Chapter Thirty Nine

Chapter Thirty Nine
Bexley

The atmosphere all around us shifted as a hulk of a guy walked into view. He was huge; his vest tee clung to his muscular chest and tattoos decorated all the visible skin aside from his face. I didn’t recognise him, and from the frowns on everybody’s faces, neither did they. It was Emilio who stood from his chair and approached the monitors disbelievingly.

“Carlos?” he choked the name as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “Tell me this is some kind of sick joke.”

The Hispanic guy grinned. “You wish, lover,” he replied with a wink. “Baby, our play toy is here,” he gruffed, and from somewhere off-camera, a female giggled.
Braxton caught Emilio as he sagged with shock and held him in a bear hug to steady him. Caz was innocent. Susan had used her in the cruellest way. I couldn’t believe this was happening. This vile creature had hurt everyone I loved. I hated her, and I hated him for hurting Emilio.

“You bastard,” I swore through gritted teeth.

The so-called married couple who lured Emilio into a trio had been playing him all along. But why? Was it because we would never suspect them? As the old saying goes “Keep your friends close and keep your enemies closer”. Susan had played us all. She really was the master of manipulation, and poor Emilio had been crushed by her cruelty.

Another figure emerged from the edge of the screen, but this time it was a beautiful Spanish woman. She pulled a hunting knife from its sheath on her utility belt and held it against Caz’s throat. My friend’s muffled cries were like a dagger through my heart. I wanted to reach out and save her but there was nothing I could do from here.

“Now, now, Bexley,” Susan warned me. “Name-calling isn’t nice. Tania gets a little protective of her fake husband.” She turned to Tania and nodded once in a private command.

Tania pressed the blade against Caz’s throat, making her shriek with terror. Blood dripped down her throat and soaked into the collar of her blue and white striped T-shirt. Tania was going to make Caz suffer just to punish me. I knew I had to fix the mistake I made.

“I’m sorry!” I bleated, desperate to stop them from hurting Caz. “Let her go and I’ll give you whatever you want. Just don’t hurt her.”

All eyes landed on me and the air in the room thinned. What did they expect me to say? I couldn’t just stand and watch them kill her. We had to buy Caz more time so we could think of a plan to save her. The tension in the room was suffocating me.

Susan nodded at Tania, and she lowered the knife, then wiped it on her cargo pants. Then Susan gripped Caz’s chin and forced Caz to look at her, turning her face from side to side. I could see the hatred blazing through Caz’s eyes as she glared at her captor. But there was pain there too. And defeat. I could only imagine the horror that Susan had put her through. The anguish of learning that she was her mother, and that she never loved her . . . never cared for her as a mother should.

“You have twenty-four hours to return to your Cheshire home, Bexley. If you contact the authorities, your friend dies. You wouldn’t want that, would you, boys? To have your sister’s death on your hands,” Susan spoke into the camera before cutting the transmission.

It left us all feeling dazed and sickly.

“She had a child,” Zane muttered, letting the information hang in the air around us. “She had a child and she kept her from us. How did you know about this? Why didn’t you tell us?”

Why did they keep saying “us”? What did they all have to do with this?

The Wolfe brothers and I exchanged anxious glances.

Oh, God . . . please, no.

“Never mind that. What do you mean by “kept her from all of you”?” I asked, bouncing my gaze around at Dad, Teddy, Ulrich, and back at Uncle Zane. I produced the haematology report and held it up as evidence. “We only found out about the pregnancy because of this. Before that, it was just speculation because of the clues. It turns out that Mum knew, and she hid the proof with a flash drive. What I want to know is, how come you’re all looking as sheepish as fuck?”

I saw the colour drain from my father’s face and he clasped the back of a chair for support.

“Dad,” I pushed myself to continue. “Please tell me it’s not what I’m thinking. I don’t think I can take anymore bombshells tonight.”

My husbands gathered around me, swaddling me in a protective bubble, ready to comfort me if I crumbled.

“It was before your time, Bexley.” Dad eyed me beseechingly. “Zane, Ulrich, Teddy, and I were in a polygamous relationship with your mother and Susan.”

My jaw flopped open, and I stammered to speak. “What?! All of you . . . my mum . . . Susan . . . all of you?” I had no right to judge, and I didn’t — I couldn’t. Not when I was in the same sort of relationship with the Wolfe brothers. It still shocked me to learn that my mum had slept with my dad’s friends, maybe even Susan, and that Susan had sex with my father.

Oh, God, this confirmed what I feared . . . Susan had sex with my father! It’s true. He admitted it.

It was like all the air got sucked out of the room and I struggled to breathe.

Ulrich nodded. “We had an arrangement that was like your own. We were all part of the same team and we got close — just with the women though. We’re all straight men. We just shared Safi and Susan between us, and we found a dynamic that worked.”

I palmed my forehead and groaned. “Oh, God . . . spare me the details.”

My husbands grimaced at this information, as if the news of their arrangement shocked them too. I was glad to see I wasn’t the only perturbed by our parents having an orgy. It didn’t matter how old we got; none of us wanted to have that imagery implanted into our minds.

“I married Susan so that she could legally obtain my frozen sperm samples in the event of my death. We loved both women equally. They were our world. But when we thought Susan had been killed, we stopped the arrangement,” Uncle Zane cut in. “We went our separate ways. Your parents chose to remain together and got married, and your mother got pregnant with you straight away.”

I exhaled a relieved sigh, pleased that my dad was my biological father.

Uncle Zane continued, “Teddy fucked everything with a pulse and that’s how he got Emilio.”

Teddy jerked his head back, having taken offence.

“He’s not wrong, Dad,” Emilio agreed.

Zane kept going. “Ulrich followed his own path, fucking nuns until he kicked the habit.” His attempt at a joke didn’t seem natural to a gruff guy like Zane. Ulrich just chuckled silently. Zane hadn’t finished; he continued regardless, “And I went ahead with our original plan — creating the perfect soldiers that Susan and I always talked about. It was the best decision I ever made, and I don’t regret it for a second.” He gathered his sons in a group hug. “Whatever happens next, just remember that we’re a family. That young woman is still your blood. She’s innocent. We have to get her back no matter what.”

“Yeah, but who’s her father?” Emilio asked, raising an excellent question.

My father and his friends exchanged furtive glances, and I knew as well as they did, it could be either one of them.

“It doesn’t matter.” I surprised myself as I said that. “She’s my best friend. My husbands' sister . . . and potentially mine.” I caught sight of my dad’s sorrowful expression and my heart squeezed with emotion. “I’m going home to face Susan. I don’t expect you to come with me.”

I turned to leave and felt hands gripping me at all angles.

“Not without us you’re not,” Cruz enforced, holding onto me the tightest. “We’re in this together.”

I turned around and found my men were all there, unwilling to let me go without them.

Emilio swallowed thickly and took a step forward. “Like hell are you going without me. Count me in.”

Teddy, Ulrich, Zane, and Dad exchanged determined glances. Then Dad locked eyes with me, admiring me proudly.

“Let’s end this,” he spoke directly to me, and I nodded.

“For Mum.” I brought the pendant to my lips and kissed it.