Page 37 of Where Sinners Repent

A low chuckle rumbles in my ear. Amused and smug.

“Little sister,” the voice purrs.

Ice-cold dread sluices through my veins.

“Isaac,” I whisper, eyes falling shut.

“So, she does remember we exist,” my brother muses. I can hear the cruel smirk in his voice. “I wasn’t sure if you got our little message.”

My top lip curls at the memory of the state of my studio. “What do you want?”

I can barely keep the phone to my ear with the way my hand shakes. The voice I haven’t heard for years but could never forget. Isaac is the eldest of my brothers, and the cruellest.

The very voice spilling through my phone is one that haunts my nightmares. One full of taunts and threats and vicious promises.

He chuckles.

“Can’t a brother call his little sister?” he croons. “We miss you, Roxanne. Why have you been hiding from us?”

His voice makes me feel sick. I settle heavy on the bed before the floor falls out from under me.

It’s been years. Years of them not bothering to find me. Can’t they just leave me the fuck alone?

I can just imagine him pacing in that godforsaken house. Walls covered in graffiti and holes in every room. Cigarette ash deep in the carpets. The smell of stale beer and sex. My other brother, Ethan, sitting on the couch with his friends, the whole fucking clown show just grinning at my fear.

“Imagine my surprise when we found you in Devil territory,” he continues. “You’ve been keeping interesting company.”

My heartbeat stumbles over itself.

I don’t reply, and he scoffs.

“Oh, Roxanne. Sweet little Roxanne. Don’t tell me you’re opening your little whore legs for a Devil now?” The backs of my eyes burn with rage I can barely keep inside. “That’d just be disrespectful, you know that, right?”

Every word he utters comes out as a taunt. Teasing and prodding, with a smirk on his face the entire time.

“Things have changed, little sister.”

“What do you want?” I grit again.

He clicks his tongue.

“Hmm, I suppose I don’t want anything from you,” he muses. The silence in his pause has my fingers tightening around my phone. “Yet.”

A hot tear finally slips past my lashes.

You didn’t run far enough, Roxy.

Far enough doesn’t exist.

“Leave me alone,” I plead.

A grunt rattles the speaker. “I don’t think I will. Oh, and Roxanne?”

I wait, biting my tongue until I taste blood.

“You remember Jacob, right?” Everything in me freezes. My next breath is lodged in my throat. “Who am I kidding? Of course you do.” His tone is laced with disgust. “Let me know if you see him around. We haven’t seen him in a few days.”

He knows.