Page 54 of Blade

“I didn’t know who the father was, so I aborted it, killed it,” I admit, and Leo’s jaw ticks.

“So, everything my mother accused you of was true then, huh?” he confirms, but I gloss over his words, my horror taking over, and I ask, “Did you know when I was thirteen, I told my mama and brother that his best friend raped me?” I lock eyes with him again, and he furrows his brows. I see it. I see the realization hit him before his eyes widen.

“Luna, why are you dragging up the past right now? You can’t get out of the hurt you’ve just caused and the possibility that you’ve been trying to start a fucking war,” my brother snaps, but again, I ignore him and only speak to Leo, who hasn’t taken his eyes off me.

“It was my dad’s funeral. I was confused because a boy I grew up with did things no thirteen-year-old should experience,” I admit, and someone whispers, “Fuck me, she’s been rapedcontinuously all these years, hasn’t she,” shocking me silent while my brother instantly denies, “No, no…”

“Tell me, princess,” Leo demands gently when I go quiet. I'm unable to comprehend what I’ve just admitted for the first time in years, shocked that someone actually believed my words—something no one has ever done before. Leo takes another step forward, so his body just touching mine. He gently cups my cheek, making me flinch, but he doesn’t deter, and we lock eyes. “Talk to me,” he whispers, and my tears fall.

“They called me a liar,” I croak, and his jaw ticks again. I continue, “I went to my mama, but she was more concerned that one of Daddy’s mistresses showed up crying, and she slapped me for ruining everything, and Taylor, he-he didn’t speak to me for a whole year. And that year, every night Brock climbed in my bedroom window and used my body how he saw fit, shoving gags in my mouth so I couldn’t cry out or get anyone’s attention.”

“Holy fuck,” I hear Trinket croak, Brocks and my brother’s other best friend, the club’s enforcer who actually said he’d hope someone would come along and do what I accused his best friend of.

Well, he got his wish because his best friend never stopped.

I carry on like I’m telling a story, not able to stop, “For years, he raped me, for years he told me I was his, that no one cared about me, that I was to wear his cut. I ended up moving out because I was on the brink of ending it all,” my eyes race between Leo’s, his showing nothing. I admit, “I just wanted to die…”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” My brother sobs.

“I knew he couldn’t get into my apartment, and I thought I was finally safe, that maybe I could heal,” I continue, concentrating on Leo, “But I forgot about the diner, I forgot about the side of my apartment building…” More tears fall, and he quickly but gently wipes them away with his thumb, “I didn’t think I was going to be able to survive, and then you walked into my life andbecame my light to my darkness. You saved me, took away the filth and the nightmares. You made me whole again.”

I sniffle, “But not all good things last, do they, huh?” he flinches and tightens his grip on my cheek as I admit, “Despite him physically assaulting me, you wiped it all away, including in the places where he took me against my will.”

“The diner staff room and near the garbage bins,” he croaks, and I nod once.

“He’d also wait for me in the alleyway near campus, which is what he did that day I came to see you, the day you allowed your mother to hit my already cut-up face from where he bashed my head into the concrete wall four times, giving me a concussion,” I admit, and his jaw yet again twitches with anger, “He’d raped me and had gone bare. Normally I go to the clinic to get a full workup done and the morning-after pill, but this time, I needed to see you because he threatened to burn your home down after admitting to messing with the club’s businesses, and I couldn’t let him hurt you.”

“Only for me to hurt you instead,” he chokes, and I flinch.

I hear sobbing and cursing behind me and I black out as I admit, “I tried to kill myself five months ago. Some guy that slept outside the hostel I found gave me a bunch of different pills and I swallowed them without a second thought just wanting peace for once. I wanted the bad memories to disappear but some woman found me and called 911. When I woke up three days later, the doctor told me that I, that I-I was pregnant and I-I… the timing was too close to him and you and I-I couldn’t, I couldn’t…”

My body shakes with silent sobs, and I cry, “I-I killed a baby, and it most likely had a heartbeat because they committed me, refusing to terminate until they knew I was sound of mind.” And Leo quickly cups the back of my head and brings me tight against his chest.

I drop his blade and grip his shirt and sob my heart out as my brother chokes, “Fuck what did I do?”

Sobs wreck my body as my legs give out, and Leo quickly wraps his arms around me and holds me up, whispering, “I’ve got you, princess, I’ve got you, I’m so sorry….” But nothing registers as my mind wars with the reality that I killed a child that could have been his yet could have been my rapists…

Chapter 22

Blade

Pain like no other fills me at her truth, at her trauma, and I glare at her brother over her head as I try my fucking hardest not to sob like a baby.

He’s bent, hands on his knees like he’s struggling to breathe, and I can fucking promise him now, if his sister wasn’t falling apart in my arms, I’d kill the fucker.

For seven years, she was abused and raped by his best fucking friend, and not once did he see what she was going through. Instead, tried making himself believe she was a liar at thirteen, fucking thirteen…

Luna gets my attention as she pushes away from me then shakes her head, and panic hits me hard.

I can’t lose her, I just fucking can’t.

“Princess—” I start, but she cuts me off and screams, “No!” as she grips her hair, tears soaking her cheeks. I flinch as turmoil etches off her, turmoil I don’t think she has allowed herself to feel before she turns to Axe and shouts, “I’m just a liar, right, big brother?!” He flinches as his tears fall.

“Luna,” he croaks, but she screams, “No! I’ll prove it to you, shall I? I’ll show you,” and she removes her top. I grit my teeth that all these men get to see her in her black bra. Still, it’s not because of her generous tits that the men are gasping. No, it’s the burn marks marring her body as she holds her arms out, and my eyes go to her left hip, burn marks making another B that was not there beforehand and I swallow my growl.

Mother fucker wanted to ensure everyone knew who she belonged to.

“This is what you allowed your best friend to do to my body, to my life!” she shouts, and Axe quickly turns and heaves and vomits, but his legs soon give out when she sobs, “I can’t even have kids now because of him, because of you,” and my heart breaks. “I-I, oh god, I killed the only chance of becoming a mama because I didn’t want to raise my rapist’s child…”

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