Sweetest Torture (Sweetest Kill Book 2) (10 page)

Adam motions to me to hand him the
carrier, so I give it to him. Walking towards the door as I do with him in tow.

It’s hot outside, I know I am going
to have to start the car and blast the AC before I can get in with Landon.
Thankfully Ryan had a friend come over and install an automatic starter so I
wouldn’t have to climb in with the baby into a steaming car.

I turn to face the car, turning the
remote in one hand as I do while walking towards it.

I’m kissing Landon on the head
probably more times than necessary and telling him how proud I am for him being
such a strong brave boy.

He coos and leaves me with drool in
my hair.

It’s flattering really.

I look up at my car and I am
startled so much that I nearly scream.

I back up suddenly, right into Adam
who is still on his cell phone, talking in a hushed tone.

Dean is leaning up against my car.

His arms are crossed, he looks like
he has put on even more muscle since the last time that I saw him.

He is fighting a smile on his face
as he looks from me to the tiny 6 pound baby in my arms.

I back away again from him a little
more.

This time he notices and a deep
frown takes over his face.

“Liv…” he starts to say, standing
up straight

“No.” I interrupt. “Get away from
my car.”

I walk towards him, but turn to the
left so that I am near the back seat, I motion for Adam to bring me the baby
carrier. He still has yet to hang up the phone.

“Liv… talk to me.” Dean pleads

I ignore him. He just shows up
here, how in the hell did he even know where I was?

“Can I see him? Please?” his voice
cracks with emotion

I buckle Landon in, and place his
light yellow blanket over his lap. He’s sound asleep now, unaware of the crap
going on around him.

“No.” I state firmly “No, you can’t
see him.”

The look of despair that crosses
his face should be enough to make me feel something, but I don’t. I feel anger.
I feel rage. I feel like he’s really lucky he isn’t standing in the middle of
the road because I would probably grow a lead foot and run his ass over…

Then pull into reverse... Once or
twice.

I reach over and lock the baby’s
door before I close it, as firmly as I can without waking him.

I look to Adam, he’s looking
between Dean and I like he wants to say something, but he’s still on the line.

“I’ll see you at the house later
Adam.”

He nods and looks at Dean. Dean
looks at Adam and looks angry

Dean walks closer to Adam, he’s
slightly in his face but I want to get away from him. Just showing up like
this, it’s too much too soon.

I climb into the car, put the key
into the ignition and look back over to the men. Adam is off the phone, but
Dean is looking at me. A pleading look on his face.

I ignore him once more, and pull
out

As soon as I am a safe distance
away, I use my phone to call Ryan, putting him on speaker.

“Hey Liv, everything okay?” Ryan
asks. It’s loud wherever he is. So I know this isn’t really a good time

“Great.” I mutter “your brother
just ambushed me outside of the pediatrician’s office.”

“I hear something bang and the room
Ryan is in goes quiet. “What? What do you mean he ambushed you, did he say
anything.”

“Not really, he tried to talk to
me, he tried to see the baby and I told him to get away. Then I left him with
Adam and got out of there. I don’t really know if I want to hear anything he
has to say at this point.”

Ryan is silent for a while. “I
don’t blame you at all Olivia. Let me get ahold of Adam and see if I can try
and find out what Dean is up to. I’ll come by later.”

I say goodbye and call Alexis as
soon as I am done. She’s at my house waiting for us to come back, so I don’t
bother telling her about Dean until I can see her face to face.

“That fucking bastard.” Alexis is
livid.

I think I am too, but I am still
kind of in shock and trying to hold it all together.

“He just shows up at your
Pediatrician’s office and expects that you are going to talk to him. Pretend
that he didn’t leave you? Act like he didn’t miss the birth of his son? He left
you Liv, I mean what did he think your reaction would be when he showed back
up?”

I don’t think she actually expects
a response to any of these statements and questions. I think she’s venting. I
thinks she is a little afraid, as am I of what Dean could possibly have to say
to explain his actions.

“He needs to stay away.” She
finally mutters

I nod my head in agreement. I click
on the video monitor to check on Landon who is in his crib still sound asleep.
The Tylenol the doctor had me give him to help with the pain has really knocked
him out, poor guy.

There is a quick knock on the door.
Adam and Ryan come walking through, neither looking very happy.

They take a seat side by side in the
living room. Whatever they are about to say, I have a feeling I am not going to
like it.

“So I talked to Dean.” Adam says

“This afternoon after I left? What
did he say?”

He looks to Ryan, and waits a
moment before responding: “No, I mean I talked to Dean this morning for the
first time, that’s how he knew where you were.”

I stand up quickly “what gives you
the right to tell him anything about me and my son and where we will be. I
thought you were on my side Adam!” I yell

Ryan stands to rub my back to calm
me down. But I don’t want to be touched I shrug off his touch

“You need to listen to what he has
to say Olivia.” Ryan states before returning to his seat.

I look to Adam, then to Ryan and
then over to Alexis who seems just as curious as to what Adam could possible
hold for information that will make any of this okay.

“My father lied to me…to us.” Adam
begins “My mother, she wasn’t killed Olivia. Neither was Dean’s mother. Red
lied to us, because he thought that if we believed they were dead we would have
no reason to keep him alive. He knew that he would never see the light of day
again in prison. He knew that if he told us they were alive, we would keep him
alive to get the information on their locations. He had one of his goons set
the fire that almost killed you, he tried to kill all of all of us actually,
just to keep his secrets.”

“Your own father tried to kill
you?” Alexis asks

“Red is not my father. Matthew
Corvus is. I only just found out this afternoon, that’s why I was on the phone
this afternoon when Dean showed up. I was on the phone with a guy I work with.
I had a DNA test done a while back because of something Red had said to me
before Dean shot him. He said something about brothers really sticking
together, I didn’t know what he meant, but then I found out that Matthew Corvus
is my real father. He slept with Red’s wife, and Red refused to give me up. I
was the son he always wanted. Matthew never knew I existed.”

“So you, Ryan and Dean are all
brothers?” I ask

“Half-brothers.” Ryan admits “but
yeah, we are all brothers.”

“Wow. So where is your mom now?” I
ask Adam

“Dean had to go and get them, Red
sold them to the same guy named Michael Travers an old friend of dads and high
paying client. Dean had no idea that our mothers were alive, until he went to
find Stella’s son Connor. He went to Michael after Connor was safe, and the guy
offered our mothers in exchange for another slave… A woman for his son. Dean
accepted

“So Dean got his mom back too?”

“He did.” Adam replies

“And his son?”

Adam nods

“That’s great news. But I still
don’t want to see him.”

Ryan and Adam look at each other

“Olivia, I hate my brother as much
as you do for what he has done, but there is a whole shit load more to this
story, that all needs to come from Dean, I really think you should give him a
shot to explain everything to you. He’s not with Stella, she is the one who
told Red where you were being held. She’s the reason you were kidnapped in the
first place. He traded her in exchange for our mother’s. He did all of this for
everyone else but himself.”

“He still got his son, and I was
left here to raise our son on my own. Not knowing if he was dead or alive. He
made me love him and then he left me. I am glad he got his child back, but he
didn’t give us two thoughts or he would have made contact somehow. Besides the
flowers when Landon was born.”

I knew I was sounding petty and
selfish

“He’s not my son.”

I hear the booming male voice,
which automatically makes my stomach fill with both anger and lust

I turn to look at the front door
and see Dean standing there.

“Stella was never my wife, and
Connor is not my son. He is the son of an old friend, who works at the fire
station. The guy got caught up with Red over a debt on Stella’s behalf. She
promised to give Red her son in payment. She never told anyone about the debt
though, she came running to me crying about how Red was going to kill her. We
pretended to be married to play off that her baby was mine. To protect her
child. So that Red would leave her alone. I only just learned the truth that
she was the one who had her son sold. For money.”

That woman is fucking horrible

“I didn’t choose to leave you
Olivia. I thought I was stuck in this fake marriage with her to save her life.
She spun more stories than I can even remember. I slept with her over the years
sure, I don’t really have time for anything other than casual sex, but she was
spinning lies and keeping me from every getting free. Now she’s gone and no one
has to worry about her again. I couldn’t come back, I couldn’t be near my son
or you until I knew she would no longer be a problem, until I knew that you
would all be safe with me back in the picture.”

I say nothing. I am trying to
understand everything he just told me. The only reason he married Stella was to
help her, and she took advantage of him for years. They weren’t even really
married. But he never told me that either.

“Why did you tell me she was your
wife then? Why didn’t you just tell me the truth?”

I glance up at him for an answer,
but Ryan speaks for him “Dean’s phone was being hacked left and right. We
couldn’t figure out what was happening, so we tapped into it so that each time
it was accessed from another location we would know where. It turns out that
Red had some of his men access his phone through his phone number. Smart phones
might be easy to use, but they are even easier to hack and gain access to
information. Red was reading all of Dean’s text and phone calls. We found out
when he left for a job for those two weeks. That’s why he cut contact with you
for the most part, because he didn’t want Red to find out that you two were
together. That would have made you a target. Or so we thought. Of course we
didn’t realize at the time that Red already had his sights on you.”

“Where is your mother now?” I ask
Dean

“She’s in a hotel. She needs to readjust
to normal life before she can be around too many people. She has a specialist
who deals with PTSD and all that with her 24-7. Same with Adams mom. They are
together, but we are working on making them whole. She can’t wait to meet you
though, she knows all about you. She knows about our son.” He stops and looks
around

“He’s sleeping.” I whisper

I know that he just shared all this
information with me. I know that these three men just gave me every reason in
the world as to why Dean was gone. I know that none of it was his fault, but I
don’t know if I can just forget it all. Part of me still really hurts that he
was so able to have no contact. I am trying to accept it. I am.

I stand up. Dean moves towards me
as I do. “I just need a few moments.”

I turn and walk into the baby’s
room, closing the door gently behind me.

I sit in the rocking chair and
watch him sleep for what feels like forever.

What do I do? This isn’t in the
parenting handbook. Do I let the man who kills people for a living see his son?
He is his father, I mean that’s the right thing to do right?

But part of me can’t risk it. Part
of me wants to keep my son safe to know that his father and all the ties he
holds cannot hurt this small little boy.

But I have had people after me as
well. So can I really pretend to be any better? Not that my situation is
anything like Dean’s. People wanted me because I stuck by my brother. That’s
all I have ever done. Not the same as murdering men for a living.

But Dean is here, and he might not
be safe, but I have wanted him for months. I have missed him I have loved him,
I have hated him, and I have needed him. I’ve waited for him to meet this
little boy since the day the small bundle of joy was placed into my arms.

I know that it might not be the
safest choice, but the only choice I have.

I lean in to pick up my son and
carry him out to meet his daddy.              

Dean cried the first time he held
Landon.

He cried the first time I told him
I would try to find a way to forgive him.

Three months later, he cried again
when I told him I finally forgave him and then he asked me to marry him.

With a ring that he later told me
he bought 2 weeks after he met me. He knew I was the one he said. He has known
since the very first time he walked through my front door.

I saw tears in his eyes when we got
married. He had been more nervous than I had ever seen him before. Scared and
happy. Full of love. Proud.

Emotions from a man like Dean is a
true gift. Landon and I got the deepest emotions he had.

I could only imagine the emotion
that he felt when he first realized that I had been kidnapped. Only hours after
we pledged to spend the rest of our lives together.