Page 10 of Sinner
“He believed the Demons would have something to hide, and in his mind, that was enough to send my little sister on a wild goose chase. She, like an idiot, took him at his word. I thought she was smarter than that. That I’d—” Briant stopped himself, and Nix gave him a moment to collect his thoughts.
Nix understood what Briant was going through right now. He’d spent months blaming himself just like him. A part of him would probably always take some of that blame, even though logically, neither of them had any control over Branwen or her actions. Her choices were her own.
Yet they were the ones left here to pick up the exploded pieces.
“In the end, she was selfish, just like him.” Nix shook his head. “They deserved each other.”
“Except Juri never loved her,” Briant said. “To him, they were friends, but he knew she felt deeper feelings. He never confronted her about them, chose to allow it to continue, even knowing he was giving her false hope.”
“He really said that to you?”
“Yeah.”
“Bastard.” He could have at least had the decency to lie in that instance. It would have been the only forgivable time. Instead, he’d chosen to tell a grieving brother that his sister had died for a love that had never even been real? “He didn't tell you any of that out of the goodness of his heart.”
“He was trying to clear his conscience,” Briant agreed. “Oh, I’m aware.”
“If he wasn’t dead already, I would—”
“Get one of your boyfriends to beat him up,” his cousin interrupted. “But that’s all you would do, Phoenix. Even knowing all of this, you wouldn’t allow them to kill him. Despite everything you’ve been through, you’re still a good person.” He smiled at him sadly. “At least I’ve still got that. My sister might have been misguided, but I’ve realized I don’t need to worry about you anymore. You can take care of yourself. You won’t lose yourself the way she did.”
Nix blinked. “Don’t you already think I’ve done that?”
“Because I thought you’d been brainwashed by them?” Briant shrugged. “I was wrong. To be honest, most of that was Juri feeding me made-up stories to help sell the narrative. He wanted me to help him the same way Branwen had, and when I refused to involve myself in your life, his true colors came through.”
“He told you about drugging Yejun, but did he tell you about how they’d almost murdered West?” He was still convinced they were missing something in that regard, that they’d had it wrong, and Juri and Branwen weren’t responsible for that piece of the puzzle. It was supposed to be a secret, but at this point, Nix needed to confide in his cousin to get answers.
Maybe his sense of trust wasn’t completely shattered after all, since he fully believed he could count on Briant not to share this information.
Or maybe he was merely being an idiot again and trusting someone when he shouldn’t.
Only time would tell.
Briant’s brow pinched, and he straightened in his seat. “What? What are you talking about?”
“So he didn’t.”
“No, he didn't say anything about that and…I’m pretty sure he would have. He was really unloading, almost desperately.”
Which meant Juri hadn’t known. Was that what he’d been trying to tell him before he’d passed out? That he hadn’t been a part of that? But Branwen wouldn’t have acted alone, especially not for something that serious. Up until that point, they’d broken a few laws and would have made enemies out of the Demons, sure, but it was a far cry from a murder charge.
And if they’d merely been searching for evidence to prove the Demons were awful people, why would either of them even think to take it that far?
From the beginning, Nix had felt there was more to this, and even though they kept peeling back layers to the story, he hadn’t changed his mind. There was someone else. Someone who gave that account to Dew. Someone who’d somehow convinced one of them, Dew, Branwen, or Juri, whoever, to slip West the poison.
Someone still hiding in the shadows, treating everyone else as fodder.
Branwen.
Dew.
Juri.
They’d been expendable. Tossed aside the moment they’d been caught and outlived their usefulness.
“It’s a member of the Club,” Nix stated, talking out loud. “Whoever is really in charge of all of this. It has to be a member.” Probably someone on the Order. “Hendrix?”
That’s who they’d suspected in the beginning, and after finding that email sent between him and Dew, they’d been even more certain. It was the only person who made sense. It also explained why everything had stopped after the initial poisoning had failed. The Demons had used Nix as a distraction to make the Order and whoever had poisoned West think they were busy searching for a hacker. It’d bought them time, yet despite all of West’s work, they hadn’t gotten much closer to answers.
