Deep Redemption

“She has no parents.” Ruth’s face contorted in grief. “Especially now.” She brought the young child closer to her leg, hugging her close. “Phebe wanted her sister to take her and give her a good life. She said . . . she said she reminded her of her sister, when she was young.” Ky was mute, and if I wasn’t mistaken, his eyes had misted over. Ruth waited for Ky to speak, but he could only nod. Ruth ran her hand over Grace’s blond hair. “Phebe cared for her because she could not bear for her to be treated like her sister was. She kept her away from the men.” Ruth pointed to the child. “Judah recently named her Delilah. Her Cursed name was Delilah.”

“What’s her real name?” His voice was cracked and low.

“Grace,” I said. “Phebe told me her real name was Grace.”

Ky nodded and said, “Then she fuckin’ comes with us.” I caught the brothers all looking at one another, unsure what the hell was happening. It was too much. It was all too much.

Styx cleared his throat then began to sign, Ky translating as always. “They come with us. We have trucks at the east point where we entered. And we need to get the fuck gone now.”

Ruth lifted Grace into her arms, the timid little girl tucking her face into Ruth’s neck. And we ran. We got the fuck away from the commune. In less than twenty minutes, we were en route back to the Hangmen compound . . . with the commune left in the past.

Along with my faith.

Along with my dead brother . . .

. . . along with my last act of redemption.

Because I knew what came next for me. But it was welcomed. I’d killed my brother because it was just.

Now it was time to finish what had been started a long time ago.

And that was just, too.

Chapter Sixteen

Rider

Dusk had begun to fall as we approached the compound. I rode alongside my former brothers, feeling numb.

Every time I thought of what had just happened, my mind would chase it away. I tried to think of the faces of the dead, but they were all just a blur. I tried to remember Judah’s last breath . . . but my mind was blank.

As we drew closer to the compound’s gates my hands began to shake. I tried to stop the trembling. But I couldn’t. I could see Smiler watching me from his bike beside me.

But I just couldn’t stop the fucking shakes.

The gates opened as we pulled up. My heart fucking burst when I saw the clubhouse door slam open and Bella run outside, Mae, Lilah and Maddie following behind. Beauty and Letti followed after them, looking exactly the same as the last time I had seen them.

Bella’s frantic eyes searched over the group. When her blue gaze landed on me, her hands covered her mouth. Tears fell down her cheeks as she ran to me. I made myself get off the bike to greet her. She stopped dead in front of me. “Rider,” she whispered, roving her shocked eyes over me.

I glanced down at my body. I was covered in Judah’s blood. I lifted my hand; it was bright red, the knuckles grazed of their skin.

Bella reached forward and wrapped her arms around my waist. Her concerned face searched mine. I stared into her eyes, tears tracking down my cheeks. Bella’s eyes closed and she took in a long, deep breath.

When they opened again, she said, “You did it . . . he is . . . he is gone?”

I nodded my head. There were no words. I could not speak. Bella molded her body against my own, ignoring the dried blood staining every inch of me. I wrapped my arms around her as tightly as I could.

I needed her.

I so desperately fucking needed her.

I heard voices around us. I heard the brothers describing what happened. “Mass suicide . . . poison . . . kids too . . . Rider killed him . . . ”

Bella tensed in my arms. Her lips trembled. “Everyone is dead? The innocent . . . the children . . . ?”

I squeezed my eyes shut and nodded my head. Bella stepped back from my embrace. I opened my eyes. Her eyes were swimming in sadness. “Ruth, Stephen, Samson, Solomon? They are all . . . dead?”

“No,” I managed to reply quickly, then turned toward the parked trucks. Hush opened the truck’s door and Solomon and Samson stepped out. Before they could even take a step, Bella ran to them and wrapped her arms around each of them, crying in relief. They hugged her back, awkwardly.

Bella withdrew as Brother Stephen slid from the back seat, and she greeted him in the same relieved way. My chest ached; she didn’t even know she was embracing her father.

A father who adored her.

Brother Stephen’s eyes closed as he pressed a kiss to her head. He stepped back, and his eyes scanned the crowd. Then he stilled. I followed the path of his gaze and saw Mae and Maddie watching Bella greet her friends.

Stephen then turned away from Bella and moved his fingers to his eyes. I had a sudden image of myself doing the same thing to Bella, in that motel bathroom . . .

Bella looked up at him. And I saw the moment she registered the change in his appearance. She took a step back, then another. She lifted her hand to her eyes. “Your eyes,” she whispered. “They are . . . they are like mine . . . ” Bella turned to Mae. “They are like Mae’s.”

Stephen looked at the three sisters in turn, then said to Bella, “I am your father, Bella . . . I am your father. And Mae’s and Maddie’s too.”

“What?” Bella whispered.

His ice-blue eyes shone with emotion. “I was exiled to the defectors’ commune because I tried to run away with you all when you were little.” He pointed at Maddie. “Maddie was just a baby. You and Mae, toddlers.” Maddie watched Stephen, her arms wrapped around Flame’s waist. Her green eyes were huge as she listened to Stephen’s revelation.

Styx had his arm slung around Mae’s shoulder. Mae was listening, lips parted in disbelief.

“Why?” Bella asked. “Why did you not tell me? Why did you disguise your eyes from me? Hold back this truth?”

Stephen sighed deeply. “Because I did not want to cause you any more hurt. You had already been through so much. I always knew we would return to the commune to try and take it down. If I fell, I did not want you to mourn me. You deserved to be happy . . . I had failed you so many times before. I could not stop the pain you all went through at the hands of the prophet . . . I . . . I was unworthy of being your father.”

Mae began crying, turning her face into Styx’s chest. Maddie was silent, looking as if she was deep in shock. But not Bella. Finding the strength she always managed to muster, Bella rushed forward and put her hands on Stephen’s cheeks. “I . . . I would have mourned you if you had fallen regardless. You have been my family… you are my family.”