Blackmailed (26 page)

A commotion rippled through the ballroom, ending the shocked

silence.

“Get your hands off her,” Cole growled. The fist he’d contained earlier

was now a prominent fixture at the end of his arm. He might not hit a

woman, but nothing would stop him from decking another man.

Andrew’s face flushed as he realized what he’d said and how many

people had heard him. His gaze darted around the room and he flung

Bri’s hand away as if she had burnt him.

“You’re nothing better than a whore,” he hissed. Apparently the man

didn’t know when to quit digging his hole.

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Cole cocked his arm, ready to throw a punch, when a battle cry rang

out to his right, diverting his attention.

“You bastard.” Scott dove in the direction of his father, landing

squarely on the bigger man’s chest and knocking both of them to the

ground with his momentum.

“Scottie.” Bri charged at the two men writhing on the floor, but Cole

pulled her back. “He’s going to get hurt,” she yelled, and tried to free

herself from his grasp.

Somehow Scott managed to wind up on top and let loose a series of

punches on the father he couldn’t even see. Several missed, but many

landed. Blood spurted from Andrew’s nose and his lip split open before

he was able to flip the two of them.

Tyler was on him before Andrew could get his arms untangled. He

had Wyatt on the floor, belly down, his arms behind his back and locked

in another pair of handcuffs in a matter of seconds. Then Ty stood,

heavily favoring his bad ankle, and helped Scott to his feet.

“You okay, pal?”

Scott was breathing hard, but he smiled and nodded. “Yeah.” He

cracked his neck with two sharp turns of his head. “That felt good.”

“Humph. Remind me not to get in a fist fight with you.” Tyler

laughed.

“This is not funny. God, don’t you ever do that again, Scottie.” Bri

hugged him so hard Cole was sure the kid’s head would pop off. Scott

took the embrace with a grimace, squirming to get his arms unpinned.

“He called you a whore, squirt.”

She looked at him. “So what? He has never said anything nice to me

in twenty-six years, I didn’t expect him to tonight. Especially with the

marriage.”

“Yeah, well, I couldn’t let him get away with it one more time,

Brianna. How’s your head?” Scott lifted his head and turned like he was

looking around the room. “I’d like to get my hands on Caroline too, if I

could see the bitch.”

Bri laughed then, releasing the heavy weight from Cole’s chest. She

would be all right.

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“You will not hit a girl,” she said.

“Our father did.” He hung his head.

“And you are not him, thank God. I raised you better than that.”

“Thank you, squirt. For everything.” He bear hugged her shoulders

and lifted her off her feet.

“Eeek. Put me down, put me down.” Bri squealed when he spun her

around.

The chief of police stepped forward and cleared his throat. “Do you

want to press charges, ma’am?”

Scott set Bri on her feet, steadying her when she swayed beneath his

touch. Cole took over, pulling her into his arms, her back to his chest,

and settled his chin on top of her head. He couldn’t stand not touching

her.

“He attacked me,” Andrew shouted, furiously angling his head in

Scott’s direction. Two men were dragging him off his knees. He shook

with indignation, scattering droplets of the red river still running from

his nose. Both men jerked back, unwilling to be tainted with his blood.

“I didn’t see anything.” The chief glanced around the room. “Did any

of you see anything?” There was a chorus of no and a whole lot of head

shaking.

“I saw everything. Don’t worry, Father, I know what happened.”

Caroline stuck her pompous nose in the air.

“Shut up,” he hissed at her.

“Ms. Grady, you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can

and will be used against you…” The patrolman guided the sputtering

Caroline away.

“I didn’t do anything,” she screeched. “He told me to. Daddy!” They

could still hear her screaming out the door.

“Just do what you have to do about tonight’s incident, Chief, I’ll talk

to Bri about the rest of it later. I want him out of our sight.”

“Sure thing, Mr. Masters.” He spoke to the patrolmen who had

Andrew. “Take him in.”

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Chapter Eleven

Brianna swore to herself it wasn’t the instant twinge of jealousy at

hearing a woman’s voice coming from the dining room that stopped her

about halfway down the stairs. She wasn’t the least bit curious as to why

there would be a strange woman sharing their breakfast. No, it was

definitely the soreness of her body from her and Cole’s rough lovemaking

session this morning making her halt on a dime.

Yeah, right.

She gripped the railing until her knuckles turned white. There was no

reason to suspect their guest of being anything less than an old friend.

Or maybe someone who worked for Ty. Yes that was it.

Of course the last time Brianna had come down the stairs to a

woman’s voice, she’d come face to face with the devil.

Then she heard it. A high-pitched laugh. Her breath caught and her

eyes watered. It was a laugh she hadn’t heard for more than sixteen

years, and thought she would never hear again. It was a sound that filled

her dreams and birthday wishes more times than she could count. The

one thing she truly remembered from a childhood fraught with nannies

and servants instead of parents.

Could it be? Had Caroline been telling her the truth that day at

Tonio’s?

She took a tentative step down, terrified she would trip and shatter

the illusion of her mother’s laugh. Or that she’d get there too fast and her

hopes would be dashed when she saw someone who was not Lydia Wyatt

at all.

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Somehow she found herself standing before the dining room door,

holding her breath. She didn’t even remember descending the steps or

crossing the foyer.

The door swung open and Brianna jumped.

“Hey, there you are, baby. I was just coming to get you.”

Cole held out a hand to her and she stared at it. Maybe she was

hearing things after all.

“Bri, you’re looking a little pale.” He leaned closer to her but she was

paralyzed, unable to even lift her head for the kiss Cole offered her. “Hey,

I wasn’t too rough this morning, was I?” He smiled at her and grabbed

her face with both hands. The kiss he placed on her mouth was gentle.

“Who’s here, Cole?” she whispered when his lips touched hers.

He straightened and, with his thumb, wiped away a tear falling from

her lashes. “Ty’s been doing a lot of work this week—”

“Brianna?”

Brianna closed her eyes and swallowed. Her chin trembled. Cole

stepped to the side. An angel in the form of Lydia Wyatt stood in front of

her now, surrounded by the sunlight pouring through the opposite

windows.

“Mama?”

“Isn’t this great, squirt?” Scottie wrapped his arms around Brianna

from behind and squeezed her, mindful of her stitches. “Ty found Mom

for us.”

More tears fell as she stared at their mother. How could he sound so

happy? The woman, who was looking at them like she’d never left, had

abandoned him as a tiny baby. Had walked out on her two children,

leaving them with an evil man to fend for themselves. Had left her oldest

child to take the place of her youngest child’s mother.

Brianna nearly choked on all the years of hurt and pain she’d been

through, when all along her mother was safe and alive. Why hadn’t she

fought for them? What kind of mother would do that to her kids?

“How…” She cleared her throat, dislodging the emotion clogging her

windpipe. “Where…”

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“Oh, sweetheart. Oh, God, I’m so sorry.” Lydia moved forward, her

arms outstretched, and enveloped Brianna and Scottie, who was still

attached to her back.

Brianna stood like a stone between them and sought out Cole’s face.

She didn’t find a smile there, but rather a look telling her he understood

what she was feeling. Maybe he did, but she didn’t. Then he moved and

placed a hand on her mother’s back.

“Let’s sit down,” he said.

Lydia let go of her children, sniffed, and wiped the tears off her

cheeks, then nodded at Cole.

“I think that would be a good idea.” She wobbled a bit and Cole shot

a hand out to steady her.

Brianna was glad he was in control because she was still shellshocked. Scottie marched her forward, his arms still surrounding her

until they reached a seat where Cole took over and gently forced her to

sit. He pulled out another chair and placed it between hers and Lydia’s,

forming a triangle for the three of them.

Cole maneuvered Scottie to his chair before stepping into the middle

and reaching for her hands again. Brianna let him take them and pull

her up to stand. With a small nudge, Brianna found herself in front of

her mother. So close their knees touched. He placed his hands on her

waist and guided her backward until her knees buckled and she was

sitting in his lap. She never took her eyes off the elegantly dressed

woman facing her.

Lydia patted her thighs and swallowed. Brianna cocked her head at

the telltale gesture. The same one she and Scottie both had. It made her

seem somehow more real. She was just as nervous and anxious about

this meeting as Brianna was.

“Sweetheart.” Lydia swallowed again, so loud Brianna heard it. “I

spoke with Scottie this morning. He and I both had a good cry.” Her

smile was sad. There were things you could never make up for, Brianna

guessed.

“Andrew had her locked away in an institution, squirt.” Scottie’s voice

was soft beside her.

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A small chunk of ice which had been forming around her heart broke

off. If her blind brother who’d never known his mother could reconcile

with her, then Brianna could put forth every effort to do so herself.

“Why? Why would he do that?” Her throat was dry and tight. That’s

why the croakiness.

Cole brushed the hair from her neck. “Just listen, baby. She’s going

to explain it all. I wanted you and Scott to be together, but he ran into

her when Ty brought her in and you were…well you were otherwise

occupied at the time.”

Brianna’s face flushed. She knew exactly how occupied she’d been.

She glanced at her mother and was shocked to see her trying to hide a

smile.

Another chunk melted.

“Oh, honey. Andrew was demented, truly mad. I guess I just didn’t

see it until it was too late. He was obsessed with having a boy.” Lydia

reached over and threaded her fingers with Scottie’s. Brianna watched

him return her grip and a knot formed in her throat. Her brother was

taking to their mother like she’d never been gone. She was happy for

him. Happy he could come to peace with her so quickly.

“We tried so hard after you to have Scott, but there were

complications.” Her face twisted with a mixture of pain and anger. “He

wasn’t good enough for your father,” she choked out. “His fixation grew

and grew until finally he was forcing me to…” She dislodged her hand

from Scottie’s and blew her nose on a napkin.

“I was suffering from postpartum depression. Something your father

denied with every breath. And maybe it had nothing to do with

postpartum, maybe I was just depressed all around. I don’t know.” She

sniffed again.

“Scott was only six months old, dear God. My baby. He was so small

and had so many problems and that bastard wouldn’t let me see him, or

you. Night after night, day after day, I suffered his touch. I begged and

pleaded, but he was bent and deranged. He kept telling me over and over

how much better Scott was in the hands of his nurses.”

Her body shook and she cried out, burying her face in her hands.

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“I swear to you, I didn’t know there were no nurses. I swear.”

“Mama,” Brianna breathed, feeling her renewed pain, disgusted by

what she was hearing. She slid off Cole’s lap and knelt in front of her

mother. “I’m sorry, Mama. I’m sorry you had to go through all that.” She

grasped her mother’s hands and tugged them off her face.

“No, sweetheart, it’s me that’s sorry. I should have done more,

protected you two somehow. I didn’t know what his plans were, that he

was working on having me committed. And the women. There were so

many, in and out of our home. I did my best to shield you from all of

them.”

“It’s okay, Mama.” The huge weight lifted from Brianna’s shoulders as

she patted her mother on the back. All of the guilt and anger was gone.

Her mother had tried, had done the best she could under the

circumstances. “Me and Scottie, we turned out okay,” she consoled.

“Scottie’s a good man, Mama, and any other man would be proud to call

him their son.”

Lydia burst out again, “Thanks to you, Brianna. You’ve done a

wonderful job raising him. You’re going to be a great mother someday.”