Page 37 of Beautifully Shattered (Secrets & Scars #3)

“I didn’t know. I swear, sweetheart. If I had known, I would have put a stop to it.” He sobs, shaking his head, eyes pleading up at me. “It was Karl who got her back involved in the church. I wish I’d figured it out sooner.”

“Stop fucking rambling and tell me who Karl is to Mum?!”

“Sweetheart, it doesn’t matter. You don’t want to know. Please trust me on this.”

“Like fuck! It does matter!” I lunge forward, pressing the barrel of the gun to his forehead. “Tell me!”

“Okay, okay,” he sobs, and I pull the barrel back just enough to leave a few inches of space between it and his head. “I only know what your mother told me. There’s so much I don’t know. Unless you’re raised inside the church, you don’t get the details of the inner workings until it’s too late.”

“What does that even mean?” I snarl through gritted teeth.

“I’m so sorry. I tried to stop it.”

“Stop what? Stop talking in fucking riddles and tell me!”

“Y-you and D-Daniel.” He shakes his head, trying to find the right words. “When I found out… I tried… but your mother… she has these videos of me… oh my dear sweet girl. Please forgive me.”

I stumble back a little, trying to piece together what he’s saying.

Did my mum blackmail him? But why?

“Given what’s happened, it all seems so stupid now, but I was terrified of anyone finding out,” he stumbles over his words. “She used the videos against me to keep me silent.”

“Fucking tell her now, or I won’t hesitate to put a bullet in your skull!” Ringo booms from across the room, and the words finally fall from my dad’s lips.

“Karl Stone is your mum’s half brother. They have the same mum but have different dads.”

What.

Did.

He.

Just.

Say?

The world stops turning and crushes in so forcefully that my knees buckle.

“No…” I whisper as my knees crash to the floor. “You can’t be saying…”

“I’m sorry,” my dad wails. “I never knew Karl was your uncle. I would never have allowed you to date a cousin.” He shakes his head as a shudder rolls through him. “That’s just sick.”

Bile rushes up my throat, and I manage to scramble up in time to reach the sink as my body tries to purge the vulgarness from inside me.

I retch over and over, vomiting up the little food I’ve had today, hearing Ringo and my friends in the background, scurrying to help me and take charge of the situation.

It feels like it goes on forever, and once I’m through, I collapse into Ringo’s arms in shattered disbelief.

No.

This can’t be real.

Jols gets me a glass of water, and I sit on a stool taking a moment to recompose myself.

This can’t be happening.

“Why…” I say quietly when I find my voice again. “ Why would Mum allow that?”

“It’s the church. Your grandfather,” my dad mutters from where he’s still huddled on the floor.

“He’s the head of it. He thinks he’s something special.

That all must bow to him.” My dad cringes.

“That sick fuck tried for years to get Priscilla pregnant. His own daughter! But she miscarried each time, and in his eyes she was a failure. That’s why she was cast out.

She was deemed unworthy if she couldn’t conceive the spawn of her own father. ”

“I thought you said you didn’t know why she was cast out,” Ringo snaps, and my dad shrugs.

“I lied, okay. I didn’t want Abigail to learn the sick truth.”

“What do these words mean?” Jols asks, showing my dad the scrapbook pages and pointing to the scripture my mum had written as a teen.

“I don’t know.” Dad shakes his head. “Priscilla never trusted me with that information.”

This is so much more than I expected. I thought I was being punished for bringing shame to the family by having premarital sex. But now I can see it has to do with the cult and their beliefs. Daniel told me at the chapel that day that I had no clue what was really happening, and he was right.

I could never have imagined this .

“When they found out I was already married that day at the chapel,” I speak up, my throat scratchy as a strange numbness washes over me. “They started talking about bloodlines. Do you know what that was about? Why Maggie offered herself up to marry Daniel?”

My dad frowns. “No, I’m sorry. I don’t have a clue about that. I didn’t even know that happened. Like I said, unless you’re born into it, you only get told when things are happening and it’s too late.”

“And the reason you were finally trying to stop the wedding was because you’d just found out they were trying to marry me to my cousin?” Bile rises up again as I say the words out loud, but I manage to swallow it back down.

“Yes, that’s right,” my dad sobs.

This is just… too much.

“You didn’t try hard enough to protect me. To protect Tahli.” I stand from the chair, embracing the numbness as I stare at a man I no longer consider my father. “If you did, you’d either have Tahli with you safe right now, or you’d be dead from trying so hard to get her away from those sick cunts.”

“Possum!” my dad cries, reaching out to me, but I just curl my lip in disgust.

“No, I’m not your possum. I’m not your sweetheart. And I’m certainly not your daughter.” I lean in closer, jabbing a finger into his chest. “You never fought for me even when you knew what was happening was wrong. For that, I’ll never forgive you.”

Turning to Ringo, I eye the gun in his hand, which I must have dropped earlier.

“Do we have a spare one?” I gesture to his gun. “One you don’t need?”

His brows shoot up, and he nods, holding his hand out to JD, who’s carrying a number of guns on his person.

Taking one JD hands him, Ringo gives it a clean, making sure there are no fingerprints.

“Where do you want it?”

I gesture to the bench, and he places it down, his glare harsh as he directs it at my dad.

When my dad looks at me in confusion, an unhinged smirk spreads across my face.

“A gift. Feel free to use it on yourself.”

And with that, I ignore the pain that contorts his face, walking out of my childhood home with Ringo, Jols and JD following.

The moment we reach the Landy and I open the car door, the loud clap of a gunshot pierces the air, sending magpies scattering in flight from the nearby gumtree.