The Sinners - Ruby Vincent Page 0,64
the next ransom demand.” The low rasp from his throat bordered on sinister, if it wasn’t for what he was saying. “It was too risky to jack a car with her there. She wouldn’t have hesitated to give the police my name.”
Her. Royal’s mother. The one he said he didn’t know.
“I understand,” I said. “I want to say no to you paying for me, but I can’t take that chance with Eli. I promise I’ll pay you back.”
Silence descended for another stretch.
“She was seventeen.”
I held my breath, not daring to move in case he changed his mind.
“Seventeen and hooked on the coke her boyfriend, Rio, regularly supplied her. Then she found out she was pregnant and her little rebellion with the bad boy from the wrong side of the gate stopped being fun.
“She ran to her sister, Gail, crying and terrified of what their father would do when he found out. Gail came up with a story. The two of them went on a ‘gap year backpacking trip’ around Europe that was actually Sarah’s stint in the rehab facility. She cleaned up, gave birth to me, then returned to Raven River and dumped me on Rio’s lap.
“Rio didn’t know what happened to her. He didn’t know about me. One day he was a coked-up gangbanger, and the next he had a kid. He handed me off to Gran and took off. A sweet fucking game of Pass The Baby.”
I slid my hand across and rested it on his fist, keeping quiet.
“Sarah was happy to never see me again, but Aunt Gail couldn’t stop thinking about me.”
Aunt Gail.
“Rio was bad news. Dangerous. Addicted. Poor. While she was married with her own kid. She wanted to adopt me and raise Julian and me as brothers. Sarah wasn’t about to let that happen. She wouldn’t have me running around—a constant reminder of her mistakes. Sarah passed me off and warned her sister to leave me alone. If she brought me in her life, she’d drive Sarah out of it. She’d have nothing to do with her.”
Royal turned into his driveway and killed the engine. Neither of us made a move to leave.
“She held out ten years before hunting down Rio, and then Gran to see how I was. I didn’t know who she was at first. The two of them decided to ease me into it. Let me get to know her first. Eventually she told me she was my aunt and the truth about my mother.”
“I’m sorry, Royal.” Tears streaked my cheeks. “That’s so fucking awful, I don’t know what else to say but sorry.”
“It is what it is.”
“No. Don’t do that. Not with me.”
The muscle in his jaw ticced, but he didn’t ask what I meant.
“Hart changed the admission rules for you, didn’t she?” I asked. “So you could go to the academy. Be a part of her life. A big fuck-you to her sister.”
“Yeah,” he said, dark humor entering his tone. “She’s not so bad as aunts go. As my only one, I figure I could have done worse. I definitely lost out when it came to parents.”
“You and me both.” I trailed a finger along his jaw, willing it to unclench. “I get that it was a time in her life when she felt out of control, but she didn’t have to behave the way she did tonight. We were minding our own business.”
“It’s my fault.”
I frowned. “Why would you say that? You didn’t—”
“I agreed to stay away from her. I wouldn’t have gone tonight if I’d known she’d be there.” He cursed. “They never go to these stupid parties. Sarah’s always off spending her husband’s money all over the country, and Aunt Gail would rather stay at school than watch her ex parade his new girlfriend around town.”
“Okay, but it’s still not your fault. I’m guessing your aunt put you on the approved guest list, so you have the same right to be there as everyone else.”
He tossed his head, bumping my hand aside. “No, Em. I swore to Sarah she’d never see me again... after she gave me the money to pay your ransom.”
“She— You—” I stopped, genuinely not knowing what to say.
“I wasn’t going to show up at a Ravener’s door demanding a hundred grand. He’d have me in cuffs so fast I wouldn’t know what happened. I was looking at my life fucked and you dead. I had no choice but to go to her and she made sure it would be the last time.”
“You