Chapter 11
Monsters Don't Fall in Love
Rain fell against the cabin windows long after midnight.
Neither of them slept.
Sophia sat on the upstairs balcony wrapped in a blanket, staring into the darkness beyond the pine trees. Somewhere below, Ryder stood watch beneath the porch light, exactly where he had promised he would remain.
Five years ago she would have found comfort in knowing he was there.
Tonight it only reminded her how easily promises could be broken.
Yet every time she looked outside, he was still there.
Waiting.
Protecting.
As though the last five years had never happened.
The sound of footsteps behind her made Sophia turn.
Roman stood in the doorway carrying two steaming mugs.
"I figured neither of us was sleeping."
She accepted the coffee cautiously.
"You always know where to find people."
"It's part of the job."
Silence settled between them.
Finally Roman spoke.
"You hate him."
She looked into her cup.
"I've tried."
"Tried?"
She laughed bitterly.
"It would've been easier if I had succeeded."
Roman nodded slowly.
"That's the problem with first love."
"What?"
"It doesn't leave quietly."
He reached inside his jacket and removed a small leather notebook.
Sophia frowned.
"What's that?"
"Ryder's journal."
She looked up sharply.
"He keeps a journal?"
"Only when life becomes unbearable."
Roman placed it on the table between them.
"He'll probably kill me for showing you."
"I don't want it."
"You need it."
"I don't need another excuse."
"You need the truth."
She stared at the worn cover without touching it.
Finally...
She opened it.
The first page was dated three days after her disappearance.
I searched until sunrise.
Every road.
Every warehouse.
Every rumor.
I keep hearing her scream my name every time I close my eyes.
If she's alive, she probably believes I abandoned her.
God help me... because I don't know how to survive if that's true.
Sophia stopped breathing.
She turned another page.
Another.
Then another.
Each entry grew shorter.
More broken.
Less like the words of a feared club president.
More like the confession of a man drowning beneath guilt.
I should have reached her.
I stepped back.
One second.
One second destroyed everything.
A tear landed on the page.
She quickly wiped it away.
Downstairs, Ryder remained unaware that the woman he loved was reading the words he had never intended anyone else to see.
He stood beneath the porch roof scanning the tree line through binoculars.
Tiny approached quietly.
"You've been awake for thirty-six hours."
"I'm fine."
"You haven't eaten."
"I'm fine."
"You haven't forgiven yourself."
Ryder lowered the binoculars.
"I'm never going to."
Tiny rested a hand on his shoulder.
"She came back."
"Not for me."
"No."
Tiny looked toward the upstairs window where Sophia's silhouette stood.
"But she came back."
Morning arrived beneath heavy gray skies.
Sophia found Ryder repairing the porch railing damaged during a recent storm.
"You always fix things?"
He smiled faintly.
"The ones I can."
She folded her arms.
"And the ones you can't?"
His hammer stopped.
"I keep trying."
She looked away before he could see how deeply that answer reached her.
"You should have trusted me."
"I know."
"You should have stood beside me."
"I know."
"You should have chosen me."
Silence.
Long.
Painful.
Then Ryder quietly laid the hammer on the porch.
"I wanted to."
She turned back toward him.
"Wanted to?"
"I had evidence against you."
"It was fake."
"I know that now."
"You should've known then."
"I did."
Her expression changed.
"What?"
"I knew in my heart."
His voice cracked for the first time.
"But I couldn't prove it."
He stepped closer.
"The brothers were already divided."
"They were demanding a vote."
"If I ignored the evidence..."
His eyes filled with regret.
"...Black Venom would've torn itself apart."
Sophia stared at him.
"So you sacrificed me."
"No."
His answer came instantly.
"I thought I could protect both."
"You protected neither."
The words cut deeper than any knife.
He lowered his head.
"You're right."
She expected him to argue.
To defend himself.
Instead...
He accepted every accusation.
Without excuses.
Without anger.
Without pride.
That hurt even more.
"Say something."
His eyes met hers.
"What do you want me to say?"
"I don't know."
"Tell me you hate me."
"I can't."
"Tell me you never loved me."
"I'd be lying."
"Then explain why."
He drew a slow breath.
"Because I was raised to believe that the patch came before everything."
He looked down at the Black Venom emblem sewn onto his vest.
"My father taught me that leadership means carrying everyone else's lives before your own."
He slowly touched the patch.
"When I became president..."
"I stopped believing I deserved to choose happiness."
Sophia's voice softened despite herself.
"So when the evidence pointed at me..."
"I believed losing you was the price I had to pay."
She shook her head slowly.
"No."
"You made me pay it."
Neither noticed the black SUV parked nearly a mile away.
Inside, the man known only as Bishop lowered his binoculars.
"So..."
His lieutenant smiled.
"They're talking."
"They're remembering."
"They're healing."
Bishop's expression remained unreadable.
"Good."
The lieutenant frowned.
"Good?"
"If hatred keeps them apart..."
He looked back toward the cabin.
"...they're predictable."
"But love?"
He smiled coldly.
"Love makes people reckless."
That afternoon, Sophia wandered through the old storage barn beside the cabin.
Dust covered forgotten tools and abandoned furniture.
In the far corner stood a familiar motorcycle hidden beneath a canvas tarp.
Her breath caught.
Ryder's black touring bike.
The one she had rebuilt years ago.
She slowly removed the cover.
It looked exactly as she had left it.
Perfectly maintained.
Not a single additional mile on the odometer.
She heard Ryder enter behind her.
"You never rode it."
"No."
"Why?"
He looked at the motorcycle.
"It was the last thing you fixed."
She closed her eyes.
"You should've moved on."
"I couldn't."
"You had five years."
"I spent every one of them hoping I'd get to tell you I was sorry."
She turned toward him.
"And if I never forgive you?"
His answer came without hesitation.
"I'll spend the rest of my life earning a forgiveness I may never deserve."
The tears she'd fought so hard to control finally escaped.
Not because she had forgiven him.
Because she believed him.
That frightened her more than anything.
Late that evening, Roman rushed into the cabin carrying a laptop.
"We found something."
Everyone gathered around.
Security footage from the lumber mill.
A newly restored recording.
The missing two seconds had finally been recovered.
The room fell silent.
On the screen, a familiar face emerged from the shadows.
One of Black Venom's own executive officers.
Vice Treasurer Marcus Hale.
He was clearly seen placing the satchel inside Sophia's garage hours before the raid.
Marcus.
A brother.
A trusted officer.
A man who had voted to condemn Sophia.
"No..."
Roman whispered.
"It can't be."
Ryder never looked away from the screen.
His voice became terrifyingly calm.
"It is."
Sophia looked at him.
"What happens now?"
His gray eyes hardened into something she hadn't seen since the day they first met.
"The man who stole five years of our lives..."
He slowly closed the laptop.
"...is going to tell me why."
Some people feared monsters because they believed monsters couldn't love.
They were wrong.
The most dangerous monsters were the ones who loved so deeply that they would burn down entire kingdoms to protect the people they had failed.
And for the first time in five years...
The Devil of Black Venom wasn't hunting the woman he loved.
He was hunting the brother who had betrayed them both.