Page 130 of Unholy Bonds

“I still remember that night. I was eight, and my father was enraged and drunk. He kicked my mother, and I—I tried to stop him. I slammed his beer bottle on his back. Oh, he was enraged. He was shouting. I saw my death in his eyes that night. I knew I was going to die.”

“Oh, Ryden,” I said, walking closer to him. He leaned toward me, wrapping his arm around my body. Every part of me ached. I wished I could somehow make him forget all of this, but this pain was what made him who he was.

“He punched me over and over, kicked me until I was half-dead. I knew I was dying, and my mother, for the first time in her life, found the strength and courage to call 911. That was the day we met Arthur Bane. Arthur was our new neighbor, and when he heard the commotion, he came to our house just a few minutes before the cops. He stopped my father. If he had come a minute later…” Ryden’s voice shook.

I couldn’t imagine anyone hurting this man in front of me, but back then, he was only a boy. Eight. Someone easy to break. My eyes burned from tears I couldn’t shed yet.

“While the cops arrested and read Miranda Rights to my father, Arthur Bane took me and my mother to the hospital with another cop in his car. My father went to prison. Arthur was a widower with a son…”

“Victor, Victor Bane,” I whispered, taking Ryden’s hand in mine, feeling how cold it felt to touch.

Fuck.

“Yes. I spent two months in the hospital. Broken jaw, ribs, and various other bones. Bruises, internal hemorrhaging, lacerations. You name it, I had it.” Ryden chuckled slightly as if it were a joke. It wasn’t a joke to me. The thought of him nearly dying unsettled me. If he had, I would have never met him. It made my body go cold.

“Victor was only two years younger than me, and we became friends, brothers. Arthur fell in love with my mother and me. We became a family. It was the happiest I had ever been. My dad…I called Arthur 'Dad' because he was everything my father wasn’t. He taught me things my father had no time for. I wanted to be the kind of man Arthur was.” Ryden bit his lip so hard I could see drops of blood. “Arthur took us fishing, camping. He taught us how to play baseball. Victor was a sore loser, but he loved me.” The smile on his face was nostalgic.

I didn’t regret killing Victor, but for just a second, I felt the pang of his loss like it was my own.

“What happened?” I asked, caressing his face, and he leaned closer, seeking my touch.

“Twelve years. We were happy for twelve years, and then my father got out of prison. He found my mom and dad…. I was studying at BU and was home for vacation. Victor and I went bowling. When we came home that evening, we found them in a pool of their blood, almost dead. My dad begged me to… keep an eye on Victor. Victor had gotten into trouble a few times at school, and he was worried about Victor even when he was dying. I promised.”

“I’m sorry, Ryden. I know what it feels like to lose someone you love. You lost both your mom and dad.” He leaned his head against my shoulder with a sigh. I ran my fingers through his hair, hating myself for being a part of his grief. But it was done, and I couldn’t change anything now.

“You know what the cops did when they saw us? They interrogated us like we were the ones who killed our parents. The man who killed my parents disappeared, and there was no evidence. No fucking evidence. But we all knew it was him. He had an alibi, which was weak as fuck, and he walked.”

I squeezed his cold hand between mine, leaning closer to him. He pressed his lips to my hair.

“God, I hadn’t talked about this to anyone… except Enzo.”

I nodded.

“That’s why you want to find out who really killed Victor. Because you want to keep the promise you made to your dad.”

“Yes.”

“Do you know who killed Victor?” I asked, trying hard not to let my heart scream the truth to him.

I knew he didn’t know yet because if he knew, he wouldn’t be sitting here, telling me these things, opening up about who he was.

I felt like the worst bitch to ever exist in the universe. Even if I wanted to tell him, I couldn’t.

“I don’t know exactly who she is, but I know the alias she uses. K.Y. Wolff and she was from the Convent of Sunflower Children.”

Fuck. The convent. He was so much closer than I had anticipated.

“K.Y. Wolff?”

“Yes. I’ve been hunting her for a while, but she’s sly. Even Reah, who is an amazing hacker, can’t find anything about K.Y. Wolff, but I’m getting closer. The call I just received was from Sister Mary Elizabeth. She was the director of the orphanage, and she just gave me the one person I wanted to talk to. Sister Serena Adams.”

It was hard not to jump, not to scream.

Sister Serena? The only woman who knew my secret, next to The Strangler. I had just thought about finding her and asking her about Logan Jones, and here he was, talking about Sister Serena.

“You found this Sister Serena?”

“No, but she agreed to talk with me tomorrow. I have a feeling she knows Wolff.”

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