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“He started posting the photos to the girls. I would have advised against that if I’d known, but I hadn’t. There was no need for the girls to freak out the way they did.”
Actually, yeah there was every reason to freak. Piper sure would have done if someone was taking pictures of her without her knowledge or consent. Posting them seemed like a progression. A taunt, even. It would no doubt have escalated further.
“They reported it.” Enzo rolled his eyes, implying the girls had been dramatic. “A couple of them saw Gian from a distance. They weren’t sure if it was him or me—we looked a lot alike. Anyway, Levi came to the house, did a little search, and he sure as shit found plenty of photos. I took the blame. Said it was me. Gian was too frozen by fear to say a word.”
Or simply happy to let someone else suffer his punishment. Piper had no fondness for Celeste, but she still wouldn’t have tossed false blame at the woman’s feet. Yet, Gian had let his brother throw himself under the damn bus. Not very ‘brotherly.’
A cold burn slowly carved its way across her forehead. It hurt like a mother. Piper felt tears pool in her eyes. She blinked them back, refusing to shed them.
“I was always in trouble back then, so Levi found it easy to believe it was me,” Enzo continued. “He took me to the prison at Knox’s request. I asked Levi to have someone keep a watch on Gian while I was gone. You see, our father was a piece of shit. Griff beat on me and Gian whenever he fucking pleased. I used to protect my brother, but I couldn’t do that from prison, could I? Now, ask me if Levi kept a watch on him.”
Her mouth dry, she swallowed. “Did Levi keep a watch on him?”
“No, he didn’t.” A muscle in Enzo’s cheek ticked. “So he had no clue that my father took a bat to Gian. I knew. Gian was telepathically screaming for me to help him. I couldn’t do shit. See for yourself.” He gripped her hand painfully hard and tossed a look at Clyde. “Make her use her gift to access that memory.”
And then Piper wasn’t in the living room anymore. She was in a dull, cramped, shadowy cell that reeked of sweat, mildew, iron, and blood both old and new. Chained to a cold wall, she could see cages hanging from the ceiling outside the cell. Could see torturous equipment such as the Judas chair and the iron maiden. Knox’s Chamber, she guessed.
Whimpering people hung limply in the manacles attached to the walls. Another lay on a bed of spikes, weeping. Someone out of sight cried out as a whip cracked through the air and slapped flesh.
A voice edged with pain and panic blasted into her—no, into Enzo’s—mind … Fuck, E, help me! Where are you? He’s lost it, he’s going to kill me.
Swamped by terror and rage, she/Enzo called out, Get out of the house, G! Fucking run. I can’t get to you. But the words only bounced around her/his mind, because the cuffs prevented whoever they shackled from telepathing outsiders.
Again and again, Gian called for his brother. Again and again, she/Enzo tried and failed to urge him to run while also begging the guards in the Chamber for help, but no one paid her/him any attention. Powerlessness crawled through her/ his veins—
Piper snapped out of Enzo’s memory, shuddering out a breath.
His eyes blazing, his jaw hard, he said, “All the time I was chained to that wall, I could hear my brother calling for me, but I couldn’t respond. Gian must have thought I didn’t care. You’re helpless right now, just as I was then. You want to cry out to a person important to you, just as I did that night. But there’s nothing you can do. It’s enough to make a person murderous, isn’t it?”
Hell, yeah. She wasn’t gonna say that, though.
Pain blazed along her upper chest, throbbing like a bitch, as the scalpel sliced her yet again. Her demon snapped its teeth, raring to retaliate, infuriated that it couldn’t.
“So your father killed Gian?” It was more of a guess than a question.
“No,” replied Enzo, surprising her. “Gian killed him later that night.”
Well she hadn’t seen that coming.
“Neighbors reported screaming. Levi showed up. Gian told him it was self-defense and that our father attacked a second time that day. Levi said Griff’s soul told him a different story. Pure bullshit, I’m telling you.”
“You’re saying Levi lied?” Doubtful. Highly fucking doubtful.
“I’m saying he wouldn’t listen. He put more weight into Griff’s words than in Gian’s. My brother telepathed me, terrified. Said he couldn’t make Levi hear him. Said the reaper was going to bring him to the prison, and Gian … he killed himself right there in our kitchen. Grabbed a knife and slit his own throat.”
