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My brain couldn’t reconcile the mess of twisted limbs covered in dust in front of me or the sound of cackling laughter, until Maia gasped, “Ben?” as she tried to push past me.
Damon grabbed her and held her firm.
“Ben?” I growled in disgust and anger.
He was painfully skinny, wearing nothing but sagging, dirty underwear, with sores and blisters all over his body. His hair was falling out in clumps and his teeth were black. I don’t know how he even got up into the roof cavity. His limbs looked far too weak to even hold him up.
He appeared to be holding a tin box and was laughing with mad glee, shaking on the table, until he extended one skinny arm directly at me and yelled, “You, I got you good.”
“What did you do?” I growled, still not even sure this was Ben. I couldn’t reconcile the wasted man in front of me with the little kid I’d left behind.
“Made him send you away,” he cackled, gasping for breath. “I hid and listened at the doors. He thought you were so special. Gonna save us all. But I made them fear you. Said you beat me. You were dangerous. He believed me. But I gave the bruises to myself.”
I heard Maia gasp as I balled my fists, feeling rage pounding at me. Ben had always been a strange kid, secretive and cruel. I’d found him tormenting injured animals more times than I cared to remember.
No matter how much I had tried to take care of him after our mother left, he had always spurned me. Preferring to look after himself. Eventually I had let him, being little more than a kid myself.
“And Maia?” I asked.
“I made a deal with the devil and she was his prize.” He tried to laugh, but coughed so hard he spit up blood. Damon pulled Maia back several steps.
“Had no choice, owed bad people. Didn’t matter. Would’ve killed the old bastard anyway, just for the fun of it.”
“How could you?” Maia yelled, struggling against Damon as though she was going to rip Ben apart. Her concern for her brother gave way to a rage that reflected my own.
“Where are all the farm workers?” I asked, battling to control my own emotions so I could get everything I needed to know out of Ben. From the look of him, I didn’t need to exact retribution. He wasn’t long for this world and it was at his own hand.
“Gone. All gone. As soon as she left,” he jerked his head in Maia’s direction but wouldn’t make eye contact with her. She had tried longer than I had to help care for him. If he had any feelings left for either of us, it would be for her.
“Bastards. Left me alone. Called me a traitor. They’re the traitors,” he rambled. He coughed again and more blood splattered on the table. “Always leaving me alone.”
“Is he sick or injured?” Lexie whispered.
“Neither, he’s an addict,” Damon said. “From the looks of him, he’s been one for a very long time.”
Ben started laughing again, clutching his box with shaking arms.
“Read them all I did. My treasures. All your pain. Stole them all. Laughed at you,” he wheezed out between coughs.
Dawning horror washed over me as I realized what he was clutching in the old tin box. It was where he had kept all his treasures as a kid, but I didn’t think it was full of old broken toys and rocks now.
I lunged at him and grabbed it out of his grasp. He squealed and tried to clutch at it, but he was no match for me. I barked at him, and he froze long enough for me to free it and flip open the lid.
My letters. All my letters to Maia were inside. The ones I had poured my soul into. They were all opened. I felt violated and ill. I didn’t write them for anyone else’s eyes, especially not his.
“Tried to find all gramps’ secrets too, but couldn’t.” He cackled wildly again as I released my hold on him, red spittle flying and landing on the tabletop. “Too late, too late. They’re coming. I called them.”
His fist opened, and a small device fell out.
“What the hell is that?” Dio asked from behind me, laying a hand on my shoulder. I hadn’t even noticed his approach.
Damon snatched it off the table. “It looks like some kind of pager. It’s still on. They have a really long battery life.”
“Fuck,” I yelled, turning and kicking a hole through the wall, trying to ease my fury, but only making Ben laugh harder.
Damon grabbed me and spun me around, his shoulders set with determination and a hard look on his face. “Focus it, Sam. Channel your rage into action that will help us. I don’t know if anyone is coming, chances are there’s nobody at the other end. But I’m not taking that risk. We need to move. Now.”
I grit my teeth to hold my beast back from snarling at him and nodded. If we were going to get the girls out of here safely, we had to work together. Neither of us cared about alpha posturing or even dominance at this moment. Family was all that mattered. I tried to do what he asked and focused my thoughts on getting us out of here safely. He was right; we needed to move.
