Twisted (Steel Brothers Saga 8)

“Yes, it would. I can’t begin to know how you’re feeling. But I’m still your brother. So is Joe. And Marj is still your sister. We’re sorry that we violated your trust. We thought we were doing what was best. I wish we could take it back, but we can’t. I understand you won’t forgive us right away, but we’re here for you, no matter what.”

I can’t begin to know how you’re feeling.

Talon’s words lanced through me.

No, he couldn’t know how I was feeling, but I sure as hell couldn’t even imagine the hell he’d been through and how it made him feel.

I sighed. Time to grow up. Time to forgive. “I do forgive you, Tal. I’m just not sure I can forget so easily.”

“Bro, I get it. Forgetting is the hard part. It doesn’t happen. But day by day, remembering gets a little easier.”

He was talking about his abduction, the torture, the rapes. Again, I felt like a whiny-assed, snot-nosed kid. “You didn’t have to forgive them.”

“You’re right. And I didn’t. They don’t deserve my forgiveness.”

But my siblings did deserve mine. That’s what he wasn’t saying but what he meant. And he was right.

“No, they don’t. But you deserve mine. I already said it. I forgive you for not telling me about the DNA test.”

“And Joe and Marj?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“And Ruby?”

That was a horse of a different color. “I don’t know.”

“You’ve got a good thing going, Ry. She kept it from you for the same reasons we did. To try to keep you from being hurt.”

“I know. She’s told me the whole story.”

“I won’t tell you what to do, and I don’t expect you to forget all this overnight. But think about it. She’s good for you, and you’re good for her.”

“We’re both the progeny of nutcases. We at least have that in common.” I let out a chuckle. Hell, I could laugh or I could cry.

“We all are, bro,” Talon said. “This thing with Dad gets weirder by the minute. I still can’t wrap my head around him financing those three. I’ve been over and over it in my mind, and something doesn’t add up. He must have known who took me. He must have fucking let them.”

“Not according to Larry. He still claims you were never meant to be taken.”

“But according to Wendy…” Talon rubbed his chin.

“Which one is more mentally stable?” I laughed out loud. “Now that’s a million-dollar question. But seriously, as far as we’ve been able to tell, Larry has never lost his grip on reality. Wendy has.”

“True, but Larry also wasn’t always in the confidence of Simpson and Mathias. He was more of a yes man, a follower. I’m not sure he always knew what was going on.”

“Could be. He knew the truth about me, though. The one time I went to see him, he kept telling me I had my mother’s nose. I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about, since only Marj looks like Mom. Then, when I went to see Wendy, I saw it. I have her nose.”

“But you’d seen Wendy many times before when we were kids, when Dad died.”

“I know. But I wasn’t looking for anything then. None of us were.”

“True.”

“I can’t believe Dad—” Dad. My father. “Tal, do you think that call I got actually came from Dad?”

“No. I don’t. I think it’s Wendy playing with your head.”

I nodded. “You’re probably right. She’s already proven that she can get her hands on cell phones while she’s in psych lockup. But it wasn’t her voice.”