Page 58 of Silent as Sin
She staggered toward the door, shoulders hunched, the sound of her heels loud against the floor. The storm swallowed her up when she shoved outside, the door slamming shut behind her.
The room exhaled, low voices starting up again. But my gaze stayed down the hall, on the closed door where Wren lay, still believing the lie.
Jewel had torn the poison out, and Warden had burned the bridge. But none of it fixed the damage.
That was on me.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
ELARA SAT ONthe edge of my bed, her handsteady on mine, thumb tracing small circles over my skin. The lamp on the nightstand threw soft light across the room, the shadows stretching long against the walls. Jewel stood at the foot of the bed, arms crossed, jaw locked tight. She hadn’t stopped pacing until a few minutes ago, and the heat in her eyes told me she was still itching for another round.
She was the one who’d dragged Roxy out and forced the truth into the open. Jewel had pinned her in front of half the brothers, made her choke out every lie until it collapsed in on itself. I could still picture it in my head even though I hadn’t beenthere, Jewel’s voice, cutting and merciless, refusing to let Roxy slither away until she admitted what she’d done.
“It was a lie,” Elara said softly, her voice the opposite of Jewel’s intense edge. “All of it. She admitted it in front of everyone. She’s gone now. Warden made sure she won’t come back.”
I nodded, but the motion felt hollow. The ache in my chest didn’t ease. Jewel’s glare burned like she wanted to fight Roxy all over again, but even her words couldn’t quiet the silence inside me. Because Elara hadn’t said Ashen didn’t know. Jewel hadn’t said he hadn’t kept quiet. That silence screamed louder than anything Roxy could have thrown at me.
Ashen had promised me safety. Promised me truth. Promised more than I’d dared let myself want. But when it mattered, he hadn’t stood between me and the knife. He’d let me bleed.
The glass bird on the nightstand caught the lamplight, edges glinting sharp. I remembered seeing it that night I confessed to Ashen, the sight of it making me brave. Now it looked like something fragile that could cut if I pressed too hard.
So I pressed into silence instead.
The knock came later. The sound was low but heavy, carrying straight through the walls. Elara rose, smoothing her palm over my blanket once before crossing the room. She opened the door only enough to see out.
“She’s resting,” she said firmly, her voice carrying into the room.
I curled tighter under the blanket, holding my breath. I didn’t need to see him to know it was Ashen standing there, taking up all the space in the hall. I heard him pause, felt the weight of him wanting to push past. But he didn’t. His footsteps retreated, slow and reluctant, leaving the ache in my chest heavier than before.
The next day, I stayed quiet. I stayed tucked away until Jewel coaxed me into the common room. She stood behind me like a guard until I sat down on the couch beside Throttle. His presence was comforting, uncomplicated. He didn’t ask questions or push words into my mouth. He just sat with me, boots on the table, watching whatever flickered across the TV, making sure I wasn’t alone.
Ashen came in several times. The whole room seemed to shift around him, the air thickening, brothers turning their heads without meaning to. His eyes found me immediately, locking on like he could burn his truth into me from across the room. My chest pulled tight, memory crashing back, his hands, his voice, his body wrapped around mine in the dark.
But I looked away and fixed my gaze on the screen while I continued to make paper birds.
If he wanted to explain, he’d had his chance. He could’ve stopped Roxy before she ever got the words out. He could’ve cut her down with the truth instead of leaving me to drown in it. He didn’t. He stayed silent.
So now I would too.
Not out of spite. Not as a game. But because silence was the only thing that still felt like mine.
Throttle shifted just enough that his knee brushed mine, a reminder I wasn’t invisible. Jewel sat close by, still bristling like she’d happily take Roxy’s head off if the chance came back around. Elara watched me from the kitchen doorway, arms folded, her expression a mix of worry and steel.
The clubhouse lived and breathed around me, the hum of voices, the clink of glasses, the faint roar of engines outside. All of it distant, like I was sealed off in glass.
If Ashen wanted me to believe him again, he’d have to shatter that silence himself.
Because I wasn’t giving my voice away this time.
Not until he earned it.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
THE RUMBLE OFher silence was worse than anyfight I’d ever taken a punch in. Roxy was gone. Warden had made sure of it. No second chances. No loose ends.
Should’ve been a win. Instead it sat in me like sand in a wound. Because the poison she’d left behind was still in Wren’s chest, and I hadn’t been there to rip it out before it sank.
The war room felt too damn big while I waited for my brothers. The walls, the carved-up table, even the chairs seemed to hold the weight of voices that had planned wars, voted men in and out, buried brothers. My cut dragged on my shoulders.My fists hurt from clenching, knuckles begging for something to bleed on.
