Horrific images that shatter everything.
As bad as it sounds, it wouldn’t have mattered to me because these men deserved what they got for all the atrocities they’d committed against women and children. Growing up with monsters taught me that some evil cannot be cured; it can only be extinguished.
But the last two videos…the last two victims…they destroy the bubble he created around me the past week, leaving me burning in this new reality where there is no escape.
The first video shows Orion spilling gasoline all around his father’s dungeon, probably hiding his crimes. There are no women in sight.
Did Conrad kill them all as well?
However, a man lies right in the middle, all bloody and gasping for breath while trying to reach for his gun, but Orion kicks it away.
Then he spills gasoline on him too, and the man cries out his name. Still, my husband ignores his pleas and walks up the stairs, right before lighting up a match and dropping it on the floor. Everything bursts into flames, while the man’s agonizing screams echo before it goes blank.
That’s how Conrad died; his own son killed him, most likely willing to let the fire hurt him so no one would ever question his involvement in this accident.
Orion must have killed his father first because in all other videos, he already had his scars. So not only had he turned Conrad’s plan against him, but he also decided to take justice into his own hands, without going to the police.
Stepping back, I shake my head and try to grasp the fact that his father did awful things and deserved to die. It still makes Orion a murderer, no matter the circumstances.
How could anyone excuse that?
There are laws for a reason, and if everyone went around killing each other by their own code of justice, where would it lead us as a society?
That’s not all, though.
With a heavy heart, I click the video titled “Grant.” My father kept messaging me for the past week, until Orion blocked his number and told me to ignore him.
He informed me he won’t be helping them to save the company, and I was fine with that.
Why is there a file with Grant’s name on it?
Sweat drips from my palms, and I wipe them on my dress before taking the mouse and clicking on the folder.
And right at this moment, I wish I hadn’t.
Because what I see there, once and for all, ruins my fairy tale and reminds me why I always preferred myths to reality.
At least they never give you illusions about happily ever afters and show humankind in all its vile glory.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“When truth comes to light, one has two choices.
To accept it.
Or fight it.
No matter their choice…
Their life would never be the same.
Because…
Sometimes people do favor sweet lies over bitter truths.”
Orion
Orion
