Page 110 of Beautiful Ruins
“What?” I shook my head, my brain fighting to keep up. “What about the Mayor? The people who died in that house fire? Mum was investigating them. She wanted to bring them down.”
Even as the words left my mouth, I couldn’t fight the truth simmering just beneath the surface. My entire body tensed.
What if Dad was right? What if Mum had been using those deaths—the mayor—as a front for something else?
Dad exhaled sharply as he paced in front of me. The frustration was evident in every step, his movements on edge and twitchy. “It was a fucking mess.” He shook his head. “Such a goddamn mess. Not only did she put everything I’d done to help Barrenridge in jeopardy, but she also put your life in danger.Yourlife, Sadie.” His words rushed out all at once, spilling into the room. “She didn’t realise what she was doing. Not at first. The people she used to get what she wanted weren’t going to let her get away with it.” Dad’s eyes welled up with unshed tears as he stared at me in the most haunted way. “She didn’t care, Sades. Didn’t care who she hurt in the process. She didn’t care who got killed because of her. She fell in love with someone worse than me, and she couldn’t see past that.”
A part of me wanted to scream he was lying. But what if he wasn’t? What if I’d judged the wrong parent my whole life? I couldn’t deny the way he looked at me, like he was being tornapart from the inside. There was something there. A hint of the desperation—of the truth—he wanted so badly for me to understand.
Still, that didn’t change the fact he’d killed my mother. Even if she was cheating on him, or if she was as guilty as he said.
Dad took a step closer, his eyes softening, his voice low and urgent as he knelt in front of me. “Sades, I know I’ve hurt you,” he said, the raw edge in his words cutting deeper than anything else. “God, I’ve hurt you so much. But I’m going to make this right, I swear.” He reached into his pocket, and I flinched away.
For a heart-stopping moment, I thought he was reaching for a weapon. But what he pulled out was small and worn. His hand hovered in midair for a second too long, then pressed something into my palm.
“This was your mother’s,” he whispered, his voice barely audible. “Everything you need to know, it’s all in there. The truth about Logan, about what she promised him if he helped her. The whole ugly truth.”
My fingers trembled as I gripped the tattered leather diary. The edges were worn, and the leather cracked like a wound that had never healed.
“Logan?” I frowned. “No, he was working for the club. Rowan even said so himself. Logan sent messages to Troy just before he died. He was working for the club, Dad.” I repeated those last words, more of an attempt to convince myself that my mum wouldn’t have put Logan in danger.
Surely, she wouldn’t have destroyed him for some twisted purge she thought was right.
Dad’s eyes softened. “No. He was working for your mother. She promised him, Sades. Promised to get Troy out if he helped her take the Riders down. He believed her. Logan’sdeath wasn’t the club’s fault, sweetheart—it was your mother’s.”
My bottom lip trembled as I stared at my father. Everything I thought I knew was wrong.
“No. That’s not—no. That can’t be right. You’re lying.” More tears fell, and I rocked back and forth the way I used to as a kid when the nightmares wouldn’t stop.
But this one was real. This one didn’t end.
Dad sighed. “It’s the truth, whether or not you want to believe me.”
Was there anyone who hadn’t lied to me? Anyone left who hadn’t twisted love into something I couldn’t even recognise?
“Why? Why would she do that? Logan was everything to me, Dad. And she . . . no! No! She took him away from me.” I screamed into the void, my throat shredded raw. My nails dug into the floor, the pain grounding me just enough to keep breathing. “Logan,” I sobbed. “Oh god . . . Logan.”
Footsteps from outside approached, and I scrambled backwards, my spine hitting a wall behind me. My skin itched from the dust clinging to it. Fear tangled with desperation as I searched for something, any sign that this wasn’t how it ended for me.
Two shadows hovered in the darkness by the doorway, then the first stepped inside, his boots heavy on the concrete. Dust kicked up as he came into view.
Snake.
All the air rushed from my lungs. “Dad?” I choked out. “What—what have you done?”
Snake lunged forward without warning, his eyes dead and mouth curled into something close to disgust. “Times up,” he said, his voice dripping with irritation. He turned to the man behind him—Nicky—and nodded in my direction. “Take care of her. And make sure nobody will recognise that pretty face.”Those words were my death sentence, hanging heavy between us.
My heart pounded as my gaze darted around for a way out, for something, anything to hold on to. But I was cornered, pinned there like a butterfly on a wall.
Before I could process what was happening, Snake yanked Dad away from me. I shoved the diary behind my back, desperate to keep it hidden. Dust swirled around us, catching in my throat.
“That wasn’t our agreement,” Dad said, shoving Snake away. “Sadie remains unharmed. That was the deal, Snake.”
Snake’s eyes narrowed as he shook his head. “Change of plans, Johnny boy. You thought a handshake meant something to me? That’s cute.” His smile twisted, fuelled by the darkness that made him more inhuman than human. “I want that bastard, Rowan, to suffer before I put a bullet in his skull. And what better way to draw him out than to use his precious Sadie. Nicky has already alerted Iron. It won’t be long before our precious VP comes charging in to rescue his old lady.”
Dad’s face drained of colour. “No, that wasn’t?—”
“You don’t call the shots anymore.” Snake spat the words, jabbing a finger into Dad’s chest. “I do. You’re just a pawn, Johnny. A tool. And your usefulness has run out.”
