Page 75 of Sinful Embers

Silence. Deafening, suffocating silence.

Mark’s face pales on the screen. Nikolas exhales sharply, his jaw tightening. Sabrina presses her lips together, her fingers clenching around the chair she’s sitting in.

“I want to know what the fuck happened that day,” I demand. “How did a twelve-year-old end up in that dungeon? How the fuck did she kill three grown people twice her size?”

Nikolas sighs, rubbing a hand down his face. “Vivienne thought Leigh had stolen her journals and dragged her to the dungeon to teach her a lesson about what happens to lying, cheating, thieving bitches.”

Galina flinches at the words, and Nikolas glances at her. “Those were Vivienne’s words.”

I turn to my mother. “You were there?”

Galina nods. “I was in the dungeon beside that one. Tied to a chair. I didn’t see anything until Nikolas and Sol rescued us.”

I clench my fists. “So, no one saw exactly what happened?”

“No,” Nikolas says, his voice tight. “By the time I arrived, Leigh had been shot with a poisoned arrow.”

“Hold up,” Sabrina interjects. She pulls a book from her backpack and flips through it. “This isn’t mine.”

“Oh, I put that in there,” Dmitri says. “I thought you could make sense of it. It’s written in a language I don’t understand.”

I arch a brow. “What is it?”

“It’s Leigh’s memory journal.”

The room stills.

“You can read it?” Dmitri asks.

Sabrina nods. “Yeah.”

“What does it say?”

Sabrina’s breath hitches. “Oh, my God…”

She begins reading, and with every word, my stomach twists tighter, my rage building, my heart hammering against my ribs.

Vivienne. Gunther. My father.

The things they did. The things they tried to do to Leigh.

Gunther’s tongue reaching for her. Vivienne slicing her clothes open. The way they brutalized her before she fought back.

I see red.

The room fades, the sounds around me disappearing as I can all but see the scene in my head. If Gunther weren’t already dead, I would kill him. Slowly. Painfully.

How the fuck does a child survive that?

The door opens, breaking the silence. The butler enters, holding a package from America. It’s for Dmitri. He opens it, revealing a note from Leigh.

I have it on good authority that you are still viable for the antidote. Try to stay out of the way of golden arrows. –Leigh

Dmitri stares at it in shock, then lifts his gaze to me. “I was there that day. I walked in after Vladimir was shot, but I do know what happened. There was a witness.”

His voice is quiet but weighted with something dark. “Carlos shot Gunther.”

A heavy pause.

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