Page 270 of Ignite

She smiles and nods.

“I like that plan.”

“And before we do that, I want to show you my past? I think I need to. Close that chapter for us? I need you to see my life and the truth behind it. I want you to see that side to me.”

I don’t want anything from my past to get in the way of my future, and that’s why Hallie needs to come to Decadence with me.

She needs to see Inferno.

And meet the Quinn family for who they really are.

Yes, we do bad things to even more evil people.

But, we pride ourselves on family. In loyalty. In protecting the ones we love with our lives.

We aren’t monsters. Not entirely.

Or perhaps we are.

But we have good hearts, and like my mom said…that’s all that really matters.

And I want Hallie to see that.

To know, that no matter what, she has my heart and soul.

Chapter 104

CONAN

Song- Damocles- Sleep Token

The pain from my injuries might be fading each day, but that ache in my chest never goes away. It always creeps back in when I think about what I did to Hallie. And about confronting my demons with her. Our final test.

Finn cleared me to leave the house. Just under three weeks since it all happened. I’m probably pushing myself too hard, but I have to. I want to.

I don’t know if I’m more nervous than Hallie as I punch in the code to the gates.

The iron bars swing open, and there she is.

Decadence.

The sweetest hell on earth.

Us Quinn brothers might rule it here, but sometimes I wonder if we’re the ones who are actually prisoners behind these gates.

It wasn’t until a ray of light pulled me out of the darkness that I started to see the monster I’d become. Or maybe I became evil to survive.

I’ll never really know.

But it gave me Hallie. It gave me a family. And a bullet hole in my chest.

I clamp my hand down on her bouncing thigh.

“Welcome to Decadence, trouble.”

She looks up at the purple sign above the chocolate factory doors but doesn’t say a word.

This place broke us. But it’s also the heart of my family. My two worlds need to exist together. I just hope she can see the good in all of us. Enough to make her stay.

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