Bitter Truths (Crimson Falls Duet 2)

If she did, I don’t doubt Darius will kill her. He would squeeze his fingers, and her neck would snap with a crack. My stomach rolls at the thought of seeing someone die right in front of me. It’s not the fact that it’s my family, my blood, but more that I’ve never seen a dead body. Not even when my grandfather died.

I wasn’t allowed to go into the viewing room where his corpse laid. My mother kept me sheltered all my life and I wonder if it’s because of that, I’m scared of this moment.

“I… I loved him,” Gran says, her voice croaky from not being able to breathe properly. Her face turns a bright red as she claws at Darius’s hand. “H-h-he meant t-the world t-t-to me.”

“That’s not what I fucking asked you, bitch,” Darius rumbles, the words a low, venomous whisper that drips with the threat of him holding her life in his hands. “If you don’t answer me, I’ll just torture you, over and over again until you find it in your fragile old mind to recall the moment Conall Shaw took his last breath.”

Silent moments pass.

My lungs struggle as we wait for her answer.

The thrumming of my heart in my ears is loud as blood rushes through me. Anticipation coils in my stomach, and my hands tremble when I think about two boys, two young men losing their father because of my grandmother’s inability to be honest.

“M-my h-h-husband didn’t like him,” she speaks finally, and it’s as if my breath has been knocked from my lungs. She doesn’t need to continue because what’s she’s already said makes it clear what happened. Darius releases her throat, and her hand flies up to massage the wrinkled skin as she locks her gaze on the older Shaw brother. “Randolf and Conall had an argument one night.” She shakes her head, lowering her eyes to the ground before she speaks again. “I told Randolf to leave it be. He found the notes that Conall had written in the books in the library. I gave all but one back to Conall. I wanted so much to have one last memory of a time I was happy.”

Silence hangs in the air when Gran falls silent. That explains why all the books were here in the Shaw library and I only found the one in my gran’s home. I can’t imagine why my grandfather would’ve gotten jealous over notes. But then again, I wouldn’t like it if Lycan had memories of his exes.

But that still wouldn’t push me to kill.

“I don’t understand why he would’ve killed Conall,” I speak up. “There’s jealousy, and then there’s what you’re trying to say Gramps did. It doesn’t add up.”

She looks at me then. Her eyes locked on mine, and I notice how she doesn’t veer from me. She doesn’t look at Darius or Lycan. And something clicks in place in my mind. As if a puzzle piece just slides into place.

“You were pregnant,” I whisper, realizing that my grandfather may have gotten angry, and possibly jealous, but to kill someone, there had to be more to the story. So much fucking more.

And when she nods, it’s as if the room fills with ice.

20

Lycan

No. No. No.

If Grace Bardot was pregnant all those years ago, just before Dad died, it would’ve meant that he had been with her not long after our mother died. He would’ve told me. We were close. Betrayal hits me hard as Grace confesses to learning about her pregnancy.

My hold on Scarlett tightens. I don’t want her to think I’m angry, so I pull her closer. The softness and warmth of her keeps me somewhat calm. And if she weren’t here, I would’ve lost my control, restraint would’ve been a thing of the past if my wife wasn’t near me.

“I didn’t want to tell him about it, but I had no choice. He saw the test. He locked me in our bedroom and told me he was going to sort it out and when he came back, he was calm. There was still anger simmering in his eyes, and I knew something had happened.”

“And you didn’t ask him about Conall? I mean, our father was the love of your life for a long time. And the fact that you cheated with him means you still had feelings for him,” I whisper as my mind tries to make sense of what could’ve happened.

“He told me he didn’t want to raise another man’s child.” There’s an edge to her voice when she says this, not the anger I expected, but guilt. Her gaze flicks to Darius, then back to me. “It was one of the most horrific nights I spent with the man I married.”

“What happened?” Scarlett’s voice is nothing more than a murmur, and I’m shocked Grace can even hear her. The fear in my wife’s tone is clear, she doesn’t want to know what had occurred that night, because we all have an inkling without Grace saying the words.