The Broken Sister (Sister #6) (28 page)

HER JAW OPENED AND went slack in her face. Stuck. Her entire body was suddenly frozen and stuck in positon. Her eyes opened wide, and her arms wrapped around her middle. She huddled under her sweatshirt as she pulled at it suddenly almost compulsively.

Tamasy. My name is Tristan Tamasy.
The scenery wavered before her gaze. She wobbled on her feet. He wasn’t serious. He was… no, what? Why would he lie? About that name?
That name.
That insidious, hideous name? Why would Tristan say such a thing?

How did he even know that name would mean anything to her? Dazed, totally blindsided, and confused, all she could do was stand there, unseeing of everything around her with her head bent down. No one knew who raped her. Not one soul knew what happened to her. Well, now that wasn’t true… two souls knew. The person who did it. And the person lying sick in the hospital.

Oh… and Tristan Tamasy
.

She recoiled back. They set her up.

The entire world wavered and she thought she might pass out. Or be sick.

Tristan came forward, near her. “Kylie…
Please
, let me explain.”

“He’s…”

Tristan nodded, his gaze searching hers. “My little brother. Tommy’s my brother. But I can explain it.”

Explain what? What were they doing? What kind of sick plan did they have for her? Fear sliced through her and she tried to shy away from his body. What were they going to do her?

He caught her hands in his. She stared at their joined flesh with huge, horror-filled eyes. He cursed softly. “Why do you look afraid of me? Oh my God! Do you think I’m going to hurt you? Kylie, I would never physically hurt you.”

She pushed at him and he let go. She took a step back and then another. And another. Her back hit the wall because she wasn’t watching where she stepped. She swallowed, staring at him. Unsure what to think or believe or even do. Her heart flapped in her chest. Her breath came in swift, shallow pants and her brain felt like it began to spin from the magnitude of what this meant.

Tamasy.

What did they want with her? What did they plan to do with her? But dear God, it had been over four months she’d been dating Tristan and only Tristan. Who could carry on such a travesty for so long? It was beyond comprehensible.

He put his hands up like he was under arrest. His tone was then gentle, coaxing, as if he was talking to a scared child he needed to gain the trust of. “Kylie, I’m not going to physically hurt you.”

“How did you know? How did you know who I was? No one knows what he did to me. Not a soul. I never told anyone. How do you know?” Then her head dipped down as if the weight of her realization crushed her neck. “Tommy told you. Oh my God. He told you what he did and you decided to pretend to be in love with me? I don’t understand. It’s sicker than what he did. It’s—”

His head bobbed down onto his chest for a moment as if the weight of her words were too heavy. Finally he shook his body, as if he were shaking off water from a shower. “The website. You commented on Cadence Sommelier’s accusation of Tommy.”

It only made her push harder into the wall. “I didn’t use my name.”

“My tech guy found your name off that.”

“Your tech guy?”

He shook his head. “Yes. Let me explain it all. I know how evil it sounds. I can’t imagine what you must be thinking. But please let me start from the beginning. It’s why I was trying to tell you. Will you listen to me? Just a few more minutes of your life. Then you never have to see me again if you choose.”

His lies. His name. His what? She still couldn’t process what it all was. She took her pack of cigarettes and lit one. She ran her fingers through her hair. It was tangled down her back. As if there had ever been any real chance Tristan didn’t have an agenda with her.

She finally sucked off the last of the cigarette before she tucked her arms over her chest.

“You came after me?”

“I—I don’t think that’s what I was doing. I mean, we found your name off the website. We knew Cadence Sommelier could make more waves for Tommy.”

“No, she didn’t.”

He licked his lips. “She put up that post on the Rape Matters website. But later, we were able to get her to agree to take money and let the matter die its natural death.”

Cadence had not told her this part. Stung, Kylie immediately realized there was more to Cadence’s story than she understood. But she did know Cadence was raped and the Tamasys had gotten their way out of her. She was still their victim. “You bullied her.”

He held her glare with a neutral face. It made shivers ride up her spine. He was so cold. So calculating. So business-like about this. “Yes. She had family but they had no real power. No lawyers or politicians or business leaders. Little money. We thought she’d disappear. We thought…”

“We?”

“We being my grandfather, father, me, and Tommy. I work for my grandfather at Tamasy Industries. So does my father, but he’s more a figurehead than anything. It’s my grandfather who is the brains and makes the decisions. I carry out a lot of his instructions.”

Her stomach knotted. She had no idea. None. Who he was. Or what he was capable of. She blinked as if his image would waver before her. He wasn’t anything like who she thought. It made her nauseous to realize. And she had no idea Cadence had taken money from Tommy’s family.

“She had this story. Tommy had witnesses that night. She was drunk. She willingly went to his room to have sex. With him. So maybe, yeah, we bullied her. Maybe we play a little dirty because we do have more money and power, but this was a rape accusation. It had the potential to ruin Tommy’s entire reputation and life. He—”

“Yes, rape accusations would do that to one. But then, so does rape.”

“It was her word against his.”

“And then I commented,” she whispered.

“Yes,” he answered finally after the long pause as they stared at each other. She cleared her throat. “So what was Grandfather’s decision to do about me? What are you supposed to do to me?”

He winced but finally said, “Neutralize you.”

“How?”

“At first I was going to go after Cadence. Grandfather then decided I needed to handle you and he took on Cadence. He initiated and took care of their negotiations and what they paid her. Besides, Cadence knew who we all were. But—”

“I didn’t. I didn’t know anything about you, actually. How are you neutralizing me?”

He suddenly stepped forward and looked to be about to grab at her. She put her hand out, her finger pointed at him, her voice lethal as she uttered, “Don’t you touch me. You’ll have to drug me first. Or is that a family trick? I just proved to be such a slut, you didn’t have to?”

He shook his head. His eyes were huge and he shut them as he let out a shuddering breath. His fists were clenched. “No. God, no. Never. Nothing like that. I would never do something to anyone, and never you. I would never let anyone either.”

“Your brother did that to me.” Something coursed through her veins. She stood up taller, her shoulders back, her jaw clenched. The anger, the rage that never came on her own behalf, even with Tommy, finally percolated inside her gut.

He kept his hands up as if to make sure she could see them. His breath seemed to stop. Then he shook his head. “I came to meet you. I had your name and I knew that you worked at The Acorn. I didn’t know another thing about you.”

“You knew whatever Tommy told you. What did he tell you?”

He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I came in there, to see who you were. But then, I met you and nothing fit. Nothing about you fit.”

“What was the plan?”

His shoulders dropped. “To sleep with you. If I’d slept with you, then no one would ever believe you.”

She almost bit her tongue. Finally she said, “No. They won’t. No one will ever believe me.”

“Kylie, it’s not what happened.” His voice started to speed up as he spoke. “It wasn’t like that, not from the moment I met you. The first smile, and I swear to God, I was gone for you. I didn’t understand it, not from the start. I thought I went there to scope you out, but by the time I ran into you in the ally I wasn’t there as Tommy’s brother. I was just… there.” He pushed his hands through his hair. “Fuck. I hear how lame this sounds, even to my own ears. I didn’t do it. None of it. I told my grandfather I had the proof and he could take you off his list of worries. As far as they knew I never contacted you again. But I didn’t do anything. I didn’t take any pictures nor did I tell anyone about us. No one knows about us in my life. That’s why it’s been so odd, I’ve been so secretive. I hid you because I was crazy about you. From the start. You were there, you can’t tell me you think that was all a lie. Or a ploy. I’m not that good of an actor. I’ve never set out to do anything like this before, it’s not like its routine for me. I’m just a business man. Honest to God, Kylie. I’m just a businessman. I don’t usually do things like this. I thought I was being a good brother. But then…”

“Then what? I can’t even comprehend this. What did you think you were doing? This went on for over four months. Who does that?”

“I thought if I was with you long enough, I could find a way to make this all work out. I could figure out what happened. I could tell you in a way that wouldn’t destroy you, and you’d believe me, because you’d know by then, feel by then, what we are. What I feel about you.”

“That’s the lamest fucking thing I’ve ever heard.”

He dropped his head in shame. “I know. I just didn’t know what else to do.”

“You never even asked. You never got my side of the story out of me. You waited until I came blubbering all over you. Why did you wait so long?”

He was shaking his head. “I don’t know. I think I was pretending that none of it had happened. If I didn’t talk about it, I didn’t have to do anything. Cadence eventually took some money and signed a nondisclosure agreement.”

“Cadence did what? You’re saying she signed an agreement saying she wouldn’t discuss this?”

“Yes. She settled with us. Meaning, she would no longer make public comments or accusations to Tommy or disclose what we all agreed on. If it were criminal accusations, with the police involved it wouldn’t do us any good. But for civil matters? It does. It meant she couldn’t post on the website any longer or keep spreading the rumors. After all the crappy comments on the website and enough people on campus not believing her, she finally wore down enough to settle.”

“No. No, she didn’t settle. She would have told me. She specifically told me the opposite.”

“Yes, she did settle. We have legal paperwork to prove it. She took a substantial amount of money.”

“When?”

“Two months ago. So you see, I just thought… Fuck! I don’t know what I thought. I just didn’t want this to be the case. I thought things were done, except…”

“Except for me. But then, you know I don’t talk to anyone.”

“I know I fell for you.”

She stepped towards him. His eyes grew wide with surprise. She tilted her head as she reached out and adjusted his tie, which he’d yanked at so it was askew. “Look at you, and I lived in some kind of fantasy, you and me… I’m a fool.”

He grabbed her hand in his. “You’re not a fool. I am. I just, I haven’t known what to do… who to believe…. I mean, it’s you. I know you, Kylie… But then, he’s my brother. My little brother. I helped raise him. I can’t believe he’d…”

She yanked her hand back. “You should have never wasted your time. I was never planning to do anything about it. I wasn’t going to seek out Cadence, no matter what she was doing. I never told anyone and I intended to keep it that way. You shouldn’t have come after me. But you did and you started telling me things, like I wasn’t a slut and all that shit about believing in myself and allowing myself to react how I need. Well, you gave me the strength to go talk to Cadence. You made everything worse for Tommy. I hope you realize that. I hope you realize I’m going to do everything I can now to destroy him. I don’t care what it takes or what is said about me. I’ll never put my head around why you did this for so long or the twisted game you were playing, but just go fuck yourself.” She then calmly passed around him and kept going until she was through the hospital doors. She fisted her hand. She’d be damned if she let them… the Tamasy brothers twist her all up again. She knew her truth. She knew what must be done now. Nothing and no one was going to make her feel bad again. Not even
Tristan Tamasy.

TRISTAN DIDN’T KNOW WHAT to do. He stared at the white wall of the hospital for a good half hour before he finally, mechanically, got to his feet and into his car. He started for home. Ignoring everything. Numb. It had all ended of course. As it had to. As this all should.

Once home he sat on his couch simply staring at the wall in his living room. Hours went by and he didn’t move. He barely blinked. He felt nothing. He felt everything.

But he couldn’t picture what he’d just done to Kylie. What would she do? She wouldn’t tell anyone. Her embarrassment, shame, denial, all of it would keep her silent. Wasting away before everyone’s eyes. He couldn’t stand it.

He jumped up and quickly went to his car and drove towards her place. He parked across from it. Lights were visible in the windows. He stayed there, unsure what he was doing. Being her guardian. The reality of what Cadence had done to herself sunk heavily on him. But Kylie? NO. She wouldn’t do that to herself. He gripped the steering wheel, chanting it to himself. But after the day she’d had. Cadence and then him. What he’d done. Who he was.

He had to fix this. But how? What could he do? He’d apologize, of course. He had to keep trying. Begging. Pleading. Doing something…

Then she came strolling out and down the sidewalk. He blinked to make sure his subconscious wasn’t conjuring her up just because he wanted her to be there. Where was she going? She didn’t even glance around to make sure no one was around or creeping up behind her. She huddled in her jacket. Her ponytail rested heavy over her slim, delicate back. Her long thin legs encased in leggings and tucked into boots. He glanced around unsure what to do. He couldn’t follow her like some kind of stalker.

Finally he pulled his cell out and dialed her sister.

“Ally? You’ve got to go check on Kylie. Please. She won’t call you. She won’t even tell you about it. But she needs to. She needs someone.”

“Tristan?”

“Yes.” He nearly growled it with annoyance.

“Where are you?”

“I came to try and talk to her but now she’s walking down the street and towards some college party would be my guess. Yes, she just turned towards the campus. You know what that means, Ally.”

“What the hell? What happened?”

“I hurt her. She’s going to punish herself now. Please Ally, I can’t stop her, but you can. She needs someone right now.

“What did you do to her? Oh my God, did you cheat?”

He shut his eyes. “I wish it was that easy and straightforward. It’s a long story. And you need to get it out of her. She needs someone. She can’t keep doing this all alone. But I’m the last person she’ll trust.”

“Why? What happened, Tristan? She is crazy about you and you acted like…”

“I am. But it’s complicated. I just need to know she’ll be okay.”

“I’m going right now. But if I find out you cheated I’m coming after you with a sharp knife.”

He shook his head and his tone was hollow as he said, “You’ll be coming after me with a lot more when you hear what I did. But Ally, I just know her. She’ll bury this deep. Her shame at not seeing who I am, what I was doing to her will be first and foremost on her mind. She’ll try to hide it like she does everything. But this time… she can’t. Don’t let her. Keep after her until she tells you.”

“Tells me what?”

“What I was hiding from her…” He sighed and swore under his breath. “And mostly, what my brother did to her.”

“You and your brother did to her? What could you possibly do to her…” The silence was ominous. “Fucking A, Tristan, if you so much as touched a hair on her head without her permission…” Ally then hung up on him.

****

Kylie walked through her front door at two in the morning. She screamed when someone stood up off her bed. Tristan? No.
Ally
. Ally who had a key to her apartment. She stepped forward and suddenly scooped Kylie up in her arms. “What did he do to you?”

“How do you know?”

“The fucker called me and told me to come to you. That you needed me but wouldn’t tell me. What is going on, Kylie?”

“What was he doing? Spying on me?”

“He thought you were off to hurt yourself somehow. Did you?”

“No. I just walked around for a while.”

What was the use? Kylie wilted into her sister’s embrace. What was the use of silence anymore? Of hiding? Of her stupid attempts to hide her behaviors? Of trying to move past any of it? She just turned around and made bigger and bigger mistakes. She had thought, crazily, in the last few months she had actually turned some kind of a corner, matured or something, to stop overreacting and acting out. She thought she was moving forward, not back.

“I think… I think I need to tell Mom all this.”

Ally’s breath released. She didn’t start interrogating her. She didn’t admonish her. She just nodded and smiled as she tucked Kylie’s hair back and touched her shoulder. “Okay, I’ll take you home.”

****

Tristan didn’t sleep at all. When he got up finally he didn’t eat or shave or even dress. He sat nursing a bottle of whiskey on the floor of his bedroom, staring up at one of the pictures he’d finally convinced Kylie to give him. He’d replaced the big art piece from his mother with Kylie’s smaller, darker, pictures. He liked hers a lot better. Now he stared at it. Willing it to forgive him. Hear him. Love him back. He had no idea what to do next. Not the next moment, hour or day. The pain on Kylie’s face… It caused a physical withdrawal in his brain. No. Her first fear had been
What were they going to do to her?
That’s what she had wondered first. What were they planning to do to her? And why wouldn’t that be her first reaction?

She had truly believed he was capable of physically hurting her.

“Tristan?”

He sat up when his brother’s voice rang out. He got to his feet and walked toward the living room to find Tommy standing in his doorway. “What are you doing here?” His voice was hollow to his ears.

“What happened? You look like someone died.”

“Sometimes I think you did.”

“What? What’s going on? You were acting weird at your office earlier this week. It got me curious, so I got on your computer. There are pictures there, Tristan.”

Tristan kept his gaze impassive as he held his little brother’s gaze. “You got onto my computer? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Tommy’s eyes were wide with suspicion. “Only they weren’t at all the pictures I thought I’d find. They were… sweet. Lovely, sweet pictures of a girl frolicking in the snow, and smiling at you in this very room. They are, in short, pictures I’d imagine a man takes of the girlfriend he’s in love with. There was not one suggestive thing anywhere. There was nothing to help us. What the hell are you doing, man? What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

Tommy’s blue eyes, so much like his own, flashed with anger… and fear. There was fear there too. Tristan’s arms were crossed tight over his chest and he shook his head. “She’s nothing like I pictured, Tommy.”

“I don’t even know her. I fucked her one night, Tris. I didn’t spend a lot of time finding out her hopes and dreams. What are you telling me? You have? What are you doing?”

“I don’t know. But I don’t think she made those accusations at you to extort money. I don’t think she believes they are lies. Did you mistake something? She was drunk, right?”

“Yeah. Not new with that one. Whatever she’s done to convince you otherwise, Kylie McKinley slept with dozens of my classmates. I could get you a list, Tristan, if you need to believe me. There was someone else in there that night. He’ll testify what happened if it ever comes down to it. We didn’t want to but he will. My friends, Hanson, Chad, and Jamal remember her leaving the next morning. You know those guys. You know they are solid. There was no rape. There was a college girl who regretted what she did the night before. She was drunk but she was willing and able
with both of us
. Both of us at once… you get the picture. You get how embarrassing that could be for any good girl. She’s recanting because she doesn’t want to look like that kind of girl. Maybe she’s doing it because her parents found out. Whatever it is, for whatever reason, we didn’t do anything she didn’t want. I don’t know what game she’s running on you. Or what you’re doing, but if you think I’m some kind of rapist, then you need to look me in the face and tell me right now. Do you think that? Because if you do we are done. We aren’t brothers anymore. If you believe that cunt, then you don’t believe me.”

Silence clung to them. They stared across the living room, neither of them moving. Tristan hadn’t expected Tommy to come at him with an ultimatum. Blinding pain flashed behind his eyes. He never expected this. He had no ready answer. He had no gut reaction that told him what to do. He didn’t want to call his brother a rapist. But he could not tolerate him calling Kylie names that would erode more away from her. Nor claiming suddenly she was lying. None of it made sense. Neither person could be what the other was accusing. He knew them both and could not believe either would do it. Tommy wasn’t a monster hiding in the dark, preying on unsuspecting women. He was just a college senior having a good time. Just as Tristan had done. As Kylie had done. But neither was Kylie some gold-digging slutty villain coming after them.

Silence went on and on, and finally Tommy’s shoulders hunched forward. “Jesus, you don’t know. You don’t know who to believe.”

“I don’t. I don’t know what to think. I don’t… I’m not sure I believe you.” He turned and walked into his bedroom and slid to the floor to keep drinking. He didn’t look up again.

Tommy slammed the door as he walked out.

His brother might very well have just shut him out of his life forever more. Tristan wilted and fell back on the carpet in a stupor. How could this have happened? All of it exploding in the last day? It wasn’t acceptable. Tristan suddenly shot to his feet. What he’d done to Kylie was not okay. He was guilty of crimes against her. Maybe more than anyone. He couldn’t leave it as it was. He could try and do something… anything, more than he was doing now to fix this. To find some kind of solution. Sitting around hiding wasn’t going to produce that. Even as he started to clean up he had no fucking idea what to do.