Page 91 of Unlocking Ruin

“Life without purpose and passion.” He looks into my eyes. “Without love.”

I feel the hot breath of my pursuers, their presence snapping at my heels like wolves closing in.

“I can’t,” Steffen admits as shadows form and the men press in on us.

Hands grab me, gently tugging me back into unknown arms.

“Don’t ever come after me again,” I hiss loudly as I begin to cry.

Cillian separates us. He shoves Steffen back inside his house.

“Looks like it’s up to you to save me this time, Little Thief.” Steffen refuses to look away. His blue eyes hold on to me until Cillian drags him so deep inside I lose sight of him.

“Rylan?” The skinny man says, spinning me around. I look into a pair of green eyes that somehow look familiar. “My name is Henderson. I’m your half-brother, but you also know me as Bre8kMe. Nice to formally meet you.”

CHAPTER 22

Steffen

Ilisten as the car speeds off, carrying my heart with it. The ache is sharp, every sting of regret earned and biting.

Cillian hauls me further into my own home. “I could rip your heart out and no one would even flinch!” he bellows.

“Rylan is my heart,” I mutter, defeated.

Cillian’s grip is crushing, like a bear’s jaws locking around me. “You pointed a gun at my brother!”

Brother?

“He’s my cousin,” I answer, numb. Fearless, hollow. His fist slamming into my ribs is just another empty insult.

There it is—breath, life. A reminder that survival still matters.

The new rulers of The Rites of Passage share no blood, yet their bond is as strong as any family.

Cillian halts in the center of the hallway. The gray walls seem to sneer; their emptiness echoing my dread. Is this where my story ends?

Did I panic? Maybe.

What man would not flinch when a dagger was sinking into his spine?

I unleashed my own ruin.

It was reckless, foolish. Raising a gun to Anders was the type of mistake that left a brand seared into my flesh. I could never escape it. His glare was a claiming mark, ensuring my life would belong to him until my last breath.

I wanted Rylan, needed her like air, but the walls were closing in, suffocating the fake little paradise that I built for us.

Even if I fought, they’d take her.

The mistake, the gun to my head—none of it mattered. I just wanted Rylan to know I’d surrender everything for one more moment with her.

Cillian’s shove sends me crashing to the floor. I settle in, as comfortable as a corpse, spine pressed to the wall, one leg drawn up, elbow perched on my knee.

Cillian paces the hallway, each breath slow and deliberate as he fights to steady himself. At last, he stops before me. “If you weren’t Anders’s cousin, you’d be dead. There will be consequences. You’ll serve a year’s sentence. Or rather, Henderson will, since he took on your debt.”

“I take it back,” I say, staring right through him. The ache in my chest is a raw, gaping wound. This is my new punishment: no heart, no Rylan. “I’ll do what I must.”

“Don’t you want to know what we will make you do?”