Filed to story: The LORDS Series Free PDF by Shantel Tessier
“What I did was what you deserved,” she interrupts me.
I take a step farther into the room at her words. “What I deserved?” I ask, breathless as if the wind was knocked out of me. “I didn’t do anything.”
She snorts. “I saw you, Lake. The way you obeyed every order he gave you.” Her eyes look me up and down with disgust. “Like an obedient bitch in heat,” she spits out. “And Bethany filled me in on what I didn’t see.”
I open my mouth to say I didn’t have a choice, but Tyson and I have moved past that. Early this morning when he had me bent over the Lords’ table-the very same one she had been hogtied on-we took our vows by choice. “He chose me.” I lift my chin with pride. “And I choose him.”
I’m proud to say I’m Laikyn Grace Crawford.
She throws her head back, giving a manic laugh that sends a chill down my spine. “You think because he fucks you, you’re something special?” She shakes her head, and her matted hair hits her face. “He’ll never love you, Lake. You’re just another worthless bitch to him.”
I tilt my head to the side. “What’s that make you, Whitney?” Her eyes narrow on me. “He put you here. Alone. Your husband is dead.” If Luke isn’t by now, he will be soon. “So what does that make you?”
She lets out a feral scream, her body shaking violently. “You fucking bitch!”
“You’ve been dead to me for three years, Whitney.” Her eyes widen at my words. “You’re still dead to me now.”
“You don’t deserve to have what I had,” she cries. “I fell in love with him, and Dad made me let him go.”
“You set him up,” I growl. “You let the world-you let me-go on believing he killed you. For fuck’s sake, Whitney, people thought you guys were engaged and you were expecting.” I remember Collin and his friend talking about it at Blackout.
“Speaking of baby…” Her watery eyes drop to my stomach. “You’re welcome.”
I step forward, my hands going to my flat stomach. “What do you mean, you’re welcome?”
“It was my idea to have Tyson knock you up. Once Luke realized you’d no longer be useful to him.”
Useful? There’s that word again. “Why would you do that?” I ask breathlessly.
The cruelest smile I’ve ever seen graces her bruised and dirty face. “Because I knew he’d fuck you every chance he got.” She steps forward, the chains pulling as tight as she can from the wall. “I wanted to give you the greatest gift in the world.” I swallow the knot in my throat. “And then take it away from you.”
Tears sting my eyes, and I shake my head at what she did. “I never did anything to you,” I growl.
“You took him from me!” she shouts.
“He was never yours to begin with!” I scream, my lungs burning. “You might have had a chance with him, but you blew it. Now you can rot here while I remain his wife carrying his children.” Her eyes narrow on me. “I hope it eats you alive to know that he loves me. That he married me.” I smile, feeling at peace that it doesn’t bother me. Giving her my back, I move toward the door when her next words stop me.
“He won’t want you once he finds out that you fucked Luke.”
My pulse begins to race at her words. “I’d never cheat on my husband. I’m not you.”
Her face goes red with rage. Taking in a deep breath, she lifts her chin like she’s not chained to a wall, and a smile spreads across her face that makes her look crazy. Like she should be in a padded room with a straitjacket on. I guess she’s not far from it. “If Tyson doesn’t already know, he will soon. I’ll make sure of it.”
I step closer to her, my hands fisting. “I’d never cheat on my husband!” I scream them this time, my body vibrating with violence. I want to get close enough to beat the shit out of her, but I can’t. I won’t put my babies in any position where she can harm them.
“After Luke knocked you out in the hospital bed, he fucked you.”
“No.” I shake my head, refusing to believe that.
She gives a rough laugh. “Yes. He wasn’t allowed to after your wedding, but you were no longer a virgin, so it didn’t matter anymore.” She steps forward, and her arms are pulled behind her due to the shortness of the chains. It doesn’t seem to bother her. “If you weren’t already pregnant, he was going to make sure it happened.”
“No.” Tears sting my eyes once again. A part of me knows she’s telling the truth, but I don’t want to believe it.
“I recorded it.” She smiles at me and my heart stops. “We needed a video to share for those who would bid on you.”
My chest is so tight that I can’t breathe. Tears run down my face, and she watches them as she steps back into the darkened corner as if satisfied with hurting me. I don’t want to believe it. Tyson showed me her phone. The texts. If there was a video on it, he would have shown me. At least told me what happened. “You’re … lying.” I manage to get out through my trembling lips.
“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” She lifts her chin behind him, and Tyson stands in the doorway.
He’s covered in blood, face hard as stone and narrowed eyes on mine. He’s mad that I’m in here. I don’t expect him to understand why I needed the closure, and although she gave me more than I wanted to know, I got it. Like I told her, she’s dead to me.
He looks away from me, and my stomach drops. Panic gripping my chest. “Ty-“
“I told you.” She gives another laugh and I’m gasping for air. I can’t breathe all of a sudden.
Shoving my way past him, I exit the room and make my way back down the tight hallway as my sister’s laugh gets quieter the farther away from her cell I get.
SIXTY-NINE
TYSON
I enter the bedroom we’re staying in, kicking it open so hard that both doors hit the interior walls and bounce back, slamming shut. “Lake?” I call out, chasing after her. She beat me to the elevator and up to the room. Seeing the bedroom is empty, I make my way to the en suite bathroom.
I shove them open too, and she’s already stripped off her clothes and stands in the shower, her cries filling the bathroom.
With my clothes on, I open the door and step inside. She just found out she was raped, so I don’t want to strip down naked in front of her. “Lake-“
She slaps me across the face, cutting me off. Before I can recover, she does it again. “Little-“
Slap.
“You knew.” She’s screaming at me, her voice shaking. “When were you going to tell me?” She shoves my chest, and I wrap my arms, around her, spinning her around and pinning her back to my front.
Her knees give out, and I lower us both to the shower floor. She cuddles up in my arms and I run my hand down her hair while kissing her head.
“You … knew.” She trembles in my arms and my chest tightens. Telling her the truth won’t matter. It’s not going to change what happened to her.
The door opens, and I look up to see Gavin enter the room with Saint. Gavin’s eyes drop to my cut and bloody hands before meeting mine. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of you.”
I nod. “Been busy.”
He looks over at Luke hanging from his chained wrists and speaks. “I see that.” Reaching into his pocket, he removes a cell phone and holds it out to me. Sin takes it for me because my hands are covered in blood, holds it in front of me and presses play.
My wife is thrown onto a hospital bed. Luke gets up and straddles her, pinning her wrists down by her head. “Fucking sedate her! Now! And where the fuck are the restraints?”
“No. No. No. TYSON!” She screams for me.
The male nurse with the blue scrubs on who I killed grabs a wrist from Luke and places it in a leather cuff attached to the bed and secures it down to her side. Luke wraps his hands around her neck and chokes her while the guy continues to make his rounds, securing her other arm and both of her legs.
“You know…” He lowers his face to hers. “He might have actually done me a favor. You may be worth something pregnant.” He shoves her head into the mattress before letting go and gets up off her.
She gasps, sucking in breaths, yanking on the restraints, realizing they’ve got her tied down to the bed, and you can see the life drain out of her face. All hope gone.
“I want her sedated until I say otherwise. And get that pregnancy test done,” he barks out the orders, and people run in and out of the room.
“I’m… not…” She sucks in a deep breath. “Pregnant.”