Chapter 96

**Orian POV**

My eyes snap open.
I inhale a deep breath like it’s my first—sharp pain slashes through my gut, plunging my mind into my memories. Decoy. Distraction. Death. But not mine. Torin has carved his path by crossing mine, so I will obliterate not just his name but the very memory of his existence. I will unravel the legacy he dared to claim, reducing it to ashes, until he realizes that everything he believed to be meaningful about himself was nothing without me.
“Easy,” says a saccharine voice. Sherly. “You’ve been out of it for a long time.”
“How long?”
“Just over a week.” She motions to my stomach. “Can I check?”
I concede a nod. She peels the sheets away. And she slips back the bandage, revealing the wound beneath, and she winces at the sight of the congealed blood that clings to the dressing. She glances at me, not shocked that I show no visible discomfort, so she continues. The wound is deep and was nearly life-threatening, and needs careful tending to avoid infection. Each stitch is precise, the thread pulling the edges of the skin together in neat rows. With a sure hand, she cleans and applies a clean bandage, wrapping it securely but not too tightly, ensuring the stitches will hold and the wound can heal properly.
“Help me get ready.”
She nods obediently. My muscles tense in readiness as I strain myself to straighten as the pain engulfs my being like an orb of fire incinerating through flesh and bone, burning even my organs. My breathing labored as I cautiously settle on the edge of the bed with my hands braced to push myself up. I rise slowly, a slight quivering before my body quavers alarmingly and Sherly reacts and reaches out to stabilize me. The moment she’s in range, I snatch her wrist to yank her closer. She staggers with a gasp, astounded by the sheer force of strength despite my crippling condition.
“You were part of the members that Torin had hired,” I state plainly, but evidently there’s an apparent accusation in the underlining.
“So was most of your security,” she points out, wincing but knowing better than to resist. “And like most of them, we were hired to serve you. And that is all I have ever done.”
“So you were never tempted by the prospect of joining him?”
“He knew better than to ask,” she says as she tries to steady her shaky voice. “I wouldn’t be alive now if I went around betraying my bosses. That’s not good business or is it smart.”
I release her and she wrings out her wrist, staring back at me with concerned curiosity.
“Have I done something to make you suspicious of me?”
“No,” I say evenly. “Neither did my brother. I have remote staff monitoring the workings of my internal team. A protocol I reinforced when Torin defected. I know you have done nothing suspecting, but I wanted to look you in the eye when I asked. Advanced technology can conceal all kinds of treasonous communications and transactions. The problem, the point of exposure is human error. That is a weakness that betrays all forms of deception.”
Sherly offers her hand, still inflamed at the wrist.
I brush past her as we make our way to the bathroom.
“I’ve known Torin a long time—not as long as you, obviously,” she adds quickly. “Even though none of us foresaw his defection. His devotion to you and your cause made his allegiance seem unassailable, unquestionable. Torin claims that it was to further his own interests, but I think it’s partly true. A part of him envies you and another part of him wishes to be seen by you. Just how a son might go to dire lengths to prove himself to his father.”
“It’s not that,” I seethe as I endure against every current of pain with each agonizing step. “I thought it was—it was the only reason I didn’t kill him before. I looked into his eyes and there was no envy, not even rage, just revulsion.”
Soon I come face to face with the mottled burns etched into the side of my face, a twisted web of pale, puckered skin that had long since healed. I move away to sink down on the seat.
“It’s not my place,” she says finely. “But I think you should forgive him. Not because he deserves it but because after all he has done. I think it’s the only action that would change him.”
“You’re right. It’s not your place.”
***
“Is this really necessary?” Sherly questions like an angsty mother. “Can’t this wait? He needs his rest.”
“He will want to see this.”
We’re back at the computer lab and Ryo leads us to one of the workstations.
One of the techies swivels casually on his seat and when he sees it’s me. He unleashes a tirade of formalities as he curls his entire torso before me with his face kept to the ground. I wave him off dismissively and Ryo fixes his hands on his shoulders before he steers him and shoves him back down on the seat with a simple instruction. The techie nods many times as he pulls up a spec on the screen with one tap on the keyboard.
“What am I looking at?” I ask.
“An invitation,” he says with a simplicity I’m grateful for. “It's an encrypted end-to-end hyperlink that's completely untraceable. I just don’t know where it leads. I didn’t want to open it because it could be a trojan horse carrying deadly malware.”
“It’s Torin,” I say instantly. “And that kind of cyber attack would be too obvious for someone like him. Torin’s ploys are a lot more intricate with… delayed ramifications.”
The techie inhales deeply and clicks on it.
“It’s a video?”
“Play it.”
Sounds of arousal burst from the speaker phones as I watch from all three screens a pre-recorded video of a sex tape. Hadassah is naked on top of him, riding him hard. And a tremulous breath escapes me, suffocated by the sound of Torin's grunts and her excruciating moans. The pain of before evaporates from the hellbound wrath within charring my insides black. And that wrath becomes flesh when I hear her scream his name in pure pleasure. Deftly, Ryo grabs the techie out the way before I launch myself at the display. I wrench the one screen from the table, using it to smash it into the other two monitors. Sherly shrieks as she scrambles back. I hurl the one I’m holding across the room and it crashes on the ground in a thunderous clangor.