Page 67 of Born to Scar

She looks up from Jay’s chest with her glassy green eyes. “W-what?”

“Do you remember having surgery when you were about twelve?”

She sniffles with a nod. “It left two small scars. They’ve long been covered by others, but yeah, I remember.” She points toward her hips.

“Did he tell you what it was for?” She shakes her head. “Ken, can we have a second?” He nods and excuses himself. “I assume you see a gynecologist for your annual exam?”

She huffs a laugh. “Yes, Cam. I do. What does this have to do with anything?”

“They haven’t told you anything?” I don’t even know if they can tell by an annual exam. I don’t think so, but fuck if I know.

“No. What the fuck are you talking about?”

Jay shifts, pulling her in closer to him. “Indy, he had you sterilized with that surgery. I think it’d be good to confirm with your doctor, but we have a paper trail. You and Jenny both went through it at twelve.”

She gasps, her skin somehow paling to an even lighter color. She jerks away from Jay, vomiting in the sink. The stool topples over as Jay jumps to her side, holding her hair back while she leans over the counter.

“I never wanted kids, but I didn’t know the freedom to change my mind had been taken from me,” she whispers, dry heaving.

She’s not crying anymore. Her eyes are void of any emotion at all. She’s numb. Pulling her phone out, she sets a reminder to call her doctor tomorrow. Not that she’ll need it, she’ll never forget this. She leaves us standing alone in the kitchen to brush her teeth in the powder room.

Jay and I don’t say a word. When she walks back in, the silence stretches between us.

“I’m sorry, Indy. Truly, I can’t imagine what you must be feeling.”

The scream that tears from her chest is agonizing. Pure pain rips from her throat. She doubles over, folding over her arms at her waist, sobbing. Then her head snaps up, eyes frantically moving around the room looking for something—anything. We took it all. She has nothing to throw, so she screams again, this time in frustration. Jay pulls her in again. Her fists slam on his chest, sobs stealing her air.

This has destroyed her. That asshole took so much from her, from her past and now her future. The grip she has on Jay’s shirt is so tight that her knuckles are white. His eyes are rimmed with tears when his gaze finds mine. I finally find my legs and embrace them both.

“I hate him. I fucking hate him,” she chokes on a scream.

“I know, baby. I know,” I whisper, kissing the top of her head.

“How could he do this? How does it keep getting worse?”

I don’t have that answer. I don’t think she’ll ever get an answer. We stand like that in the middle of the kitchen for a long time before she squirms, and we back off.

“You’re hot as fuck,” she whines, free of our bodies.

A charming smile spreads across my face. It’s forced, but I’ll do anything to lighten the moment. “We already know that, baby girl.” She snorts a laugh through her tears. That’s exactly what I was after, the sweet sound of her laughter.

Ken’s standing at the entry, and I nod for him to come in.

“Now we need to make a decision. You need to decide what to do,” Ken says softly. “I know everything we told you tonight is hard, really fucking hard. But there are options for you.”

She quirks her brow. “Options?” she repeats.

CHAPTER 29

INDY

I hurt so much.

I thought I knew pain, but this…this doesn’t compare. I killed my sister. I’ll never be able to forgive myself for that. She’s dead because of me. I never asked her to file those reports. I would have never put her in that kind of danger. Why? Why the fuck would she bring that kind of attention to herself? She only had two years left. I only had two years left. Then we would have been free of him.

Together.

“Yes, options.” Ken’s voice brings me back here.