Bones (Bonetti Brothers #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

ATHENA

He tries to sit me on the couch, but I wrap my arms around him, because right now I need him. I am terrified he’ll leave me alone, and my father will find me. At first I wanted him to leave me to die, but I don’t really want to die. Not this way.

Luca sits on the couch, with me in his arms. “It was your father who hit you?”

“Yes,” I answer quietly because I know what question is coming.

Stroking my hair, he speaks quietly, maybe so his brothers don’t hear him, “Did he rape you?”

The tears come instantly, and he gently kisses my swollen face. “It’s okay, Butterfly, I just need to know.”

I nod slightly, causing more pain in my head. “Yes,” I whisper, and then add, “Just my mouth.”

Luca holds me close to his chest as I cry. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

The fact that I didn’t want it doesn’t mean I didn’t cheat on my husband. Now that he knows, I don’t expect him to stick around long term. Not only being with another man, but with my own father, is as disgusting as it gets. How do you even look at someone after knowing that information? I heard him when he said he loved me, but love only goes so far. You can love someone and not be able to stay with them. My mother loved my father desperately, and yet she left. Love does not make a marriage work.

“You have nothing to be sorry for. You did nothing wrong. He did, and I promise you, he’ll pay for it with his life.”

I warn him, “He might have a gun.”

He chuckles softly. “And he won’t ever get a chance to fire it. ”

I watch him as he orders his brothers around, and instantly understand why his dad wants to leave him in charge. “Psycho, go wait behind the back door, but don’t approach him.”

“Reaper, hallway.”

Then he gives the final instruction, “Kage, go to the front door. I want no chance for him to make a run for it.”

His three brothers don’t argue or hesitate, they immediately move to wait where he told them to.

“Where are you going?”

He chuckles and leans down, kissing the top of my head. “Nowhere, Butterfly. Even while I’m making him cry, my eyes will always be on you.”

Luca buttons up his jacket I’m wearing. “Where’s your dress?”

I’m afraid to give him too much information, I don’t want him to have detailed images in his mind, so I just say, “He wiped his face with it, and took it with him when he left. I don’t know what he did with it, but I don’t want it.”

He arches a brow and stares at me. “Why did he wipe his face on it, Butterfly?”

I shrug like I don’t know, but Luca doesn’t buy it. “Tell me.”

Shutting my eyes tight so I can’t see his expression, I tell him the truth, “I spit his cum in his face.”

He wraps his arms around me tightly, but I feel his clenched fists against my back. “You did good, wife. So good.”

It doesn’t feel good. None of this does. I’m glad he’s going to kill him so he can’t hurt other girls, while I don’t know about it, somehow I know there’s been others. Probably while I’ve been gone, for sure, but it doesn’t take any of it away. It won’t undo the damage, but at least I’ll know he won’t come after me again.

We sit quietly for what feels like hours, and we both perk up when we notice lights traveling across the windows.

“Do we need to- ”

He presses his finger to my lips and whispers, “They know. My brothers don’t miss much. I need you to sit beside me.”

I nod silently and climb off his lap, and sit on the couch beside him.

Glancing at him, I see the violent smirk on his face, as he cracks his knuckles. The sound of the door echoes through the house, as do my father’s footsteps. Holding my hand over my mouth, I try to stay quiet, but my heart is pounding. I’m afraid for me, and terrified he has a gun, and will fire it at Luca and his brothers, quicker than my husband expects. He walks past the living room entry and then suddenly stops. His footsteps get closer as he stares at me with rage. He flips the light switch on the wall and spots Luca.

As I expected, he pulls out a gun and points it directly at me, and then moves it to my would be savior. “I guarantee you, her pussy is not worth all this trouble. I would know, I had her first.”

I can audibly hear Luca clenching his jaw, but he doesn’t move.

Two of his brothers come up behind my father and grab his arms, pulling them back, and a gunshot goes off, hitting the wall as my heart stops.

“Reaper, Psycho; bring him in.”

He drags his feet as they pull him, as if he knows who they are, and realizes how much trouble he is in. I try to draw a breath in as they bring him in front of us, and Luca barks, “That’s close enough. He doesn’t get within touching distance of my wife.”

Glaring at my father, he says, “On your knees.”

My father glares right back. “Fuck you, asshole.”

Reaper laughs, while Psycho winces and says, “Oh, that’s gonna cost you. He really hates being called an asshole.”

Psycho grins at Reaper and it’s not a smile, it’s sadistic, and he says, “Ready, lil bro? Let’s help the old man to his knees.”

I imagine they might hit him behind the knees, but they don’t. Moving in front of him, they kick his kneecaps hard, as he cries out in pain and falls to his knees, hitting the hardwood floor with a thud .

Luca takes my hand in his. “Butterfly, I’m going to ask you some questions, and I need you to know you’re safe. I will not be angry with you for your responses. I need to know the truth, so I can decide what to do with this man that calls himself your father. Can you do that for me? Answer my questions honestly?”

I nod, but don’t take my eyes off my father. It’s not because I want to look at him, I don’t, but watching him means he can’t catch me off guard, when he comes for me. He will come for me. Somehow he always does.

“When did he first touch you in a sexual manner?”

I swallow hard and admit, “Not long before my sixth birthday.”

He kisses my hand. “Good girl. How many times did he lock you in a cage?”

My head snaps to Luca’s gaze, as I look at him like he must know, and realize he doesn’t.

“More often than not.”

Luca scratches his head with his free hand. “Okay, I need to know more than that. Out of seven days, how many, do you think?”

“Seven.”

He glances at his brother Kage and then back to me. “Tell me how a normal day would go. You went to school, came home, and then you went back in? Or you were out for a little while? I’m trying to figure out how much this cage factors into things.”

I shake my head and then lower it, as the shame fills me. “I didn’t go to school, Luca. It was always me in the cage, unless he took me out to use me.”

Glancing up, I watch him turn white as a ghost, and I know it’s over. The way he looks at me now, with nothing but pity.

He squeezes my hand. “And he hit you?”

I nod. “Yes.”

Kissing my hand again, he sets it on my lap. “Good girl. Thank you. Please stay sitting right here, Butterfly. Don’t move unless you’re told to. ”

“Okay,” I whisper as he rises off the couch, and walks over to my father.

When he speaks, his voice comes out low and threatening, and a shiver works its way down my spine. “I must apologize, I’m a little out of my element here. Under normal circumstances, I know how much pain fits the crime of the person kneeling before me, but your crimes are so heinous, I don’t know where to begin.”

My father glances up into his face, and attempts to sound strong, but his voice is shaky and weak. “Get on with it, asshole.”

Luca smirks at him. “Very well. How does an appetizer of a dislocated shoulder sound?”

He doesn’t respond to him, and instead he looks at me. “You’re a worthless cunt, and he will realize that. How many times while he’s fucking you, will he wonder what it sounded like when you screamed daddy?”

Psycho moves behind him, grabs him by his hair and pulls his head back, kneeing him in the face, as he growls, “Don’t fucking talk to my sister-in-law.”

My father screams in pain as blood pours from his face. It’s hard to see whether it’s coming from his nose or mouth.

Luca chuckles. “Okay, broken nose and then a dislocated shoulder.”

He lifts his leg and puts his foot on his shoulder, as Kage lifts his arm and Luca takes it, and swiftly pulls it back and up, while slamming his foot down.

His screams echo through the room while I watch, and feel like there’s something wrong with me. I shouldn’t like this, but I do.

“Oops. I didn’t mean to break your arm. Yet.”

I sit forward on the couch, watching every movement, enjoying every scream from my father and Luca grins at me. “Does he have a tool bag?”

Shrugging, I say, “I don’t know, but when I was little, he kept it on the top shelf in the bedroom closet. ”

Psycho whistles as he leaves the room, and a few minutes later comes back with a black bag in his hands.

“Any bolt cutters in there? I have a fun idea.”