Page 88 of The Truths We Seek

Another shot echoes before a thud as my dad’s body hits the floor too.

Another chapter closed.

For good.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

HUNTER

I can’t say I pictured disposing of the bodies of the parents of my girl to have ever been a thing I’d do, and yet... here I am at the ass crack of dawn, loading two bodies into the back of their beat up fucking car.

My rage from last night is still simmering beneath the surface, but after everything, my main concern is Quinn. I mean, she’s always my main concern, but hearing the shit they told her yesterday…

I slam the trunk closed and tilt my head back. Yeah, they deserved the end they got. If anything, the ending they received was too kind.

Heading back inside the rundown house, trying to push down the anger, I find Quinn in what I assume was her childhood room. It’s stark, cold, and everything she isn’t. The small bed pushed into one corner of the room. The falling apart dresser beside it, topped with a broken lamp.

“I’m surprised they kept it,” she says quietly from where she’s sitting on the bed, a stuffed bear with one eye in her hands.

“The bear?”

She laughs once, shaking her head. “The room. The bear. Any of it. You heard them. They didn’t want me, they had no choice but to keep me. It’s not even surprising that my childhood was so shitty, because they literally didn’t give a fuck. I was an extra mouth to feed, a liability that they only kept around so they didn’t go to jail... and then to know that Trent basically bought me. Paid them to not ask questions, to disappear... that they didn’t give a fuck about why he would do that—”

“They were shitty humans, Quinn, but they weren’t your parents. They said they took you from your birth mother, and that she died, that’s why they didn’t get money from her. That they didn’t know who your dad was, but that someone in the local PD worked out who you were and said they needed to raise you right otherwise he’d put them in prison. Whoever that was probably thought they were doing right by you, giving you a family outside of the system.” I crouch in front of her, wiping away the tear that spills down her cheek, wanting to wage war for her, despite the fact that all of the people who are responsible for her pain are now dead. “They fucked up, but it sounds like your mom loved you, and would have loved you your whole life if she’d survived. We have a name now, so we can research. Let’s get out of here, and when you’re ready, we can look into it all. But for now, don’t let them take anything else. Not one more day of your life.”

“You’re right,” she says with a sniffle and wipes at her face. I stand up and offer her a hand, which she takes, sucking in a deep breath, then releasing it. When she does, it’s like she released more than the breath, she stands taller, head high, more like the Quinn I arrived here with than the one who had her entire life dismantled. Again. “They don’t get to take anything else from me. Let’s go.”

I follow behind her, watching the phoenix rise from the ashes of her life, and I know that I’ll follow her anywhere. Once she’s outside, I grab the gas cans and walk back through the house, dousing it thoroughly, knowing it’s the best way to get rid of it all.

“You take your car back to the hotel, I’ll deal with everything else,” I tell her once I’m back outside and offer her the pack of matches. “You want to do it?”

She shakes her head and opens the car door. “No, I’ve already destroyed this place once. You do it.”

She gets in and closes the door, not looking back at me once before starting the engine and driving off. Once she turns the corner at the end of the street, I light one of the matches, use it to spark the entire pack, then throw it inside the house, closing the door with my shoe. Once the flames start licking underneath the front door, I start the car and leave, watching the house burn in my rearview.

One thing down. Two more to go.

I didn’t want to let Quinn go back to the hotel alone, but there wasn’t anyone close enough to here to deal with the cleanup for today so I had little choice. There’s already an itch beneath my skin at being separated from her.

Taking a deep breath, I turn the corner and head in the opposite direction than the one Quinn had left in. Now, just to make a call and find the nearest friendly crematorium.

Then I can head back to my girl and make sure she’s really okay, because she might be strong, but what she went through today would be an overload for even the strongest of people.

If I could take it all away for her, carry those burdens myself, I’d do it in a heartbeat. Instead, all I can offer her is to be there for her whenever she needs to break, to help her reignite the embers when it’s time to revive from the ashes again, and I will.

I’ll be anything and everything she ever needs.

Even if it means sacrificing myself.

* * *

The drive back home has been pretty quiet. We ended up trading in her car halfway through day one because it crapped out on us. Thankfully, car dealerships are everywhere, and now I got to gift her a new shiny. Even if she didn’t want to drive it today. It’s day six of the trip back and I’m not surprised she didn’t want to drive. It’s been a long ass trip and it’s obvious she’s processing everything that just happened. Finding out the truth, then disposing of the people who not only kidnapped her but then tormented her, her entire childhood... it’s a lot to deal with.

I’ve been trying to give her time to work through it, though her body count is definitely growing these last few weeks. Meyer’s Christmas present to her this year was definitely an eye opener, but I also get the feeling that she’d have ended up on this path with or without us eventually.

Though maybe not. Either way, I wouldn’t change one thing about her.

Her hand on my thigh steals my attention and I look over at her, finding her watching me as she bites her lip.

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