Free BROTHERS OF ST. BARTS a totally addictive romance read (St. Barts Romance Books Series Book 6) by EMME CROSS

twisted. She was back in St. Barts. There was a towel over her face, pressure on her upper arms and her abdomen and head were being kicked . . . She closed her eyes.
    Sunny wearily wondered if it wouldn’t have been better not to have undergone hypnotherapy, to have never remembered exactly what happened. She opened her eyes to see Astrid staring at her in alarm, her daughter peacefully sleeping between them on the couch of the Great Room, the dog snoring, the house redolent with family memories. No, she told herself, it was better that she remembered, however much it hurt, or she wouldn’t have all this today. She wouldn’t have a family.
    Sunny took a sip of her water with shaking hands and reached down to rub Bliss’s belly for comfort before beginning her story.
    “I didn’t kill Clyde. But I wanted to. Some days I still want him dead. If he were here, in front of me, I don’t know what I’d do. I’d be tempted to pick up a knife and slice into him like he cut Sven.”
    “What are you talking about? Why would Clyde try to hurt Sven? He loved him like a brother.”
    “Not like a brother. Clyde loved Sven like a lover. He wanted Sven and obsessed over him. He was jealous of me . . .” her voice faltered. “He couldn’t stand the thought of us being together. When Sven told him he’d asked me to join him in Los Angeles after Paradise Lost wrapped, he went crazy and attacked me. He tried to rape me.” Astrid reached out tentatively.
    “Clyde beat me. He shat on me. He tried to sodomize me. He broke my jaw and my ribs and my wrist. I was in the hospital for months. My wounds were infected and they didn’t know if I would live.”
    Sunny saw the shock and guilt on Astrid’s face.
    “You had no way of knowing. No one knew about it apart from Sven, Judith and the police on St. Barts. Clyde’s remaining family here know as well but they aren’t anxious for it to become public knowledge.”
    “Did he get away?”
    “At first. For months I couldn’t remember who’d attacked me. Then seeing Sven again helped. Clyde came back to St. Barts to finish the job after the movie premiere. That’s when he tried to kill me again but he injured Sven instead.”
    “I heard nothing of this. Not a word. Where is Clyde now?”
    “In a mental health facility in France. They convicted him of three attacks on St. Barts including mine.”
    Astrid shook her head slowly. “I always thought he was hiding something, that he was wearing a mask. I never imagined anything like this. I thought you sent him away because he was a threat to your relationship with Sven because they’d known each other for so long and you didn’t want to share Sven.”
    “I would never do that. I’m really pleased that Sven has so many old friends. I loved meeting them at Judith’s reception. I was looking forward to meeting you, too, but you didn’t come.”
    “I couldn’t.”
    “Do you still love Sven?”
    “I don’t know. I did love him for years. He was my first love.”
    “Didn’t you love the fathers of your children?”
    “I didn’t love Johan’s father but I loved Liam’s.”
    Astrid took a deep breath, her tone resolute and her eyes steady on Sunny’s face.
    “I came here tonight to tell Sven he is Liam’s father.”

Chapter 7
    Sunny no longer heard the storm outside. There was a long silence.
    Astrid waited for a response. Sunny sat with a pensive look on her face, while her daughter and the dog slept on.
    “You don’t look surprised.”
    “I don’t think I am.” She turned over the idea in her mind. “There have been a number of times when I was struck by how much Liam reminded me of Sven; a gesture or a facial expression. I thought it was because you and Sven look so much alike. Even my friend Renee thought they were related. Judith said Liam’s dad was fair as well.”
    “I met Nils in Stockholm, after university. My first job was working for a pharmaceutical company. He was one of the sales executives. He was