Page 114 of Beautifully Shattered
“I lied, okay. I didn’t want Abigail to learn the sick truth.”
“What do these words mean?” Jols asks, showing my dad the scrapbook pages and pointing to the scripture my mum had written as a teen.
“I don’t know.” Dad shakes his head. “Priscilla never trusted me with that information.”
This is so much more than I expected. I thought I was being punished for bringing shame to the family by having premarital sex. But now I can see it has to do with the cult and their beliefs. Danieltold me at the chapel that day that I had no clue what was really happening, and he was right.
I could never have imaginedthis.
“When they found out I was already married that day at the chapel,” I speak up, my throat scratchy as a strange numbness washes over me. “They started talking about bloodlines. Do you know what that was about? Why Maggie offered herself up to marry Daniel?”
My dad frowns. “No, I’m sorry. I don’t have a clue about that. I didn’t even know that happened. Like I said, unless you’re born into it, you only get told when things are happening and it’s too late.”
“And the reason you were finally trying to stop the wedding was because you’d just found out they were trying to marry me to my cousin?” Bile rises up again as I say the words out loud, but I manage to swallow it back down.
“Yes, that’s right,” my dad sobs.
This is just…toomuch.
“You didn’t try hard enough to protect me. To protect Tahli.” I stand from the chair, embracing the numbness as I stare at a man I no longer consider my father. “If you did, you’d either have Tahli with you safe right now, or you’d be dead from trying so hard to get her away from those sick cunts.”
“Possum!” my dad cries, reaching out to me, but I just curl my lip in disgust.
“No, I’m not your possum. I’m not your sweetheart. And I’m certainly not your daughter.” I lean in closer, jabbing a finger into his chest. “You never fought for me even when you knew what was happening was wrong. For that, I’llneverforgive you.”
Turning toRingo, I eye the gun in his hand, which I must have dropped earlier.
“Do we have a spare one?” I gesture to his gun. “One you don’t need?”
His brows shoot up, and he nods, holding his hand out to JD, who’s carrying a number of guns on his person.
Taking one JD hands him, Ringo gives it a clean, making sure there are no fingerprints.
“Where do you want it?”
I gesture to the bench, and he places it down, his glare harsh as he directs it at my dad.
When my dad looks at me in confusion, an unhinged smirk spreads across my face.
“A gift. Feel free to use it on yourself.”
And with that, I ignore the pain that contorts his face, walking out of my childhood home with Ringo, Jols and JD following.
The moment we reach the Landy and I open the car door, the loud clap of a gunshot pierces the air, sending magpies scattering in flight from the nearby gumtree.
22
She doesn’t even flinch at the sound of the gunshot, her eyes catching on the flock of magpies that soar from the trees at the sudden disturbance. Something has flipped inside her. It was already teetering when she laid her heartache bare with her old man, making sure he knew the full extent of his actions. Or lack thereof.
But what she learned about Daniel… Fuck! Her own fucking cousin!
Yeah, that’s the shit that tipped her over into this cold, dead version of herself.
My eyes meet JD’s, and he gestures his head back towards the house, so I nod, and he turns, walking back inside.
Abbey watches him go, but doesn’t say a word, just slips into the car and closes herself in.
“That was some heavy shit,” Jols mutters quietly next to me, and I meet her concerned gaze and nod.
