Page 169 of Dance of Ruin

He glances away.

“The Obsidian Syndicate used this shop as a safe house because McKeesport is right outside Pittsburgh. When you and I walked in that night, they were in the middle of torturing some fucker about God knows what.” His jaw tightens. “They could have killed us for seeing that, but I dunno. Maybe they had recruiting numbers to hit back then.” He shrugs. “Either way, they took us with them that night, and brought us here to New York?—”

He nods his chin at the pack in Val’s lap. “You mind if I snag one of those?”

Val nods and tosses it to him. I scowl as Vaughn lights up.

“Yeah, just go ahead and set my whole apartment on fire with my own fucking cigarettes,” I mutter under my breath.

Naomi shoots me a warning look and squeezes Val’s hand.

Treading on thin ice there, ballerina…

“We went to work in a drug factory. It was mainly kids working there, actually.” Vaughn frowns. “Small hands, and kids don’t steal drugs. We packaged up heroin and coke for distribution to street level dealers…all day, scooping rocks or powder into bags, making sure the number was always the same on the scale. Rinse. Repeat.”

Val stares at him, unmoving.

“It kept us fed and housed,” Vaughn grunts. “And they weren’t cruel to us. We slept in a room with eight other boys, got three meals a day, and that was that.”

His hands curl slightly in his lap.

“Then there was a raid.”

Naomi’s breath catches.

“It was…messy,” Vaughn says. “The cops came in, guns blazing, shock grenades, the whole bit. I don’t think they knew it was kids working there. But you…” He grimaces as he takes a drag of his cigarette and looks up at Val. “You got hit. Not badly, but you got knocked the fuck out. The Obsidian guys were grabbing whatever they could—merch, the kids, whatever—and bolting out the back door as the cops were coming in through the front.”

He lifts his eyes to his brother again.

“They…they wanted me to check if you were dead or not.”

Vaughn exhales shakily.

“I knew what was going to happen if I said you were alive,” Vaughn says quietly. “I mean, it wasn’t a terrible life. It was a step above freezing to death in McKeesport while our parents shot up in a shitty motel. But you…” He looks away. “You deserved better. So I told the bosses that you were dead.”

Naomi covers her mouth.

“I slipped my wallet into your pocket when they weren’t looking so you’d have some money. I mean I didn’t know what was going to happen to you, but I figured the cops would find you, and…well, money’s always good, right?“ He smiles wryly. “I didn’t think until years later, when I was finally able to check to see what had happened to you, that my gym ID had been in that wallet.”

He laughs to himself, taking another drag.

“Me and some of the older kids used to play basketball at the YMCA down the street from the building we all lived in. One of the guards would take us, but we needed an ID card to get to the court. So when the cops found you, and you couldn’t remember shit, and since we look so fucking similar…”

“I became Vaughn,” Val says quietly.

His brother nods. “Yeah.”

For a long moment, no one says anything. The only sound is Naomi’s shaky exhale as she leans into her friend, her eyes darting back and forth between him and his brother like she’s trying to make sure she’s not losing her mind.

Val rubs his wrists, still raw from the ropes. He shakes his head slowly, letting the puzzle pieces settle into place.

Vaughn shifts slightly, glancing down at the floor, then looking at Naomi.

“You saw me once,” he says with a hint of amusement in his tone. “A few weeks ago. Across the street from the theater, outside the coffee shop.”

She blinks, then nods. “Right. I thought I was going crazy.”

“Nah.” His voice softens. “I was watching this guy.” He nods at Val. “I kept tabs on you for years,” Vaughn continues, looking at his brother now. “But always from a distance. I couldn’t risk the Obsidian Syndicate figuring out who you were. Who you were to me. I figured the only thing that would come of that would be them killing you, or dragging you into this shit.”

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