All Hail - J. Bree Page 0,87

with it then I’m done.

“Your father sold you at auction four times.”

I freeze, only my head moving slowly so I can stare over at him. He keeps his eyes on the road, his hands still tightly wrapped around the steering wheel and his jaw is working as he grinds his teeth. I always knew he’d been protecting me but he’d never told me the finer details.

He doesn’t sound tense though, he’s just firmly laying down the facts that I was completely unaware of. “The Devil was only the last time he auctioned you off at those skin markets. The buyer before him collected women for the pleasure of owning them, the one before that was one of his business associates. The type of man that enjoyed slapping women around and belittling them, and he enjoyed them a little too young. I took care of both of them and so your father just kept using you as a threat to Ash until he would grow bored and attempt to sell you again.”

“What about the first buyer?” I whisper, and he pulls into the driveway of his fortress-like mansion, the gates opening for him automatically.

“I bought you first. I bought you and I made arrangements for you to move into my apartments in Mounts Bay. You could live there happily, and safely, without ever having to see Joey or your father again. I would have taken care of you until you were eighteen and made your own decisions.”

My heart is beating too hard in my chest, loud in my ears. “You bought me… to keep me safe from Senior? Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t I get to stay with you?”

He stares at the gates but he doesn’t make a move to direct the car down the driveway. “Ash. I was very aware that there was no way to get you and him both out. If I had’ve just taken you both your father would have thrown everything at me and at eighteen, I wasn’t a match for him . I needed this empire to be able to get you both out and… I knew you’d never leave your twin behind. I knew you’d never be whole without him. It was always my back-up plan, to just take you and run, but until Joey attacked you, I thought you were safe enough in the house as long as I kept you from being bought.”

I take a deep breath. “Did you know they were hurting Ash?”

He groans and rubs a hand over his face. “I did. There was nothing I could do about it without risking everything. It was not a choice I would wish on anyone, Avery, but you know how far your father’s net reached… there’s still a lot of clean up going on thanks to his death. It’s never as simple as just killing an evil man. Dozens spring up in their place.”

It’s the answer I suspected but not exactly one I want to hear. “Tell me, then. Tell me who I need to neutralize and I’ll do it. He was my father, my problem, and his death was for me. Why shouldn’t I be the one cleaning up the mess?”

He straightens back up and finally moves the car forward. “I became the Crow for you, Avery. None of this will be worth it if anything happens to you.”

I don’t get the chance to argue with him, that same argument we always have, because the moment the car pulls up three men come stalking over to empty my bags out from the trunk, two more opening the car doors for us both and taking care of our every need before I have the chance to answer Atticus.

I feel instantly smothered.

This is exactly what life in the Beaumont Manor felt like. Dozens of faceless, emotionless maids and butlers who saw nothing and everything. Who would take care of everything to the point that life was unbearably boring. I didn’t even dress myself, bathe myself, I was thirteen and still had someone to buckle my shoes every day because to bend over and do it myself was unacceptable.

I didn’t realize just how much I hated it until I had my own house with no one but myself wandering around the spaces, cooking for myself and cleaning everything whenever I feel like it.

I don’t know how Atticus can stand it either.

“Have dinner with me. We can finish this discussion over good food,” Atticus says as he helps me out of the car.

I