Page 73 of Twisted Truths

“Unless Tanner had something to do with the murders?” Gabriel muses.

“You think he was working with your parents?” I ask.

“I don’t know. We’d need to see if there’s a connection.”

Hadley bites her bottom lip, her wide green eyes meeting mine. “Do you think Seraphina told him Zara was pregnant?”

My stomach sinks.

“There’s no way,” Gabriel says, shaking his head. “She wouldn’t tell an outsider anything.”

I stare at the photos on the mantle, my mind racing over all the possibilities. “Unless he was no longer an outsider to her when she realised she could use him.”

Gabriel looks at me sharply. “What do you mean?”

“You broke your rules or whatever when you announced my sister was pregnant with your child, didn’t you? Maybe when Tanner rocked up asking about her, your mother put two and two together.” I drag a hand through my hair. “If she knew Franklin wasn’t really yours, she might have wanted to remove Zara from the equation before anyone found out the truth.”

“You think she orchestrated it all?” Hadley asks.

I shrug. “Why not?”

“What would Tanner get out of it?” Gabriel asks.

“He’s a manipulative, abusive bastard. If he was searching for Zara, he’d want to punish her for leaving him.”

Hadley picks up the photo from my high school graduation. “And the rest of your family was just collateral damage?”

Bile rises in my throat, and I stumble to the couch and sink onto it. Were my family really killed because Zara was trying to escape an abusive relationship? Why didn’t she tell me? I would have found a way to help her. Hell, Levi would have gotten her out. Instead, she was forced to ask Gabriel for help, and now she’s dead.

“Was he at the funeral?” Gabriel asks.

I shrug. The day was a blur. I couldn’t tell you who was or wasn’t there. “So, Tanner assaults my sister, and maybe helps have her killed, and now my nephew is trapped with people who see him as … what? A weapon?”

Gabriel shakes his head. “Not a weapon. Franklin is their Divine Light.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

He exchanges a look with Hadley before releasing a heavy exhale. “The Sunfire Circle’s core beliefs centre around history moving in divine circles, times of darkness that are followed by illumination brought by a chosen vessel. This pureblood child, born under the light of the ring of fire, is seen as the Divine Light. They are a child prophesised to purify the Circle and lead it into a new era.”

I scoff. “What a load of bullshit.”

Hadley winces.

Gabriel runs a hand over his face. “Before my parents started the Circle, we went through a really dark time. When my youngest brother, Ezekial, was eight, he got really sick. My parents spent all of their money taking him to specialists and trying to find answers, but nothing worked. No one could tell them what was wrong with him, and he kept getting worse. He would scream at night, hallucinate, and lose time. My mother was convinced it wasn’t physical. She believed it wasspiritual.”

He spits the last word as if it tastes like acid in his mouth.

“She started researching. Old mystic texts, fringe theologies, folk healing. My father followed her blindly. Then they came across a healer who told them Ezekial wasn’t sick, he was ‘misaligned with the Light’.She convinced them his suffering meant he was spiritually chosen.”

Suddenly, I understand. This isn’t just a cult they founded; it’s their own personal and twisted salvation story.

Gabriel goes on, his voice lower now. “Ezekial died two months later, on the night of an eclipse. Instead of grieving, my mother said Ezekial’s death was a message, and we were meant to guide others to the Light so no child would ever be lost again.”

A shiver runs down my spine.

“They sold everything, and we went from town to town, gathering followers along the way.”

“Why did you stop in Barrenridge?” I ask. “Why didn’t you keep going? Maybe then my family would still be alive. Tom would be okay.”