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He had treated me like a brother.
Again the knife sliced through my gut. My hero. My brother. Talon.
He, Jonah, and Marj had all assured me time and time again that I was still their brother in all the ways that counted. We did, after all, share the same father.
“…can never know for sure.”
I wasn’t sure whether Bryce or Chase had spoken. Here I was, learning about a ring my father wore, the symbol upon which could mean anything, and I was stuck having a little pity party, feeling sorry for the fact that I had a different mother from my siblings.
Get over yourself, Ryan. There are more important things here.
“Can never know for sure what?” I asked.
“We can never know for sure whether the symbol was meant to be twisted the way I’ve twisted it,” Chase said. “It could simply be a symbol they created themselves that had its own meaning. There’s just no way to know.”
But I knew.
In my gut, where the dagger was still twisting, I knew.
I doubted that my father and the others worshipped the devil. No, they wouldn’t have wasted their time on worship of anything. Simpson, Wade, and Mathias had worshipped only the almighty dollar. Greed was their motivating factor, and when they had figured out that more money could be made by breaking the law than following it, they had gone to the dark side.
The evil side.
That was what those symbols meant. The symbol of Lucifer. The phoenix.
Evil.
* * *
Ruby and I sat in the visitors area at the prison, waiting for a guard to escort Larry Wade to see us. I hadn’t yet told Ruby about what Bryce and I had learned from Chase Walker. I hadn’t been able to form the words yet. But I had to tell Larry, and Ruby would hear it then. Larry would know whether we were right.
The guard escorted him to the table, and Larry Wade plunked down. Both of his eyes were blackened today, and he had a cut on his upper lip.
“Seems your fellow inmates aren’t treating you very well, Uncle Larry,” I said.
“I’m not your uncle, boy.”
Another brick in my gut. He was right. He was the half brother of Daphne Steel, so he was half uncle to my siblings, but not to me.
“I’d say that’s a good thing,” I said. “One less psychopath I’m related to.”
Ruby touched my forearm, the warmth of her fingertips seeping into me. She was showing me her presence, trying to soothe me. Problem was, I was currently unsootheable.
“You’re not related to me,” he said. “But that mother of yours is the queen of the psychos.”
He didn’t have to tell me. “I didn’t come here to talk about my mother.”
“Who’s this?” He gestured to Ruby.
Ruby flashed a badge. “Detective Ruby Lee, Grand Junction PD. We’ve met.”
“She’s with me,” I said. “Obviously.”
“I’m not here on police business,” Ruby reiterated.
“Then why are you here? Cops make me nervous.”
“She’s here because she’s a friend of mine,” I said. “How did you know I was aware of my true maternity, anyway? You’d have just shocked the hell out of me if I wasn’t.”
