Unyielding (Tortured Love Book 1) (13 page)

His pulse raced. “We kept in touch off and on.” It was a bald-faced lie, and he prayed Lynda would play along. His prayers were answered when she said nothing. She barely moved at all. An overwhelming urge to protect her bubbled up, and Merrick put an arm around her shoulder. When she flinched slightly at the touch, he was reminded again of their wedding day.

Everything fit now. There was so much he hadn’t known last week, and now that he did know it, he realized how horribly his treatment of her that first night, and during the past three days, must have affected her on an emotional level. Rey Santos wasn’t the only man in Lynda’s past who’d left scars on her psyche.

“When she met you at that party,” said Tom, “she was all shy and giggly over it.”

He’d kill them. He’d fucking kill them both right here in this room with his bare hands. And then he’d put the bodies where no one would ever find them
.

“She was only fifteen.” He kept his voice neutral, but doing so took every ounce of effort.

Ted drained his drink then picked up the next one. “Yes, she was. So ripe. So filled with possibilities for the future.”

Lynda let out a soft grunt and stiffened again, but Merrick kept his gaze on Ted’s and Tom’s faces. It would be no fun to reveal the fact that he knew the truth. Not yet. In his mind, he saw red. He’d only been this disgusted and this fucking angry once before in his life. But
this
time, he held the upper hand.

“That was also where I met you both the first time, wasn’t it?”

“Sure was,” said Tom, leaning back against the sofa cushions now. He thought he was safe at last, and Merrick was fine with that. It was what he wanted them both to believe. “That was quite a party.”

The fucking scumbag wasn’t even trying to change the subject. “I don’t remember seeing you two during the evening though, after we met.” The urge to beat the shit out of them was so strong, Merrick’s arm muscles began to twitch.

Ted averted his gaze. “Oh, well, we were around.”

Yeah, you certainly were. You were busy raping your niece.

Merrick took his arm from around Lynda’s shoulder and pulled out his cell phone, pretending a text had come through. “I had this on vibrate. Will you excuse me for a moment? I have to answer this text.”

He sent a text message, then placed the phone on his lap to wait for Andy to respond. Andy Benson was an ADA who worked with the Special Victims Division in Manhattan. He and Merrick had known each other since middle school.

Merrick had asked Andy in the text what the statute of limitations was on cases of rape against a fifteen-year-old girl by two men in their mid-thirties. He also told Andy there was no DNA evidence, the rape had never been reported, and the victim was now twenty-nine.

He remembered Alan telling him it had expired, but that was when he’d believed Lynda’s attackers had been teens. Merrick wanted to be certain these two couldn’t be prosecuted before he took care of them on his own.

“Refresh my memory,” said Merrick, addressing Ted. “Who did Todd give that party for? I can’t recall.”

Ted and Tom launched into a conversation that was mostly between the two of them, as they recalled names of business associates and their former wives or girlfriends who had been there that evening.

Merrick let them talk without interruption. For two men who claimed to know next to nothing about a business that had been in their family for three generations, they had amazing recall of the people who had attended a party fourteen years ago. Merrick recognized most of the names they mentioned, but not one of those people they mentioned had included a teenage son.

The longer they talked, the angrier Merrick became. When Barry came into the room again, Merrick motioned him to lean down so he could whisper a quick set of instructions. Merrick wanted his security staff in the hallway, on standby, but he didn’t want Tom or Ted to know they were there.

Merrick was certain he could take Lynda’s uncles down on his own, but not both at the same time.

When Andy finally texted him back, Merrick read it without picking up the phone. He was disappointed in the answer, but not surprised. The laws in the state had changed regarding rape cases, but the new ones likely wouldn’t help in this instance.

Because Lynda had been fifteen at the time, and her uncles had each been over twenty-one, what they’d done to her was considered third-degree rape. But Andy texted that without DNA evidence, it would be very difficult to prosecute.

That meant only one thing. Merrick would have to take care of her uncles on his own. After he got them to confess, of course. Before they died for what they’d done to his wife, he wanted them to know that he knew about it.

Merrick glanced toward Lynda, who looked like she wanted to be anywhere but in this room. He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring look, then put his arm around her again and pulled her close. Before this evening was over, his wife would find out what kind of a man she’d married, and just how far he would go to protect the things he cared about.

Chapter Nineteen

Lynda had no idea what kind of game Merrick was playing, but she wished he’d stop it. She should have told him the truth. Based on what little of this bizarre conversation she could follow, she had a horrible feeling he’d guessed it already. But instead of being angry that she’d withheld yet one more important event about her past from him, he seemed to be enjoying this cat and mouse game.

And unless he was putting on one hell of an act for her uncles’ sake, the affection he showed her was surprising. She only wished it was happening under different circumstances because then she might believe it was sincere and not merely a ruse.

“Did anyone bring their kids to that party, or was Lynda the only teen there?”

She tried not to jerk her face toward him at the question, but couldn’t stop the gesture in time. She stared at him horrified as her worst suspicions were confirmed. That was the party where she’d met him, but she had
not
told him it was the same party she’d referenced when she’d told the lie about the teen boys.

He didn’t return her glance. He was staring down her uncles like a man about to commit murder. Part of her wanted to pump her fist in the air and shout for joy. His anger wasn’t directed at her. It was directed toward
them
. Enough anger to do them some serious harm, if the set of his jaw was any indication.

Was this for
her
? Was he defending her against them? That meant he wasn’t upset with her. It meant he understood why she had lied.

Lynda glanced at her uncles, no longer afraid to look them in the eyes. Merrick’s strength and determination gave her courage she’d never felt where those two were concerned. She snuggled closer to her husband as she watched the two men who had ruined her life fourteen years ago exchange identical looks filled with caution and suspicion. They didn’t know what he meant by that question, but clearly they knew something was wrong.

Would they now try to talk their way out of here in a hurry? Would Merrick let them go, or did her husband have other plans for them?

Uncle Ted made a noise that came out halfway between a laugh and a gasp. “Um, I don’t recall.” He glanced at Uncle Tom. “Do you?”

“Not really.” Her Uncle Tom’s eyes were glued to Merrick’s face. “Why are you asking?”

Uncle Tom always had been the more aggressive of this pair, with her father bringing up the rear in that department, as he had done in most things. He might be the oldest brother, but he certainly wasn’t the most mature of the trio.

“Oh, just curious.” Merrick glanced down at her with a triumphant look in his eyes. His tone of voice told her that he was anything but curious. He was closing in for the kill. “That party you told me about, remember it?”

She nodded, her pulse racing. What the hell was he about to ask her? Dear God … he was going to make her say it. She knew it as certainly as she knew the smell of lamb chops cooking, drifting into this room from down the hall.

“Is it the same party we’re talking about now?” he asked. “The one where I met you and your uncles for the first time?”

He already knew the answer. He wasn’t asking for clarification. He was giving her an out. This was her chance to confirm for him, without any doubt, that the story she’d told him was a lie. It hadn’t involved two fictitious teenage boys, who were the sons of one of her father’s business associates. The story she’d told him had instead been about the two men sitting across from them. It had been about her Uncle Tom and her Uncle Ted.

Lynda stared into Merrick’s eyes. They were filled with a palpable energy and a demand to know the truth. She owed him that much, and she loved that he’d orchestrated this trap. It was fucking brilliant. He was the most intelligent and conniving man she’d ever met, and his deviousness turned her on. If that was sick and twisted, so be it.

She turned her gaze toward her uncles, and the fear and loathing she saw in their eyes pushed her into an easy decision. Fuck them and the hell they’d put her through. She wasn’t a kid anymore, and she did not want this hanging over her head, lying in secret, for one more damn second. They had
raped
her, plain and simple, and they should not be allowed to get away with it any longer.

She took a deep breath and held their gazes as she answered her husband. “Yes, it was the same party. There were no teenage boys there. It was these two who forced me to give them blowjobs. They raped me.”

They both protested at the same time her husband jumped up. From out in the hallway, four men she now recognized as part of his security team rushed into the room. Lynda watched in horrified fascination as Merrick pushed Uncle Tom against the back wall and slammed his body into it.

Merrick’s right hand closed around her uncle’s throat, and the other hand pinned her uncle’s right arm to his side before he could even think about throwing a punch. The sound her uncle made was cut off as Merrick pressed on his windpipe.

Leo, one of the security detail, had Uncle Ted in a similar position on the east wall just as quickly. Two of the other three men placed themselves next to one of her uncles, holding their free arms. The third stood in front of and off to the side of Lynda, as if shielding her from the scene.

“Tell me what to do, Lynda,” said Merrick, his voice hard and raw. “Should I kill him for what he did to you?”

Her jaw dropped open.

“Get them to confess first,” said Deke, another security staff member. He was currently holding down Uncle Ted’s left arm, and had his right leg wrapped around her uncle’s left calf.

“You’re right. I want to hear them say they did it.” Merrick released Uncle Tom’s throat, but only enough so Lynda could now hear the labored breathing and coughing sounds he made.

“I’ll kill
you
, you son of a bitch!”

Merrick laughed. The sound was cold, and it sent shivers down Lynda’s spine. At the same time, her heart soared with joy. His disgust over what they’d done and his fierce protection of her were completely unexpected. It also filled her with hope for this marriage that hadn’t existed until now.

“Tell me what you did to her.”

Lynda’s breathing grew rapid, and her heart pounded. Merrick pressed harder on her uncle’s throat again, and his strangled cry was now accompanied by a look of pure terror in his eyes. He knew Merrick would kill him. He tried to speak but couldn’t, so Merrick eased up again on the grip.

“All right! All right.” Uncle Tom coughed a few times. “We did … we did it. But we were drunk. And Todd knew. That’s right. Her father knew we did it. What do you have to say about
that
?”

Lynda fell back onto the sofa as her knees gave way. Merrick glanced at her, a question in his eyes. “Is that true? Did he know?”

“I told him, but he didn’t believe me.”

Merrick’s expression changed to one of such tenderness that she had to force back tears.

“Bullshit,” said Uncle Ted. “She didn’t have to tell him. He already knew.”

What?

Merrick turned his attention toward her uncle Ted. “Explain.”

“He saw us. Lynda didn’t know he came into the room, but he did. He stood there and watched. He was as drunk as we were. I thought he was gonna join us, but then he just started jacking off instead.”

Lynda’s stomach roiled, and she broke out in a cold sweat. The world tilted sideways, and she clamped a hand over her mouth before she ran from the room. She barely made it into the guest bathroom before what little was left from lunch came up.

She had no idea how long she sat on the cool tile floor. At one point, she got up and wet a washcloth, then put it against the back of her neck. She stayed like that, next to the toilet, listening to the noise from the great room.

She’d left the door open so she could hear everything, but the words made no sense to her. Nothing ever would again. Her father had told her that his brothers would never do something like that, and had admonished her for making up stories. She remembered that conversation as clearly as she remembered every detail of that party.

It couldn’t be true that he had been in the room. They had to be making that up just to upset her further. Her father had not jacked off while watching his brothers rape her. He had not then accused her of lying to him. It
had
to be a lie. Her father was no saint and she’d always known that, but he couldn’t have done this to her. It wasn’t possible.

She heard more shouting, but couldn’t go out there. She simply could not face any of them now, including Merrick. When he realized what a fucked up family he’d married into, the pre-nup wouldn’t matter. The company was gone anyway. The reason he’d married her no longer existed. He’d get out of this sham as quickly as possible, and she wouldn’t blame him one bit.

Lynda scooted closer to the wall, leaned against it, and closed her eyes. She forced her memories back to that fateful night, struggling to recall whether she’d sensed anyone else in the bedroom. Her uncles had dragged her in there and then took turns holding her down. Even if someone had come in, she doubted she’d have known that. She’d been concentrating too hard on getting through it, and praying it would be over quickly.

She’d never been that frightened in her life, or felt more betrayed. Not until discovering the videos Rey had made, that was.

It took a few moments for her to realize the noise from down the hall had stopped, and then she heard footsteps. She glanced up and there was Merrick, his beautiful face filled with concern. She couldn’t hold back the tears as she stared into his eyes. Words bubbled up, but nothing came out. All she could do was watch him while she sobbed.

He lifted her up into his arms and carried her down the hall. They went into the library, where he sat in one of the large armchairs and cradled her on his lap, stroking her hair and back. His whispered words were unintelligible sounds. She still couldn’t process speech. What the fuck was wrong with her brain?

The heavenly smell from the kitchen now made her want to puke again. She briefly wondered whether he wanted to eat his dinner, but she didn’t have the strength to ask. When the fog finally cleared and his words began to make sense, she asked what had happened to her uncles.

“They’ve been taken care of.”

Lynda stared at him, wanting her suspicions to be true, but at the same time frightened of the obvious implications. “What does that mean?”

He gave her a long, searching look. “It means they will never harm another girl or woman again. It means you’re free of them forever.”

She pulled away slightly so she could look into his face straight on. “Merrick, did you kill them?”

“Myself? No. But I wanted to.”

“But … but they
are
dead. That’s what you mean. Right?”

“Does that bother you?”

She shook her head, unsure how to respond.

“Lynda, what’s worse? Cheating business partners out of profits from a company, or kicking a puppy until it dies?”

She flinched at the image. “Is that a trick question?”

“No. I’m trying to make a point. If a person does the latter, they might be slapped on the wrist with a misdemeanor, depending on where they live. And
only
if it can be proven they did it. If they do the former and there is proof of the crime, they face considerable jail time and likely must also make restitution. Their reputation in the business community is ruined, or at least tarnished. And yet which of these two crimes evokes the more emotional response in most people?”

“The puppy, of course.”

“So why is it wrong if two pieces of pond scum like your uncles pay for ruining their fifteen-year-old niece’s life?” He asked it so quietly she barely heard him. “They won’t stand trial for this. Even with the change in the statute of limitations laws in this state, there is no DNA evidence. The confession I and my security staff forced from them would never be allowed in court. It would be their word against yours. The press would learn what your father did, and everything in your past and his would be dredged up.”

Her shoulders slumped as she realized how right he was.

“I’ve managed to keep out of the press the fact your father and my former attorney have betrayed us both, but if we pursue your uncles, it will be front page news. What Rey Santos did to you would be in every tabloid across the country.”

“You’re right,” she whispered.

“I’m not telling you this to upset you. I’m explaining why I took care of matters for you in my own way.”

A nasty shiver ran down her spine. “You make it sound like you’ve done this type of thing before.”

There was that horrible, painful look on his face again. This time, she couldn’t pretend she hadn’t seen it. But then his expression took on the mask of cold, hard businessman just as quickly.

“Lynda, there are things we don’t yet know about each other, but I’m not going to apologize for who and what I am. I don’t expect you to do that either.”

“What else do you want to know about me? I’ll tell you everything. I have no reason not to now.”

He tilted his head slightly. “Let’s start with that party. I didn’t know that while I was busy sizing everyone up in terms of how they could help me advance my career goals, a very pretty young girl I’d met earlier was being forced to commit sex acts on her two drunk uncles.”