saint.”
“That’s what I never figured out…” Ace trails off. “How did you know that I fucked your bitch?” He laughs, and I flinch.
A silence falls over the pits, and the blood rushes in my ears, waiting to see if Saint answers. I never knew how he did it. I never got the chance to ask, and when he brought me back here, I never cared to ask.
“Altus had cameras in her house,” Saint finally answers. “He recorded you raping her and showed it to me.”
What? Cameras in my house? That’s how Saint knew what had happened? Laura said that Saint knew but didn’t tell me how. And that he had cheated at the vow ceremony. That if the Lords knew that I wasn’t a virgin and Saint set it up to look like I was, he’d be stripped of his title. I couldn’t take that chance.
“No.” Ace shakes his head.
Saint fists his hands down by his sides. “I watched it. She was lying on her kitchen floor, begging me to fuck her. Calling out my name while you held her down pretending to be me and fucked her.” Saint shouts, making me flinch, and I cry harder. “I made him a promise that I’d take care of it, and I did.”
SIXTY-THREE
SAINT
I’m shaking I’m so pissed. “What the fuck do you want?” I demand. Enough shit. I need someone to make a move. “Huh? Want to kill me?” I lift my arm out and step forward. “Fucking do it.”
Kashton shoves his hands in my chest and pushes me back while Sin grabs at me from behind. This is what I needed. A distraction. Even if I get shot, it’ll give the others a chance to get the girls. “FUCKING DO IT!”
Ace holds out his gun, and I hear a muffled scream. It’s Ashtyn. But I don’t look away from the man with the gun in his hand.
“Be a fucking man.” I smile at him. “Look me in the eye when you kill me.”
Her screams grow louder, but still I ignore her. If I die here, I know she’ll be taken care of. That’s all I ever wanted for her.
“I’m not going to kill you.” He laughs, his masked head shaking. “I’m going to lock you all up down here in the cells. I’m going to chain her up in the one right next to you. Let you listen to her cry and sob as I fuck her each day. While I feed her just enough to stay alive but not enough to keep your baby alive. Once your baby dies, I’m going to take her with me and leave you all here to rot in this hell that you love so much.” He steps toward the girls, and I watch Kashton stiffen. “Bring her here.” He reaches out with his gloved-covered hand and motions for my wife. “Now!” he barks when the man doesn’t work fast enough.
I move toward her, and he holds his gun trained on me. “Don’t fucking move!” he barks at me while Kashton moves closer to Jasmine and the other guy. “Bring the bitch over here!” he shouts.
I look at Ashtyn and her bloodshot eyes are narrowed, and she breathes heavily while glaring at me. She’s pissed I offered myself up for her. I don’t give a shit. When we both get out of here, I’m going to make love to my wife while I also beat her ass for keeping a pregnancy from me. I could have helped her. I could have fixed everything if she would have just said something to me.
The guy standing behind her lets go of his gun, and it hangs over his shoulder from the strap. Instead, he removes a knife from his pocket and flips it open. He grabs her hair and yanks her head back holding it to her neck. Her head is tilted to the ceiling, but her eyes remain on mine. Not an ounce of fear in her eyes.
I step toward them, ready to knock them both to the ground, and she gives me the slightest shake of her head. What the fuck?
“What in the fuck are you doing?” Ace shouts at the man. He goes to storm over to them, but the guy shoves my wife away from him and throws the knife at Ace. It lands in his leg, and he drops to his knees.
Everyone seems to move at the same time. I run and grab Ashtyn, dragging her away while Ryat takes the man behind her to the ground. Kashton body-slams the guy standing behind Jasmine, taking her down in the process. Sin and Tyson both grab Ace.
I rip the tape off Ashtyn’s face and cut the zip tie holding her wrists together. “Fucking bastard.” She slaps me, and I hold her to me. “Bas-tard.” She begins to shake, sobbing against me. I sit on the concrete floor holding her to me. I knew what happened to her, and I was going to do whatever it took to make her mine.
I could have told her, but I chose to keep it from her. I didn’t think that was something she needed to know. Am I a bastard for it? Yes. But when I saw her in her room three days later, she came onto me. Wanted me to fuck her. She wasn’t aware of what had happened. I knew I had to take care of it. I didn’t want to worry her. She was already so concerned she wasn’t going to bleed for me, so why make it worse?
“What do you want to do with them?” Sin asks.
I look up to see both guys who held our women at gunpoint now on their knees, hands tied behind their backs. They’re still fully dressed and wearing their gear.
“Strip them. Throw them in the cells,” I order. I’ll deal with them later. My wife and I have some things to discuss. Plus, I’m fucking exhausted.
“No!” Ashtyn jumps to her feet, turning to face them. “You can’t do that,” she gasps.
“Ash-“
“No.” She rushes over to them before I can grab the scrub top she’s wearing and jerks the mask off one of the guys, and silence fills the room when blue eyes meet mine.
“Hai-dyn?” Kashton whispers, speaking first, but Haidyn’s eyes don’t leave mine.
I walk over to him, and he lifts his chin to look up at me. I thought all this time, he didn’t want to bring her back because he hated her after all the shit we were put through after she left. But it was because he helped her leave. He knew she was pregnant with another man’s child and showed her how to escape me-her husband. He stood by my side when we took our vows.
“Saint-“
Fisting my hand, I punch him in the fucking face, cutting him off.
ASHTYN
“SAINT!” I scream as he knocks Haidyn over onto the concrete floor. “Saint, stop.”
“This whole fucking time…” Saint shouts. “You knew why she ran. You helped her!”
“She deserved a chance,” Haidyn yells, rolling over to sit up on his ass since his hands are cuffed behind his back.
“A chance at what?” Saint barks out.
“A life,” he growls. “She always deserved better.” He breathes deeply, and his eyes meet my watery ones. “She deserved to be a mom.”
Saint turns to me, and his eyes drop to my stomach obviously knowing that I lost the baby. He steps toward me, and I take one back. His jaw clenches.