Chapter Ten
Jaxon eased closer to the mansion, careful to keep hidden in the shadows. His keen vision had alerted him to every single camera around the house, and he knew how to avoid getting caught on video.
Whoever this fucker was had money up the ass.
Despite all the cameras and the gate in front of the house, he didn’t see any guards. That felt off to him.
Glass shattered inside the darkened house, and he quickened his steps to get closer.
Maybe Ginny had knocked something over while stumbling around in the dark. He’d waited about ten minutes after she entered to see if she turned on a light. She didn’t. While he waited, he made sure no one was watching him.
A scream tore through the house. Every muscle in his body tensed. His heart rate amped up and his breathing increased. He hurried toward the back of the house where he’d seen her enter. He heard something rustling in the trees behind him. He stopped and turned.
Something black jumped on his face and dug its claws in.
“What the fuck.” He grabbed the black fur ball and pulled it off. He slung it to the ground and glared. “A fucking cat.”
“I’m not just a cat, you asshole.” The black cat hissed and then pawed at him.
“A talking cat, perfect,” he said.
“That’s rich coming from a talking wolf.” The black cat turned and padded off into the trees.
He started to go after it to find out if the cat was a spy, but just then he heard another scream.
Ginny.
He ran toward the back and stopped just as the door opened. He slid behind a large tree in the back yard and waited.
A large man hurried down the steps toward the car parked around back. He looked back over his shoulder. “If you fucking leave this house before I get back, I’m going to make you wish you were dead, Ginny.”
Anger rose up in Jaxon’s chest like kerosene and splashed into his heart.
He was going to kill that fucker.
The male jumped in the car and sped out of the driveway.
Jaxon ran inside the house and froze. A small form was huddled on the floor.
“Ginny?” His voice quivered.
“Oh, god, Jaxon, you have to leave.” She tried to push herself up on her elbows, but she slipped.
He reached for the light switch.
“No. Don’t turn on the light.”
He knelt by her side. Gently, he helped her up into a sitting position. She wheezed and cradled her stomach.
“I’m picking you up.”
“No, wait. Just give me a minute.” She shook her head and then drew in a pained breath.
“Jesus, Ginny. I guess I don’t have to ask if that was your husband who did this to you. You’re not fucking staying here.” His voice cracked. His stomach literally churned at seeing her beaten and bruised.
“You don’t understand, Jaxon.”
“That you stay with a man that hits you? No, I don’t fucking understand. Look, I don’t care if you never want to see me again. I’m not asking you to come live with me. What I am asking you to do is leave this place. Ginny, I can take you away and you won’t ever have to see this guy again.” Jaxon swiped at the tears running down her cheeks.
“You don’t understand, Jaxon.” She sniffed.
“Then tell me, Ginny. Tell me something to help me understand. Make me understand. Do you love him that much? That you would allow him to beat the shit out of you? You know that’s not love, right?”
“I don’t love him, Jaxon. I hate him with a passion.” She looked up at him. “Help me stand.”
He helped her to her feet but kept his hand around her waist to steady her. She felt frail and thin, much too thin. This wasn’t his Ginny.
But he wanted to help her find her way back.
“So you hate him,” he said.
“Like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Yet you stay with him.” He shook his head. “This doesn’t make sense, Ginny. You’re not making any sense.” He narrowed his eyes. “Are you on drugs? Has he drugged you?”
“I’m not on drugs, Jaxon. I rarely ever drink.” She smiled a little. He swiped a cut on her lip with his thumb.
“So tell me then. Make me understand.”
“I don’t have a choice. If I leave him, he will kill my mother.” She looked into his eyes.
He shook his head. “But your mother died when you were a baby. So did your father. That’s why you were living with your grandmother.”
“That’s what I thought. I thought I had no parents.” She turned her head from him.
“Are you saying they are both alive?” Her words didn’t make any sense at all.
“Yes,” she said softly.
“So why was your grandmother raising you?” He shook his head.
“My mother ran away from my father when she was close to giving birth. Once she got to my grandmother’s house, she went into labor.” She shook her head. “There wasn’t time for a doctor, so my grandmother delivered me. My mother planned on leaving the next day, running as far as possible. She wanted to go to Alaska and raise me without fear of my father ever finding us.”
“What happened?”
“The next day, my mother saw my father driving up the driveway. She gave me to my grandmother and made her promise, made her swear to run into the woods and hide. She made my grandmother promise to protect me with her life.” She looked into his eyes. “So that’s what she did.”
“My father came into the house, outraged that my mother had fled, had left him. When she’d found out she was pregnant with me, she was scared of bringing me up in a house with him as a father. So that’s why she left.” She winced as she touched her bruised face.
“He found your mom.” He shook his head. “But why didn’t he try to find you?”
She smiled a little. “My grandmother is a very smart woman. When my mom showed up and gave birth to me, she knew my father would be coming for me. She knew he would catch up to my mom. After I was born, she went out in the backyard and she started digging a hole. She dug all night until the hole was deep enough for a grave.” She looked at him. “She had a wooden crate in the barn. She had a calf that had died the day before my mom arrived, so she wrapped the body in sheets and put it in the crate. She buried it six feet down and then marked the ‘grave’ with a wooden cross.”
“So your grandmother was going to tell your father that your mother had died in childbirth and you hadn’t survived.” He’d always liked her grandmother. The woman was wise and kind.
“Yes. So when my father arrived, my mother lied and said that I had died, that I was stillborn.” She shook her head. “He didn’t believe her until she showed her the grave. If it hadn’t been for my grandmother’s quick thinking and planning, he would have hunted her down until he found me.”
“So your father took your mother away with him, and for eighteen years you were hidden from him.” He took a step back, shocked at the story she’d just told him.
“Yes.”
“So when your father found you and brought you back, why didn’t your mother take you and leave? You both could have left together.”
“My mother was too conditioned by then. Living with him for eighteen years had changed her, made her almost mad. Made her loyal to him. When he found me and brought me back here, she begged me to promise never to try to leave.”
“I don’t understand that.” He shoved his fingers through his hair.
“It’s not meant for you to understand, Jaxon.” Her voice was quiet and sad. “It’s just how life is sometimes.”
“So you just plan on staying here, living here with your abusive mate?” Anger curled in his gut and flowed to every muscle in his body. Ginny was supposed to be his. He was supposed to be Ginny’s mate.
“He’s not my mate. Not in ways that count,” she said.
He didn’t say anything. He just nodded.
“So how did your father find out that you were alive?” He needed to know the rest of the story. He needed to hear.
“When I was planning our wedding, I got really emotional one night with my grandmother. I told her that the only thing that would make my wedding day perfect was if I could have my mother there. I was just a girl wanting my dead mother to share my special day. I had no idea I would regret saying that out loud.” She looked away and shook her head. “My grandmother thought she could get a letter to my mother without my father finding out. She still had some people in Louisiana she trusted. She wanted to tell her about the wedding. It was going to be a surprise for me. I was at home, upstairs in my room. I heard a car coming up the driveway. I didn’t really pay any mind to it. I was too busy trying on my…” Her words tapered off.
He knew what she was going to say before she uttered the words.
“Your wedding dress,” he said. A heaviness settled in his chest, something that felt a whole hell of a lot like grief.
She nodded and studied the floor. She wrapped her arms around her waist.
“I heard my grandmother talking to someone downstairs, and when the yelling started, I ran down to see what was going on.”
“The second he saw me, he grabbed my grandmother and wrapped his arms around her head and snapped her neck.” A sob bubbled out of her, but she regained her composure and waved him away when he moved toward her. “As my grandmother slid to the ground, he told me he’d always hated the bitch. He then put a silver bullet in her head.”
A desire for revenge poured through him until all he could see was red. To kill a female was unheard of. To kill an elderly female was worse.
“Where does your father live, Ginny? I want his name,” he demanded.
She shook her head. “No, Jaxon. He will kill you.”
“He can try. And he might succeed. But that fucker’s going in the ground with me.” He didn’t care if he died. All he wanted was the chance to rip that fucker’s throat out and decapitate him.
But first he was going to kill her husband in the most painful of ways.
“Jaxon.” She placed her hands on his chest. The sky outside was starting to turn a gray-purple color that heralded the impending dawn. She turned to look out the kitchen window, and he could see the swelling of her cheek.
It fueled his rage and determination.
“I will kill your father, Ginny.”
“You can’t. He’s very powerful. Everyone is afraid to turn on him. It’s how he’s kept his power all these years.”
“He doesn’t care that your husband beats you?” The thought made him sick.
Her wide eyes met his. “They are cut from the same cloth. My father knew John was a violent man, but he didn’t care. John is wealthy, as you can see. John inherited all his money. He didn’t earn anything. All my father cares about is how much more power he can grab. He knew that by marrying me to John, he could have an unlimited supply of wealth.”
“First your husband goes, and then I kill your father.”
“This is not some small-time criminal. He’s very powerful.” She shook her head and then froze. “How did you get in here, anyway?”
“I drove in before the gate closed. I saw you go into the house and wanted to make sure you were okay.” His gaze dropped to her cheek. “And judging by the looks of things, I was right. Things aren’t okay.”
“God, Jaxon.” She paled. “If you had come in while he was here, he would have killed you.”
“I was on my way when I heard you scream. But a cat jumped out at me in from the tree line.” His stomach dropped. “I should have been here for you, Ginny.”
“I’m glad you weren’t.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “John could have killed you and made me watch.”
“You don’t have a whole lot of faith in me, do you?” Her lack of it was starting to irritate him.
She shoved away from him and cringed. She cradled her stomach and took a few steps back. “Why do you think he has gates outside?”
“To keep people from getting in here to kill his ass.”
“You’ve got it wrong.” She shook her head as tears ran down her face. “He has those gates outside to keep anyone from getting out.” She looked up. “I don’t know how you are going to get out of here. Jaxon, you’re trapped.”