I stepped back, watching my family pile into the cars, leaving as quickly as they’d shown up. I started toward Rhys, but he stepped back, glaring at me with loathing in his eyes. I stalled before him, frowning.
“Don’t be mad. You’re the one who opened the gate to those memories,” I stated, watching the tick hammering in his jaw. “I’m leaving. Nyx secured a house for us in town. I thought I’d give you the courtesy of the truth.” I watched as he turned, and Ian dropped his gaze to my stomach before his eyes rounded.
Rhys swung back, his eyes filled with hatred that was deeply embedded from years of guilt. “The truth? Roslyn was your mother, and you expect me to believe that you had no idea? You came here out of the blue, fell into my fucking lap, and yeah, I questioned it. I never for one second thought you’d be the daughter to the murderous whore who ruined the lives of everyone she touched. So, what the fuck do you have to say to me that could fucking matter now?”
“I’m pregnant,” I swallowed, watching his eyes narrowing on me as he laughed coldly.
“Fuck you, Remington. I’m not buying that you’re pregnant. I want nothing to do with you, do you understand me?” he snarled.
“She’s very much pregnant, Rhys. She has two heartbeats,” Ian announced, and Cole exhaled, staring at me.
“Fuck you too, Ian,” Rhys growled, gazing at me with cold malice that soaked into my bones.
“You think I knew who she was? I thought my mother was Elizabeth Silversmith. That’s who I knew her to be since as long as I can remember. Honestly, I probably would have kept it from you had I known. You questioned me being here, but I never wanted to be here, Rhys. You forced me to stay with you. You took my silver, and while I didn’t understand the gravity of it, I know you did. My father found my mother and pretended to be something he wasn’t so that I could be born to police the Silversmiths. I don’t know why, or what his actual intentions were for creating me with Roslyn. I didn’t come here to hurt you. I came because my mother wasn’t answering her phone, and all of my memories said she was a gentle, loving mother who cared if I lived or died. Winchester shouldn’t have changed or altered my memories. I assume she never thought I would wind up in the hands of the one creature strong enough to destroy the wall inside my head that held the horrible truth locked away.”
“I don’t care what fucked up shit your mommy did to you. I don’t care about you or your whore of a mother. I get it now. My deep attraction to you wasn’t for you at all. I just needed it spelled out for me. You’re the daughter of the one woman I ever loved, and she’s a part of you. I wanted her so I could save her. I ended up with her lying, conniving daughter instead. No wonder it was so easy to let my guard down around you. I’m sure that was why I wanted your tight pussy so bad as well.”
I laughed silently, fighting against the tears his words created within me. I sucked my lip between my teeth, slowly balling my hands into tight fists at my sides. He hated me, and I was very much pregnant with his child. I’d discovered it right before heading into the hall where I’d gotten distracted by Thurston. I nodded, wiping my eyes, inhaling a fortified breath. He watched me expectantly, like he assumed I’d argue with him pushing me away. Instead, I turned toward the Audi, where Nyx sat, having sensed my need to escape.
“You’re going to let her walk away with the heir to the Van Helsing House in her womb?” Nyota snapped, her eyes sliding to me and back to Rhys.
“It’s not my heir, at least not one I will claim openly.”
“Rhys, she didn’t even know! She killed the evil bitch! Remington isn’t Roslyn. She’s danced with dimwits and charmed the entire alpha population without fucking them. Who has ever been able to do that before?” Nyota hissed.
“Roslyn, her mother,” he answered, turning to walk into the house while I slid into the car silently.
“Drive,” I whispered, closing the door before the car started down the cobblestone driveway.
“He is wrong to do this to you.”
“He feels betrayed, Nyx. I don’t blame him. I don’t even know what to think right now. My mother was the horrid monster, one who enjoyed hurting him. I feel dirty. I slept with a man who loved my mother.”
“Yeah, that one is a bit awkward, no matter how you argue it, or I would.”
“I mean, it was like three hundred years ago, so that shouldn’t make it as weird, right?” I asked, and she turned to look at me laughing, slowly shaking her head.
“What are we going to do now, Remington?”
“I’m a Silversmith and a silversmith by trade. You’re a nymph, one who has guys eating out of your vagina if you ask them to. We’ll be okay. We’re going to be okay.”
“You’re going to have a baby which means you need to be careful. It’s going to need a name.”
My hand touched my flat stomach, and I smiled through the tears blinding me. “Bullet,” I laughed, hating the sick feeling that ruined the moment. Tears slipped free as a sob exploded from my lips. Nyx pulled the car off to the side of the road, sliding out of her seat to come around, opening my door to hold my hand; she knelt, staring up at me.
“It’s going to be okay. We’re not alone.”
“Literally,” I said, watching a speeding car swerve to the side Nyx had pulled off on, stopping in front of ours.
We watched in silence as Nyota opened the door with Cole exiting the other side of the car. Both slowly walked up to the open car door while I wiped away the tears.
“I’m coming with you,” Nyota announced.
“Excuse me?” I asked, staring up at her.
“I’m moving in with you,” she said awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck. “If it is okay with you, I’d like to move in. You’re going to need protection. You’re also going to need money since Rhys just froze both of your bank accounts. I won’t allow him to make rash decisions that leave you and his child on the streets until he screws his head back on correctly.”
“Like our own private ninja?” Nyx asked, and I closed my eyes.
“Thank you for offering, Nyota. You don’t even like me, though. Bullet will be fine; we’ve never used the bank account set up by E.V.I.E. Everyone needs a backup plan, and ours was to escape and build a Silversmith company, with a strip club above it.”
“Who the hell is Bullet?” she asked with a frown marring her face.
“The baby,” I answered, and her eyes rounded with shock.
“You cannot name it Bullet. You know that, right? Bullet Van Helsing? It’s actually not as bad once you add the last name.”
“Bullet Silversmith,” I frowned, and she frowned too. “And no, that’s what I’m naming the baby for now because that’s currently its size.”
“Scoot up,” she said, climbing in the backseat. “Get my shit out of the car, Cole,” Nyota ordered as I sat up closer to the dash, allowing her into the backseat.
The moment she slid in, the seat slammed forward, and I groaned, rubbing my forehead. The seat made a cracking noise, and her hand touched against my side, slowly moving toward my belly as if she would feel the baby move. I groaned louder and glared back at Nyota before righting myself in the seat.