Page 85 of Cruel Love
At this point, I didn’tevencare whether I took his seat. All I wantedwas for my wife to be safe, and for the truth to be known.
I gave Cleo a nod, and she silently led Willow to the far end of theroom, the two of them taking a seat, and Cleo still clutching Willow’s hand. Jackson came to my side where he took a seat opposite the other three. One day, when his father passed, he’d be my deputy.
“Eight years ago, my father claimedthata fellow Legion member wasplanning to breach Legion rules,”I started, refusing to look at Willow. I didn’t want to see the hurtthatwould inevitably be plastered all over her face when she learned the truth.“He showed you a documentthata journalist had allegedly written naming Legion members and their crimes.”
“I rememberthat,”Harrison said, leaning back in his chair.“Eric toldus the journalist, Daniel, I think his name was, was planning on sending the article to news outlets across the world. We ordered his death because we couldn’t risk the exposure. Come on, James. You know this.”
“The information my father gave you was false,”I replied, my tonesharp.“He wanted Daniel dead, but not because he planned on exposing Legion. He wanted him dead because he wanted what Daniel had.”
“And you can prove this, how?”Gabe snapped, pissing me off. Theman needed to learn some manners.
I met Jackson’s gaze, giving him a slight nod of his head. Herose from his seat and disappeared out of the room.
“Perhaps you’d like to hear this from someone else. An eye witness.”
A second later, Jackson returned, Ann Milligan trailing behind him,her face as stoic as ever.
A soft gasp erupted from the far end of the room, and I couldn’t helpbut look in Willow’s direction. Her eyes were wide and panicked at facing the woman who’d made her life a misery for the past eight years.
Her aunt.
I tore my gaze away when Cleo started whispering somethingin Willow’s ear, grateful to Cleo for looking after her.
Jackson pulled a seat out for Milligan who sat down opposite theboard leaders, her scowl fixed on them.
“Aren’t you one of the staff who lives at Peartree House?”Harrisonsaid, his lips curling in disgust as he took the old hag in.
Harrison had always been vocal about his hatred for the PeartreeHouse program, but he’d always been outvoted whenever he suggested closing the place down. As much as I agreed with him, the house would never close. Not when the majority of Legion wanted it to remain in business.
“Yes, I am,”Milligan replied curtly. “And I will tell you what you wantto know, but I want your assurancesthatI will walk out of this place, and be free to live the rest of my life in peace.”
I stifled an eye roll, amusedthatshe thought she had any bargainingpower.
“Agreed. Now tell us what you know,”Ethan snapped.
I glared daggers at him for agreeing without hearing what she’d donefirst, but when his gaze flashed to mine and held my eyes for a brief second, I wasn’t so surethathe’d given her a permanent stay of execution.
“Eric Carter plotted with Kevin Welch to have Daniel Somersbykilled,”Milligan said, her tone emotionless despite the bombshell she’djustdelivered.
Across the table, confusion set in.
“Why would they have donethatif Daniel wasn’t trying to exposeLegion?”Gabe said, sounding almost bored.
“Because the two of them are greedy assholes who wanted what theycouldn’t have,”Milligan snapped.
“I’m getting a little bit sick of going around in circles here, James. Youbetter damn well explain yourself before I contact Eric myself, and tell him his son is plotting some kind of coup,”Ethan bellowed, his fist clenching on the table.
I sighed, my chances of convincing them dwindling by the second.“Daniel Somersby was married to Helen Somersby. Eighteen years ago, they had a daughter, Charlotte.”From the corner of my eye, I saw Willow’s eyes widen. Ignoring her, I continued. “Despite Helen being married to Daniel, and my father being married to my mom, my father decided he wanted to claim Helen for himself.At a Legion conference when Charlotte was ten years old, KevinWelch decided he wanted to claim Charlotte, and he and my father concocted a plan to remove Daniel so they could each claim mother and daughter. Welch wrote the article, not Daniel, but my father presented it to you, claimingthatDaniel was going to publish it, and needed to be killed to prevent him sharing the article. You all agreed.”
I paused, resisting every urge in my body telling me to look over at Willow.“And I was tasked to dispose of Daniel. I killed him on my father’s orders, and I made his death look like a car crash.”
My heart felt like it was being ripped out of my chest, one painful inchat a time. In my periphery, I saw Cleo had wrapped an arm around Willow’s shoulders. I wanted to march over to her and pull Willow into my arms, to feel her petite frame clinging to minejustonce more.
But now she knew the truth. Everythingthathad happened to hersince she was ten years old was because of me. Because I killed her dad withoutevenso much as questioning what my father had told me, and believingthatLegion was more important than anything else.
“Is this true?”Ethan said, his gaze falling to Milligan.
“Every single word,”she replied callously.
