Page 119
Story: These Shattered Memories
I go tense, keeping my face carefully blank. He’s building toward something, and I can see it before he says it.
“My apologies, Cordelia.” He turns back to me, triumph gleaming in his eyes. “My wife’s death was not an accident. She was murdered. And her killer stands among us.”
The room erupts. I barely hear the uproar—my mind is already sprinting ahead, assembling the puzzle I should have solved sooner.
“What are you saying?” James Tartt hisses out.
My father’s voice slices through the noise. “Rowan, would you like to tell them, or shall I?”
All eyes shift to me. I draw a quiet breath, unclenching my fists, only to clench them again. Xander shifts beside me, a subtle step forward.
Protective.
“You all know Zaina demoted our third son two years ago,” my father continues. “He resented her for it, blamed her for his failures. So, he plotted against her.”
My heart pounds against my ribs, a sharp boom against my chest but I bite it down, tilting my head. “Are you suggesting I killed my own mother?”
His smile is like a razor. “The evidence speaks for itself.”
At his gesture, a guard steps forward with an envelope. My father retrieves it slowly, theatrically, pulling out pages.
“These are records of payments made from Rowan’s accounts. One, to a mechanic who serviced Zaina’s car—just days before her death.”
I don’t flinch. But inside, everything coils tight. I hear my own laugh because of course, how could I be such an idiot?
“So, it’s you,” I say. “You’re the one behind Haze. You killed Hawthorne, Daniel Tang, Trist. All of them. It’s been you all along.”
He smirks; eyebrow raised. “What are you talking about, Rowan?”
“This is your coup. You pin this all on me, maybe Hayden and Xander too then clear the way for your own nomination. Remove us from the picture, and suddenly, you’re the only option left.”
“You sound insane,” he shoots back.
I tilt my head. “Then tell me, why Haze? Why go through all that trouble for a drug that is killing people?”
Around us, the sanctum has descended into chaos. Members of The Keepers speak between themselves. The paper my father was holding being passed around the room, but I know that flimsy evidence won’t hold up for shit.
“You’re delusional,” my father says, looking as unaffected as I’m trying so hard to sound. “Your mother cast you aside. You retaliated by murdering her.” He turns to the rest of the room, voice rising. “If he could betray his own blood, what makes you think he won’t betray you?”
“He’s lying,” Hayden grits out from where he stands.
Another loud spring of debate erupts. Some are nodding at my father’s words now that he’s tugged on their biggest insecurities. Some look on with doubt, but I can tell my father is swaying them. I need to get a handle on this quick.
“If you’ll give me the chance, I can show you the payments made from his account, the messages, and all the secret conversations.” He makes another gesture and the guard who handed him that paper hands the Keeper beside him an envelope. Kingston White, my mother’s second Enforcer.
I keep my face neutral, watching faces contort and shift, the uneasy buzz settling over the room. I want to reach over to my father and kill him with my bare hands. I want him writhing on the floor as I choke the life out of him. Hate I have kept hidden over the years seems to rise to the surface all at once, a volcano ready to erupt.
Next to me, I know Xander feels the same. I know more than anyone he wants our father dead for everything he did to him, but we can’t kill him here. Firstly, no weapons are permitted in the sanctum and secondly, if I kill him, that will only decrease my legitimacy.
I need The Keepers to side with me willingly, show them that my father has lost his mind, that he is the one who is guilty, not me
I meet his gaze now, letting the murmurs continue. “No need to bother yourself, Kingston,” I murmur, letting my shoulders relax. The old man with deep brown skin looks up at me, surprised. “All you’ll find in there are fabricated bank statements, or some artificially made recording of my voice, maybe even a transcript of a supposed conversation I had with this mechanic. There will be no photographic evidence, no video, nothing, just made up lies.”
Kingston fishes out a paper, reading it over his face solemn. I smile, because he knows I’m right. “You all realise what this is, don’t you?” I continue, turning to look at my father.
His face twists. “And what, pray tell, isthis, Rowan?”
“It’s everything you’ve just accused me of. A desperate attempt to seize power,” I say simply, taking a step forward. My shoes echo softly against the granite floor. “You’ve always wanted this, wanted what we had. Is that why you beat us, flayed our backs until they were bloody and raw, all because you knew you could never have a sniff of the power we would eventually wield? Did you feel emasculated because she was The Head of The Snake and not you? She made you her bitch, and it drove you insane.”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119 (Reading here)
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134