Page 117 of Beautifully Shattered
The gun is quickly pressed to Karl’s other leg this time, and she pulls the trigger again.
The bang is loud as fuck in this tight space, but my wife doesn’t flinch. She just shoves the barrel up under Karl’s jaw, forcing his head back.
“Stop,” Karl sobs, his legs pissing out blood all over his fucking armchair, but my Angel’s not stopping. She won’t until he’s dead.
“Why aren’t you with Banes? Your stepdad, right?”
“That bastard cast me out!” Karl seethes, voice cracking. “After all the years I supported him! He fucking kicked me out because Daniel shared you with his mates, knocked you up before the sacred ceremony could be done, and then,” Karl’s lip curls, “you went and married another man. You ruined everything,and my beautiful…” He trails off on a sob. “My beautiful mother is the one who paid.”
“Blame me all you want.” Abbey snarls in his face, her caramel eyes wild. “As you can see, I don’t give a single fuck. But Iaminterested in your pathetic story. So please tell me all about what my grandfather did to your mum. And why?”
For a long beat, Karl remains silent, his gaze flicking to JD and Jols as they return to report the house is clear.
Then, as if he knows his fate, he spills all the sick and twisted details.
“I did it all to save my mother,” he sobs, his eyes going distant like he’s remembering a different time. “He kept her locked up for years, using her as a fucking incubator for his spawn.” His hands slip in the blood coating his legs as he tries and fails to stop the bleeding.
“When my stepfather… Banes… learned Daniel might not be the father of your baby, I knew it wouldn’t end well for my family. He needed the pure bloodline.”
Abbey scoffs. “Don’t you mean tainted? If Daniel was the father of my baby, her veins would be pumping with incest.”
“Not in the eyes of the church,” Karl rushes out. “In Symme, conceiving from the same bloodline is the purest form of creation.”
A shudder ripples through my Angel as she takes a step back.
“So the cult is just one big incest ring?” she says, her voice dripping with disgust.
“Eve was made from Adam’s rib,” Karl mutters, his breaths heavy as he tries to ignore the pain in each of his legs. “They shared the same DNA. They then created life. Children, who then had children together. That is purity. The natural path.”
For a long beat, the room is silent, Karl’s eyes never leaving Abbey’s. Then, to everyone’s shock, she bursts out laughing.
“Fucking hell, Karl,” she snickers. “Do you hear yourself? What a load of bullshit.”
“It’s not bullshit!”
“Yeah, it fucking is!” Abbey keeps laughing, and I catch Jols’ and JD’s eyes briefly, because shit, my wife is a little more unhinged than I thought.
“So, is Elizabeth your sister? Or cousin?”
Karl shakes his head. “No. My betrothed was meant to be your mother, Priscilla, but our father wanted to have a child with her first, and she kept losing them. When he cast her out, I had to go outside the church to find a vessel as my other female cousins were already promised to others.”
“I think I just puked and swallowed it again, Karl. Because this shit you’re saying is fucking sick.” Abbey sighs, finally turning to face me. “Can you believe this?”
I shake my head, but it’s not his words I can’t believe. It’s this woman before me. It’s like she’s become another person.
Not that I don’t like it, but fuck, now I know pissing her off too much could have some dire fucking consequences for me.
“Where is your wife?” Jols asks, snapping me out of it, and I realise I’ve been staring at Abbey like a dumb fuck for way too long.
“She bolted when she learned the truth about Daniel and Abbey,” Karl rushes out, his face screwing up in pain.
“So, Elizabeth didn’t know Daniel and I were cousins?” Abbey presses, and Karl shakes his head.
“I had to tell her before the ceremony at the chapel. She slapped my face and fucking fled. I haven’t seen her since.”
“Where’s Daniel?” Abbey asks, lifting the gun at Karl’s head again.
“I don’t know. He’s with his mate Donny and his uncle. But I don’t know where they are.”
