Page 14 of Ruptured

“Sometimes, I wish Dad wasn’t so loyal to his grandfather. I wish hehadtaken Cee Cee’s name. Just to break whatever hold Logan has over him.” DeLuca didn’t seemed moved, so Rory pointed something out, hoping it hit home. “If you won’t help me save Aunt Meggie, your admiration of her doesn’t mean shit.”

“Your father admires her.”

“He doesn’t count. He’s a jackass. And it isn’t admiration. It’s bitterness and privilege. He can’t believe she passed him up for Uncle Christopher.” Rory snorted. “My aunt has always had sense.”

“Why don’t you go to Outlaw? That’ll save her.”

“And make me lose my dad, DeLuca. Even if my mom survived that trauma, she wouldn’t ever be the same. I have no one to help me. Uncle Mortician would try to figure something out, but he isn’t a real officer. He’dhaveto go to Uncle Christopher if Dad wouldn’t listen. I would lose both my parents. Dad to a gruesome death and Mom to grief. As fucked up as my father is, Mom loves him. Even if she keeps going to spite him, he’s her anchor. I’m not pretending I’m doing it only for her. It’s for me and Mattie, too. Dad’s death would affect my immediate family.”

“If I help you and Bash finds out, I’m dead anyway. He’ll send in another son.”

“Who are they? Let me know—”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know those fuckheads. They’re violent killers.” DeLuca shrugged. “Bash is a complicated man. A lot of his erratic behavior is fueled by drugs, but he simply loves to have women at his mercy.”

“Is he targeting my mom and sister?”

“Nope,” DeLuca said with a sigh. “It’s all Meggie. Therearedocuments, Rory. Some motherfucker named Randolph brought them—”

Rory jerked and straightened. “Jesus Christ. Randolph Foy?”

“Yeah, with the—”

“Imperials,” Rory said. “That’s Aunt Meggie’s nephew. That motherfucker! He’s in Salt Lake City?”

“He was, so was his mother because he’s a stupid motherfucker and she came to save his life. The woman fucked like there was no tomorrow. Pussy, ass, mouth, tits, hands. She’s a fucking machine.”

“Is she still there?”

“No, Bash let her leave and gave her two or three months to meet his demands.”

“Which are?”

“Fuck, I don’t know. I didn’t want to fuck a pussy constantly filled with cum and spit, so Bash refused to fill me in on the details.”

“That’s fucking gross.”

“It’s the truth. She was there two weeks and, other than taking care of Molly, all she did was fuck.”

“Molly’s alive?”

“Fuck. Forget I said that.”

“DeLuca, please, if you have any fucking decency left, tell Outlaw, then go to Bash and ask him to negotiate terms for her release. If he needs money that bad and he truly wants to work something out, Outlaw might consider talking.”

“To help her, I have to fuck her, and I’m not doing it.”

“That isn’t true!”

“Cleaner and Tom Harris charge money for her pussy, Rory. Bash told me I can have her and keep her as mine.OrI can sell her back to Outlaw if I split the money with him. The only way I can prove my allegiance to that deal is to let him watch me fuckher. She’s seventeen, incoherent on a good fucking day, and rail thin because they feed her once a day.”

Rory didn’t know the ins and outs of common sense and decency. But hedidknow DeLuca was probably Molly’s only chance to survive. What was one distasteful act compared to the litany of pain and subjugation she’d endured?

Trying to convince DeLuca that he had no choice might be futile. He seemed adamantly against the idea. Saving her at all might also be a lost cause. She might’ve endured so much trauma, she was better off dead.

CJ still missed her, but so much other shit had happened, the ache was waning. Besides, other more solvable issues needed Rory’s attention.

“Do you know where Randolph is?”