Page 123 of Ravaged Devotion

He couldn’t believe that Ryker was gone.

Had to assume that Ellery and Uriel had gotten them all out in time.

Had to, or he’d break and wouldn’t be able to protect Ryder either.

“No one will find out,” Bowie said. “We’ve been hiding here for hours already while I waited for you to wake up. Avan is the only one who saw us, and he thinks he’s doing this for Eulalie. By the time the police are able to confirm she died at the resort, we’ll be long gone.”

“I’m not going with you,” Rue repeated. “And I don’t want you to murder anyone else.”

“This one isn’t just about you,” Bowie snapped. “I need this too. If I stop now…” He shook his head and opened the door to the room where Ryder had been kept these past three years.

“Afraid it’ll feel like you killed a bunch of people for nothing if you don’t off Ryder too?” Rue asked. “No matter what happens next, everything you’ve done was in fact for nothing.”

Bowie shoved him into the corner of the room furthest from the entrance, then he went to the tv and turned it on, scrolling to the same news channel. At first, Rue didn’t understand why, but then he caught Bowie nervously watching and realized he wasn’t as convinced that he was going to be able to get away with this either.

“Even if this started because you felt angry on my behalf,” Rue said, bristling when Bowie stepped away from the screen and moved toward the pod by the window, “you have to see how crazy this whole thing was. Monsters in the woods? Letting them tear into people just because you didn’t like them? That’s the plot of a bad movie. It’s not meant to be real life.”

“Blame your boyfriend for creating it,” Bowie said. “If it helps, I agree with you. I also thought it was nuts. I tried telling Eulalie it was extra, but she was really hung up on the idea. I think she just really, really hated Rhys. Did you know she believed he had a hand in your dad’s accident?”

Rue frowned. No. No he had not. “She…never said anything like that to me.”

“Yeah, she wasn’t exactly up for any mother of the year awards, but I think she loved you in her own way.” Bowie reached behind the front of the pod and then pulled something free from the wall. When he straightened, the plug to the machine was in his hand. He dropped it to the floor and then pressed the button to release the top.

“Don’t!” Rue got to his feet too quickly and ended up falling forward. His chin whacked against the marble and he groaned, rolling onto his side.

“The Harts are dangerous people.” Bowie pulled out a gun. “I found this exactly where your mom said Ryker keeps it. I’ve never been in this building before, but she mentioned how she hates all the weapons lying around in here, and I logged that information, just in case.” He aimed the weapon into the pod.

From his vantage, Rue couldn’t see Ryder, but Bowie was clearly staring down at him. Rue struggled to free his hands, but it was no use. “Please. Don’t do this.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Your mom isn’t the only one who kept secrets from you.”

“What?” Rue didn’t know if stalling would make a difference—according to Bowie, no one was coming—but it was the only thing he could do, and the adrenaline and fear demanded he do something. “Tell me.”

“You remember my uncle?”

“Uncle Marx?”

“Yeah.” Bowie smiled, but it was bitter. “He owned shares in Sanxing.”

Oh.

“The company that created Belladona?” This was another thing no one had told him.

“Thanks to Ryder’s stunt, the company went under. Rhys made sure of that. Any of the staff members he deemed valuable enough to bring here to monitor his son he did, the rest were let go and blacklisted from the industry. He said it was to ensure they didn’t have the opportunity to recreate anything like this and harm anyone else. But that’s bullshit and we both know it. He just had to wave his dick around and show off how much authority he had.”

“Did you tell my mother this?”

“She found out on her own,” Bowie revealed. “That’s another reason she came to me for help. Why she thought I’d get a kick out of bringing video game nightmares to life with her.”

“This isn’t about me at all,” Rue stated.

“I thought it was,” he said. “I really did. I thought it could be about both. My uncle lost his purpose when he lost his job. He took his life. I didn’t tell you because you were already struggling at that school. Everyone else was already shitting on you about Ryder and the game. I didn’t want to add to that.”

“Do you…blame me?”

“You had nothing to do with it. I know Ryder is the one who got his hands on Belladona. You were only asked to monitor them while they played. None of this is your fault.”

“It feels like my fault.” If Rue had never befriended Bowie, or if he’d at least realized sooner how unhinged he secretly was, maybe all of this could have been prevented.