Page 47 of A Light in the Darkness
“Davos?” My eyes flick to Wes for a moment before returning to her for the explanation on the tip of her tongue.
“I married Wes months ago, so I took his last name. I didn’t have one before that… I didn’t have a name for a long time.”
Her voice is softer, lacking the confidence Claire found in her time with me.
“Violet?” I say, testing the name on my tongue and looking for anything else that betrays a difference between her and Claire.
“I think… Alexandre told me that Claire was my sister. He told me when he saw her that he was going to get her for me, that she would be my present. But that never happened.”
I blink, considering her words.
Alexandre Davos told her that Claire was her sister.
There may be truth to that—they look identical, apart from the minute differences in their looks, the scars and the light of theirfires. “It’s a mindfuck, isn’t it?” Wes chuckles. “That’s how I felt when he gave her to me. It’s why he wanted Claire so bad… my father is a collector. He already had her mother, her sister… all he needs is Claire to finish the set.”
“What do you know about her mother?” I demand, turning my gaze on him. Behind me, I hear Kent getting closer, joining the fray.
“Just what my father said. She was a real hit, I guess… And a gift from your father, believe it or not.” Wes chuckles. “I don’t know if you wanna call that fate or karma or maybe just irony. Maybe it’s just the nature of the business. Either way, she was a hit. Everybody loved her tight cunt, apparently even when she was clearly pregnant with twins. But no one lasts forever in this business, so they kept her around just long enough to take the babies out of her, and then they disposed of her.”
I feel like Wes has just smacked me on the head with a cast iron pan, my thoughts jarred and fragmented. There’s too much in that statement to contend with, but only one word makes it past my lips. “Babies?”
Wes nods. “Twin girls. That’s a treasure trove, you know? People will sell their soul for babies… and baby girls? Forget it.” He shakes his head. “Two baby girls, the spitting image of their mother, who by all accounts was one of my father’s most lucrative captives. He wanted to keep them, but the twins got split up, and years later after my father found Violet again, he stumbled upon Claire entirely by accident when your bumbling bodyguard tricked my men into believing she was Rhea. He was so excited when I told him I had your girl, but when he found out your girl was the identical twin of his favorite concubine? Well, I’m sure you can imagine. What man doesn’t want to fuck twins?”
I haven’t entirely figured out what he means by his fatherfindingViolet, but I have a decent understanding of how fucked Davosis, so I can take a guess.
“Hitler had a thing for twins, too.” Kent says at my side, his eyes sweeping over Wes like he isn’t yet sure whether he’s a threat or not. They turn to Violet, and he manages a small smile for her. “You okay, Miss?”
“I…” Violet looks at Wes, almost like she’s asking permission to answer, and then back to Kent, only giving him a small nod.
“My father gifted Lauren to yours?”
“Lauren?” Wes arches an eyebrow. “That’s her name?” He shrugs indifferently as if deciding it doesn’t really matter. “Yeah, apparently, he tested her himself and knew she would bring in the big bucks. Say what you will about your father, but he was a savvy businessman.”
“He was a fucking monster.” I gasp, sure I’m going to be sick in a minute.
I still have so many questions, but I feel faint, and my head is ringing… no, not my head. My phone.
I slip it out of my pocket and glance down at the caller ID, seeing the missed call icon next to my sister’s name. “Rhea?” I answer it despite my dry throat, not taking my eyes off Wes and his wife.
She doesn’t offer me a greeting, doesn’t ask whether it’s me. There’s a worried sob that makes my own chest tighten again, and then she speaks.
“Claire’s missing!”
Chapter twenty-nine
Claire
The gut punch of hearing him mention my mother hurts more than his fist in my stomach. It takes the breath out of me, and the world takes on a startling quiet as my brain tries to turn those words into anything that makes sense.
Just like your mother.
“I… what…?”
He laughs, knowing he’s got me hook, line, and sinker. I’m literally trapped, but even if I wasn’t, there’s no way I would be able to walk away without knowing what that means.
“Oh, yes,” he grins, stepping in front of me with a wicked smirk. “I knew your mother. She was a fighter—the most fight I’ve ever seen in anyone, probably. But she was no match for us. Just like you’re no match for me. Get it through your head right now, Claire, that you won’t win. It will be easier that way. Your mother didn’t break, and it only hurt her in the end…”
So many questions are flooding my brain all at once that I feel like I am underwater, struggling to breathe, to hear, to see straight. But I latch onto the only thing I can, pushing the words out of my stuttering lungs. “You… knew my mother?”
