Ruby Revenge

HIM

She was fucking lucky I had been sitting in front of the window when she decided to peek at Geo’s phone. If my brother had caught her, his suspicion would have heightened. With good reason. When I watched her scroll through whatever she was looking at on the phone, determination had lit up her face. She had been searching for something.

I hadn’t planned on coming in until I realized the phone was unlocked. Geo had stuff in there about the group that Sage shouldn’t be seeing. I didn’t know what she’d find, but digging deeper into the group wouldn’t be good for anyone. Especially her. Even if she did find something, she’d only obsess over it. Did she really think she could dig up dirt and use it against the group? It wasn’t possible. I wasn’t lying when I told her we were everywhere. There was no getting away from it.

“I don’t feel like talking,” she snapped at Geo, pulling me from my thoughts.

Geo stood in front of her, leaning against the fridge with a wide grin on his face. I inched forward, ready to get between them if I needed to. My twin wasn’t exactly sober right now, and when he drank, he liked to stir shit up. Obviously, that included getting under Sage’s skin. The whole reason I got Geo out of the house was so she wouldn’t see him. That fucking backfired. I thought she was sleeping for the night.

“Aren’t you bored with not talking? You’ve been here almost a month, and you’ve become a hermit,” Geo said with a small laugh. “Do you see anyone other than my brothers?”

“Seeing as you killed the only other person I talked to—no,” she snarled, anger etched on her face. There wasn’t a hint of pain or sadness. She was getting better at burying her thoughts. Or this life was already numbing her.

Geo’s grin faded. “It’s not like I murdered her in cold blood. It was for the greater good. I thought Alex explained this to you.”

“He did.” A bit of anger left her and was replaced with curiosity. I refused to talk about the group with her, and I was pretty sure Alex hadn’t brought it up either. “Alex made me read the beginning of a book…that night.”

“How much did you read, Sage?” Geo’s voice picked up a hard edge, and I raised an eyebrow as I stopped a couple of feet away from them. Usually, I knew what my twin was going to say the second he spoke the first word. This time, I had no idea where he was going with it.

Her gaze went to me for a moment before looking back at him. “The story of how it started.”

“You didn’t read any other pages?” he pressed as he leaned closer.

Backing up until she was back in the kitchen and leaning against the counter, she set the bag of chocolates down. Her reaction had me studying every inch of her face. She was hiding something.

“No, I didn’t,” she answered curtly. “Ask Alex. He took the book from me before I could.”

“We know you went back down to the basement after you ran from Alex that night,” he replied, stumbling a bit as he crossed the small space that separated them. “The knife you stabbed him with. And the matches you used to burn our house down. Those came from the basement. You didn’t have those when Niko and I talked to you upstairs.”

“So?” she asked, keeping her voice steady. But it was the panic building in her eyes that had my stomach clenching.

“I was able to grab it before the house burned down,” he said casually. “That book is a huge part of our beliefs.”

“Good for you,” she spat out, but it lacked the vigor she had only a minute ago. “Move. I’m going back to bed.”

Thanks to the beers he’d downed all night, Geo was slower than usual. She darted away from his outstretched hand, only to slam into my chest. Grabbing her upper arms, I held her in place as she raised her head to look at me.

“Please,” she breathed out, her pupils dilating from panic. “Just let me go back to my room.”

Glancing up at my brother, I clenched my jaw and walked forward, bringing her back into the kitchen. Whatever she was keeping to herself, I couldn’t help her this time. Because as my twin’s glare zeroed in on her, whatever secret she was hiding—Geo had already found it out. Tearing away from me, she spun around and glared at us as we stayed in front of her.

“What did you do, Sage?” I asked her, hoping we’d be able to end this quickly.

“I have no idea.”

“All those other pages in the book. It’s a list of names,” Geo murmured as my gaze cut to him. What the hell was he doing? “Of all the women who were part of a ceremony.”

She stayed silent, letting surprise cover her face. But I’d gotten better at reading her tells. And Geo’s words weren’t news to her.

“It was my job to write Lacey’s name in the book since I was the one to complete the ceremony,” Geo continued as her face began to pale. “But do you know what I found when I opened the book?”

Shock coursed through me even as I kept my face expressionless. Geo and I never used to have secrets from each other. Now it seemed we were both keeping them.

“A page had been ripped out. The newest page where I needed to write Lacey’s name.” Even drunk, Geo’s voice radiated with threat and anger. “Tell me, Sage. Who do you think did that?”

My eyes widened as my head swung back to her. Shit. If that were true, she had evidence. It wasn’t much. Not enough to start an investigation. Or implicate any of us. But it could raise questions. The elders would be furious if they knew. Seeing as I just found out, I doubted they were aware. For now, at least.

“I don’t know.”

The words weren’t even out of her mouth when Geo shot forward and wrapped his hand around her neck before slamming her back against the wall. Her hands flew to his wrist, and her mouth opened in a silent scream as he cut off her air.

My body moved before my brain caught up. I grabbed his arm that was choking her and wrenched it away. He turned, and the side of my face exploded in pain when his punch landed on my cheek. I swung back and clipped his chin before he rammed into me. We landed on the floor near the table as we wrestled for the upper hand.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he hissed as I blocked his next hit. “She took it. She has something on us.”