Legacy (Steel Brothers Saga #14) - Helen Hardt Page 0,6

killed. I have money. Money.”

“They’re not in prison, Brad.” He took a drink. “They were never caught.”

“What?” I pounded my fist onto the bar.

“Easy. I spent a year pounding things. It doesn’t help.”

“Just finish,” I said, pulling at my hair. “Tell me everything. It can’t get any worse.”

“Oh, it can. They were both in ICU for a couple of days, lucky to be alive. Daphne fared better than Sage. Sage was nearly dead when she was found, and to save her life, the doctors had to perform a complete hysterectomy.”

I stared at him, frozen. I couldn’t feel anything. I just wanted to get through this.

“You can’t imagine the happiness I felt when you told me Daphne was pregnant. It’s a shitty time for both of you, but it means the doctors were right. She can have children.”

I said nothing. Still stared at him.

“They both suffered severe concussions, with only one difference. Sage remembered everything. Daphne, though, suffered from retrograde amnesia. When she woke up, she’d lost all her memories from the incident and from the entire seventy-two hours prior.”

“Wait a minute? You let her think—”

“Don’t judge us too harshly, Brad. Her mother and I had the chance to spare her from the horror of that night. We talked to doctors and therapists. Some advised us against keeping it from her, but in the end, it was our decision as she was a minor.” He cleared his throat. “I don’t regret it.”

“But it did affect her. She spent a year locked up.”

“First of all, she wasn’t locked up. She was hospitalized.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Do you consider that your own mother was locked up?”

“No. I… I don’t know what the hell I think.”

“I’d say that’s normal under the current circumstances.”

Memories flooded me. Taking Daphne’s virginity. No blood and no pain.

Because I hadn’t taken her virginity.

It had been stolen in a horrific and violent way by three strangers.

Only she didn’t know that.

My God. My poor baby.

Jonathan cleared his throat again and continued, “Because Daphne didn’t remember anything and there were no other witnesses, only Sage could tell us what happened. She told us there were three men, all wearing masks. They took turns raping and beating both of them. They said they’d be harder on Sage, because she was ugly and deserved worse.” Jonathan shook his head, his eyes sunken and sad. “Sage was not unattractive, but as you know, no one can compare to Daphne. Even now, I feel the guilt. The guilt over feeling happy that my daughter was the prettier of the two. It might have saved her life.”

I gulped. “What else?”

“That’s it. That’s all Sage ever said. A week after she was discharged from the hospital, she hanged herself while her mother ran an errand to the grocery store.”

My head fell into my hands again.

“We couldn’t bear to tell Daphne what had happened to Sage, so we told her the Peterson family moved. Sage’s parents did move. They needed a new start, and who could blame them?”

His words registered, even with my face buried. They were only words, devoid of emotion.

I couldn’t let myself feel anything.

If I did, I’d lose it.

I couldn’t lose it. Daphne needed my strength.

“Daphne came home and remembered nothing of the attack due to her amnesia, so we had to tell her something.”

I raised my head. “What? What did you tell her?”

“That she was attacked by a gang of girls who were jealous of her.”

“She told me that. Some girls bullied and hit her a few times and she went into anxiety and depression. What about spending the night with Sage?”

“She didn’t remember any of that. She lost the previous seventy-two hours.”

I nodded. This wasn’t real. Couldn’t be real.

“There’s more,” Jonathan said.

More?

Fucking more?

“God, please. Just tell me. Get it over with.”

He opened his mouth but closed it when the bartender appeared in front of us.

“Jonathan Wade?” the bartender asked.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

He heaved a phone onto the bar. “You have a phone call.”

Chapter Six

Daphne

“Hello?”

My father’s voice. My father’s deep and comforting voice.

“Daddy? You’ve got to come home.”

“Daphne? What is it? Are you all right?”

Sirens blared in the distance. The ambulance. Finally.

“I have to go. The ambulance is here.”

“Daphne, what happened? Are you all right?”

“It’s Mom. She’s… I have to let them in, Daddy.”

“Stay on the line, sweetie.”

I put down the phone and ran to the front door. Paramedics carried a stretcher and rushed inside.

“Where’s your mother?” one of them asked.

“Upstairs. Come on.”

I raced up the stairway and led them to the bedroom.

“Is she okay? Will