Return of the Bad Girl (31 page)

“I thought maybe you had actually turned into a human being, that you might actually be more than just—”

“Just what? An ex-con? A loser?” He opened his eyes to stare right at her. The blank expression in them broke her heart.

“Stop it! I didn’t say any of that. I just meant that I know you try so hard to keep people at bay and for a while there, I felt like you were letting me in.”

Gabe shook his head. “Just go, Caroline, okay? I’ll be fine. We had a good run, but honestly? I’d be happy if I never saw you or your sisters again.”

Caroline thought her chest was going to break open, the pain was so intense. Before she could plead or say anything else, Sam put his hand on her arm. “Come on, Caroline, it’s time to go.”

She started to follow Sam but stopped and said, “I know you think I gave up on you, but you’re wrong. I had a weak moment, but I came home. To you. And I am not going to give up this easily.”

She didn’t wait for him to respond. As she passed through the front doors of the police station, she saw that Grady had shut all her doors and left a ticket on her windshield.

Caroline pulled it off before climbing inside, then glanced down at the total and laughed at the three-hundred-dollar scrap of paper. Her laughter soon turned to tears, and she laid her arms on her steering wheel, sobbing into them. Even if she saved Gabe’s reputation, she might have already lost him. He’d given her exactly what she’d needed, accepted her for who she was, but when he’d opened his heart and invited her inside, she’d bolted.

If it was the last thing she did, she would make it up to Gabe. Even if he never forgave her.

C
AROLINE STOPPED BY
the veterinary hospital on the way home to check on Googlie. Zoe had been happy to report that he was eating and drinking again and had started gaining weight. Caroline had been surprised to find out that Gabe had dropped Possum off on Friday to be with his brother. Apparently, it had been a turning point in Googlie’s improvement and although she was happy he was doing better, she’d asked Zoe to keep the kittens a few more days while Caroline sorted out Gabe’s situation. Luckily, Zoe agreed.

She parked in front of the bookstore, figuring that Gabe’s bike was in the back. When she reached the stairs, she found Ellie sitting at the top, waiting for her. Even from several feet away, she could see the bruises on her sister’s face and knew she’d taken a hell of a beating.

“Holy fuck, who the hell did this to you?”

“It was Kyle,” Ellie said quietly.

Caroline grabbed the railing, afraid she was going to hurl over the side. “You were seeing Kyle?
He
did this to you?”

“No, I was never seeing him. I swear,” she said, confusing the hell out of Caroline.

“Okay, you weren’t seeing Kyle, but he’s been beating the shit out of you?”

“I wanted to explain—”

“Why you’re pressing charges against Gabe?”

Ellie stood up, her eyes shifting away. “So, you heard?”

Okay, that pissed her off. On one hand, she was prepared to dismember Kyle, slowly and with a very dull knife, for hurting Ellie. But on the other hand, Ellie was acting like it was no big deal that Gabe was sitting in jail for something Kyle did.

What the fuck was going on?

“Oh yeah, I heard. What do you mean,
oh, so you heard
? Like it’s some casual piece of gossip in that stupid blog you follow?” Caroline’s voice rose until she was screaming, “You accused the man I love of assaulting you! Are you fucking insane? If Kyle did this to you, why the hell did you accuse Gabe?”

“Can we just go inside, please, and I’ll explain?” Ellie said, starting to stand but she was moving so slowly that Caroline finally put her arm around her sister to help her.

“I would just like to say that although part of me wants to strangle you, the fact that you wouldn’t tell Val or me that he was hurting you is just crazy. Why would you let him do this to you? Does he have something on you?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Good thing we’ve got some time, then.”

Inside, Caroline stopped when she caught sight of the kitchen, which had putty-filled holes in the walls. Some of the doors to the cabinets were on the floor, and there were tools everywhere.

Geez, talk about a disaster zone. She’d ask Gabe what had happened later, once she had him out of jail.

Lowering Ellie to the couch, Caroline plopped down next to her. “Okay, talk. Now.” When Ellie winced, Caroline reached out to take her hand. “Do you need something for the pain?”

“No, I took something earlier, but I can’t take painkillers if I’m gonna drive.”

“Okay,” Caroline said, waiting for Ellie to say more, but she seemed at a loss. “Start at the beginning. How did you get involved with Kyle?”

Ellie took a deep breath before answering. “Last year, I was driving home from a bar in Twin Falls, but I’d only had one drink, so I thought I was fine. That I could make it home. It wasn’t very far.”

Caroline thought back to Gabe’s own DUI and the tragic circumstances surrounding it. “You know better, Ellie.”

“I know. The worst part was that I drifted into the other lane and hit another car. The driver lived, but she had a broken leg and some other injuries. I freaked out and drove off,” she said, running a hand through her hair. “I was underage and driving under the influence. When I hit her, all I could think of was that my life was over. Then the police started investigating and offering rewards for witnesses. Kyle caught me trying to pop the dent out of my beamer, and when I confessed to him, he took care of it.”

“How, for God’s sake?” Caroline asked, horror mixing with her fury.

“He offered the woman a large settlement to change her story. Since no one else saw what happened, it was easier than I thought,” Ellie said, shaking her head. “But when I offered to pay Kyle out of my trust after I turned twenty-five, he said he didn’t want my money. He wanted a favor.”

“What did he want?” Caroline asked.

They sat down on the couch, and Ellie continued, “He wanted me to dig up dirt on Dad, which is part of the reason I have that file of all his shady dealings. He said we’d be square if I gathered info and gave it to him, but I couldn’t. Dad may be a rotten bastard most of the time, but he’s still my dad. But when Dad started digging into Kyle’s past, he became obsessed with what Dad might know, and he . . . he started threatening me.”

“Is that when the beatings started?”

“When I told him I wasn’t going to spy for him anymore, he punched me,” she said, waving her hand over her face. “I think he liked hurting me.”

Caroline’s blood ran cold. “He didn’t . . . he never . . .”

Ellie seemed to pick up on what Caroline couldn’t say. “No, he never went that far.”

Caroline’s head was spinning. She had no doubt Kyle was capable of blackmail, but why would he do it? He wouldn’t really jeopardize his cushy life or his freedom for a little wounded pride and petty revenge.

Wait—this was Kyle. Of course he would. Because in his mind, he could never be caught.

“So why accuse Gabe?”

“Because Kyle said he wouldn’t stop until I agreed to press charges,” Ellie said, her voice shaky with tears. “And he just kept kicking me and screaming, and I wanted it to stop—”

Ellie’s voice broke as she released a choked sob. Unable to resist her sister’s pain, Caroline reached out and pulled her into her arms.

Kyle. Everything toxic in her life and the people she cared about came back to him. That was about to change, though. Kyle couldn’t get away with hurting her family. For trying to imprison Gabe and go after her father. Caroline’s body shook so hard with rage, she was afraid Ellie would think she was crying. She wasn’t crying, though. She wasn’t scared or cowed, not anymore. It was time for her to fight back, no matter what kind of shitstorm Kyle tried to rain down on her. This time, he was going to pay.

Pulling away from her sister, she looked into Ellie’s red-rimmed eyes. “Okay, Ellie. You and I are going to the police station.”

“Caroline, I can’t,” she said, her voice rising. “He’ll kill me.”

“No, he won’t, Ellie,” Caroline said, standing up. “Because we’re going to file charges and make sure he never gets out of prison. As it is, we have him on several cases of assault, extortion, rape—”

“But how? How are you going to prove what he did?”

“I’m going to have something for the police,” Caroline said, standing up and heading for the door. “You’re going to have to admit why Kyle was blackmailing you.”

“I don’t think I can do that! I could go to prison,” Ellie said.

Caroline resisted the urge to walk back and slap her sister. Reminding herself that Ellie was a victim and needed support, she said, “Sometimes, part of growing up is facing your mistakes and coming clean.”

“Yeah, I know,” Ellie said, starting down the stairs. “At least if it all comes out, I won’t live the rest of my life with the what-ifs hanging over my head, you know?”

“I know exactly what you mean.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

“Revenge is a dish best served cold . . . and with a slice of ha-ha, sucker!”

—Miss Know It All

C
AROLINE MADE
E
LLIE
wait in the car as she walked up to her father’s door, but she didn’t wait for Teresa to answer before walking inside.

“Caroline, what on earth . . .” Teresa started, coming around a corner.

“Sorry, Teresa, I just need something from my old room.”

“But all your things are in storage!” she called after her as Caroline climbed the stairs.

“It’s okay,” she said, going through the second door on the right. Teresa wasn’t kidding—all of her stuff was gone—but she was a little surprised that her father had left the room bare. What should have been a room of nostalgia and warmth was nothing more than four white walls protecting an awful secret.

Going into her closet, she knelt and pulled up the loose floorboard she had found as a child. Hidden beneath was a treasure box of keepsakes she hadn’t wanted her sisters rifling through, and . . .

A plastic bag with a knee-length dress, and her underwear from that long-ago night.

Her father’s voice came from behind. “What do you have there, Caroline?”

She looked over her shoulder at him. He was standing in the middle of the room.

Caroline stood up slowly, the keepsake box in one hand and the bag of clothes in the other.

“Just some trinkets,” Caroline said.

“And in the bag?” he said, pointing.

“This? This is leverage against Kyle,” Caroline said. “Did you know he’s been blackmailing Ellie for months? Beating her?”

By the affronted look on his face, she guessed not.

“Well, we’re going to the police station. Ellie told the police yesterday that Gabe assaulted her—Kyle wouldn’t stop hurting her until she agreed. Then he drove her there to make her statement.”

“Why would he go to all the trouble to frame your boyfriend?”

“I don’t know, wounded pride?” Caroline said, unsure herself. “Gabe worked Kyle over a bit when he found out Kyle had come by the apartment and threatened me.”

Her father looked between her and the bag. “When will
you
be going to the police?”

“Now. Why?” she asked, hating that she was still so suspicious of her own father.

“Because before it’s leaked to the media, I want to cut all ties with the man.”

Caroline laughed bitterly. “Still looking out for the family name?”

Edward Willis hobbled forward. Leaning heavily on his cane, he placed his other hand on her shoulder. “No. I don’t want anyone thinking that I don’t believe you.”

Relief swept through her, and she said, “I’ll be going as soon as I get the rest of the dirt you have on Kyle.”

“I’ll get it now,” her father said, limping out of the room.

For the first time in twelve years, her heart warmed toward her father, but she didn’t have time to dwell on that.

She had some business to take care of.

“B
UT
E
LLIE, YOU
came in here yesterday, crying that Gabe Moriarty was the man who hurt you.”

Sam’s slow uptake was getting on Caroline’s last nerve, and she snapped, “Listen to what she’s saying, Sam. Kyle Jenner beat and blackmailed her for months and when she refused to accuse Gabe, he beat her some more. To get him to stop, she accused Gabe, but now, she’s recanting.”

Sam glared at Caroline and then leaned in to whisper to Ellie, “You can tell me if she’s pressuring you into this.”

“Oh, for the love of God! Are you stupid or just being a pain in the ass on purpose?” Caroline shouted.

Sam’s already ruddy face darkened, and his shoulders straightened. “You better watch the way you talk to me, Caroline, or you’ll join your boyfriend.”

Caroline opened her mouth to retort, but Ellie stopped her by saying, “It’s true, Sam. Gabe didn’t hurt me. I hardly know him. Here.”

Ellie pulled out her phone, scrolling through. When she found what she was looking for, she handed it to Sam. “Here is a video of Kyle kicking me. You only see him for a second, but you can hear his voice on the recording.”

Sam seemed uneasy as she hit play.

“You want to say no to me? I’ll teach you what happens to stupid sluts who say no to me.”

The sounds of blows against flesh sickened Caroline, and despite her anger with Ellie, she pulled her baby sister into her arms.

“I’m sorry I didn’t protect you from him,” Caroline whispered.

Ellie’s shoulders shook as Caroline rubbed her back.

When the video was over, Sam set the phone down and said, “I’ll have a car pick up Kyle Jenner at his home.”

Tears burned Caroline’s own eyes. “You have to release Gabe.”

Sam held up his hand. “Once I have Kyle in custody, I’ll release Moriarty.”

“Fine,” Caroline said, handing him the packet her father had given her.

“What’s this?

“Leverage, in case he’s uncooperative.”

G
ABE SAT UP
on the cot, waiting. He could have sworn he heard Caroline shouting, but it must have been his imagination. Wishful thinking.