Page 61 of Keys

“No,” Keys told her. Disbelief evident in her tone as she continued to rail against what she was learning of her mother.

“Eventually, he was all I knew,” she admitted. “He made me promises and I believe him because despite what you may think, Brian loved me. Your father loved me.”

Keys shook her head. “No. This,” she pointed at her father who still held a gun to June’s head as he continued to nuzzle his face into her neck. “This is not love. This is obsession at best. That man isn’t capable of love.”

“He just wasn’t capable of loving you,” her mom spat. June’s eyes widened and she immediately looked remorseful as Brian chuckled at her side.

“He didn’t love his other family either. Not his wife. Not his other daughter. Not his other son.” Keys told her mom all those truths and while she visibly flinched at the reminder of another family, she said nothing more.

“Did you know he named his other daughter after me so he wouldn’t get caught confusing our names?”

“What?” June asked.

“Aubrey’s name is Aubrey Sarah Cassidy. You want to know the difference between the two Sarahs in his life?” Her mother shook her head, even as it pushed the gun further into her scalp. Keys no longer cared about her mother’s discomfort though. That much was obvious when she continued to nail her point home.

“He signed her birth certificate. He acknowledged having a baby with his wife, Kelsey. Kelsey had his name too. So did Blaine, his son. They all had his name and his signature on documents where he claimed them all publicly. He took pictures with them. He took them out to dinners, to movies, to vacations all over the world. He treated them like the royalty they were with him.”

“Stop this!” Her mother cried out.

“And what did he do for you, mother?” Keys spat the question out at the woman. “Did he take you anywhere? No. He couldn’t. How would he explain who you were and where you came from?” Keys appeared thoughtful for a moment before she tipped her head to the side and asked her mom an all-important question. “Is June even your real name?” We all waited to see if the woman would answer. “I never thought to run your image through facial recognition to see if you came up as a missing person.”

June started openly sobbing then. Keys had just managed to pull one truth out of her mother that would seal her father’s fate in the court system. Her mother had been living under an assumed identity all these years. She was a victim of human trafficking all along. The only difference being that her chains were lengthier than most.

“He never stopped threatening you, did he? I bet he threatened to take me from you often. Right up until the end when I took myself from you anyway.”

June continued to sob as Keys raised her hand and fired a shot into her father’s shoulder. The impact caused the man to stagger back and drop his gun. As soon as June was free from him, Court stepped in and grabbed June to pull her out of the way. He hauled her out to the van as the rest of us listened to Brain Cassidy wail like a fucking pussy.

It was only then that we noticed Crusher had a younger man held captive. I glanced over at Keys as recognition dawned on her face. “Blaine?”

“Blaine?” I asked as I glanced back at the boy in Crusher’s arms. He was maybe nineteen or twenty and still hadn’t filled out into a manly body yet. He was all lanky skin and bones with scraggly brown hair. He looked to be a younger, slighter version of his father.

“You bitch!” The boy spat.

Keys just stood there staring at him. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to warn him. When my sister – the real one – called to tell me that our father was holding the whore hostage and that you would be coming for him, I knew I had to be here.”

“Did you think you could stop me?”

He laughed. “I didn’t want to stop you. I wanted to watch that bastard die.” A glint in his eyes told me that wasn’t all he wanted. “I wanted to watch the whore die first and then you.”

Keys just shook her head. “You’re just as sick as he is,” she pointed out. “My mother was a victim. She was taken against her will and forced into a life she never wanted. I had no choice in being born to them, but I’ll tell you the same thing I told your sister. I was born first, before that asshole ever even married your mother. Why in the fuck would you be angry with us?”

At first, the boy looked startled by having reality shoved in his face, but then he just laughed. “That’s what all dad’s whores said. When they came to my bed at night when I was thirteen to initiate me, when they kept coming so that I would stay quiet…” his voice trailed off as she seemed to get lost in the memories for a moment. “They always said they didn’t want to, but he made them.”

“Fucking hell!” Crusher pulled the kid to the side and sat him down. “Shut the fuck up, man.”

Paul turned to Keys. “Do you want LEO called in, or are we handling this in house?”

She tapped her chest where she was wearing a body camera similar to the ones law enforcement wore. “I have it all saved. He won’t get away with anything.”

“Your brother?” Paul asked, clearly wanting to know what in the hell we should do with him.

“He obviously needs help. He’s just another victim of my father’s bullshit.” It was easy to hear the sadness in Keys’ voice as she expressed her concern for her brother. “We’ll get him to a facility that can hopefully help undo everything my father has damaged.”

“I’m not going to a fucking hospital!” Blaine screamed.

Keys went to stand in front of him. “You are. It’s either that or you go down with our father as a co-conspirator to his sex trafficking ring. Take your pick. Since you were forced into the life as a minor, making you a victim too, I don’t think anyone would argue that point. If you refuse help, then you’re just as guilty.”

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