Page 36 of Sacrifice

“Yes. They know what happened. They were part of the family business too. So when Adam emerged from his blind rage and realized the gravity of what he’d done, he called them to beg for their help. They gave it to him, but only if he agreed to a certain deal. A deal that they eventually approached us with as well.”

“What fucking deal?”

“Well, they knew their brother’s attempt to frame the Covenant for Miranda’s murder would destroy us and send me—and the other elders—to prison. They also knew we’d probably tell the police everything about the drugs and embryos in an attempt to save ourselves. That way, every single Thorne would wind up in prison too,” he said. “They didn’t want that to happen, for obvious reasons. They also didn’t want to end our business relationship, surprisingly. They wanted to keep taking the mushrooms from us, because it’s such a highly profitable drug, and business was booming. Apparently, a derivative of the dried mushroom can be added to almost every other street drug to make them more effective. Produce a better high, as they phrased it, and command a higher price. So the industry was worth a lot, as you can imagine. Still is now.”

“Right.” I gritted my teeth. “So what was the deal?”

“We would keep working with the other Thorne brothers and producing the mushrooms for them. Butonlythem. Not your father. He would no longer be part of the scheme, and the embryos we received in return for the mushrooms would only come from the other Thorne-owned hospitals. All we had to do was remain silent when we spoke to the authorities, in order to keep Adam out of prison for what he’d done. In return for that,we would receive the very best legal representation to keep us all out of prison too, despite Adam’s initial attempt to frame us for the murder.”

My mind whirled as I tried my best to process everything I’d just heard. “Hold on. If this is all true, why wouldn’t my uncles simply take advantage of what happened? Why wouldn’t they let you and all the other Alderwood elders go to prison, and then come in and seize the land—with the secret wonder-drug cave—for themselves?”

“Not possible.” Augustus lifted one shoulder in a slight shrug. “As I said earlier, the cave is very difficult to find without directions, which only Covenant members know, and the whole area is guarded with lethal traps that we’ve put in place. If any of the Thorneshadever decided to go down that path and tried to take our land for themselves, it’s unlikely they would have survived the attempt. But they always knew better. They made plenty of money from the scheme, so there was no sense in getting greedy and risking everything. They were happy to leave us alone on our land and keep us on as their growers.”

“Right. And my father hasn’t been involved with the scheme since 2004?”

“No. Only your uncles. That’s why you were never told about it,” he replied. “Usually, all Thorne children are told about the scheme as soon as they turn eighteen, so they can continue the family business when they come of age. But there was no point in telling you, seeing as you were never going to be part of it. You would just be a liability. Like your father.”

I rubbed my temples. “Jesus. This can’t be fucking real.”

Even as the words left my mouth, I knew they were wrong. Thiswasreal. Part of me had known something was off the second I saw my mother’s name on the hospital archive visitor list several days ago, and everything I’d been told tonight had simply confirmed that hunch before blasting me in the face withcold, hard reality: that my father was responsible for everything that happened to her.

“It is real, Sebastian. I’ve told you nothing but the truth,” Augustus said. “Your father killed your mother, and I—we—helped your uncles cover up the whole thing to save them alongside ourselves. If we hadn’t done that, the Covenant would’ve been destroyed. We would’ve lost Alderwood. Losteverything.So we had no choice, really. We had to help with the coverup. Had to stay silent all these years.”

I could barely think straight. Could barely even fucking breathe. Augustus’s words kept echoing in my head, crashing against each other, tearing apart the reality I thought I knew. My father—my fucking father—killed my mother.

I kept silently repeating it in my mind, but it still didn’t make sense. How could he? How could the man who raised me, who grieved with me over my mother’s death all these years, have done something so despicable? Twenty years I’d been haunted by the loss, believing she’d been taken and slaughtered by an evil extremist cult. But it was him. It washim.

My mind was spinning now, still trying to process it all. Every memory of us together, every family photo, every milestone—it all felt like a lie now. A twisted charade. For so many years, my father had watched me struggle with Mom’s death and seethe with hatred for the Covenant; watched me plot and scheme in order to force them into admitting the truth. The whole time, he’d stood by and watched, arrogantly assuming I’d never succeed in uncovering the truth.

My uncles were almost just as bad, callously playing their own part in the matter. Likely various other family members as well, like my cousins and grandparents. They all knew what really happened to my mother twenty years ago, but they were more interested in protecting their moneymaking scheme—and the Thorne family name and reputation—than getting any justice for her.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Rose’s expression. She looked as shocked and horrified as I felt; like she was trying and failing to grasp the enormity of the decades-long lie we’d unearthed together. Like she’d woken up to find herself standing in the wreckage of her own life without a clue how to put any of it back together.

“I’m sorry you had to find out like this, Sebastian. Truly, I’m sorry,” Augustus said. “When you came here looking for answers, I had no idea how close you’d get. I thought I could just pretend to go along with your mission to solve your mother’s murder so that you wouldn’t suspect our involvement in the coverup. I thought you’d give up and leave eventually, when no new information came to light. Until that happened, I was happy to spend time with you. It made me feel close to Miranda again, all these years later. It was…” He trailed off, voice turning gruff. “Well, it was nice to feel some sort of connection to her again. But as you pointed out earlier, I was foolish and ignorant to think it could last. I should’ve known Miranda’s son would be just as smart as her. Smart enough to uncover the truth.”

“Is that what you meant earlier, Papa?” Rose asked. “About protecting Sebastian?”

Augustus nodded. “Yes. I had to keep the truth from him,” he murmured. “For his own good. But it’s too late now.”

“For my owngood?” I said, narrowing my eyes. “You didn’t think I deserved to know exactly what happened to my mother? You didn’t think I deserved to know that my own fucking father is a coldblooded killer? Or that half my family is balls-deep in a fucking crime network?”

“It’s not about deserving. It’s about preserving. Your life, in this case.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

He sighed, raking one hand through his hair as he did so. “What do you think your father would’ve done if you knew the truth about what he did, Sebastian?” he asked. “If you hadn’t hid under the table that night, and Jean-Pierre and I took you as well as your mother… what do you think Adam would’ve done to you when he caught up to us?”

Rose cut in again. “Surely he wouldn’t kill his ownson.”

Augustus gave her a hard look. “He killed his own wife to save his skin. That leaves me with very little doubt about what he might do to other family members. Even his own child,” he said. He paused, slowly shaking his head. “I completely failed to save Miranda, despite my love for her. The least I could do after her death was protect her beloved son, even if it meant hiding the terrible truth from him.”

“But Rose and I figured it out,” I muttered. “Enough pieces of it, anyway.”

“Yes. You did. And now I’ve filled in the rest of those pieces for you. You have every answer to every question,” he said. “Now I’d like an answer from you.”

“To what question?”

“Are you really going to take my daughter from me?”

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