Page 36 of Beautifully Shattered (Secrets & Scars #3)

T railing behind Ringo with his gun raised, we move in a tight pack towards the sound of someone in the kitchen. The way my heart thrashes has me worried I’m about to have a heart attack, fear coursing through my veins at the possibility of seeing my mother again.

Or worse. Ian Allen.

With a level of stealth I mimic from Ringo, Jols and JD, we slip into the kitchen and my eyes fall on a familiar man.

My dad.

He looks haggard, his greying hair sticking up haphazardly as he unpacks a few grocery items from a shopping bag.

Ringo still has his gun trained on my dad, so I step forward, taking the lead, knowing Ringo has my back if this goes bad.

“Dad.”

My voice is louder than I’ d expected, and his eyes snap up, a gasp flying past his lips as he finds me mere feet away.

“Abigail.” He goes to move towards me, but then his gaze flicks to the people at my back, and the guns pointed at him. “Uhhh, sweetheart?”

His gaze flicks back to me, uncertainty flashing through them.

“Where’s Mum?” I ask, and he shakes his head.

“I-I don’t know, sweetheart.”

“Don’t call me that. You lost that privilege a long time ago.”

He parts his lips to argue, but then snaps them shut, nodding, his gaze dropping to the floor.

Submissive.

That’s all I can think as I stare at my dad, hot tears burning my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall.

Only for Bobbi. These people only get my anger.

“God…” I glance over my shoulder at my husband. “Was I that pathetic?” I point to my dad, and Ringo shakes his head, understanding my meaning.

“You’ve never been pathetic, Angel. What you’re seeing isn’t the same.”

I want to believe him, but it’s hard to tell the difference between the obedient daughter my mother shaped me to be and my pathetic father.

I hate her.

“I need you to tell me where Tahli is. Please .” I want to call him Dad again, but the word feels vile on my tongue when directing it at him.

“I don’t know where they are exactly. Only that they are with Minister Banes,” he offers, moving slowly to step out from behind the kitchen counter.

“They were on the move. I tried to follow, but then some bikers chased me down, and well, this is what happened.” He points to his face, and I see fading bruises as he steps a little closer.

“What bikers?” Ringo snaps, and my dad cringes back a step.

“I only remember the word Satan on those vests you guys wear.” My dad gestures to Ringo’s cut.

“Satan’s Rebels,” Ringo confirms, and my dad nods.

“Yes, that’s it.”

“Why aren’t you with your wife and daughters?” Ringo asks, his lethal tone sending a chill up my spine.

He’s a scary man.

My monster.

“I… They…”

“Fucking spit it out, old man,” JD snarls, and my dad hurries a nod.

“I begged them not to make Abbey go through that at the chapel. They wouldn’t listen to me.”

I scoff. “I remember you begging on your knees, and when I asked where your balls were, you ran out of the chapel like a little bitch.”

Ringo, JD and Jols snicker behind me, but my focus remains on my dad as tears flood his eyes.

“I didn’t know how to stop it.”

“Turns out I didn’t need you. You’ve never been man enough to protect me. But my husband is.”

His brows shoot up. “Husband?”

I jut my thumb over my shoulder. “I married the angry-looking one. ”

My dad’s lips part as his eyes dance between me and Ringo, and I brace myself for the backlash, but it never comes. Instead, my dad nods.

“Good. I can see he’ll do anything to protect you.”

“He will. Including killing you if I ask him to.”

If my words scare my dad, he doesn’t show it. Instead, a strange calmness washes over him.

“I’m a coward. I know that, and I’m sorry.

” He shakes his head, anger lighting his eyes, but I can see it’s directed at himself, not me.

“I ran that day at the chapel, because I didn’t know how to stop any of it.

Pieces started falling into place, and I realised your mother’s involvement with the church was bigger than I ever could have imagined. ”

“Let’s not pretend that place is a church,” Jols snaps from behind me. “It’s a cult. There’s no other word for it.”

My dad nods in agreement, his shaky hand reaching out to grab the bench, like he’s struggling to keep himself up.

“I should have run off with you and your sisters when Priscilla started going to Bible study a few years back. I could feel something wasn’t right.

She had so much trauma from her childhood, so I never in a million years thought she’d want to go back there.

” He cringes, his eyes falling distant like he’s remembering a past I’m not privy to.

“I didn’t know, Abigail. She lied to me, and it was all too late when I found out. ”

A sinister chill ripples down my spine as my fears start to become a reality.

“Her maiden name is Banes, not Bates, isn’t it?”

My dad’s brows shoot high. “How do you know that?”

“I found a scrapbook under her mattress. The name in it is Priscilla Louise Banes. ”

My dad swallows thickly. “I only found out last month.”

“Bullshit!” Ringo snaps. “You married her. It would have been on your marriage certificate.”

My dad shakes his head. “My marriage certificate has her maiden name listed as Bates. She only revealed last month that she’d had her name legally changed to Bates when she got cast out of the church.”

“Cult,” JD snaps.

“Priscilla doesn’t see it as a cult. She grew up in it.

She sees it as a church.” My dad’s eyes shift from JD back to me.

“I went back to the chapel that day. I got an hour down the road and turned around, determined to kidnap my own daughters if I had to… But by the time I got back, it looked like a war zone, and no one was in sight.”

“Have you even noticed that I’m no longer pregnant?”

My dad’s brows shoot up again, his eyes dropping to my flatter stomach.

“Oh, sweetheart. Where—”

“SHE DIED!” I scream, the words ripping from me without warning.

My dad stumbles back, his hand slapping to his chest as a sob lurches from him.

“Oh no.” He shakes his head, tears bursting from his eyes. “No. No. No. No…”

“YES!” I storm towards him and shove him back, and he stumbles, nearly tripping over his own feet.

“The man you wanted me to marry raped me, Dad! He raped me and shared me with his friends so they could rape me too! And you did nothing but stand by and let Mum drug me and deliver me to them! ”

My hand swings hard, my palm slapping his face so hard he tumbles into the fridge.

“I’m s-sorry, Abigail,” he cries, and I scoff.

“Those men chased me down! I was almost eight months pregnant! Eight months! I couldn’t even run properly.

But I tried so hard to get away from them.

” Tears burst from my eyes as I remember the moment rough hands shoved me from behind, and I fell.

“Daniel pushed me, Dad. He pushed me, and I landed on my BABY!”

My hand goes around his throat as I hold him against the fridge, knowing all too well that if he wanted to, he could overpower me. But he doesn’t even try, his eyes overflowing with tears as I share the most terrifying moment of my life.

“I went into labour. I was bleeding. She was born right there in that fucking pine forest! In the fucking dirt!” I lean in, my lip curling with a snarl. “I only felt her alive for a few minutes, and then, I nearly died, and she DID DIE!”

I scream a vicious screech as my second hand wraps around his neck, squeezing hard.

“So you tell me, Dad . What was all that for? WHAT THE FUCK WAS ALL THAT FOR?!”

With another scream, I shove myself back, fisting my hands in my hair as I start pacing, too wild to even make eye contact with my husband and my friends.

“Abigail… I’m so sorry. My sweet Abigail.”

“Shut up!” I snap, turning my glare back to him as he sinks to the floor against the fridge. “I don’t want to hear your apologies. That can’t bring my daughter back. The only thing you can do now is tell me everything, so I can save Tahli.”

“W-what about Maggie?” my dad stammers, and I scoff.

“That cunt can die for all I care.”

I don’t know who I am right now.

I’ve never spoken like this. Even when I was a more unhinged version of myself that day at the chapel, I was never this .

“Is Mum related to Minister Banes?” I snap, needing to get the information and be done with him, and I watch as my dad nods.

“He… he is her father.”

I stop pacing, the room turning eerily silent aside from my dad’s sobs.

“Minister Banes is my grandfather?”

My dad nods.

“I didn’t know. Your mother had always told me her father was dead.”

“Jols.” I turn to face my friend. “Can you please get the scrapbook?”

Jols nods and hurries deeper into the house as I pivot back and face my dad.

“So Banes is her father, and he is the leader of the cult. Correct?” I snap, and my dad nods. “She grew up in the cult, but then left?”

“I overheard Banes scolding her at the chapel the day that crooked cop brought you there,” my dad sobs.

“He told Priscilla there was a reason she was outcast, and he’s not sure if what she’s offering can redeem her.

” My dad shakes his head. “I don’t know what that means.

When I asked her about it, she ignored me and walked off. ”

“Here, Abs.” Jols enters the room with the scrapbook, and I open it to the first page, holding it out for my dad to see.

“This is Mum sitting on Banes’ knee, isn’t it?”

My dad nods. “Yes. ”

Turning to the next page, I hold it out and point to the boy who looks a lot like Daniel.

“Is this Karl Stone?”

A sob lurches from my dad’s lips as he nods. “Y-yes.”

“Why is Daniel’s dad there?”

Shaking his head, my dad starts sobbing uncontrollably, so I spin, holding my hand out for Ringo’s gun, and even though he lifts a questioning brow at me, he hands it over.

When I turn back, my dad’s eyes go wide as I point the gun at him.