Taking her hand in his, he cursed as he realized how cold she was.
“Duke, get her a blanket,” he murmured.
She blinked down at him. “I’m always cold.”
“I know, brown eyes.”
He was gonna make it his job to keep her warm from now on.
“Betsy, what did Baron do?” he asked gently.
“He killed his father. But it was an accident,” she added hastily, starting to shake.
Duke handed him a blanket. He frowned, it was too scratchy and his brown eyes liked soft things. But he lay it over her.
“Shh, brown eyes. No one is accusing him of anything. Just tell us what happened.”
“He was screaming at me because we’d been out to dinner and a man spoke to me. Rex was very possessive. When we got home, he dragged me into his office. He hit me. And I fell, I knocked something over. A lamp, I think. I was trying to get him to quiet down so he wouldn’t wake the boys when I spotted Baron behind him. Rex must have seen something on my face. He turned. Baron ran at him, he shoved him.”
She tried to smooth the blanket out.
“Rex tripped and fell backwards. He landed hard. I got up, I told Baron to run, certain that his father was going to come after him. But Rex never moved. He’d hit his head on the coffee table. It was marble. I searched for a pulse. I tried CPR. But he…he was dead. I told Baron to get upstairs. He was white. He looked so scared. I told him it would all be okay. I would take care of it. I was going to call the police, tell them that I had knocked him over while we were fighting. Then I realized that if they arrested me the boys…there was no one for them. They had no other relatives. I was debating what to do…wondering if we could possibly run when Forrest arrived. I didn’t know they were supposed to have a meeting.”
She stared off into the distance. “I thought he would be angry. I thought he might hurt me. But he was calm. Even nice. Caring. Wrapped me in a blanket. Sat me down with a cup of tea. Told me he’d take care of everything. Had his men take care of Rex’s body. It should have been a warning sign, right? He took the three of us home to his house. To help us. When I…when I told him I wanted to go home. He laughed. Then he told me I was home.”
She ran a shaking hand over her face. “I asked him what he meant. Told
him I was taking the boys and leaving. That’s when he told me I wasn’t going anywhere. Ever again. That he owned me. Wouldn’t it be a shame, he said, if the police discovered that Baron killed his father? I told him I’d tell them I did it. That it was self-defense. He just laughed again. Told me anyone could be bought. Judges. Cops. No one would believe me.”
She let out a deep breath. “I tried to escape with the boys that night. He caught us, of course. He beat me then locked me in a windowless room for days. I don’t even know how long. All I had was a bucket and a few bottles of water. When I was finally allowed out, my boys had been sent away and I was his prisoner.”
Ink growled. “That mother-fucking asshole.”
Duke sighed but said nothing about his language.
“I’m not sure what he told the boys. They know something is wrong. But they seem to think I’m in a relationship with him.” She winced. “He never lets me speak to them alone, always makes me put them on speaker. They’d ask me what was going on and I couldn’t tell them the truth. Eventually, they stopped asking. They barely speak to me now.” She sniffed. “They think I didn’t want them. I failed them.”
“You didn’t fail them,” Ink told her fiercely. “You protected them.”
“They think I abandoned them. Sent them away to school because I didn’t want them. He didn’t even let them come home for holidays. Not that I want them around him.”
“What else has Forrest had you do since then?” Duke asked her.
“Nothing,” she croaked. “To be honest, I’m not even sure why he’s kept me around. Why not let me leave? I would have left with the boys and never looked back. It’s not like I ever knew anything about what he does.”
“He couldn’t be sure what Rex told you,” Ink said to her. “He had to contain you.”
“Then why not kill me?” she asked dully. She sounded so fatalistic. As though she was just waiting for it to happen.
He tilted up her face. “I, for one, am glad he did not.”
“Guess he thought you might be useful,” Brody mused.
“Or maybe he just enjoyed torturing me. Keeping me locked up. On tenterhooks waiting for what he wanted from me.”
“Did you ever try to escape again?” Duke asked her.
“No,” she whispered. “Learned my lesson. And he told me that if I did, he’d hurt one of the boys. They’re the reason I did what he said and went to Fringe to meet you. I don’t care about my life. But they’re my kids.” She gave him a pleading look, begging him to understand.