He had obviously become someone I probably wouldn’t have recognized. Never in a million years would I see him holding a gun like it was an extension of his body. The man I once knew, wouldn’t have harmed a soul.
Silas was a killer.
No way around it.
He pulled that trigger like he was tossing a fast-food wrapper in the trash at a truck stop. Like it was nothing. Like he’d done it before so many times before that it came naturally.
The look in his eyes… that was something I wouldn’t ever forget. Nor would I forget the way it all changed the moment he saw it was me. The recognition was there instantly. But there was also shock and relief.
I didn’t know what the fuck to make of it all.
I set the soup down low and walked to the little table in the kitchen. My body seemed to collapse the moment I went to sit. I slept most of the drive to get here but I still felt drained. Maybe if I just slept for a few days I’d wake up with some kind of clear answer.
I knew that was silly but I still liked the idea.
I had promised myself that I’d start making smarter decisions. And while I’d messed up big time with the whole Ray thing, that didn’t mean that I had to give up.
I just had to lay it all out.
Ray was a killer.
Silas was a killer.
But were they the same?
While my mind wanted to say maybe, my heart was telling me to find a way to justify it. Which I knew was messed up. Still, it didn’t stop my brain from catching onto the idea.
Silas killed Ray.
Ray was a very evil man.
The kind of man that only cared about himself and would stop at nothing to remain at the top of his empire. That meant killing people no matter what. Ending lives without any kind of thought or care.
I had no clue about Silas, but the fact that he’d killed Ray told me that maybe he wasn’t so bad.
Yeah, okay, or he could have been trying to off Ray to take over his empire. There was that.
Even though it seemed to be something that could be an option I couldn’t let myself believe it.
Not the Silas I knew.
But he’s not the boy you knew. You have no idea what’s happened to him in the last twenty years.
Well, that was very true too.
What would make a kindhearted, good boy turn into a monster of a man?
A man like him.
His family.
My gut clenched at the thought.
God, what if something happened to his mom or his sister? Or both?!
I imagined that would be the thing to send him over the edge.
I was itching to march into his room and wake him up. To demand answers to all the questions zipping around my brain. I just had to know. I loved them all so much. I had left to keep them safe. What if that had been the reason that something had happened? All I had wanted was to protect them along with myself.
