Page 102 of Prodigal Son

Blood spilled down her chest. They were losing time. She needed attention and he couldn’t calm her. Cybil rose from the dirt and snarled.

“Dane! Take Destiny to the house. Tell the bishop what happened. Tell him to help Destiny. I’ll deal with Cybil.”

Destiny scrambled back, hysteria taking over.

“Get her out of here!” he snapped, jolting the boy into action.

Cybil launched again, and this time Cain was prepared. He caught her midair and wrestled her to the ground. She hissed, scratched, and snapped at him, but he was stronger.

Possessed with rage, she gouged deep cuts in his neck as she tried to claw her way free, but he would not let her harm Destiny. Blood seeped from his skin as she fought him, and he held her down, taking his penance for all the wrongs he’d done and waiting for any sort of absolution to come.

He should have never brought them here. Not Cybil and Dane and not Destiny. Lives were ruined. And he had no one to blame but himself.

CHAPTER 29

Destiny’s phone rang and she muted it, not having time to take the call. Par for the course, Maria called her again. The woman would hammer dial her until she answered when she wanted something.

She answered. “Mom, I’m on my way out the door. I have work.”

Her aunts’ voices filled the speaker as they laughed and spoke in Portuguese. The time difference meant they were most likely several bottles of wine deep.

“Mom!”

“Oi, tudo bom, Destiny. Why aren’t you answering the phone when I call?”

“Because I’m busy.” Through the chaos on the other line and their general dysfunctionality with technology, her mother must have missed the part about her having to get to work. “I’m on my way out the door. Did you need something?”

“I haven’t talked to you in some time. What have you been up to?”

“Nothing. My life is boring as usual.” She didn’t see the point of telling her about her nasty fall in the woods. The doctor said she was fine and after a few days off from work she was well rested and back to her regular routine.

“Is it getting warmer there?”

The weather had actually been miserable for the last few days. “It’s cold and rainy.” It had been sort of depressing and she hoped spring would break soon.

She grabbed her car keys. “Mom, I have to go. I’m literally running out the door.”

“You call me later.”

“I will.”

“Kisses.”

“Kisses.” She hung up and raced out the door.

CHAPTER 30

Rain soaked the fields and black clouds darkened the sky. Destiny was gone. The bishop had addressed her memories, and Cain struggled to accept the finality of their parting.

Once Cain situated Cybil in a cell at the safe house, he grappled to face all that he’d done. He forced himself to visit the changed mortal every day, a sense of responsibility and betrayal eating at him like a cancer the longer he silently observed what innocent little Cybil had become.

Cain’s disgraceful actions once again tarnished their family’s good name. No matter how he prayed for redemption, he left a blemish no amount of time could clean. A stain that everyone pitied and wished removed.

He longed for his mother and father’s return, desperate for their love and guidance. Despite how he was shattering on the inside, his foolish pride would not let him shed one tear.

His eyes closed, remembering those last frantic moments with Destiny after the bull attack. He once more suffered the finality of his choices. Eternity was a cruel life sentence to live with mistakes he could not correct and regrets that would haunt him always.

Perhaps Destiny was the lucky one. Her memories were now gone. For him, those last agonizing moments with her would live forever like a scalding brand on his soul.

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