Page 99 of Reaper & Ruin
I didn’t argue. There wasn’t much point when she was just trying to wind me up. Instead, I went to the last part of our plan.
Fire.
The first flicker of flames licked at the baseboards as I looked at her one last time. Her face, illuminated by the growing firelight, was both haunting and strangely serene.
“You’re not bad at this,”she said, her tone tinged with dry amusement.“Might’ve made a decent arsonist if you weren’t so soft.”
I snorted, though the humor didn’t quite reach me.“If I’m soft, what are you?”
“I’m dead.”She laughed, the sound sharp and genuine, cutting through the crackle of fire. For a fleeting moment, it felt like we were kids again, before the world had twisted us into what we’d become.
Then she stepped forward, sliding her hand into her back pocket. Something crumpled was in her fist when she pulled it out, holding it my way. I reached out, letting her place whatever it was in my hand, before she closed my fingers over it, holding me still.
“This was your prize from earlier. I wanted to show you to be a petty bitch. But now I want to show you because… because if I’m dead, then I guess she’s dead too.”She whispered.“Close your eyes and count to one hundred. When you’re done, go home. Go home and be happy. That’s it. I promise not to play a game with you again, even if I am going to hate you for a very long time.”
I did what she wanted me to do. For one last time. My eyes shut tight, the numbers slowly started ticking away in my brain as I felt her step back, letting my hand drop.
“Sometimes, late at night and when things are dark, I make a wish on a star.”She whispered to me, but I didn’t interrupt.“Sometimes I wish to be free. Other times I wish to die. But most of all, I wished for you to be alive. I wish you hadn’t left me.”
Guilt twisted further in my gut, but I remained still. Remained silent. She didn’t want a reply. I didn’t have anything else I could offer her.
“Do you want to know what I will wish for now, Atlas?”She carried on talking, leaving no room for my response.“Now I’m going to wish that one day you could love me as much as you love Silver. That one day I could forgive you for leaving me.”
Ignoring her request, I opened my eyes long before I got to one hundred. But it made no difference.
She was gone. Blended into the shadows as though she were made of them.
With a frown, I opened my hand, looking at what she’d handed me. It was a small photo, folded over a handful of times, crumpled and clearly old. But it was so obviously well-loved. Like someone had stared at it more times than they could count. And all of that was fine enough. Nothing of note, even if knowing Danika had such softness in her, was strange. It was more what was in the photo that bothered me.
I was in it. Three at best, but I knew it was me even if I didn’t remember the day the photo was taken.
My father held me. His dark eyes were empty, just like I remembered them being. His black hair was shaved short, a scowl etched onto his face. There was nothing of note about him either, even if I didn’t enjoy looking at his face. No, it was who was on his other side that bothered me.
A little girl. Slightly older than me. Ebon hair, tied into braids on either side of her pale face.
Black eyes, just like the man who held her.
A scowl just like his.
The fire consumed the house behind me, its light swallowing the dark as I stood in the middle of it all. Waiting. Entirely unsure of what I was supposed to do now.
What I was supposed to think.
Danika was dead, as far as the world would ever know. She was gone, and I had no clue if I would ever see her again. Yet all I wanted to do was chase her down. To grab her and ask her to explain why she was in a picture with my father. Years before I remembered meeting her in the nightmare of our childhoods.
Why she looked just like the man who hurt me first.
But she was dead, and she still hated me. I wasn’t foolish enough to poke the bear when she had only just promised she was done with her game. And I needed to go home, like she’d ordered me. So I did just that. I pocketed the picture, grabbed the nearest car, and headed home with one undeniable thought in my mind.
Whatever this was, whatever had gone down today, wasn’t the victory it sounded like. It wasn’t even remotely the end of anything. Giorgio may have paid for his crimes against his eldest son, and Heaven, but he was only the tip of a sadistic iceberg. Only the top of the rot that infested the De Luca family at its core.
No, this wasn’t a win for us. Things were going to get worse.
Much, much worse.
Chapter Thirty Two, Honey, I’m Home
The night was quiet, except for the soft rustle of the trees swaying in the breeze and the occasional chirp of crickets. I wondered if the trees were watching me again. Only instead of seeing me doing wicked things, they were seeing me fall apart.
