Page 12 of Cruel Knots

Callum gave me the silent treatment whenever he got mad at me. Only after I’d apologized and cried my eyes out, he’d agree to talk to me again. Back then, I’d been too young to recognize his abusive ways.

I’d almost forgotten what he was like during these past five years. His absence transformed me from a sullen, quiet child to a happy young woman who enjoyed the company of her close friends and loved hanging out in bookstores.

Mere hours passed since Callum came crashing into my life and I was already an anxious, sobbing mess.

Please let Damien and his brothers be okay, I pray, hoping Callum wouldn’t hurt them.

The purr of a car’s engine startles me out of my thoughts. Sitting up, I peer out of the window and catch sight of Callum’s silver Mercedes slowly driving closer to the house.

Wiping off the tears on my cheeks, I jump off my perch and dash down the hallway to reach the staircase. My feet fly down the steps as I hurry toward the entrance hall.

Callum is just entering through the door when I reach the room. I desperately run past him and stare all around the empty lawn. No matter which direction I look in, I can’t see Damien, Leon, or Mikhail.

“What are you doing?” Callum’s voice comes through the door. “It’s cold out there. Come inside already.”

Marching back inside the house, I find him sprawled on the couch. “Where are they?” I demand in a loud voice.

“Who?”

“You know who! Where’s Damien and his brothers?”

“Forget about them, sweetie,” he says with a satisfied grin. “They’ll never bother you again.”

“What do you mean, Callum?” I ask, feeling a surge of fear chilling the blood in my veins. “This is their home. They don’t have anywhere else to go.”

“They’re dead, Lucia,” Callum says in a calm tone. “Stop with your tantrums already.”

“How can they be dead?” I ask, refusing to believe a thing my brother is saying.

“They’re dead, Lucy. They’re never coming back.”

An ache goes through my chest. “You’re lying,” I shout in a broken voice.

He fixes me with an exasperated look. “I’m not lying. They’re dead and rotting away in a pile of garbage. I threw them away in the same place you picked them up from.”

Rage flares in my chest, wiping out my fear and sadness. Raising my fist, I run toward my brother. “Tell me where they are!” I shout, hitting his chest viciously. “Bring them to me right now!”

“Stop it!” Callum roars, grabbing my wrists and throwing me onto the couch. With a deft move, he straddles my legs with his thighs and uses his weight to pin me to the sofa.

“Let go of me!”

“I don’t like insubordination,” he says, his eyes glowing with rage. “Especially from you, Lucy. Don’t take advantage of my love, Sister.”

“Love,” the word falls from my lips like a curse.

Your brother loves you, honey, but it’s a festered, rotting kind of love, my mother’s voice whispers in my mind. If you’re not careful, his obsession will trap you forever.

These were the words of warning my mother told me when I was ten years old. She’d been dying at the time and these were her last words to me.

Gazing into my brother’s eyes, I wonder if Mom was in full awareness when she said those words to me.

Shortly after she died, Dad sent Callum to Europe to look after his businesses there.

We missed Mom over these past five years but our household was a peaceful one. No one was mistreated or abused. It’s barely been a day since Callum returned and my world is already burning in an inferno.

“Tell me the truth, Callum,” I say in a low, grim voice. “What did you do to them?”

“I didn’t lie to you. They’re truly dead, sweetheart.” His hand reaches out to brush the tears rolling down my cheeks. “You don’t need them or anyone else. I’m here now. You’ll always have me by your side.”

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