Page 229 of Ruin My Life

“This statement confirms the irreconcilable estrangement of one Conrad Harrison from the Harrison family.”

Conrad. Not Connor.

Conrad Harrison—Isabella’s older brother, according to the dates on the document.

Everything freezes. My breath, my pulse, the ache ripping through my chest.

With his real name, I find more.

There’s a buried police report from when he was seventeen. Accused of assaulting multiple housekeepers employed by the Harrisons. No charges filed. No trial. Just hush money and a quiet erasure.

They paid them off. Cut him out. Scrubbed him clean to keep their name polished.

There’s nothing else in the system. No footprint. Like he never existed.

But knowing Isabella, she would’ve kept seeing him.

She was mercy made human—always convinced people could change. Always handing out second chances no one deserved.

If she was the only one who stayed…

The only family he had left…

Then when she died—because ofme—he placed his blame. And that blame curdled into a plan. Slow. Patient. Perfect. He already knew who I was. Knew how to get close. How to hurt me.

It all clicks into place. Too damn perfectly.

He never wanted to kill me.

He wanted todismantleme. Piece by piece.

And now—he’s about to take the last piece I have left.

A mother for a sister. An eye for an eye.

He earned my trust. Burrowed into my world. Infected my routines, my habits, my life.

He learned how to navigate The King’s Eye. Had access to the framework. Got so close I forgot to keep my walls up—let him peel them away, one careful layer at a time.

I remember the night I finally told him.

A few months into working together—after too many drinks and a long night patching a security breach—he opened up first. Said he had no family left. Said his sister died, and he never really recovered from it. Claimed she was the reason he took my offer in the first place—so he could funnel all that rage into purpose.

So I admitted it too.

Told him the only person I had left was my mom.

That I couldn’t see her, not while the Songbirds still had eyes in the city. That keeping her hidden was the only way to keep her safe.

He listened like a friend would. Nodded. Said he understood. I didn’t realize he was stockpiling that confession like ammunition.

He must’ve spent over a year digging—trying to find her. But Connor—Conrad—never went to some fancy school. He’s smart, but self-taught. There are limits when you learn alone. My personal network was locked down, stacked in layers of encryption. He couldn’t crack it.

So he found Brie.

She wasn’t taking freelance work anymore. The Black Rose had gone quiet. So he forced her hand—motivated her the only way a monster like him knows how.

He broke her.