Page 133 of Dissolving Prejudice

“Do you remember telling me you killed a man the last time we were here?” he asked, out of nowhere, eyes locked on that damn grave.

Feeling like I was on trial again, standing in front of the jury, I nodded.

“Yes.” It seemed like my answer didn’t please him, and afraid of where this was going, I went on. “You said you didn’t care. You said you didn’t care who it was.”

Finally, Shay-Lee moved his eyes to look at me, and what I saw in them wasn’t love but… fear. It crushed my heart, and unable to bear it, I looked at the ground, just like the coward he once claimed me to be.

“I did say that, but then again…” His voice slowly died, and I hoped he wouldn’t speak the words I feared so much, but then he did. “You never said it was him.”

Every bit of me turned cold, and I fisted my hands until my nails dug into my flesh while trying to hold myself together. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but all I knew was that if I looked up to see his eyes again, I’d break apart. Therefore, I kept my head down like a beaten mutt.

“How did you find out?” I rasped through my sore throat.

A moment later, something hit my shoe, and I bent down to pick up a flash drive from the ground.

“Someone left this for me,” he said while I examined the black chip. “I still feel sick just thinking about what I saw—” His voice cracked, and he swallowed a sob before going on. “It’s a film. A film of you… a film of you butchering my dad, Camilo.”

Even though I’d already figured that much, it didn’t stop my body from shuddering with immense dread. My brain was in such a mess that I couldn’t even care that I was apparently filmed at the time. More importantly, who gave this to Shay-Lee?

“Who did you get this from?”

“It doesn’t matter,” he snarled, his voice pinning me on the spot.

Fear settled in my bones like ice, and I took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry?” he asked and stepped closer until his shoes nearly bumped mine. “You’re sorry for killing him?”

Struck by guilt, I only bowed my head lower, but Shay-Lee… he wouldn’t have it and instead ducked down to look at me. “Speak up, Camilo.”

I raised my stare just a bit to meet his wild eyes, and the pure disgust that glistened in his blue irises was the embodiment of my worst fears.

“He deserved to die—”

“Not like this,” he cut in, brows creasing into a deep frown as pain crossed his features. “Nobody deserves to die like this.”

He allowed his words to fully sink in before attempting to move, and afraid of this distance growing between us, I stretched forward and grabbed his arm.

“He raped you,” I tried justifying my crimes as I pulled him closer. “That vile creature raped you for years—”

“He was my father!” He pushed me away and released himself from my hold.

The word father echoed in my head, showing me images of my own old bastard on top of Christian’s. The truth was, that damn word meant nothing. They didn’t deserve to be called fathers.

“That doesn’t make him any less of a monster,” I said in a desperate attempt to make him see me.

“Maybe.” He shrugged. “But it still didn’t give you the right to kill him.”

A sudden jolt of anger took over me, and I frowned. “So what the fuck was I supposed to do, huh? To let him live? To allow this demon to keep abusing you?” I raised my voice until my throat hurt, but not even that was enough to express the storm of emotions that swirled inside me.

“It was my punishment to bear. Not yours.”

“Bullshit!” I screamed, then pointed at myself. “You’re mine, Shay-Lee. Whatever he did to you—fuck.” I squeezed my eyes shut as I fought back my tears. “You never seemed to care when I told you what I did to Carmen’s rapist. You encouraged it, even, so why not now?”

“I’m not your sister.” The coldness with which he delivered those words made me open my eyes and stare at him. His brows were knitted together, his jaw clenched. “I’m sorry about what happened to her, and I’m sorry if in your mind, she and I somehow mixed together because we’re defenseless rape victims. But I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t ask for this type of sickening revenge.”

My breath caught in my throat with his allegations, and I took a step back while recalling our plans from years ago. “What about what we planned back then? You yourself wanted Dion to end your dad.”