Chapter 206

#Chapter 206 – Bridgette “Bridgette,” Annabeth hisses, leaning forward and grabbing her hand. “What are you talking about? Are you…are you bleeding?”

Bridgette just looks between the two of us anxiously, clearly taken aback. “I mean it’s no big deal,” she says, “it’s just my period, like I get every month. It’s not bleeding – it’s just –“

“Wait,” I say, likewise leaning forward, shocked and worried for my friend. “Bridgette, it’s very important, right now, for you to tell us clearly what’s going on. Have you been getting your period every month?

Since you’ve been pregnant?”

Bridgette’s eyes go wide as she looks between us. “Y-yes?” she says, her voice suddenly hesitant, like a little kid in trouble. “Is that not…? Um, the doctor told me that that was okay? That it was normal?”

“That is not okay,” Annabeth says fervently, squeezing Bridgette’s hand harder. “That is not normal.”

“Do you mean –“ Bridgette says, focusing her eyes on Annabeth. “You…don’t get your period? Like when you were a little girl?”

“No!” Annabeth says, appalled. “Bridgette, when you are pregnant, your period stops!”

My face falls as I suddenly realize what has been happening, or at least the gist of it of it. My beautiful blonde sister-in-law just looks between us then, horror and worry in her eyes as her hands go to her stomach.

“Oh my god,” Bridgette says, her voice shaking. “Does this mean…my babies…”

Annabeth, truly worried now, looks at me. “I have my doctor on call. I can take her. Now.”

I nod, agreeing, but it’s Bridgette’s choice. “Bridgette,” I say, standing up and moving around the table to put my hands on her shoulders. “Would you like to go and see Annabeth’s doctor? He’s the best, I’m sure, and will be able to tell you everything you need to know. About…about your pregnancy.”

Though I’m sure, now, that there is no pregnancy. That this poor, naïve girl has just been played a very dirty trick.

“Yes,” Bridgette says, and I can see her hands starting to shake as she stands up. “Yes, please? Can we go now?”

Annabeth nods and gives her hand a squeeze before moving to the other side of the room to call her doctor, to set up the emergency evening appointment.

“Oh,” Bridgette says, spinning to me then. “But Rafe – he’ll be so worried –“

“You let me handle Rafe,” I murmur, looking towards the back door, where I suspect he went for a bit of night air. Bridgette murmurs her consent and then Annabeth comes back over to us.

“It’s all set,” she says, giving Bridgette an encouraging look. “Are you ready?”

Bridgette nods fervently and then gives me a hug before heading to the door. I catch Annabeth’s hand before she heads out.

“Thank you, Annabeth,” I say, worried.

Annabeth just shakes her head as she watches Bridgette putting on her coat. “Something in that girl’s life and education has failed her badly,” Annabeth says quietly before turning her eyes to me. “And I suspect that someone has taken terrible advantage of that ignorance.”

I nod, agreeing. “Please take care of her,” I say quietly. “Keep me updated, and let me know what I can do. I’ll – I’ll call the hotel at which she’s staying now. Make sure they give her a separate room so that she can be alone, if she wants it.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Annabeth murmurs, then, her eyes back on the girl standing in the open door, looking back at us anxiously. “I’ll take the poor thing home with me, where she’ll be safe. And you,” she says, giving me a firm look, “take care of things here.”

“Oh,” I say, letting my anger build in me. “I will. Don’t worry about that, Annabeth.”

Without another word, I watch the two go out to Annabeth’s car. To go to a doctor’s appointment which I’m sure will be both disappointing and informative.

About forty-five minutes later, the back door creeks open.

I’m ready for Rafe when he walks in. I’ve had two glasses of wine at this point, which have had plenty of opportunity to mingle with the anger roiling in my stomach. Yes, the two have really had the opportunity to mix and mingle.

And Rafe has given me just enough time to get all worked up.

“So,” I say sharply, making him jump. He hadn’t seen me here, sitting alone in the relative dark. I sent Burton home just after Bridgette and Annabeth left, and neither Victor nor the boys have come downstairs.

There’s just a candle burning at the table next to me.

“Evelyn?” Rafe says, frowning at me and pressing the back door closed. “Why are you down here by yourself?”

“Just wrapping things up,” I say, giving him a tight smile. “After Annabeth and Victor finished, we had a glass of wine. Just the two of us girls.”

“Oh,” Rafe says awkwardly, taking a few steps closer to me, sensing that something is off.

“Yes,” I say. “Except, we had a visitor.”

Rafe stops then, sliding his hands into his pockets and putting his weight on his back foot. He looks so much like Victor in this moment – the Victor I met months ago, the defensive, can’t-be-told-anything Alpha.

The kind of man who believes he can do anything he wants as long as he justifies it to himself as being what’s best for the “pack.” When really, he just does whatever the hell he wants, no matter who it hurts.

As long as it serves him.

God damnit, but I’d like to rip his face off.

Rafe doesn’t say anything, just lets me continue.

“Don’t you want to know?” I ask, raising my eyebrows at him innocently. “Who our visitor was?”

Still, he says nothing. I see it on his face, then, that he’s figured it out. He knows what I know.

“You’ve been lying to her, Rafe,” I snarl, the my claws emerging from my fingertips to clink against the glass still held in my left hand, to dig into the wood of the table on which I rest my right.

“I –“ he opens his mouth to retort, to make some excuse, but I don’t let him.

“More than lying to her,” I growl, starting to rise from my seat, “you’ve paid others to lie to her. Some crack doctor? Or an actor? To tell her she’s pregnant when she’s not!?”

I can see the guilt on Rafe’s face then, but I also see him retrench. Raised as an Alpha, he’s likely only rarely been told that what he’s done is wrong. And certainly never by a woman.

I shake my head at him, letting him know he’s not getting away with it this time.

“You are disgusting, Rafe,” I say, my voice low with hate. “You picked the simplest, sweetest girl you could find, and you made sure you picked one who was ignorant enough to believe you when lied to her about her own body. It’s beyond just lying to a girl – it’s manipulating her view of her whole world, her life, just to get what you want.”

I see him hang his head, then, his face still stubborn and angry. He knows what I’m saying is right –

has probably known this about himself for a long time. He’s pissed, though – perhaps not even pissed that he did it. Probably just pissed at me for figuring out his secret.

“No, Rafe,” I say, my voice still low as I stride around the table and across the room to him. I put my finger right in his face then, not willing to touch him. I’ve put him right on the edge with this accusation and – honestly – I don’t know what the hell he’ll do.

His shoulders start to tremble, now, as if he’s fighting back the urge to hit me.