Sweet Retribution (Rydeville High Elite #3)(73)

I shudder uncontrollably as the events of tonight return to haunt me, remembering how close of a call it was. Thank God, I fought back and delayed them long enough for my brother, my friends, and my love to rescue me. I daren’t even think about how awful things would’ve been if they hadn’t arrived in time.

Kai gets in the tub behind me, pulling me back into his chest, and I lean my head against him, holding onto his strong arms, needing to feel protected.

I came so close to complete and utter destruction tonight. I’ve been broken so many times, but this would have been my final undoing. I squeeze my eyes closed, remembering Christian approaching with his cock in hand, and bile floods my mouth. I shiver again despite the warmth of the body behind me and the soothing water swirling around me.

“Abby.” Kai presses a kiss to the top of my head. “Were we too late? Did they—”

“No,” I cut across him, quick to reassure. “It hadn’t gotten that far.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

My initial instinct is to say no, but if I store this grief up inside, like I’ve done so many times recently, I’m giving them power over me. Because every time I think of it, I’ll feel violated all over again. I want to tell my husband. To reinforce my earlier words. They didn’t win tonight. We did. Because I got away, and they didn’t get to hurt me in all the ways they planned. “Yes,” I say, and I begin telling him what happened.

He listens attentively, never interrupting, running his hands up and down my arms and pressing kisses to my head and my temple, supporting me with his touch and his silence, letting me expunge it from my soul.

Silence descends when I finish, and I know Kai has got to be feeling all manner of emotions, but he doesn’t vent, because he’s focused on me, and he’s not the only one finding new reasons to fall more passionately in love.

“I hate that happened to you, and I wasn’t able to prevent it. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to stop it.”

“It’s not your fault. You were all trying to protect me. I know that. If anything, tonight has taught us that no matter how much we plan they still have the ability to outmaneuver us.”

“Do you believe your father?” he asks, adding some soap to a sponge. “Or did he set it up and he reacted like that to cover his ass?”

“I don’t know,” I honestly admit. “He wanted to punish me for tonight, and this might have been his way of doing it.” Although, given how he was attempting to grope me on the dance floor, I think he would much rather have been the one doling out my sentence. “Denton insinuated he was behind it, so perhaps, he was planning on joining them and he improvised when you guys showed up.”

Kai rubs the soapy sponge up and down my arms and it feels wonderful.

“Well, it won’t happen again. You are safe, at least until the vote.”

I frown, angling my head around so I’m looking at him. “How?”

“Earlier tonight, Xavier and Hunt unscrambled the video recordings from your house on Christmas Day.”

“What?” Excitement bubbles up inside me.

“We have it all. Him killing Charles Barron. Me tied to that chair. Him threatening you into marrying Charlie.” He runs his fingers along my cheek. “We could try and use that to take him down.”

I shake my head. “It’s not enough. He has too many judges, cops, and authority figures in his pocket. We can’t risk it. It’s why we must hit him from several angles. To ensure he’s taken down. And it’s not just about him. We need to fuck up the order. To throw Parkhurst into chaos. To try and do something about the kids he’s kidnapping. We can’t be selfish.”

“I love how in tune we are,” he says, pressing a kiss to my head as he moves the soap lower. “Because those were my sentiments exactly, with one small difference.”

“What difference?”

“Don’t be mad,” he says, and my hackles are instantly raised. “But I did a thing.”

“A thing?” I screech, turning around fully in his arms so I’m looking him straight in the eye. “Spit it out, baby. What have you done?”

“We sent a warning to the bastard along with a snippet of the tape. We told him to lay off you, or it would be sent to the council and the national media as well as the authorities.”

I jerk up onto my knees, ignoring the stab of pain the motion produces. “Why the hell would you do that?! Now he knows we are on to him!”

He cups the back of my head. “I know it’s risky, but he needs to understand we are serious about the consequences if he or any of his cronies attempt to hurt you again.”

“He will fucking kill you, Kai!” Tears prick my eyes, and I can’t believe they did that.

“He won’t risk anything until after the vote, so that buys us some time.”

“And then what?” I gently ask. “Then he’ll come after you for this.”

“He is not above the law, Abby. He might be protected within the order, but if we released that tape nationwide, the authorities would be forced into action. It doesn’t matter how many cops he has in his pocket, that video clearly shows him committing murder, and there would be a public outcry if nothing was done. We are stripping him of everything at the vote, so it won’t matter anyway. He’s screwed, and he’ll be in jail so he can’t get back at me. Right now, protecting you is what’s most important, and I won’t apologize for doing it.”