Molly
At first, when John blamed me for this happening I felt hurt and seriously pissed but listening to what he has to say now… Well, I'm
Not sure what I think anymore.
“You slept with Amy?” I can feel the anger running through Christian's body as he pushes the words out. “Yes, son I did but I swear I have no idea how it happened, I don't even remember anything. I can't stand her and I love your Mom, have since the very first moment that I laid eyes on her. I've never even thought about cheating on her and it has been tearing me apart but I woke up in bed with her and she confirmed that it happened.”
“You cheated on our Mom, your wife and with that skank!” Jack bellows his face red he's so furious. “I don't know why you're angry, You're a part of this although in what way I can't figure out,” Tom shouts at Jack who looks taken aback. “I have nothing to do with this!” Chris looks at Jack as he scoffs at his words.
John looks at Jack and it's in this moment that I know things ain't as they seem. “I'm not I swear. Look a few days before the storm I found Mom crying in the horse stables. After some nagging I got her to talk to me. Turns out she was worried about Dad, said he hasn't been himself the past few months and that she was worried something was wrong with him. She asked me if I could keep an eye on him so I've been following him.”
I watch as John turns pale which only seems to confirm Jack's story. “So how did you know about today?” Tom isn't giving in easy but I'm starting to get a bit torn on what to believe. “I didn't know, not until the courthouse, even then I wasn't 100% sure but I went with my gut.” Tom nods for him to keep talking.
”Just before we left for the courthouse I noticed that dad was acting strange. I saw him heading for the old shack out of Penny’s backyard, said he was checking on something which didn’t make sense because I’d been in there already and it was completely empty. That aside the place is filthy and Dad was already in his suit so why the hell would he go in there? It didn’t make sense so I followed him there and that’s when I heard him talking yet I hadn't seen anyone else go in there and he doesn’t have a cell phone.
Anyway, I knew something wasn’t right so I stayed for a little while searching around and finally found a small hole in one of the side panels. He was talking on a phone and then… then I heard him say Amy’s name. Now even after all of this I still wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, Thought that maybe it was somehow a different Amy. But the moment she arrived at the courthouse I knew that it was her. The whole Goddam time we were there they kept giving each other a strange look and well, I guess we know why now!”
“Jesus Fuck!” Zack grunts. "But how did you know about them being here on this bridge?" Jack shakes his head. "I didn't but I had a sick feeling that something wasn't right about today so I got someone to help me. He followed Dad from the moment we arrived at the farm and when I left to find Dad it was because he had texted me and told me he was watching Dad leaving the horse stable with Molly and that she had some kind of cover over her head."
He turns to face me looking so sad. "Molly, I caught up to Dad before he even made it to the bridge. I saw him bring you here and I promise that I wanted to help right away, hell I wanted to tell everyone about what I had heard at the shack but I needed to be sure. I promise I wouldn't have let anything happen to you I just needed to find out the truth. Why he was bringing you here and who he was meeting." I give him a nod and a small smile then he looks at Christian. "I promise you, brother she was safe, I would have come out sooner if I had needed to. I promise I am not a part of this!"
"I believe you." He smiles at me and then steps in to hug me. "Me too," Tom says next followed by every one of his brothers. The look of relief on his face is sobering and now I just feel so bad for him. To do what he was for his Mom and it leading to this has to be heartbreaking for him. "You said that you had help. Who was it?" Tom asks. Jack lets out a loud whistle and I'm not even shocked at who walks out of the forest and onto the bridge.
"Hey." Hunter walks up to us and shares a quick man slap with all the boys before facing me. "You were always safe, Molly I promise. I wish you could have known that" I smile at him and then he faces Jack. "Do you want me to stay? I can head back if you'd like some family privacy for this?" Jack shakes his head while looking around at everyone here. "You are family, Hunter." Hunter's smile is genuine and not something I've seen before, he's usually always wearing his cocky flirty smile so this is nice to see.
"He's right Hunter, please stay." Christian squeezes my hand as he says the words and I feel proud of him. "You helped keep my girl safe, I owe you." Hunter smiles then shakes his head as he looks at us. "You owe me nothing. It's what family does for each other right?" Chris smiles and nods but the nice moment is quickly broken when Zack lets out a loud angry curse. "You bastard!" I follow his eyeliner to see him looking at John.
"You just said that this happened a year and a half about yes?" John nods but stays silent. "Amy and Chris were together then. Fuck this is sick!" I haven't even thought of that and I instantly feel sick when another realization hits me square in the stomach. "Katie!" Her name leaves my mouth before I stop myself. "What about Katie?" Chris sounds confused but when I look at John I can see that he knows exactly what I mean and then he nods confirming my fear.
"Oh, Jesus!" I bend over taking deep breaths trying not to throw up and within seconds all I can hear are curses as everyone else starts to get to the same realization. "Your Katies, Dad?" I look up at Tom as he asks the question but when I look at Christian I'm left shocked, he doesn't look pissed off or angry nor is he saying a word and now I'm the one confused. "Yes, yes I am." He looks torn up about this but right now I'm struggling to feel sorry for him. How could he do this and worse let Chris pretty much raise a baby that he knew was his all along?
"How the fuck are you so calm brother?" Jack asks Chris looking as shocked as I feel. "Because he's not Katies, Dad." Huh, How does he know this? As if he knows what I'm about to ask he answers my unspoken question. "After Katie was born I had a DNA test done. I knew deep down that she wasn't mine, it wasn't impossible but still, I couldn't shake it off, not until I had proof and not just Amy's word. It was stupid but I did it. Anyway, the results came back as there being a 0% chance of me being her Dad, meaning she doesn't carry any of my blood. If she was Dad's... if she was my sister there would be a trace of DNA there but there's not."
John suddenly crumbles to the floor shaking, crying and constantly saying sorry. Chris walks up to him and places a hand on his shoulder. "The reason you didn't tell anyone, didn't tell Mom was because you thought you were Katies, Dad, isn't it?" He nods his head but seems to struggle to get his words out. "But... I don't understand, I had a DNA test done when she told me that she was mine. She showed me the results."
He looks generally confused and it sets a niggle off in my brain. I walk over to him and lean down so I'm level with him as he stays hunched on the ground. "John. you said that she confirmed that you slept with her, yes?" He nods looking slightly awkward. “Did she have any proof or just her word?”
“Just her word but I woke up in the bed with her Molls.” He's clearly ashamed and I don't want to embarrass him but something doesn't feel right. “Hmm, John… did you… were you dressed?” Inside I cringe at my words but this needs sorting. “No, I was dressed. She said I had dressed after but ended up passing out before I could leave.”
Before I can speak I feel all of the guys crowding in on us. “So she told you that you slept with her but that you got dressed and passed out before you could leave then months later turns up with a letter claiming that you are Katie’s dad?”
“No, I heard from her just a few days after it happened. She’s been blackmailing me from the beginning. It was just little things at first, nothing I couldn’t handle but then I told her that I was going to tell your Ma what had happened and she lost it. Two days later she turned up with a DNA test kit and the results were in two weeks later.”
“Let me guess she’s had a shit load of money out of you hasn’t she?” Jack asks. “Almost $20,000 since this started. Last week I told her that I didn’t have any more to give and she lost it and said she was going to expose me but then out of nowhere, she calls me telling me that Molly is a millionaire and that she wants it all. I didn’t know what to think as I had no idea, but she knew.”
“How did she know? No one here aside from Tom even knew.” This I don’t understand. “The lawyer from the courthouse today. He’s another guy that she’s blackmailing. She had him look into you.”
“Fucking bitch!” Tom shouts. “John I don’t think you did sleep with Amy, I think she saw a way to earn herself some free money and to try and destroy Christian’s family.” Yes, my thoughts are a stretch but I wouldn’t put it past Amy to do it.
“I do too.” I’m surprised that Christian is agreeing with me but I’m glad he’s willing to try. John looks so lost that any anger that I felt towards him has disappeared and has been replaced with sadness for him. “I don’t know where we go from here. Chris, can you ever forgive me? I’m gonna lose your Mom and it’s going to kill me but losing any of my children… we’ll I’m not sure if I can survive that!”
Before anyone can speak loud sirens fill the air just a few seconds before two paramedics walk through the trees. Fuck here we go.