Page 84 of Sinner
“Screw you, Beck! I trusted you!”
“That’s not…” He pressed against his temple and blew out a breath. “Hear me out. Please?”
“Whatever you have to say, you can shove it where the sun doesn’t shine. I want nothing to do with you.” West pulled pointedly on his bindings, shaking the chair he was tied to. “If you think doing something like this is going to convince me to give you a chance, you’re sorely mistaken.”
Beck’s expression twisted into one of disgust. “Obviously. I could never hope to subdue you indefinitely.”
“So what then? Going to give me more threats?”
“I’m not the enemy here, West.”
“No, you just let the enemy do whatever they please and keep it to yourself. You knew what Juri and Branwen were doing with Yejun, yet you said nothing!”
Beck got to his feet, but the look of genuine remorse on his face only infuriated West even more.
“I’m warning you,” West growled. “Don’t pretend like you give a shit now.”
“But I do,” Beck told him. “I regret being selfish and not telling you both the moment I found out. If I’d known about the poison…I would never allow anyone to hurt you.”
“Just June.”
“I thought it was a sedative! Harmless. A bad prank. Think of it from my perspective. Given the information I had, the ones who were in actual danger were Juri and Branwen, for thinking they could pull one on you guys long enough to get away with it.”
He had a point. Considering they’d grown up witnessing Demons and their dirty work, and West’s group had been labeled time and time again the worst of the worst, it was a fair assessment to make. If they’d caught Branwen or Juri sooner, no one would have had the chance to poison him.
West or Yejun would have snapped his neck long before then.
“That doesn’t give you a pass,” he said, despite his thoughts. Because, sure, maybe they would have done something, but maybe they wouldn’t have. Yejun had let her go in the end, hadn’t he? Basically unscathed.
“As soon as I heard you’d been poisoned, I rushed to my father’s house to search for clues. I was planning on turning him in.”
“He shot me in broad daylight. There was already more than enough to have him arrested.”
“Yes, but once everyone learned it wasn’t his first attempt on your life?” Beck said. “That would have been it for him. No one would be able to talk on his behalf after that.”
“Did you murder Juri?” It’d been on his mind since learning about Beck’s involvement. “Is that what happened? Did you find some of the poison at Hendrix’s house and use it to shut Juri up?” His father had been on the run at the time, so there was no way Hendrix had done it himself.
“I’ve never poisoned anyone in my life,” Beck swore. “You have to believe me.”
“No, I really don’t think I do.”
“This is the first time I’ve ever drugged anyone, and I didn’t have a choice.”
“You didn’t have a choice but to knock me out and tie me up?”
“Exactly.”
West stared at him, waiting for a punchline that never came. Then he sighed. “Beck, let’s not do this, okay? Untie me.”
“You’re not listening.”
“I’m listening, it’s just you’re not making much sense.”
“I told you I went looking for proof against my father.”
“Yeah. And?”
“And it’s not my father who’s the culprit.”
