Damaged (Boys of Winter #2) - Sheridan Anne Page 0,43

accident,” he explains. “Your parents were vacationing up in the mountains when I received your father’s distress call. When I got there, I found that both of your parents had perished in the fire, but the fire and rescue team managed to get you out just in time. Of the sixteen remaining heads of Dynasty, I was the first to arrive on the scene, and when I saw the blood on your clothes, I knew instantly there had been foul play. I just couldn’t figure out who was responsible.”

My gaze drops to the marble tiles of the hallway as my voice lowers, too afraid that it will break. “What happened after that?”

“My wife and I hid you away for a few months. You were only a newborn, just a sweet, innocent little girl. Hunter was growing out of his bassinet, so you slept in there until we came to the decision to put you in foster care.”

I stop walking, staring up at the man who made the decision to abandon me to an awful life for the past eighteen years. “That was you?” I breathe. “You abandoned me to the system?”

A softness spreads over his face. “I’m sorry, Elodie. Not a day goes by that I haven’t hated myself for making that call. I watched you grow, watched you bounce from home to home, but you were not safe here. You were only three when the other members of Dynasty discovered your existence, and only three days later, the car you were in was driven off the road. Ever since then, we knew we had to keep on top of it and we’ve been one step ahead this whole time.”

“Up until the attack in the woods,” I scoff.

“Yes,” he says with a regretful sigh. “As you grew closer to your eighteenth birthday, they were finding you quicker each time, and even after all these years, we still couldn’t pinpoint who was behind the attacks, but now we finally know, and Dynasty can now rise up to what it once was.”

Not really knowing how to respond to that, I remain silent, just letting it all sink in.

Tobias gets the hint that I need time and continues with his tour. It takes him nearly two hours to come full circle, and by the time we’re done, I’m completely exhausted. My legs are sore from walking and my mind is reeling from all the information.

Tobias delivers me right to my front door, and after thanking him for everything he’s shared with me tonight, I fall through the doors and dive for the stairs. He went over a million things all to do with my role and what it actually means to be a leader here, but after the whole cyber weapon thing and the putting me in foster care decision, I blanked out a bit. I’m pretty sure I only caught every other word after that.

I take myself upstairs, and after showering and getting into my pajamas, I find myself staring at my bed. It would be so simple to slip in between the sheets and take myself off to sleep. At least, try to sleep while I pretend the monsters inside my head aren’t terrifying.

Knowing sleep won’t come, I slip back out of my bedroom and find myself in my father’s home office. I’ve avoided this room for the most part. It seems too personal, but then what does that matter? I’ve spent hours sitting on the floor of their massive closet. What’s more personal than that?

I drop down into the big couch that lines his office and wonder what his time in here would have been like. Was it an escape from the craziness of the world he ruled? Was this where he got his peace and quiet, or was this where he would go to get shit done?

I grab the throw blanket off the back of the couch and pull it over me. It smells like it’s been sitting here for twenty years, and because of that, this blanket just became my favorite thing in the world. The rest of the house has been looked after. Modern furniture fills the rooms, but this room looks as though it’s never been touched.

My eyes grow heavy and I scoot down on the couch, imagining that my parents are still here. I wonder what they’d be like, where their lives would have taken them, and just like that, I close my eyes, and for the first time since being locked in Sam’s dark