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She got her sister calmed down. Brianna had never seen Bethany cry like she had tonight. Brianna had cried too.

That bastard. That evil, evil bastard. She was glad people knew what a monster Steve was.

She now no longer doubted that it was true.

What people were saying he had done to Heather.

Because he had done it to Bethany too .

Steve had decided he wanted access to the companies Bethany had inherited from Banks. So he had broken in to Bethany’s home and hurt her. Just because he wanted what she had and she was a woman. That was all.

He had hurt her sister, forced her to have sex with him, just to make Bethany afraid of him. To control her and make her do what he wanted.

And Bethany had.Steve was a cop, after all. He was the one who had had the power. None of Bethany’s money had mattered at all.

Steve had just wanted what Bethany had.

Steve and his evil friends, including Trey, had stalked Bethany. For weeks. To get their message across. Bethany had turned over Banks's pill manufacturing company in Lubbock to Trey that very week.

Steve had harassed her occasionally ever since. He'd even broken in during the night and beaten Bethany up once. To remind her to keep her mouth shut.

Brianna hated him.She wished Steve had died when he’d been shot. It was better than he deserved.

And she hated Trey too. So, so much.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," she said it again, her arms wrapped around her sister's shoulders. "He's not going to ever hurt you again. I promise. He's in a coma, and Jack says he'll probably never wake up again, and we know what kind of monster he is now. The whole world does."

"I wanted to talk to that Heather woman. To see if she could help me. But I was afraid. She is a cop, and he still could hurt her, too, and what if...Steve had found out? Or his friends? He still has friends with the TSP. And they watch me sometimes. I haven't even told Nelson what happened. I just can’t tell him. What if they hurt him or you too?”

Brianna's blood ran cold. As she imagined it. "I can talk to Jack. He'll help you. I know he will. Or maybe Gunnar Erickson. He's with Powell now, you know. They are even going to have a baby together. Or…or I can go talk to Heather for you. She'll help. I'm sure of it."

Brianna had never thought she'd hear those words coming out of her mouth. Heather Coleson the solution to her problem? That was just insane.

But…there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do to make things better for Bethany.

"I don't want the entire world to know. Not after...what Banks did. I don’t want people to talk about me like that.” Bethany wiped her eyes. "Nelson will be here soon. I don't want him to see me crying. We've only been sleeping together for about a month. It took me a while after...what Steve did...to be ready. And I know I love Nelson now. It makes it a little easier. I go to a therapist every month. In Wichita Falls. I didn't want to go...around here. Not with...Ariella Deane, W4HAV. I thought that would be too awkward, considering what Banks did to her too."

"He was as bad as everyone said, wasn't he?" Banks was. And Trey was just as bad. He'd walked in and seen what was happening to Bethany. That night Steve was hurting Bethany. Trey had seen.

And he hadn't tried to stop it at all. To help. Knowing Bethany was Brianna's sister, Trey hadn't tried to help her at all. He’d been Steve’s lookout. And he had harassed her sister ever since.

That evil, evil bastard.

He and Steve were monsters. Kyle and Joey and Banks and their friend Luke had been too.And they had hurt people. Lots of people. And that meant Timothy knew. He had to know. He just had to.

He and Trey were so close, Timothy had to know. What kind of monster had Timothy raised ? Trey was the only one of Timothy’s kids Timothy had raised by himself. And look at what Trey was.

Evil, pure, pure evil.

Timothy had Leena out there somewhere now. Leena was just a baby. She couldn't protect herself from the monsters at all. Brianna stood. Timothy—something was happening tonight. And Timothy had Leena.

Bethany just looked at Brianna, heartbreak in her eyes. As the front door opened.

A tall, handsome man around forty stood there, a bouquet of pale pink flowers in his hand. No man had ever brought Brianna flowers. Her heart melted at the look on his face when he looked at her sister. "Are you okay, sweetheart? Bethie, what's wrong? Tell me so I can fix it."

Never had Brianna heard sweeter words.

Nelson Harvey didn't just have a crush on her sister, Brianna realized.

Nelson Harvey was in love with Bethany. Exactly as she was. And Brianna knew the truth— Nelson was too kind to ever really hurt Bethany. Her sister would be okay with him.

"Hello, Nelson. You look better than ever tonight. I bet she'd rather spend some time with an incredibly handsome man tonight instead of a boring baby sister." She reached down and hugged her sister once more. Even though hugging each other was just something they normally didn't do. Brianna was going to do better going forward. They were sisters. And that mattered.

"Bri, come over more. We...can do things together. Whenever you want."

"I'd like that, Bethie. I really would. But for tonight…" Brianna looked at Nelson. Really looked at him. He wasn’t actually ugly at all, and he was very fit. And when he looked at her sister, he was beautiful. “Get this beautiful man naked and have lots of fun. You deserve it. I need to go. I have things to do."