The Secrets that Lie Within (Taylor's Bend, #1) by Elisabeth Rose

Author:Elisabeth Rose
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Escape Publishing

Chapter 13

‘Did you tell anyone?’ Georgia asked.

‘Don’t pretend you care.’

‘I do care, of course I do. My father did horrendous things for years. How could Mum and I not care about all those women …’

‘Refill, Aaron.’ Kaelee held out her glass and he filled it.

‘So that’s why you stopped hanging out with us.’

‘You think?’

‘You should have said.’

‘Would you have believed me? I don’t think so. Even my parents didn’t believe me. In fact, my father slapped my face for telling lies.’

‘My god!’

‘He was always hitting one of us for something.’ She reached out and touched Aaron’s cheek. ‘Aaron’s the first person who really has been kind. He’s the first person who likes me. Really likes me. He understands what I’ve been going through. I trust him.’

Aaron grasped her fingers and kissed them. ‘Feel the same.’

The rain stopped suddenly, like a tap turned off.

After a moment Abbie asked into the quietness, ‘Kaelee, does your father hit your sisters?’

Kaelee swung her gaze to Abbie. ‘No, not anymore. I fixed that.’

‘How?’ asked Georgia, and by the tone of her voice Abbie knew she was wondering the same thing she was—just what did she mean by fixed?

‘He’s dead.’

‘Dead?’ That was Aaron, sounding as shocked as Abbie. ‘You never told me that.’

‘He died,’ said Kaelee. ‘Unexpectedly.’

‘But … how?’

‘He fell off the roof of our house cleaning the gutters out.’

‘When?’ asked Georgia.

‘Last year.’ A weird, frightening smile lit her face. ‘Two storeys onto the concrete. Broke his neck.’

Abbie swallowed. ‘An accident?’

‘That’s what they decided. Tragic, everyone said.’

‘Did you have something to do with it?’

She didn’t answer for a moment, just smiled again and drank more wine.

‘I was helping him,’ she said.

‘But you couldn’t have prevented a fall if he slipped,’ said Aaron.

‘No, that’s right.’ Again the odd smile.

No-one spoke. Abbie locked eyes with Georgia. They had to get away. This girl was a psychopath. She’d had horrible experiences in her short life and wanting some form of payback was understandable, but taking her revenge by cold-bloodedly pushing her father off the roof was pretty extreme. Was she travelling around the country targeting all those who’d wronged her? Was Aaron aware of what she was up to? He hadn’t known about the father so what was his agenda? Why was he here?

‘Aaron, why are you going along with this? You’re not involved with Kaelee’s family or her issues with Georgia, you’ve only met recently, haven’t you?’

‘I have my own problem with you,’ he said.

‘How, we’ve never seen you before in our lives,’ said Georgia.

‘Your father knew my sister.’

‘Oh god.’ Abbie’s closed her eyes briefly. ‘Was she a student?’

‘She was until he raped her. Then her life turned to shit. She got depressed and she wouldn’t go out of the house. She couldn’t do anything. And then they caught him and we thought now she might start to recover.’

‘But he got off,’ whispered Abbie.

‘And she committed suicide.’

‘And you know what? You stood next to him and you gave him an alibi,’ spat Kaelee.

‘You lied.’

‘I changed my testimony … I fixed it …’ Tears began dripping down her cheeks.

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