Page 17 of Betrayed By Sin

He kneels just as Axle reaches him, bracing as the dog crashes into his strong chest. A rare, fleetingsmile tugs at his lipsas he buries his fingers into Axle’s fur.

“I missed you too, boy,”he murmurs, his voice lower than I remember, rougher,like gravel and smoke.

The sight of him,so unguarded, so real, makes somethingtwist painfully inside me.

I steel myself.“You said it wasn’t safe to talk on the phone.”

Sin straightens, his dark eyeslocking onto mine.The softness from seconds ago vanishes, replaced with somethingharder, unreadable.

“It’s not.”

A shiver runs down my spine, but I lift my chin, refusing to let him see it.“Then talk.”

He exhales slowly, choosing his words carefully. “I knew you would be brought back to them eventually. I knew it was only a matter of time before they realized who you were. But I needed you to stay in my world long enough for you to want it. For you to want me.”

My heart twists painfully.

I swallow against the lump in my throat. “You were taunting them.”

“Can you blame me?” He raises his tone, “They killed my mom!”

“And your family killed my dad!” I shout into the nothingness. The park so quiet and abandoned you could hear a pin drop.

Axle lies down between us, tucking his head on top of his crossed paws.

A long stretch of silence passes between us, “The magnolia’s, Sin. The arch of flowers wasn’t an apology from you it was a giant neon sign proclaiming you had me.”

“I never should have used you as a pawn.” He admits, but I stop him with the raise of my finger.

“The car.” I choke, “you bought me the car your family killed my father in.”

This is such a mess, a Romeo and Juliet love story that was more tragic than their end from our beginning.

“I know it’s fucked, Mags. I know. It was to make them suffer, not you.”

“Because I didn’t know! So, what? You kept me in the dark to control me? Well now I know Sin, you are the one making me suffer.”

“No.”His voice is firm, almost desperate.“I kept you in the dark because I knew the moment you found out, they’d take you from me.”

The air between us is thick withunspoken words, the weight of everything pressing down on my chest. “I belong with them!”

He laughs low. “So, you’re one of them now? You want me dead? My sister?”

I shake my head, forcing myself to stay steady.“Why send Axle?”I whisper.“Why now?”

His expression softens,just barely.

“Because I knew you’d feel alone. And because I needed to know you were safe. I’ve called you at least a hundred fucking times, Mags. I knew they threw out your phone, but I couldn’t help myself.”

My breath catches.

Ihatethat his words make my heart ache.Hatethat part of me wants to believe him.

The moon is high, stars twinkling faintly in the dark sky.The world feels smaller here, just the two of us standing in the quiet, fragile space between past and present.

Axle whines at my feet, sensing the tension in the air.

Sintakes a step closer, his voice quieter this time.“You don’t have to trust me right now. But please, Magnolia, be careful. Things aren’t what they seem.”