Page 68 of Tangled Lies

“Did your uncle starve you?”

Talon was the one to say it, but Jett was the one lifting my shirt up. I grabbed for it but lost.

“You have beautiful curves, pretty girl, but you are a little thin.” He grabbed another slice of pizza and instantly started feeding me before saying anything else.

“Who’s up for a field trip tomorrow? I think his secretary said he would be heading to a ribbon cutting in old downtown.”

I took the bite offered while fighting to get my shirt to cover all my bits and pieces and trying to figure out what he was talking about.

“I got fed, but they counted every calorie that went in my mouth.” I finally won and got the shirt down, but that’s when Ronan jumped up from where he’d been sitting and grabbed the shirt again. This time I didn’t even get a chance to fight him before he had me stripped and bare assed in front of them all.

“Who did that?”

I didn’t have to wonder what Ronan was pointing to. My lower back had fresh bruises on top of healed scars. Nothing like what Jett had shown me. No, my uncle had abuse down to an art. The tops of my thighs had a few poorly healed marks from where he’d taken a belt to me, but again, they stayed hidden.

“This scar,” I pointed to one I had along my hip, “is from the car accident that killed my parents. Same with his one on my arm.”

Ronan grabbed my wrist and looked at the scar I’d pointed at. “And the rest of these? Where are the bruises from?”

I didn’t even try to hide it. I smiled.

“My dear uncle of course. So tell me, Ronan. Why do I like the snake pit better so far?”

No one answered, but when Jett grabbed me and then the shirt from Ronan and put it back over my head, it seemed like everything shifted.

“Alright then, looks like Margaux gets to play princess of our castle since Ronan and Jett don’t appear to be sending her off,” Talon said.

I blew out a breath and sat back down more aware of the pizza Jett was shoving into my mouth.

“You need to eat. We even have ice cream if you’re a good girl.”

I could feel the drip of pizza grease on my lip and slowly took my finger to wipe it off. Before I could even bring the finger from my mouth, Jett was licking the grease from it.

“Right. Okay, back to whatever Ronan wanted to talk about, oh and the phone,” Talon said and pointed. I picked it up.

“The phone your uncle has tracked all forwards to this one now. The phone in question is currently sitting four feet above your father, so if he wants to dig it up he can. If he doesn’t, I guess he can visit the brother he killed.”

I stopped chewing and looked at Talon.

“You think he killed my parents?”

Ronan answered me.

“We know he did. We have enough evidence to get him jailed, only that doesn’t serve our purpose. Not yet anyway. Something about toying with him brings us joy, and there are bigger issues we need to resolve first.”

A tear ran down my face and it took four stares, all completely confused, for me to realize it. They all looked like they wanted to say something but couldn’t.

“I’m sorry.” I wiped the tears away. “It’s just that, I thought I was crazy all these years but you…”

I didn’t know what to say next.

They’d what? Lifted a massive weight that had settled in my chest since the day I watched my parents’ caskets lowered into their graves? These four guys were giving me validation that I wasn’t crazy, and it somehow set me free to hate my uncle without guilt.

“I want in. I want my uncle to feel like he’s losing his mind. I want him to suffer. I want him to watch as his entire world implodes.”

Jett shoved the pizza in my mouth again.

“Sweet. But first you need to eat.”