Page 127 of Reaper Flame

Hiram slapped me again. The force of his blow sent me tumbling back to my knees.

“You blame me for who you’ve become, but all I did was make you see who you really are.” Hiram yanked my hair and forced me to look into his black eyes. All I saw was darkness. He wasn’t even fucking human! “All I had to do was give you the chance to shine.”

“I didn’t ask for it.”

“But you embraced it,” Hiram said softly. “I taught you everything you needed to know. I gave you everything you could have ever wanted. Is this really how you want to repay me for everything I’ve sacrificed for you?”

“But I never chose this life!” I refused to break down. I would die fighting. “I never wanted it!”

“Don’t you see this was never a matter of choice?” Hiram said. He stroked my cheek gently. His touch made my skin burn. “This path was your destiny.”

“This wasn’t destiny!” I pushed his hand away and staggered to my feet. “I had a normal life until you came along and destroyed everything.”

“Do you think growing up in Evergreen was normal?” Hiram snarled. “You never belonged there, and you know it. You found your home in Blackthorne Towers. Do you really think you would have been happy settling down with a silly boy who brought you CDs? You deserved more than that.”

I looked at Rocky and he shook his head. I’d never shared that with anyone before. My mouth went dry. “How do you know about that?”

“Because I was watching,” Hiram replied. “Do you think I would have gone through all of this trouble for any girl? The only reason you were in Evergreen was becauseIallowed you to be there.”

“I don’t understand,” I stammered.

Suddenly, I felt dizzy and struggled to stay standing. My vision spun. Everything else fell away, making it feel like we were the only two people in the world.

“Let me show you,” Hiram snarled. His hand closed around my throat, and he forced my head to the side to reveal the scar behind my neck. “This? This means nothing!”

Hiram slid a knife out of his sleeve and sliced my cheek. I barely registered the stinging scratch, but the liquid warmed my skin. Zander struggled against his captors, but there was no way he could escape as a goon shoved a gun underneath his collar.

“This?” Hiram held out the blade for everyone to see, allowing my blood to drip onto the floor. The droplets made a tapping noise as they bounced off the stone. “This means everything!”

Vomit rose in my throat, stinging the back of my nose.

“Haven’t you ever wondered why I haven’t killed you like the rest of them?” Hiram asked. It’s a question I used to ask myself. If anyone else acted in the way I had, Hiram would have killed them years ago. “It’s your blood!”

“My blood?”

“Ourblood,” Hiram corrected. “We share it. You were born to be my successor.”

“What?” I couldn’t find the right words. “I-I-I don’t understand.”

I knew nothing about my birth family. No one had ever given me information. The staff at Evergreen told me all they knew. I got dumped as a baby at the group home. No documents. Nothing!

“Let me tell you a story...” Hiram looked like he was performing onstage. “One day, I discovered my pregnant sister wanted to turn me over to the police. She didn’t like what I was doing. Someone had put silly ideas in her head, and she wanted to put me away. Me! Her own brother! Her brother who’d done nothing but protect her!” I’d never seen Hiram like this before. He was out of control, his emotions peaking into mania. “Naturally, she had to pay for her betrayal. I killed her, of course. When I pulled you from her belly, I didn’t expect you to survive, but you did.”

This couldn’t be happening...

It couldn’t!

“That’s when I knew you were the one who had to come next!” Hiram let go of my throat, and I put my hands up to my neck, gasping for air. “Do you see now? This is what you were made for.”

“You were the one who dropped me at Evergreen…”

“Who else?” Hiram cackled. “I’ve been watching you, Kitten. All this time. I waited until the right moment to bring you back.”

“It wasn’t Rocky’s fault,” I mumbled to myself, thinking about how many years I’d spent hating him for believing he handed me over. I thought Rocky robbed me of a future, but I was wrong. I’d been dreaming of a future Hiram would never have let me have, regardless of who was in my life. “You’d have taken me anyway…”

“But turning you against him was so much more fun!” Hiram said gleefully. “Wasn’t it?”

“You wanted me to hate him!” I understood now. He wanted me to be like him. Bitter, twisted, betrayed. “You knew it would break me.”

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