Page 76 of Buried in Blood
He’ll speak when he’s ready.
That’s the thing about Dante—he doesn’t waste breath. If he’s quiet, it means something.
When he finally does talk, it’s low. Graveled. Like his voice is still clawing its way out of whatever Hell Damien dragged him through.
“He was obsessed with her.”
I don’t ask who.
Because I already know.
Destiny.
I shift my weight, leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed. “That wasn’t news.”
“No,” Dante agrees. “Not to you—it wasn’t. But what I didn’t know—what Icouldn’thave known—is how early it started. How the fuck was it even a thing?”
He looks at me now, eyes rimmed red, voice trembling with restraint.
“She was sixteen when they met. Maybe younger. Some fucked up party. He zeroed in on her like she was a fucking prize. And she—”
He exhales hard, shaking his head. “She thought he saw her. Really saw her.”
Lucien. You know that look people get when they’re drowning and someone finally throws them a rope? That was her. And he was the rope—wrapped in barbed wire.”
I stare at the floor. I know that situation all too well. Astra. She was just like Destiny.
“I didn’t know it was that bad.”
Dante snorts bitterly. “None of us did. Because she didn’ttellus. Because shechosehim. That’s what fucks me up the most.”
He rubs his hands over his face, breathing like it hurts to inhale.
“She went with him willingly. And I blamed myself this whole time. Then—I saw what he did to Harmony. How he breaks you down so slowly, you don’t even realize you’re on your knees until he hands you the chain.”
I swallow hard. “Did he…?”
“She was sold or killed, Lucien.” Dante’s voice cracks. “She made one mistake—one fucking moment of rebellion—and he decided she was disposable.”
I want to punch a hole through the wall.
Instead, I sit.
Because I know where this is going.
And I think Dante’s finally ready to take me there.
“There’s more,” he says, almost like a warning.
Inod. “Go on.”
He doesn’t look at me when he speaks.
“She had a twin.”
I blink. “What?”
He finally turns.
