Filed to story: The LORDS Series Free PDF by Shantel Tessier
I look up at him with a sigh and admit, “I feel bad.”
“Why?” He frowns. “None of this is your fault.”
“Because…” I step away, and his hands fall to his sides. “I was jealous of you and Ashtyn, and then I heard about how much she went through…I should have never??”
“Stop, Charlotte.” He interrupts me, stepping back into me once again. “It’s okay to be jealous. It’s okay to feel how you felt. What Ashtyn went through doesn’t change what me and her once did.” He refers back to when they had sex. “But I do want you to know that you are the only woman in my life. You are the only one for me. My past with her doesn’t dictate my future with you. Do you believe that, doll face?”
I nod, licking my lips. “I do.” I can’t change their past. Ashtyn isn’t the only woman he’s ever slept with. I also know that my mother is one of them, but Kashton had said they didn’t have a choice.
I understand that I’m the problem in this scenario. That I’m the jealous bitch who gets to call this amazing man my husband. But moving forward, I will kill any bitch who tries to take him from me. I fight for what I want, and he’s it for me.
Haidyn and I were up all night in bed. It started out with him making love to me and then he flipped me over and fucked my ass like the dirty little whore he’s turned me into. Then I spent an hour on my knees in the bathroom while he held my hair.
Gavin said the morning sickness will eventually stop, and it can’t come soon enough. When I was finally finished, Haidyn carried me to bed, and I passed out with his dick inside my pussy.
We weren’t asleep for long when a knock came on the door and busted our bubble. Twenty minutes later we were loading into a car and following the others back to where my mother was holding Haidyn.
Ryat, Sin and Tyson were already here waiting for us. They’re looking for some drug that my mother gave Haidyn. On the way here, my husband explained how I already have it, along with other Ladies.
We’re founders.
And it made me feel sick. Just another lie that I would have never found out if I had not given my life over to Haidyn.
Bill had taken me to what he called Dollhouse when we were looking for my husband. I didn’t get to pay much attention to my surroundings at the time. So when Haidyn pulls up to a mansion on top of a mountain, I whip my head to look at him.
“What are we doing here?” I ask.
It doesn’t seem familiar. What I do remember was old and smelled rotted. Instead, a fancy gate sits at the entrance off the road. There is a pond on either side of the long driveway, and each has a fountain lit up at night.
“Bill is meeting us here.” He brings his car to a stop, turning it off. “Dollhouse is on the same property, but he says this house has what we’re looking for.”
House? Reminds me of an extravagant resort of some kind.
Getting out, he opens the passenger door for me, and I stay silent as he immediately starts talking to the other Lords as we make our way up the steps and inside.
I take my hand from his and walk around, taking it in. It’s only what the wealthy would accept as a home. Crystal chandeliers hanging from cathedral ceilings, Persian rugs, cream-colored marble floors with what looks like real gold flakes. The size alone tells me it’s worth millions.
My mother owns this? I’ve never been here before.
An arm wraps around my side. “Are you okay?” Haidyn asks.
I nod. He’s been worried since I got sick. I know it’s the pregnancy, but I also think it’s my nerves. I’m terrified something is going to happen to the babies. I want to think happy thoughts, but my mind tells me that there’s always going to be someone out to get my husband.
“The guys and I are going to go meet Bill in the basement. Will you be okay up here by yourself?”
Looking up at him, I give him a reassuring smile. “Yes.”
Leaning down, he places his lips on mine, giving me a soft kiss before he pulls away and walks away with the others.
The sound of a door opening to my right catches my attention. I see Ashtyn stepping outside onto the back porch, and I follow her. Making my way down the concrete steps, I continue to walk through the backyard, past the Olympic-size swimming pool, and we approach the woods.
She comes to a stop and stares at the trees. I look over the metal bar high up in the branches. A piece of rope hangs from the center and two cinder blocks are on the ground. They too have rope wrapped around them.
Ashtyn stands quietly staring at it as I watch her. The soft wind blows her dark hair around and I hear her sniff.
I go to turn around and leave her alone…to give her a second when her voice stops me. “He kept me tied up for four days.”
Turning back to face her, my stomach drops at her words. I lick my lips. “I’m so, so sorry…”
She turns to face me and cuts me off. “I’m not like them.”
“Who?” I ask, wondering who she’s referring to exactly.
We know that Benny is connected to Hudson and my mother, but we don’t know the extent of it. My mother refuses to talk, and Benny is practically dead. No one has spoken to Hudson yet. He’s been in the hospital since I shot him twice.
“Our husbands…our parents…the Lords in general.” Her eyes go to the house behind me before they find mine again. “I’m not going to blame you for who your mother is. Or what part she played in my life…no matter how big or small.” Her hand goes to her stomach before she walks over to me, closing the small space. “I’m not going to pretend I know anything about your marriage to Haidyn.” Reaching down, she takes my hands in hers. “I bet he put you through hell.” Giving me a small smile, she adds, “But I do know he fell in love with you. And I can’t tell you how happy I am that he found you and to have a sister.” She pulls me in for a hug, and I feel her shoulders shake.
I hug her tighter as my eyes land on the rope that hangs from the metal bar in the trees. Swallowing the knot that lodges in my throat, I promise to be a better person to her. Because she’s right, our husbands are brothers, making her my sister.
EIGHTY-SIX
HAIDYN
We’ve moved her mother to a cell, and today is the day we bring out Hudson. He’s strapped in the same spot as Isabella was several days ago. He’s remained silent. Tyson’s men brought him back with them, and he’s been in the hospital. It was the first time I saw Kash actually smile since they rescued me from that hell. His face lit up when he told me my wife shot Hudson. He was so proud of her.
My wife stands next to me while Adam stands on the other side of her. Saint and Kash stand by Ryat, Tyson, and Sin. Bill is still here as well.
“What can you tell us that Isabella can’t?” I ask.
He purses his lips and lifts his chin. I’ve slept beside my wife the past few nights, wanting to put a fucking knife through his chest but have refrained. I know what he was going to do to her, and it makes me sick to even think about it.
I know what I hallucinated wasn’t far off. He’s a sick fucking bastard.
“He asked you a question, motherfucker!” Kash steps forward, and I grab his shirt, pulling him back.
“I know something.” My wife speaks, and everyone in the room turns to face her.
“You don’t know shit, bitch.” Hudson laughs at her. “You didn’t even know that I was in on it. You thought that I was actually interested in you. You’re pathetic,” he spits.
She turns to face me, ignoring him as she speaks. “He was the one who slit your wrists.”
I stiffen at her words, and Kash spins around to face him. “You what?” He looks back at my wife. “How the fuck do you know that?”
“He told me when he and Bill threw me in the cell with Haidyn at Dollhouse. He was bragging. Said that my mother should have let him slit your throat…” Her eyes fill with unshed tears, and she adds, “I just put two and two together.”
Saint steps up to him. “So you were here…? In Carnage with Isabella when she was training us?”
He gives us a cruel smile.
Saint punches him, knocking his head to the side. He spits blood from his split lips. All this time, this piece of shit had been with my wife long before I even knew who she really was. Isabella told me that he set her up for me to find her car on the side of the road. Once I got that call from Adam informing me of who she was, I spent the next two weeks setting up cameras in her house, preparing her basement…he knew all of that. That’s why I never saw him on the cameras. I had her tell everyone that she was going out of town, and it gave him an excuse to stay away, and she never questioned his distance. Then he showed up pretending to be mad when he found her notebook. He had to give her a reason to walk away. To make her feel like she betrayed him. He was just playing with her mind, adding to her mother’s bullshit game. And I never took the opportunity to check the cameras when she told me he had been there while she sat in her bathtub. I was too busy making sure she married me that night. If I had just checked them, I would have seen him in her house. I would have recognized him. I never showed her the picture I had of him in my pocket. She never saw it when I showed Ryat and Tyson. LeAnne showed up, and my wife was attacked. It just never seemed important.
“Who is this?” I demand, stepping forward holding out the picture of him and Benny. “How do you fucking know him?” Benny already told us, but I want to hear him say it.
Hudson just laughs.
A cell phone goes off, and Adam pulls his out of his pocket. He reads over something and then sighs.