Page 110 of Tempt Me

I screamed and punched my fists into the jagged edges of the rock bed until I bled. My blood joined with my brothers.

Fallon moaned, and I wiped my face and walked back over to her. I didn’t feel the impact as my knees hit the ground beside her. I pulled her into my arms and held onto her knowing my fucking life and sanity depended on it.

“Oh, Little Voyeur. What have I done?”

I dropped my face into her hair, holding her as I cried for my fallen triplet.

“Roe?”

The sound came from behind me. Goliath was walking out of the trees, and his arm was lax against his side. His face was beaten and bloodied. Had Judas attacked them? Was that what he meant when he said he had to silence them?

Thank God you’re alive.

“Roe…what happened?” Goliath was assessing the scene in front of him, the pools of blood all around. Some were mine, some Fallon’s, others were Ferdinand’s and...Judas’s.

“I…” I said shakily.

The image of my brother falling over that cliff repeated in front of my eyes like a ghostly shadow that wouldn’t allow me to escape. Randall was right. I would never be able to see my hands clean again. They would always be stained with blood.

The blood of my brother.

“I…” I repeated, unable to even form words.

“Roe, where is Judas? He ran off this way after fucking attacking us. He’s not okay. This was a bad idea, waking him from the sedation. I never should have—”

“He’s dead…I…killed him.”

Goliath stood frozen, blinking rapidly and trying to process my words.

I felt so dizzy.

I wanted to vomit.

I wanted to scream.

I wanted to die.

Fallon moaned in her pain, and I looked at my brother. My vision was spotty, and I knew I was going to pass out. I had to be sure Fallon was safe. I had nothing left to live for.

“Lith…please…don’t let Fallon wake up in…. another hospital…please…keep her safe.”

Later on, I woke up on this bed with Fallon beside me…and my wrist in the handcuff.

Goliath didn’t understand. I couldn’t explain anything to him. He tried for a week to talk to me, to get me to tell him about the events of that night, but I couldn’t. I was haunted. I couldn’t find the words.

Nothing made sense.

Everything hurt.

Judas…killed Xenia.

My brother took away the only light in my life. He’d extinguished her life. I tried not to think about how she must have felt. How scared she would feel for her uncle to hurt her…

Quinn had told me that the killer had been the one to put Xenia in bed. Nothing made sense for how she was laid to rest. Almost like she was preserved and honored, Micah and anyone I hired privately for her case couldn’t match the two different treatments…but now it made sense. Judas fought his mind.

He tried to make it right.

That note.

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