Page 79 of Scarred in Silence

“You took someone who was already bleeding and fed her to the wolves.”

She smirks through cracked lips. “And you still want her. What does that make you?”

I press my knife under her jaw. “The difference? I never pretended to be her fucking friend.”

The words I said aren’t true. I did pretend, but I’m not ready to face those consequences yet.

I slice shallow, just enough to make her bleed. She screams, shaking beneath my blade. Dante watches without a word. He’s waiting.

I turn to Varek. “Your turn.”

He’s sweating, barely conscious, but his eyes flicker open when Ispeak his name. “Lucien…”

“Don’t say my name like you know me.”

“I didn’t know what she planned,” he lies. “I was just—”

“Youhelped,” I snarl. “You kept secrets. You watched girls get sold and said nothing. You knew what happened to Astra. You fucking betrayed me.”

He groans. “I didn’t think it would go that far.”

“You watched them cage her. You were there. You had one fucking job!”

He flinches. “I didn’t touch her.”

“That’s the only reason you’re still breathing.”

I lean close, my voice low and final. “Now you’re a dead man. Aren’t you?”

His lips twitch. “Damien is alive.”

His words slice through me. My face flushes. No. He can’t be. I fucking killed him.

“No,” I say firmly.

“Yes,” he coughs up.

I cast a glance towards Dante, who appears to be neutral on the topic. Fuck.

I jam the barrel of my gun into Varek’s stomach and press until he wheezes.

“Where. Is. He,” I say through gritted teeth.

He spits blood. “He’s the one who put it all together. The auction system. The buyers. The chain routes. Damien is Midas.”

My stomach knots. Hearing it confirmed out loud feels like being gutted.

“He’s in Utah,” Varek adds, barely breathing now. “He runs everything fromThe Orchard.It’s his show now.”

“He’s alive,” I whisper.

Varek nods, head sagging. “He’s been alive. You just didn’t want to believe it.”

Something inside me snaps—the walls of the room tilt. My brother, the one that I buried. The one who took everything from Dante. The one who took everything from me—is alive.

“Why?” I ask, my voice breaking for the first time in years. “Why would he do this?”

“He said you owed him,” Varek croaks. “He said this was your punishment.”