Forever We Fall: Broken #4 (The Broken Series) (33 page)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Kyle

I was dying. I was dying and the kitchen wouldn’t stop fucking spinning. Even chewing my toast hurt and that wasn’t an exaggeration. Jack had turned against me last night, the bastard, and I was paying for my gluttony.

My only comfort was the fact that I'd never felt so sated in my life. I'd thought I would feel nervous about the fact I was due to visit Rachel in an hour, but I guessed banging my wife against the refrigerator last night had helped reduce my tension. Jesus...

"Would you like more toast, Kyle?" Tracy asked and I winced.

"No," I croaked out. "Thanks anyway, Tracy." Raising my head slowly, I turned my head in her direction. "Had you any trouble with the kids last night?" I asked before taking a small sip of coffee.

"Which kids?" Tracy teased. "If you're asking about Hope and Jordan, then no, they were perfect angels." Taking a seat at the table, she smiled wryly. "Their parents on the other hand…" Her voice trailed off and I closed my eyes.

"Yeah," I muttered. "Uh…sorry about the noise."

"Don't worry about that," she chuckled. "And it was Jordan's parents who caused most of the noise."

My head snapped up. "Derek and Karen?" I grinned. "They're here?"

"They were," Tracy chuckled. "They left about an hour ago with Jordan." She smiled fondly. "They told me they were going out for the day."

"Huh." I scratched my jaw and chuckled. "I guess he worked it out."

"Are you worried about today, Kyle?" Tracy asked gently. Reaching over, she covered my hand with hers. "I hope you find closure."

"Yeah," I sighed, pushing the thought of facing Rachel to the back of mind. I wouldn’t think about it until I got there. "I hope so too, Tracy. I really do…"

"Good morning," Lee chirped as she strolled into the kitchen, grinning from ear to ear, with Hope crawling after her and Kevin chasing after Hope.
What a sight....

Kissing the top of my head, Lee skipped over to the kettle and poured herself a cup of coffee before turning to face me. "How's your head?" she teased.

"Which head?" I shot back with a smirk. Lee reddened and Tracy coughed loudly. Chuckling, I pushed my chair back and stood up. "You sure you're okay to go on your own today?" I asked Lee, hating the fact that I wouldn’t be with her when she got her biopsy results.

"Yes, Kyle," she said softly. "I'll be fine. What about you?" Taking a sip of her coffee, she held her cup in both hands as she studied my face. "Will you be okay on your own?"

"Yeah, baby," I muttered. Walking over to where she was standing, I dropped a kiss to her forehead. "I'd better get a move on."

It was time to face the music.

****

Lee

"Are you sure?" I whispered, not daring to speak any louder in case I was dreaming and raising my voice would make me wake up.

"There's no mistake, Lee," Dr. Michaels said, grinning broadly. "The AKI is reversing. Rapidly. The function in your damaged kidney has increased to seventy-four percent in three months."

Wiping the tears from my cheek, I let out a cry of relief. "I can't believe it," I admitted, laughing and crying at the same time. "It's really happening?"

He nodded kindly. "Yes, Lee, it's really happening. Congratulations."

"I have to tell Kyle," I sobbed, pulling my phone out of my pocket and dialing his number.

"Hey, baby, you okay?" he asked the moment he answered.

"Kyle?" I practically screamed down the phone. "Kyle," I repeated before bursting into another bout of tears.

"Jesus Christ, are you okay, baby?" he demanded. "What's wrong? Is it bad news?

"No, no," I wept, wiping my nose and I cried and sniffled happily. "It's amazing news. I'm getting better," I squealed. "I mean my kidney is getting better. The AKI. Dr. Michaels says it's reversing.
Rapidly
."

The line was silent.

"Kyle, did you hear what I said?"

I heard him quiver then sigh heavily. "You're serious? This is real?"

"It's real," I cried, smiling through my tears.

"I'm on my way," he choked out. "I need to see you."

"No, wait you can't just leave," I argued. "You need to see her. Get closure."

"Fuck it. I'm coming home." Kyle growled into the phone.

"Kyle, you'll see me in a couple of hours," I chuckled. "We'll celebrate then."

"Celebrate?" I heard him scoff. "Baby, when I get my hands on you we'll do more than just celebrate."

"Okay," I giggled. "I'll see you soon. I love you."

"I love you too," he whispered before the line went dead.

"He's pleased?" Dr. Michaels asked, smiling fondly at me. "You two deserve a little good fortune."

"We definitely do," I said brightly as I pushed back my chair and stood up. "Thank you so much," I added quickly, eager to get home to Hope and Tracy and tell them my good news.
My life changing news…

"I actually need to talk to you about something else, Lee," Dr. Michaels said gesturing for me to sit back down.

"Oh?" I shook my head. "What is it?"

"Just about something I discovered in your last blood test," he said in a gentle tone and my heart sank.

Please don't be bad…

Please don't be bad…

"It's good news," he chuckled. "Well, your husband will certainly think so."

****

"Tracy?" I called out as I rushed inside our front door. "I'm healthy," I called out. "I got the all clear."

Walking into the kitchen, I froze when I noticed the small pool of blood on the kitchen tiles.

My stomach churned.

My whole body when on high alert as I turned around and ran down the hallway.

"Hope?" I screamed, flinging open the door of her nursery. "Hope…"

Panic filled me when I noticed her empty room.

All her clothes were gone.

I felt something strike the back of my head and pain tore through my skull. The pregnancy scan Dr. Michaels had given me slipped from my fingers seconds before everything went dark.

****

Kyle

As I sat inside the visiting room of the state penitentiary, I had the weirdest feeling.

Something wasn't right.

There was a huge fucking swell of dread in my stomach – feeling of impending doom – which was ridiculous since Lee had been given the all clear. She was getting better. I should be fuckin ecstatic. I
was
ecstatic, but something was seriously creeping me out.

Weird…

Shaking my head, I focused on the woman sitting behind the panel of glass. "You won't believe me when I tell you I'm sorry, will you," Rachel said through the hand held phone device we were using to hear one another.

"No," I said flatly.

"I am," she sighed. "And I need you to know that I wasn't well back then. I've been getting some treatment while I've been here."

"What do you want Rachel?" I asked wearily. "You wanted to see me. I'm here, but I'm not gonna sit back and listen to you talk about your treatment because, frankly, I don't give a fuck about your treatment. The only treatment I care about is my wife's treatment after you put two fucking holes in her body. And my best friend's treatment after you blew the love of his life's brains out all over my kitchen floor."

She flinched. "How is…"

"Lee?" I asked coldly.

"Yes," Rachel winced. "I suppose she's Lee Carter by now."

I stiffened "One word against her…"

"I'm not," she sighed. "I'm so relieved that I don't have two deaths on my conscience." She stared at me for a moment, her green eyes wide and focused on my face. "You were always going to love her more," she sobbed. "Weren't you?

"Yeah, Rachel," I replied. "I was."

"I saw you that night," she whispered. "I might have been out of my mind at the time, but I saw you." She gripped the receiver tightly. "You changed in front of my eyes. Everyone noticed. Your eyes locked on that girl and you were…you were different. I saw it and I felt it. I even tasted it in the air. It was like something inside of you switched on."

She shook her head and sighed. "A buzz…an electric current or cord of some sort shot through your body and met the same cord that had shot out of hers." She stared straight at me. "I've never witnessed anything like it."

It felt surreal to be sitting here having an actual conversation with the woman who had caused so much pain in my life. "Why am I here, Rachel?" I asked, my patience running thin.

"Your dad," she choked out, her eyes filling with tears "He paid me."

I stared blankly. "Say what?"

"He paid me Kyle," she said urgently. "The night of our car accident, he came to see me in the hospital and offered me money – more money than I could have hoped to earn in ten years – to watch you. I wasn't well," she cried. "I had a drug habit, Kyle. Cocaine and meth. At the time I didn't know what I was getting involved in. I accepted his offer because I was desperate."

"You're lying," I snarled, not believing one fucking word of what was coming out of her mouth. "David may be a bastard, but he wouldn’t fucking concoct something as twisted as what your implying." I shook my head in disgust. "If that's why you've been sending me all those fucked up letters then I'm calling your bluff, Rachel."

"He wants to ruin you," she hissed. "David Henderson is holding a very bad grudge against you because of the inheritance. He's dangerous and he's clever. Where do you think I got the gun?" She demanded. "How do you think I had access to your home, or paid Marshal Bale's attorney fees?"

I opened my mouth to answer her but nothing came out.

Was she serious?

Was this another one of her cruel fucking tricks?

"At first he only wanted me to keep close tabs on you," she told me, rambling on quickly. "But when Lee arrived and you began to turn against me, David started getting worried. He told me to put the pressure on – get rid of her. She needed to go, he insisted."

Inhaling a shaky breath, Rachel wiped her eyes with her free hand and sniffled. "So that's what I did, Kyle. But you
wouldn't
leave her alone. You were infatuated with a plain little girl when you had me. Even when she was pregnant and had broken up with you, you wouldn't let
her
go," she hissed.

"You wanted her with the same amount of passion I wanted to get rid of her, and the child…the child was a worry for David," Rachel choked out. "He was concerned whether or not you would sell the business and follow the teenager. She got inside of your head, Kyle. Something I'd spent years trying to do."

"You're lying," I whispered, barely able to breathe from the pain of her words.

"Why would I lie, Kyle?" she growled. "I pleaded guilty. I'm serving a life sentence. What do I have to gain?"

"Because you're a twisted, lying whore," I spat. "Who is determined to make my life a goddamn misery."

She sighed heavily. "I was going to tell you everything the day you called the ambulance. He'd ordered me to kill her and I didn't want to do it, I swear I didn't, but I was afraid. So, I went to you and begged you to get rid of her. Get rid of her before I had to. If she had just left…none of this would have happened…"

"If all of this is true then why didn't you tell the cops?" I demanded, chest heaving, her words tormenting me.

I deserve to be in here," Rachel replied softly. "I killed Cam. I shot Lee, and
nothing
I can say will prove I was paid. There is no paper trail," she wept. "He's too clever to leave any loose ends. You have no idea what you're dealing with."

"You're not lying to me?" I asked as rage churned inside of me. "Rachel, I swear to god if you're lying to me…"

"I'm not lying, Kyle," she sobbed, wiping her nose with a tissue. "And telling you this was my last job," she whispered.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean," I demanded.

"You'll find out soon enough," was all she replied. "Be careful who you trust, Kyle," she told me. "Women have a tendency to lose their minds over you…"

****

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Kyle

This couldn't be happening.

This wasn't fucking happening.

Rachel's words churned around in my mind until I felt like I would explode with rage.

"Is he here?" I demanded as I shoved past Mike and stormed into my office, chest heaving, eyes wild and frantic.

"Kyle?" Mike shouted as he rushed after me. "What's wrong?"

"You," I roared, the moment my eyes found David. He was sitting on my chair, behind my goddamn desk.

"You fucking bastard," I snarled. "I know what you did to my wife. You ordered that hit...." My words trailed off when I registered the sound of a baby crying.

"Where is she?" I whispered, legs shaking.

"She's right here," David said in an innocent tone of voice as Kelsie stepped through the door with my daughter in her arms.

My legs nearly caved in as I strode across my office to my daughter.

My hands shook as I took her out of Kelsie's arms and held to my chest. "Kelsie, you need to call the cops. Right now."

I backed away slowly with my daughter in my arms. "He orchestrated everything. The shooting. The blackmail...You're going to prison for this," I warned him. "I'm gonna take you down for this."

I watched in shock as Kelsie sauntered over to my father and kissed him on the lips.

"Are you insane?" I roared. "Do you know what he did to my family?"

"Yes," Kelsie said with a smirk. "I helped him."

"And I couldn’t have done it without you, sweetheart," David crooned. "Rachel was weak. She almost caved. I needed Kelsie to get you to the prison, to organize the letters, to subtly persuade you to sign your life away – to seduce you. You trusted her judgment, even when your wife told you not to…" He sighed and shook his head. "Silly boy."

I had a million different thoughts running through my mind, a thousand different emotions tearing through my heart, but the only word I could choke out was, "Why?"

David stared at me with this…bored expression. I couldn't make out one single thing he was feeling and it hurt.

It fucking came close to killing me.

The betrayal.

The fucking lies.

"Because this was never supposed to be yours," he said softly. "You were never supposed to be a part of this. My father took pity on you. If I had my way, you would have been the contents of a used condom. But I was young and foolish, and your mother was a whore."

"What the hell is going on?" Mike demanded as he came to stand beside me. "Dad," he whispered. "What have you done?"

"You have two choices, Kyle," David said in an even tone. "Sign everything over to me now and I'll tell you where your sweet little wife is." My heart stopped and David sighed dramatically. "Or don't sign and waste precious time in trying to find her on your own."

"What did you do to her?" I whispered, clutching my chest as the sharpest pain I'd ever felt tore through me. "Where is she?"

"You are fucked up, Dad." Mike roared. "Call this off," he snarled. "Call it off or we're done. I'll move to England with mom. I'll never fucking speak to you again. I fucking mean it, Dad." He grabbed his hair in frustration. "Jesus Christ, Dad, he's your kid. He is your
son
."

"Relax, Michael," David said in a bored tone of voice. "Kyle knows what the right thing to do is, don't you, Kyle? Sign the forms and I'll tell you where she is."

Handing Hope over to my brother, I stepped forward and held my hand out. "Give me the papers."

"Don't, Kyle," Mike begged as he held Hope to his chest, trying to calm her. "Dad, don't make him do this."

"It's all right, Mike," I said quietly. "He can have it. I'm done." Ignoring Mike's pleas, I took the papers from David. "You got a pen?"

"For this occasion, most definitely," he chucked, handing me a pen.

I didn't read it – didn't check. I knew what I was signing over; everything.

"Done." I tossed the papers on his desk. "Now, where is she?"

"I always knew you that girl would be your downfall," David mused. "Maybe I should have done this in the first place. It's certainly more civil than any other method I've used." He scrunched his nose in distaste. "And all for a girl," he scorned. "They say pride before the fall, but in your case I would have to say girl…"

"Wife," I hissed. "She is
my wife.
And I'm willing to die for her. That's something you'll never have," I roared. "Where is she, David?"

David chuckled. "She's having a reunion with her
daddy
right about now. In Thirteenth Street," he added wryly. "I felt the location would be fitting…"

"No," I spat, shaking my head furiously. "You're lying. Jimmy's in prison."

"No," David said with a smirk. "I
told
you Jimmy was in prison. You're the one who was too self-absorbed, too busy pining over my father's whore, to check it out for yourself."

"You fucking planned everything, didn’t you?" I choked out, struggling to drag air into my lungs "The attack on Lee in the hotel? Pretending you were interested in spending time with Hope? Jimmy and you were working together all along."

"Jimmy wanted vengeance," David mused. "I wanted this place." Shrugging he added, "He was quite useful...oh, and you really should hurry, Kyle," he chuckled. "Old Jim wasn't too pleased when he got hold of her."

"I fucking hate you," I snarled. "You can take the hotels. Take the houses and the money. Fucking keep it all. I'll survive. I fucking got by long enough on my wit. But you?" I shook my head and rushed for the door. "There's no hope for you. Enjoy your inheritance, David. It's all you'll ever get from me."

"I'm bored of this," David groaned. "You can leave now."

"Kyle, wait," Mike pleaded. "This has to be some kind of trap. Don't go over there," he begged. "Call the cops."

"I can't. She could be…"

"Mr. Carter." Marcus rushed up the hallway towards us. "I tried…" he choked out breathlessly, "I tried to warn you. I've been suspicious for a while…"

"It's not your fault, Marcus," I hissed, taking Hope from Mike. "Or yours, Mike…"

"Kyle?"

"Derek," I choked out, turning around when the sound of my best friend's voice drilled through my ears.

"What's going on?" he demanded. "I've been trying to call you…"

"Lee's been kidnapped," Mike growled. "By her fucked up father, and Kyle's going after her on his own."

"To hell you are," Derek hissed. "I'm coming with you."

"Take her home for me," I begged as I thrust my daughter into Derek's arms.

Pressing a kiss to Hope's forehead, I shook my head and stared into my best-friend's eyes. "Please, Derek," I whispered. "I need her safe. I'm trusting you with my fucking world here."

****