“You know nothing.”
“She was still fucking my father up until I killed her.”
I gasp at his words, shocked by all of it. This can’t be real. None of what he’s saying is true. It can’t be. But Jasper doesn’t tell lies either, he’s a straight talker. And my uncle? I turn to face him. “This isn’t true, right?” I say looking directly at my uncle.
Carter walks in, his leg bandaged, as Ace follows behind with his hand covered in a bandage as well.
“She wasn’t.” My uncle sneers looking at Jasper and ignoring what I’ve just asked him.
“Oh, but she was.” He laughs.
“How does it feel knowing I also fuck your niece? I bet that burns a little bit, right? Knowing the woman you loved used you,” Jasper says making me wonder what the hell is going on.
“Shut the fuck up,” my uncle screams, then turns to me with a crazy look in his eyes. “We need to leave. Kill them,” he orders me as if I wasn’t just standing here listening to all of this.
I shake my head. “Is what he’s saying true? You were with her?” I ask my uncle not sure who to believe right at this moment though the photo is more than enough evidence.
“Of course I was, she was it for me.”
Oh fucking hell! I gasp at his words. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“She was sick, so fucking sick,” Jasper says, shaking his head. “She should’ve been locked up.”
“No, you tried that. I got her out,” Uncle Max says as if he’s proud of himself.
“I wonder what else she’s made you do.” Jasper thinks, but it’s out loud.
“None of your fucking business.” He turns to me. “Isadora, we’re leaving. Now.” He attempts to reach for my hand, but I pull it back.
Jasper’s standing closest to me, and looks at me with clear intent written in his eyes. “Don’t leave with him.”
“You’ll just kill me when you’re sick of me,” I say, shaking my head.
“No, I won’t, Isadora. And you know that.”
“No. No, I don’t,” I say, turning to look at my uncle. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You didn’t need to know that fact. I had to keep you on the straight and narrow. You had one task, and one task only… to get rid of them all.”
“She did need to know it,” Jasper replies.
Ace and Carter stay back, just right of the door, not moving, simply watching.
“There’s a lot you’ve kept from her. Don’t you think it’s time you told her?”
“Shoot him, Isadora.”
“No,” I say, stepping back away from my uncle with scrunched hands and my eyebrows so pulled together I’m sure it’s now formed one brow.
“Isadora…” I turn to face Jasper, his lips are in a thin line as he stares at me. “You can stay. Please stay.”
I want to, but another part of me doesn’t.
Everything’s a lie.
How much more is a lie.
Did they even kill my parents? Or was I made to believe that by Uncle Max as well?
“No, she will not. You can’t have her.”
I feel it then, the gun that’s tucked into my skirt is now in the hands of my uncle. And it’s raised high to meet Jasper’s head who’s standing directly in front of me. “Your mother should have done this a long time ago, you evil piece of shit.”
It all happens so fast.
The gun clicks.
Jasper flies backward.
I see the impact and I’m hopeless to stop it.
Jasper falls to the floor.
My whole body starts shaking and my eyes form tears I didn’t know were there as I drop to the floor next to him. “Jasper.” I touch his face, but I’m pulled backward.
Hands grab my shoulders and when I pull back something sharp hits the back of my head, and soon, I succumb to the blackness.
23
Isadora
I wake to hear screaming as I’m carried out.
“Fix your boss and fucking move,” my uncle seethes.
Fuck, my head hurts and it’s even more painful to open my eyes.
“Leave her.”
“No can do. She isn’t yours and you won’t get her. I’ll kill her before I let you mongrels have her.” My uncle begins walking me out of the house, my hands push against his back and he puts me down to the ground. “Get in, Isadora, I’ll explain later.”
My head starts shaking, but he doesn’t wait for me to speak as he pushes me in roughly. I look for Jasper. My heart is on the ground, shattered, but filled with mixed emotions, ones I can’t begin to understand. Carter’s on the ground next to him, but I don’t have a clear view. Ace is standing out front watching with his gun raised as my uncle climbs in and starts the engine. It’s one of Jasper’s cars, so I know it will be tracked which I don’t tell my uncle.
I’m not really sure what’s going on anymore, so best to keep that little fact a secret right now.