Chapter 43
RENéE
I didn’t know how much time had passed when I finally stepped out of the shower. The steam clung to my skin, but no matter how hard I scrubbed, I could still feel it—his blood, warm and sticky, coating my hands. It was satisfying, knowing I’d avenged Ellie. But it was sickening too, the thought of a monster’s blood tainting me. I felt dirty. Not guilty, not conflicted—just unclean.
Funny, isn’t it? For someone who’s spent a lifetime running from blood and death, it felt disturbingly…natural. Maybe it’s in my DNA, a cursed inheritance. The Aarle family—murderers, the lot of us.
I pulled on a fresh pair of clothes, trying to ignore the faint tremor in my hands. When I stepped out of my bedroom, the scent of bleach hit me first. The place was spotless—no blood, no signs of the hours I’d spent turning Lorenzo into something less than human. It was almost like it had never happened. Almost.
Hael and Javier were talking in the living room. Hael’s eyes flicked to mine the moment I appeared. I could see the unease in his expression, the way he shifted on his feet like he wasn’t sure if he should stay or bolt.
“You’re still here,” I said, my voice sharp enough to cut through the air.
Hael glanced at Javier before turning back to me. “I’m just across the hall if you need me.”
He was being a little supportive of this situation. But did I need his support? I don’t know. What was he even supporting? This fake of a relationship just to buy myself some time before I was married off?
“I thought it would be better if I stayed a while.” He spoke. His expression was unreadable, but I could see the tension in the line of his jaw, the way his fingers twitched like they were fighting the urge to reach for me. That angered me to no end.
“I should have aimed for your head that night,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Renée.” He took a step forward. “He had threatened to hurt you. I didn’t know what else to do. I just didn’t know. I thought I was shielding you from him.”
Excuses.
I walked towards the kitchen. His voice followed.
“I thought representing him would be the best course of action.” He paused and I pulled open the drawer. “But I was wrong. So fucking wrong.”
More excuses.
“And you figured this makes up for everything?” I said pulling out the gun. Lately, I have come to love guns more than anything. It gave me power, a sense of power over everyone empty-handed.
“I know it doesn’t.”
“You think bringing me that monster on a silver platter erases what you did?” I turned around and stalked towards him. “It doesn’t.”
His eyes fell on the gun in my hand and looked back into my eyes.
“Not after you stood in that trial for him,” I said lifting the gun. He didn’t move. “Not when your name was printed beside his as his goddamn attorney.” I stalked forward. “Not after you spoke on behalf of someone like him.”
“I was trying to protect you.” His voice rose and I leveled the gun at his chest.
More fucking excuses.
“Where the fuck is your noble cause now when I killed him! When you dragged him down here for me. Where is it? Where the fuck is it, Javier?” I shouted. “Do I not need your protection now? Or does it only count when you hiding behind pathetic lies and fear?”
Javier took a step forward, the gun pressing to his chest. “Fear had made me into a coward. My mind, my head was fogged, I wasn’t thinking straight. I thought that was the only way I could protect you from Vincent. I thought if I stood with him, I could control the fallout. Keep you out of it. I was blinded by fear, and I didn’t see another way. But when the fog cleared, I saw it all, and I knew—”
“You knew what?” I interrupted, my voice trembling with rage. “You knew you’d betrayed me? That you’d stood up for another monster while I was breaking apart inside?”
“I know what I did was wrong, so wrong.” He tried to reach for my face.
“I loved you,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “But you broke my heart. You broke me.”
I could practically see his breath hitch. He opened his mouth to speak but I interrupted.
“It’s too late now.” I pulled away. “You made your choice, Javier. You stood your ground. And even a hundred sacrifices now won’t undo that.”
He stepped closer again, his hands raised, palms out. “Renée, please. I can’t take it back. I can’t undo it. But I can try. Just—”
“I was kidnapped,” I said turning away. “Tortured. Raped. For five months, I lived in hell. Five months of losing every piece of myself until there was nothing left. It took years to crawl out of that darkness, years to become something even close to whole.”
I never talked about this. Not once in the past eight years. I turned around. I saw his body tense, and his breathing falter.
“I was barely alive when my brothers found me. And the first thing I did after standing up again, was run.” I found myself breaking a little. “I spent years trying to build myself up. But the wound was so deep that just his presence broke me again. You saw that. You knew that, maybe not the extent of it, but you knew.”
My vision blurred. “Do you have any idea what it felt like?” my anger rose again. “Seeing you, the man I thought I could trust, the man I—”
I swallowed hard, the words sticking in my throat. “The man I loved—standing there, defending a monster?”
“Renée…”
“I at least got the chance to experience life again, got the chance to stand up.” Tears streamed down my face now, but I didn’t care. “And Ellie. Ellie, who was just a child, Javier. She didn’t get the chance to heal. She didn’t get the chance to live. And you—” My voice broke, and I took a shuddering breath. “You stood up for someone who did the same thing to her. How could you?”
He was crying now, silent tears streaking down his face as he shook his head. “I thought—”
“You thought wrong,” I snapped. “Even if you dragged Lorenzo back from the dead and killed him a thousand times, I don’t know if I could ever look past the fact that you stood up for a sexual abuser. No matter your reason.”
The room fell silent.
I had nothing left to say to him.
“I want my things back. All of them,” I said. Without another glance, I turned toward my room. “See yourself out.”
I wanted it to end there, to close the door on all of it—on him. But it was never going to be that simple, and we both knew it. In his cruel way, Javier had carved himself into my life, into me.
And as much as I didn’t like it, there was still unfinished business that needed our attention.
Javier
I stepped out of the apartment, my chest tight, her words still echoing in my head. The hallway was quiet, except for the faint hum of a flickering light above. I didn’t even see him at first, standing against the wall, his arms crossed.
“Come on,” Hael said, nodding toward the door at the end of the hall. His tone wasn’t unkind, but it wasn’t warm either.
I followed him.
Inside his apartment, the air was cooler, and quieter, like the world had stopped spinning for a second. Hael poured two glasses of whiskey, handing me one without a word. I took it but left it untouched on the table, my fingers running along the edge of the glass.
He sipped his drink slowly, his eyes flicking to me now and then, watching. Waiting.
“Thank you,” I said finally. “For what you did for me.”
Hael set his glass down, half-empty, and leaned back into the couch, studying me. “I didn’t do it for you,” he said flatly. “I did it for my sister.”
Of course.
“Still,” I said, lifting my eyes to meet his, “I didn’t think you’d so willingly lend me a hand, not after how I hurt her.”
Something flickered across his face then—anger, maybe, or something else. He masked it quickly, but I caught it, and his posture stiffened like he was bracing himself for a fight.
“I’ll be frank with you,” he said, leaning forward, elbows on his knees. “I don’t like you. But my sister does.”
He sighed, his shoulders dropping slightly, and for the first time, he looked... tired. “I spent the last few months digging into you, and I found stuff that made my other brothers want to eliminate you.”
That shouldn’t have surprised me, but it still hit like a punch.
“And as much as I hate to admit it,” he continued, “something made me not push you away from her. If anything, it was the opposite.”
His words hung in the air for a moment before he looked up. “You make her happy. How? I don’t know, and honestly, I don’t care. But I’ve seen how devastated she is being away from you. We failed her once already. Neither I nor my brothers are ready to see her sad because of us again. We’re not failing her twice.”
I nodded, I knew what he was talking about.
Five months.
The thought twisted something deep in my gut, and left a bitter taste in my mouth. Five months of pain, of hell. How much had she suffered? How much had she fought, alone, to survive? I couldn’t fathom it. Didn’t want to.
And yet, she’d stood in front of me tonight, every bit as fierce as she was broken, and all I wanted was to hold her, to shield her from this cruel, vicious world. I’d make sure nothing ever hurt her again, no matter the cost.
Even if it meant walking away.
Even if it meant breaking my own heart to keep hers whole.
“I thought I was protecting her,” I found myself saying, the words spilling out unbidden. “But I hurt her more than anything. I didn’t know what else to do—how else to shield her.”
The glass in front of me blurred as I stared at it, my breath shuddering. “I didn’t know what I would do if something happened to her because of me.”
Hael’s gaze burned into me, and when he spoke. “If anything happened to her because of you, you wouldn’t be alive to worry about what you’d do.”
These siblings. Threats on both ends, a gun to my head from one, knives from the other. How the hell had I ended up here? The very thing I’d run from my whole life.
I sighed, running a hand through my hair.
Hael picked up his glass again, leaning back into the couch. His expression softened, just slightly. “She’ll forgive you,” he said, taking another sip. “Eventually. But you’re going to have to work your ass off to earn that. And I’m willing to give you that chance.”
I raised a brow.
“Think of it like repayment,” he said with a shrug.
Repayment?
“Now,” he said, setting his empty glass down and leaning forward, “what we need to discuss is what happens after this. You up for it? Or did Renée break your heart too bad to function tonight?”
He smirked, the infuriating bastard.
“God, give me patience,” I muttered under my breath.
And his smirk widened.
The room was quiet, just the soft hum of the bedside lamp breaking the silence. I reached into the drawer and pulled out the box. It was tucked away in the corner, out of sight, like some relic I’d been too scared to deal with for years. The box itself was worn now, the wood scratched and dented in places, but it had held up.
I flipped the lid open, my fingers moving slower than I wanted them to. And there it was.
The pendant.
It caught the light just enough to make it shimmer, every detail of its design as sharp as the day I’d found it. The phoenix, its wings stretched wide, the pearl nestled in its chest. Fourteen years. I’d kept this thing safe for fourteen fucking years. Waiting for the right time. Waiting for her.
I’d pictured it so many times—her face when she saw it again. That flicker of surprise, the way her eyes would soften when she realized it wasn’t lost after all. But that moment was gone now. I’d never get to see it.
I ran my thumb over the edges, the cold metal pressing against my skin mocking the heat in my chest.
THE SUMMER OF 2011
The lake was my go-to spot when I needed to clear my head—quiet, tucked away from the noise and bullshit of the streets. Just ten minutes from home, but it felt like a whole different world.
I sat at the edge, flicking rocks across the water, the ripples spreading out like they could carry my problems with them. My head throbbed, a dull, constant buzz from when the asshole I was fighting slammed it against a wall during the fight earlier. The cut above my eyebrow stung, but I didn’t care. I won. Three hundred bucks.
Enough to keep Leila fed for the next month. Maybe I’d grab McDonald’s for her tonight. Or take her to that diner she wouldn’t shut up about. She deserved it. Yeah, I’d do that.
I rubbed my face, trying to push the fog out of my brain. The bruises, the blood—they didn’t matter. This was survival. It wasn’t about thinking; it was about doing what needed to be done.
Then, out of nowhere, something smacked me on the side of the head.
“What the fuck?” I muttered, wincing as I rubbed the sore spot.
I stood up, scanning the area, ready to throw hands with whoever thought this was funny.
“Est-ce trop demander que de vouloir un peu de paix ?!”
The words, sharp and pissed off, came from further down the shore. French, maybe? Definitely annoyed. I followed the voice, stepping out from under the deck.
And then I saw her.
She was just about the same age as me. Her blonde hair caught the sunlight like it was made of gold, her blue eyes full of fire as she bent down to grab another rock. She looked… unreal. Like something out of a dream, I didn’t even know I’d had.
And just like that, I froze. My brain stalled; my chest tight with this weird ache, I couldn’t name.
Then—thud.
“Fuck!” I groaned, doubling over as another rock hit me square in the head.
Her eyes snapped to mine, wide with shock, like she hadn’t expected to actually hit anyone. For a second, we just stared at each other and my world had already stopped spinning.
The deck swayed slightly under us as we sat, feet dangling over the water. The sunset cast warm streaks of gold and orange across the lake, making it shimmer like something out of a dream. I kept glancing at the girl beside me, still not sure how I’d gone from being pelted with rocks to sitting here with her. She was quiet, chewing on her lip like she was working up the courage to say something.
Finally, she broke the silence. “I didn’t mean to hit you.” She mumbled, her words thick with accent.
I smirked, leaning back on my hands. “Oh, you mean the rock you hurled at my head? Nah, totally fine. Happens all the time.”
Her lips twitched, almost like she was holding back a smile. “I was just... annoyed. I didn’t even see you there.”
“Annoyed, huh?” I said, tilting my head. “At me or the world?”
“Both,” she replied with a small shrug, then glanced at me, her blue eyes sparkling. “Mostly the world.”
I chuckled. “Fair enough. So, you always throw rocks when you’re annoyed?”
“No,” she said quickly, her cheeks flushing. “I just... it’s been a long day.”
I nodded, not pushing her. “So, what’s a girl like you doing out here anyway?”
She hesitated for a moment, her hands fiddling with the hem of her dress. “I’m here on holiday. From Belgium.”
“Belgium?” I repeated, a little surprised. “You’re a long way from home.”
She smiled softly, looking out at the water. “It’s beautiful here. Quiet. I like it.”
“Yeah,” I said, following her gaze. “It’s one of the only places around here that doesn’t suck.”
That got a small laugh out of her, light and soft. She reached up to touch the delicate gold pendant hanging around her neck—a tiny bird with its wings spread wide, a pearl resting at its center.
“It’s nice,” I said, nodding toward it.
She glanced down at it, her fingers brushing over it gently. “Thank you. It was my grandmother’s. She gave it to me before she...” Her voice trailed off, but she didn’t have to finish the sentence.
I nodded, not saying anything. I knew what it was like to lose someone.
As she let the pendant fall back against her chest, the clasp must have come undone. The chain slipped through her fingers, and the pendant tumbled down, bouncing once on the edge of the deck before disappearing into the water with a faint splash.
Her breath hitched, and she leaned over the edge, staring down at the ripples with wide, panicked eyes. “Oh non... non, non, non!”
Before I could think, I was on my feet. “Stay here,” I said quickly, pulling off my hoodie and kicking off my sneakers.
“What are you doing?” she asked, her voice rising in alarm.
I didn’t answer. Instead, I dove straight into the lake, the icy water wrapping around me as I plunged beneath the surface.
I broke the surface of the water with a gasp, my hand clutching the pendant tightly. As I wiped the lake water from my eyes, I looked up and saw her standing on the dock, her expression twisted with fear. But the moment she spotted me, her face softened, and relief flooded her features.
I swam to the edge, hauling myself up onto the deck, the cool air biting against my soaked clothes. Before I could catch my breath or even hand her the pendant, she threw her arms around me.
My brain short-circuited. I froze, every muscle in my body locking up. I could feel her tremble slightly, her golden hair brushing against my cheek. She was saying something—her soft voice rapid and anxious—but I didn’t catch a single word.
I was too busy staring at her, completely and utterly mesmerized.
Then she glanced back, her blue eyes darting in sudden panic. Her gaze snapped back to mine, her expression torn between gratitude and urgency.
She mumbled something hurriedly, snatched the pendant from my hand, and took off, her feet flying across the dock. I blinked, trying to process what was happening. She stopped mid-stride, just at the edge of the trees, and turned back.
"I'm Renée, by the way," she called out.
Renée.
The name stuck in my mind, echoing like a song I didn’t want to forget. I stood there, rooted to the spot, as she vanished into the line of trees.
But then, as if waking from a trance, my brain started working again. My feet moved before I could think, and I was sprinting after her.
I broke through the trees just in time to see her slipping into the backseat of a car. It pulled away before I could shout her name—not that I would’ve dared to—and I stood there, breathless, watching it disappear down the road.
And then I saw it.
Her pendant.
It was lying there on the grass, glinting faintly in the dying sunlight. I bent down, picking it up carefully, the cool metal warming against my palm.
The diner was one of those places that smelled like grease and old coffee, but the pancakes were decent, and Leila loved the milkshakes. She sat across from me, her legs swinging beneath the booth like they always did when she was excited about something.
“You should’ve seen her, Jav,” Leila said between bites of her burger, her voice bubbling with energy. “Ms. Halloway said my drawing was the best in the whole class! She even put it on the wall. Right next to the door. Can you believe that?!”
“That’s great,” I said, half-smiling as I pushed my fries around on my plate.
“Great?!” she huffed, glaring at me. “It’s amazing ! You’re supposed to be proud of me, idiot.”
I smirked and flicked a fry at her. “I am proud of you, squirt.”
She rolled her eyes but grinned, her cheeks pink with pride. She kept talking, something about the colors she used and how one of the other kids tried to copy her, but I wasn’t listening anymore.
I froze, my eyes locking on a flash of gold outside the diner window. My chest tightened. It couldn’t be—
The girl turned slightly, and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest.
Renée.
I didn’t even think. I just moved.
“Stay here,” I said to Leila as I shoved out of the booth, barely hearing her protests.
The bell above the diner door jingled as I burst out onto the street, scanning the sidewalk for her. She was there, just a few feet ahead, walking beside a man in an expensive suit. I darted after them, weaving through the crowd, my pulse racing.
“Renée!” I called, my voice cracking slightly.
She didn’t stop. Didn’t even turn.
By the time I reached the spot where I’d seen her, she was gone. My chest heaved. But then my eyes caught something else—the man she’d been with.
I recognized him.
Everyone in town did. One of the wealthiest men in the city, known for his sprawling mansion up on the hill.
I clenched my fists. I knew where to find her.
That night, after Leila had gone to bed, I stood by the window, staring out at the darkened street. The pendant was still in my pocket.
I couldn’t let this go. I had to see her again, even if it was just to give it back.
By the time the clock struck midnight, I was out the door, my sneakers barely making a sound on the cracked pavement. It took me longer than I thought to find the mansion. The place was massive, all tall iron gates and perfectly manicured hedges. The kind of place that felt like it didn’t belong here, in the middle of everything else falling apart.
I stood in the shadows, staring at the glowing windows, my breath visible in the cold night air. No way was I going through the front.
I crept around the side, slipping through a gap in the hedge, my heart pounding harder with every step. I was just about to round the back when a sound stopped me in my tracks.
Laughter.
Soft, light, and painfully familiar.
I froze, my eyes darting upward, and there she was. Renée, standing on a balcony, her golden hair catching the moonlight. She leaned on the railing, her smile faint but there. My chest tightened, that pull I couldn’t name rooting me to the ground.
But then something else caught my attention.
Out of the corner of my eye, in the dark, I saw a shadow slip past.
No, not just a shadow.
Leila.
Leila with a guy beside her!
“What the fuck?!” I hissed under my breath, my jaw clenching as I glanced between Renée and the direction Leila had disappeared.
“You’ll be in a lot of trouble when I find you!” I muttered to myself, the anger and worry bubbling together as I took off after her.
The mansion grounds were like a maze, every shadow stretching long and unfamiliar. I called her name, my voice low but urgent, but she didn’t answer. My stomach churned. Something felt off.
And then I heard it.
A scream.
My blood ran cold as I bolted toward the sound, my heart hammering like it was trying to break free from my chest.
When I reached the spot, it felt like the world stopped.
Leila was lying on the ground, her small frame crumpled like a broken doll. Blood pooled beneath her, dark and viscous, as she gasped for air. Her hands clawed weakly at her neck, where a bullet had torn through.
“No. No, no, no!” My voice cracked as I dropped to my knees beside her, pressing my hands to the wound, trying to stop the blood.
“Leila! Stay with me!” I screamed, my voice echoing into the emptiness.
She looked at me, her eyes wide and terrified, tears spilling down her cheeks as she choked on her own blood. I was shaking, screaming for help, but no one came.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement.
A figure slipped back into the shadows, too far to make out clearly. But there was one thing I saw—one thing burned into my memory.
A lion tattoo inked across his chest.
And then he was gone, leaving me there with my dying sister.
PRESENT DAY
As the years went by, the pieces started to fall into place. That mansion belonged to the Aarle Dynastie. And that guy? He had to be one of theirs—a part of their organization.
I lost my sister that night.
Because of this damn pendant, at least I was there to hold her in her last moments.
My fingers tightened around the pendant in my hand, its edges digging into my palm. Renée Margot or Renée Aarle—who gave a fuck?
She was my destiny.
Fate kept throwing her into my path, over and over, like it was daring me to hold on. Fourteen years of near-misses and coincidences, and then finally, five years ago, she stepped into my office like it was nothing. Like she wasn’t the one who’d haunted my every thought since that summer day by the lake.
But just like every fucking time before, she was slipping out of my grasp.
Again.