Page 49 of Queen of The Reapers
After a few minutes of driving, I muster up the courage to speak again. “How is she?” I ask, hesitation coating every word.
“Alive.” Cyrus deadpans. “Barely. No thanks to you.”
“That’s not fair.” I say, shaking my head. “You guys weren’t there. You didn’t hear all the things she was saying. She was taunting me.”
“Drop it, S… Stevie.” Tristan orders, “just be grateful we got there in t… time.”
“In time for what?” I snap, glaring at the two of them. “To stop me from getting the truth? She was about to break.”
“She was about to die.” Cyrus retorts, looking out at the road ahead. “She was baiting you, and it fucking worked. If you had bothered to ask us,” he adds, “we would've told you questioning her was a waste of time. We’ve been monitoring her since her arrest. You're the only person from the outside world she's spoken to. She played no part in your sister's kidnapping.”
“I d… don’t get it. We ruled her out weeks ago.” Tristan huffs, glaring at me through his rearview mirror. “What the f… fuck were you thinking?”
“Dimitri offered to help me with something I knew none of you would. He thought it was a good idea to question her, and I agreed.”
“Don’t even start trying to defend Dimitri now.” Cyrus snarls, shaking his head. “He is just as in the wrong as you are.”
“How?” I snap, glaring at the back of his head. “All he did was help me.”
Cyrus lets out a mocking laugh before turning in his chair to stare back at me. “You honestly believe he didn’t want that interaction with you and Jessie to play out just like it did? That he was only there to help you?”
“I don’t know what to believe.” I retort, cocking my head. “It’s not like you guys keep me in the loop with anything.”
“Let me give you a crash course.” Cy spits, narrowing his eyes at me. “Dimitri Evanoff is the worst kind of monster. A liar and a manipulator. He preys on people’s insecurities and toys with their heads for his own sick satisfaction. Assuming he’s a friend is one of the stupidest things anyone can do.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “You say it like you’ve experienced it yourself.” I mumble.
“Maybe I have!” He yells, letting all the anger and frustration explode out of him. “You don’t know shit about my life or what I’ve been through. But this is typical Stevie behavior. Quick to decide without thinking about the fucking consequences. You could’ve murdered someone tonight in the middle of a fucking prison. Do you not get how stupid that was?”
“At least I’m doing something to save my sister. You guys aren't doing anything! I get you don’t like Dimitri, I don’t either, but at least he’s being proactive. The four of you could give two fucks about Alex.”
“What the hell else are we supposed to do, huh?” Cyrus asks, glaring at me. “We have jobs to do, people that depend on us. We can't just stop living and throw everything aside to make you happy. We've hired the best men for the job, and have redirected a lot of our resources towards finding your sister, but you're still not happy. No. You’d rather have us out there on the streets chasing a fucking ghost.”
The wordghosthits me in the center of my chest and I audibly gasp. A ghost.Is that how they see Alex?
“That’s enough.” Tristan warns, placing a hand on Cy’s shoulder.
“No.” Cyrus says, shaking his head as he lowers his voice. “It’s been long enough. She needs to hear this.” Cyrus reaches for my hand and squeezes it tight. “Princess, I know you’ve been through a lot,” He says, locking eyes with me, “but these last few weeks it's like you’ve become a different person. Your need for violence is only getting worse, and it all circles around this idea that if you fight hard enough, you’ll get your sister back. But P, no amount of bloodshed will bring her back. You almost killed Jessie back there, and to what end? Killing her wouldn't have brought your sister back. Nothing will. It’s time for you to accept that Alex is gone and there’s a good chance she may never come home.”
“She’s not gone.” I say, shaking my head in denial.
“She is.” He says, his voice taking on an even softer tone. “We all know it. The Mercenaries know it. Hell, even Dimitri knows it. It’s why it was so easy for him to prey on you. The only person in the world who hasn’t accepted that she’s gone is you.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing.How could he say that? How could they all think that?Then I realize, with startling clarity, what's really going on.They’re giving up.On Alex, and on a search that they neverreallywanted to be a part of.
“Dimitri was right.” I say, blinking back the tears welling in my eyes. “You guys don’t give a shit about Alex and you never have. God, why didn’t I see it? It was never in your best interest to find her. She’d take me away from you, and let’s be honest, the only thing the four of you have ever cared about is yourselves.”
Cyrus sighs as he runs his hands down his face. “You’re wrong.” He says, before moistening his lips. “We care about you, but I’m starting to see just how stupid that is. I thought I could reason with you. That if I just talked to you, you’d wake up and see how far you’ve fallen from grace. But I was wrong about you. You’re just another one of Dimitri’s fucking puppets. Only this time, you might succeed in what the other one couldn’t. All the bullshit you’ve pulled and all the damage you caused might actually be enough to rip this family apart.”
Twenty
The house is empty.Even without double checking, I can tell I’m alone. It’s too quiet and the air in the room is too cold.
I slip off my heels and throw them against the wall, letting out a fraction of the anger brewing inside of me. They crash against the pristine white wall with a thud and a cruel smile forms on my lips. It feels good to let it out. To be the one inflicting the damage instead of feeling it.
But once I see the black scuff marks and cracks my outburst left behind, my smile fades.What did I do?
I step forward and run my fingers along the cracks, as if my touch alone has the power to heal the damage.It doesn’t.And the more I try to fix it, the more the damage spreads.
