Hailey's Truth (43 page)

Everything here was so normal. Everything was exactly as it had been when she left, but still, nothing was the same. Nothing about her life was the same. Hailey took two steps and fell apart. The stunning weight of grief sent her to her tender knees as her body racked with tearing sobs.

Sarah crouched next to her and ran a gentle hand over her back. “Oh, sweetie, let’s get you upstairs.”

“I…” She wanted to, but she couldn’t find the strength to stand.

“Enough of this.” Austin bent down, picked her up, and cradled her close.

If she hadn’t been at her breaking point, she wouldn’t have clung to him, she assured herself; she wouldn’t have rested her head in the crook of his neck and found comfort.

Morgan hurried up the stairs ahead of Austin. “I’m going to draw your bath.” She dashed down the long hall.

Sarah followed behind, hesitating when Emma’s fitful wails started in the nursery. “Let me get Emma. I’ll be right there.”

Hailey and Austin continued down the hall alone. When they reached her bedroom door, he stopped. “Hailey, I’m so sorry. When you’re feeling—“

Morgan stepped from the bathroom. “Oh good. Why don’t you bring Hailey in here and I’ll get her settled.”

Austin nodded as he walked through the bedroom, into her bathroom.

Hailey breathed deep. Her bathroom smelled of her favorite peach bubble bath. Soothing violin bath music filled the room. Seafoam green candles were lit around the tub. A soft, plush towel was folded close by, waiting for her. “Thank you,” she whispered to Morgan as a fresh wave of tears came.

“Oh, honey, you’re welcome. Come on, let’s get you in the tub. You can soak your troubles away and tell Auntie Morgan all about it.”

Hailey let out a watery chuckle. She’d missed this. She’d missed Morgan and Sarah so much.

“Austin, you can set Hailey down. Sarah and I will take good care of her.” Morgan rubbed Austin’s shoulder.

Hailey felt his hesitation before he set her on her feet. “If you… I want to…”

“Look who came to say good morning.” Sarah came in holding Emma.

Hailey stared into big blue eyes, brushed her fingers through soft black hair. Emma was a perfect blend of her mother and father. “Oh, look how much she’s grown. I can’t wait to get my hands on you.”

“Bath first,” Morgan insisted.

Sarah followed Morgan’s command with a firm nod. “Emma needs her breakfast first anyway.”

Austin jammed his hands in his pockets.

Sarah turned to him. “Honey, why don’t you go down and get yourself something to eat. I think Ethan and Kylee managed to make pancakes without burning them. The fire alarm hasn’t gone off like it did last week.” She took his hand and gave him a small smile. “We’ll take good care of her.”

“Hailey, I…” He shook his head, turned, and left.

Hailey stared after him, heartbroken. She sighed and looked at Morgan and Sarah. “It’s such a mess,” she said shakily. “Everything’s such a mess.”

“We’ll have to help you clean it up,” Morgan said. “Now shirt and shorts off. Get into that water before it gets too cold.”

Hailey did as she was told. She pulled her shorts off, then her panties. Her shirt went next, followed by her bra. She stood in front of her friends naked. Both Sarah and Morgan sucked in a breath as they stared.

“Those monsters,” Sarah said with heated exasperation.

Monsters.
That’s exactly what they were. That’s exactly what Jeremy had been.

“In you go.” Morgan took Hailey’s arm gently, leading her to the tub, peeling off the tape and gauze covering her wounds.

Hailey stepped into the warm bathwater, eased her weary body down, wincing as she felt the sharp sting in her knees and palms. She sunk to her chin and sighed as her muscles instantly relaxed. “Oh, this is heaven.”

“Of course it is. We’ll fix you an omelet, toast, and a fruit salad after this. You’ll feel like a whole new woman.”

She gave Morgan a small smile. Would she ever feel the same again? Rocky emotions sank and bubbled to the surface so fast she couldn’t keep up.

Emma began to fuss. Sarah pulled over a chair, put Emma to her breast, and the baby instantly quieted.

For the first time since Hailey arrived, she studied her friends. Sarah played with Emma’s fingers, smiling, as she stared down at her daughter. Morgan’s breasts were fuller, her tummy rounded slightly on her compact bombshell body. Her face positively glowed with impending motherhood.

Hailey looked away, shamed that her friends’ happiness brought her a stab of pain. Not even a week before, she’d believed she would have everything Morgan and Sarah did. Somewhere down the road, she and Austin would’ve ended up in exactly the same place. She’d wanted to be his, had wanted so desperately to carry his child—their child. Now, that would never be.

Austin had risked his life to save her. They had
all
risked their lives to save her. Would Austin resent her even more for that? He’d warned her—too many times—of what her brother had been, of what Donte had been, but she didn’t listen. And even though they left Mexico Austin’s life was still on the line. If the authorities were able to connect what he’d done to set her free from the Zulas—because surely, that was what he’d done—he would go to prison forever. Or worse.

Their relationship would be different—awkward, tenuous. There were layers of hurt. Trust had been broken on both sides. Surely too much to recover from. They’d started their affair with intensity, with passion, and ended it the same way. Nothing would ever be the same between them, but she certainly owed him a thank you and an explanation as to why she’d gone to the yacht in the first place—for what it was worth.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Sarah asked, brushing a piece of hair behind Hailey’s ear.

“I think I have to or I’m going to make myself crazy.”

Morgan pulled another cushioned chair to the massive tub. “Let us have it.”

And she did.

Twenty minutes later, as the bath water cooled, Sarah clutched Hailey’s hand. Morgan offered a fresh tissue.

“I don’t know where to go from here.” Hailey blew her nose. “I’m pretty much starting my life over. I don’t know how to feel about Jeremy. On one hand, I love him. On the other, I hate who he was. My brother was a lie. I’m ashamed I feel more relief than sadness that he’s gone. What kind of person does that make me?” She wiped at her streaming eyes.

“I’d say it makes you perfectly normal,” Sarah said, squeezing gently on her hand. “He wasn’t a nice person, Hailey. He did terrible things. He would’ve continued to do them. You don’t have to feel bad for not being able to overlook that. God knows you tried.”

Hailey nodded, finding solace in Sarah’s words. She stared down at her bubbles, drew her knees up, and wrapped her free arm around her legs, her heart still heavy.

“What else?” Morgan encouraged. “There’s more. Spill it all, Hailey. That’s what we’re here for.”

She sighed. “I don’t even know where to start. My college credits are in jeopardy. I don’t have a single dime to my name, but above all else, Austin’s gone. I’ve lost him. I love him so much, and he doesn’t want me.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Morgan tossed her tissue in the trash. “I’m pretty sure the man standing in here a few minutes ago was falling all over himself with worry.”

Sarah nodded. “Austin may be upset with you, but he’s still very much in love. He looks at you the way Hunter looks at Morgan, the way Ethan looks at me.”

“So what should I do?” She sniffed.

“Nothing,” Morgan said.

Hailey frowned.

“At least not right now,” Sarah added quickly. “Give yourself some time. Give Austin some time. You’ve been through a lot, honey. Take a breath. Heal. Steady out a bit and find your feet again.”

“Austin loves you, sweetie,” Morgan smiled. “He’ll wait. I promise.”

Hailey huffed out a breath and flipped the lever for the drain. “Okay. I’ll take care of myself for a while. See what I can salvage later.” She stood and wrapped herself in the soft cotton.

“And you’ll do it from here. I’m not letting you out of my sight for at least two weeks— definitely not until we get your finances straightened out.”

Hailey stared at her friend. “Sarah, that’s not necessary.”

“I disagree. You were there for me during some of the worst moments of my life. I’m returning the favor.”

Hailey’s lip wobbled, her emotions still unsteady. “You’re going to get me going again.”

“Go in. Get dressed. We’ll have breakfast on the deck downstairs.”

Hailey nodded. “Okay.”

Sarah and Morgan left her alone to change. For the first time in three days, Hailey relaxed, could hear herself think. She’d take Sarah up on her offer, and for once, let someone else take care of her. Of course, she’d do her share, but it wouldn’t hurt to take a few days and work on putting the pieces of her life back together.

Hailey pulled a pair of sweats from the drawer, another baggie t-shirt, and dressed, ready to start the slow process of rebuilding. The first step had already been taken. She’d poured her soul out to her two best friends and was lighter for it. She would take another and go down to help with breakfast instead of crawl under her covers and hide from the world.

Austin found Ethan in the kitchen devouring a double stack of pancakes. The thought of eating soured his stomach. “I’m going to head out.”

“Sit down. Pull up a chair.” Ethan gestured to the seat next to his. “You look like hell.”

He
felt
like hell. “Nah, I need to go.” He started toward the door, unable to stop thinking about Hailey—so bruised, so broken. Her screams for her brother still haunted him.

“Hunter called.”

That stopped him cold. There would be a mountain of paperwork to deal with. Maybe if he focused on the details, he could get his mind off Hailey. “What did he say?”

“Come sit down and I’ll tell you. Grab a cup of coffee while you’re at it.”

Austin eyed Ethan. “I don’t want coffee.”

“Then just come sit you’re a—” he glanced at Kylee, “butt down.”

“Sit your butt down, Austin.” Kylee repeated, making Ethan wince.

Austin chuckled for the first time in too long.

“Kylee, don’t say that,” Ethan corrected. “Daddy made a mistake.”

“Okay.” Kylee nodded. “Have a bite of my pancakes.” She held out her fork to Austin, bursting with pride. “I made them with daddy.”

His stomach shuddered. “Oh, no thanks, honey.”

Kylee’s eyes watered, her lip trembled as she set her fork down.

God, how did Ethan and Sarah ever say “no”? Kylee used that pouty look like a weapon—swiftly and effectively. “Okay. I’ll try a bite.”

She grinned, held the fork up again. Austin slid a small square of sweet, moist pancake in his mouth. The home cooked food settled him. “Not bad,” he said as he chewed. “Not bad at all, kid.”

She beamed, held up another bite. “Have more.”

He obliged her and himself by taking the offering. “I think I’ll have a plate after all.”

“Maybe we can talk about work when you’re done stuffing your face,” Ethan said without heat as he looked at his daughter, smiled, and winked.

Austin piled his plate high, filled a glass with orange juice, another with milk, too at home to feel rude. He took his seat, slathered his breakfast with butter and syrup, and dug in.

“You ready now or should I make you some bacon to go with it?”

“No, this is good,” he said over a mouthful. “Enough about breakfast. Let’s talk business.” He smirked.

“As I was saying, Hunter called. Collin just left with our new guests for the Colorado safe house. They’ll be far enough into the mountains; no one should ask questions while we get everything figured out.”

“What are we going to do with them?”

“I’m already working on that. After we get confirmation everyone is—” he glanced at Kylee again, “no longer with us, we’ll work on setting the families up somewhere in Europe. I’m going to push for Political Asylum. It might be a stretch but many countries are willing to accept victims of sexual persecution. I’m hoping I might be able to tug some strings in Spain. We guard several government officials at our branch there. I’ll put in a few calls this afternoon. Hopefully we can get the mothers work, the girls some counseling, get them into school. I don’t foresee them heading into a bar again anytime soon.”

Austin grunted as he swallowed down half his orange juice.

“I got a call from Dr. Lopez while you were upstairs. So far it appears our objective was a success. Apparently they found an arm floating in the water with a watch on it similar to Donte’s. It’ll take awhile to get the DNA back, but I don’t think we have to worry. That was more than a lethal blast to anyone within a hundred yards.”

Austin hesitated with his next bite as Hailey’s scream echoed through his mind again. He put the fork down. “We did the right thing, right?”

Ethan frowned. “What kind of question is that? We did the
only
thing. There weren’t any other options.”

“I know.” He scrubbed his fingers over his chin. “I know,” he repeated. “She never would’ve been free. They would’ve gotten to her eventually.”

“And you, my friend. Probably all of us. You know how big they were on retaliation. They would’ve made her suffer before they finished her. Stop for a second and think about who means more to Hailey than anyone else in this world.”

Austin’s gaze left Ethan’s, traveled to Kylee as she happily shoved a bite in her mouth. The thought was so unbearable, so disgusting, it was almost unbelievable such cruelty existed. But it did.

“You think about that the next time you start to question yourself. Ask yourself if you could’ve lived with that. I know I sure as hell couldn’t. I won’t have any problems sleeping in my bed tonight knowing my girls are safe; my wife is safe and so is Hunter’s. We did this as much for Hailey as everyone else. Those bastards are dead. I don’t plan to waste another moment worrying about it. My conscience is clear. I hope yours is too.”

Ethan was right, absolutely right. Everyone he considered family was safe. The woman he loved was alive. They could all move on.