Royally Broken by Elle Boon Page 0,45
he was F. I. N. E. but she saw what she’d suspected and had finally seen with her own eyes. Keys, only he was Silas back then, had been abused. Horribly, painfully abused by the woman who was supposed to protect him and her sons.
“I hate all of them,” she whispered, rocking Jaxson in her arms while they waited.
When Keys had told her about her money being frozen by her grandfather, her shock had kept her silent. Now that she’d had a little time to let the information settle, signs had been there. “But why? Why would he want me to have no money?” she asked the quiet room.
“Because he wants you to come home to him. He wants to control you like he’s always done.”
She whirled around to face Keys, startled to find she hadn’t heard him come back. “Dammit, you scared the crap out of me.”
Keys grinned, moving toward her with predator grace. “He still sleeping?”
“He’ll be out for the next six hours if I’m lucky. Then he’ll get up to eat and go right back down. He’s a really good baby.” She ran her hand over her son’s head down to his chest, feeling it rise and fall with each breath.
“You’re a great mother. He’s lucky.” Keys put his hand over hers.
“Thank you.” She didn’t mean for the compliment alone.
“I’ll set up his bed. Is there a certain side you prefer him on?” Keys asked.
The very fact he asked was a testament to the heart of a good man, to Keys being the best of the best. If she hadn’t already loved him, she would’ve fallen right then. “The right side, please and thank you.”
He winked. “You can thank me later.”
His comical wagging of dark brows made her giggle.
Minutes later he had all their things in his master suite while she eased Jaxson down. Her son was out like a light, his baby snore making her smile. She stood there taking in his sweet baby form lying so peacefully in his cot. Hard arms coming around her, Keys familiar scent surrounding her felt like home.
“That must be what they mean when it’s referred to sleeping like a baby. He didn’t even mutter or grumble when you put him down.” Keys hugged her tighter.
“He’s always been like that. I think he knew...” she trailed off.
Keys turned her in his arms. “He never hurt Jaxson, did he?”
She shook her head. “No, once I found out I was pregnant, which luckily it was within weeks of our honeymoon, he didn’t...didn’t touch me again. Thomas preferred, boys and younger girls. I think the only reason he married me was because of my grandfather.”
“You had a son. Wasn’t he happy?”
Taking a deep breath, she said what was the hardest thing to say. “No, he liked them young or ones he could dominate. I think with me he couldn’t really hurt me like he wanted without those in town knowing it. And I was obviously built like a woman. He liked flat chest and boys.”
When Keys eyes widened, he looked at me, then my son. “Motherfucker. You knew?”
“What? Are you asking if I knew the man I married, the man who raped and beat me on my wedding night, preferred boys? Then the answer is not until the end. Let me go, Keys.” She tried to push out of his arms.
“Not happening. Stop fighting me before you wake our Hoss baby.”
His words had her freezing. “He’s my son,” she snarled.
Keys swooped down, lifting her off her feet. “We’ll talk in the other room.”
He could talk all he wanted. She was taking her son and getting the fuck out of this godforsaken town and away from...everyone. She felt betrayed. Keys had looked at her like she was a monster. When she’d seen Thomas with the young man, she’d wanted to do something, and she had. She’d kicked herself for not barging in and stopping him that very day, but she knew from past beatings he wouldn’t have taken her interference well. Instead, she snuck in and taken all the videos she’d found, using them as leverage to free herself. She’d contacted the boy who’d been there that day, the one whose mother owed Thomas a lot of money. He’d been nineteen, barely legal and fell into Thomas’s trap, like so many others it appeared. Her bastard of a husband had loaned his mother money, then demanded repayment or they were going to lose their home. His pitiful sobs as he’d explained to her why