Page 44 of The Killer Who Kept Me

“Oh…”It was me.

“It’s going to upset you, but I’m not going anywhere, and whatever you feel after hearing what I have to tell you, I’ll share that burden.”

“Well, this isn’t going to be good.”

“It was a long night last night because Brandi shared some information with me. Mike, my tech guy, he was up also, and I was right there with him while he untangled more knots and traps and whatever they say in the web to prove what she said was true.”

I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly dry.

“What did she tell you?”

“She claimed to know who your parents are. She was working with Ramsey—quite closely, actually—over the last year, and he told her.”

Saros knew who’d abandoned me, who’d left me with the Brookeses, and he didn’t want to tell me because it would hurt me. That was why he appeared so shattered.

“Go ahead, Saros, you can tell me.” I had my suspicions, but every time the thought had popped into my head I dismissed it. It was a dark daydream.

“Em, you have to understand, I tried to find the lie.”

“But you couldn’t, and the news is horrifying isn’t it? Someone didn’t love me enough, so they sold me to Ramsey or gave me to him free of charge?” It was the nightmare that had swirled around my head for years.

He closed his eyes and rubbed a hand along his face. “I wish that was what happened.”

If he’d rather that be the truth, I feared hearing it at all.

“Oh,” I whispered.

“Em.” He opened his hand, inviting me to hold it. I took it, and my small one was engulfed by his much larger one. The warmth there was almost overwhelming, and I stared at his hand. He’d used these to hurt, probably kill, but right now he was comforting me with them.

“Just say it, please.”

“Ramsey and Shyla are your parents.” He spoke in a rush, as if the words poured acid over his tongue.

That…that was not what I’d thought he was going to say. I blinked and gawked at Saros. I replayed what he said a few times, but at no point did that make any sense. RJ was their son, and they loved him, treated him as if he were a god. If I was their flesh and blood too, why would they be so awful?

“I don’t understand.”

“I didn’t believe Brandi when she told me, and it’s why Mike had to dig. Brandi explained that Ramsey never wanted another child after he had his heir in RJ. But Shyla got pregnant and didn’t want to get rid of the baby. Ramsey, he never wanted you. Once you were born, Shyla got heavy into drugs and drinking, and Ramsey was her supplier…it left you vulnerable.”

I was part of him, but he didn’t want me.

“I see,” I croaked.

“They hired a midwife, Gretchen Friedland. Upon your birth, Ramsey made sure no papers were filed. Gretchen was paid a lot for her silence. But Mike tracked her down last night, and we called her. She’s almost eighty-nine and very sick, Em. She said it had weighed on her all these years, and it was a relief to let it go. If it wasn’t for her, we’d have never found out the truth.”

“I…” All those years, the pain, the hatred. “Why?”

In a movement so swift, Saros scooped me onto his lap and engulfed me in his arms.

“He’ll pay, Em. They both will, I promise.”

I didn’t know what I wanted. Was revenge what I needed? Or maybe doing nothing was. If my own blood hated me so much to treat me as they had all these years, how could anyone ever love me?

The dam broke, a sob tore through my chest, and Saros held me tighter, never telling me to stop, never leaving. He was keeping the promise he’d made to take on my burden.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“The ax forgets, but the tree remembers.”

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