Chapter 31 The Dark Secret Of The Rivers
Serena
The first face I saw when my eyes cracked open was Mrs. Hale’s.
She hovered over me, close enough that I could see the fine lines around her mouth, the worry carved deep between her brows.
Her eyes were wet. I could have sworn a single tear slipped free and landed on the duvet pulled tight across my chest.
I tried to sit up, alarm spiking through the fog in my head, but her small, strong hand pressed firmly against my shoulder, pinning me back to the pillows.
“No, don’t,” she said quietly. “The drugs will knock you flat again if you move too fast.”
My mouth felt cotton-dry. My tongue stuck to the roof.
“Drugs?” The word came out hoarse, cracked.
“Where are Saint and Sin? Who brought me here?”
She hissed under her breath, it was a sharp, frustrated sound, then sucked her teeth the way my aunt used to when I asked too many questions as a child.
“You’re so stubborn, Serena.” Her voice softened, almost fond, almost sad. “I wish you weren’t so much like your—”
She cut herself off. Instead, her lips pressed into a thin line. She shook her head firmly. “Never mind what I was saying.”
She smoothed the duvet over my chest like she could smooth away whatever she’d almost let slip.
“Saint and Sin are in a family meeting right now. Sin carried you back here himself while Saint went to fetch me. Serena…”
She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a whisper that felt like it was meant only for the two of us.
“You need to be very careful. He nearly sent you over this time.”
The room tilted. My head spun, not from drugs, not from pain, but from the weight of what she wasn’t saying.
“Sent me over?” I echoed, my throat tight. “What does that mean?”
Mrs. Hale looked at me. Not as the stubborn girl who kept climbing walls and mouthing off to billionaires, but as someone fragile. Someone breakable.
“Sin has… episodes,” she said carefully. “When the darkness takes hold, he doesn’t always know where the line is. Last night—”
She paused, her eyes flicking to the faint bruises circling my wrists, the red lines still visible across my chest beneath the thin sheet.
“He almost crossed it. Saint confided in me that he had to pull him off you. You were… gone for a while. They gave you something to bring you down gently.”
Gone.
I tried to remember, but I got flashes only: Sin’s hands shaking, Saint’s voice loud and sharp with panic, the cold press of something against my neck, then nothing.
My stomach turned over. I wanted to vomit.
“They drugged me?”
My voice sounded small. Childlike.
Mrs. Hale’s expression softened, but only just a fraction.
“To keep you safe,” she said. “From him.”
I stared at the ceiling. The ornate molding blurred as tears pricked my eyes.
“I know you think the worst of yourself, that you could have done better. That you could have stood up for yourself on that very day they brought you here. But remember that this is how strong people are reminded they're strong.”
She reached out and hesitated, then brushed a damp strand of hair from my forehead. The touch was gentle. Maternal.
It broke something inside my chest. When was the last time a female touched me like this? Like I wasn't a mistake in this world?
“They’re coming back soon,” she continued. “The family meeting won’t last forever. When they do… be careful what you ask for. Sin isn’t the only one who’s unraveling.”
She stood, smoothing down her uniform with brisk, practiced hands.
“Rest,” she said. “I’ll bring tea in a bit. And Serena?”
I looked up at her.
“You must quit snooping around. One day, you'll discover the darkness itself and you won't be able to run.” The warning sounded ominous, like something the housekeeper in a horror movie would say to the new house mistress.
I lay there, alone in the massive bed, my body aching, my mind spinning, staring at the ceiling.
Not too long ago, I’d told myself I could handle them.
That I could take whatever darkness they threw at me and walk away smiling.
Now? Now I wasn’t so sure.
Because the truth was settling in my bones like cold lead:
I wasn’t just in danger from Sin’s demons. I was starting to crave them.
And if I didn’t find a way out soon…. They were going to consume me. Whole. And I wasn’t certain I’d fight to stop them.
Mrs. Hale still hadn’t come back with the tea, and my stomach was starting to claw itself apart. Hunger mixed with nerves made everything worse.
I couldn’t just lie here anymore. I slid out of bed slowly, testing my legs. They held, but barely.
I padded to the door, held my breath, and cracked it open a bit. I poked out my head to peep outside.
All clear.
I tiptoed to the kitchen, though I'd never stepped foot in there, I knew where it was.
I got lost. I was in Mr Rivers’ wing, and I didn't even know it.
A door stood slightly ajar at the end of the hall, warm light spilling out, voices leaking through the crack.
They were low at first. Then as I drew closer, they turned sharper.
I crept closer, until the words sharpened into blades.
“You must not be sighted in public ever again, Sin.” Mr. Rivers’ voice was low, biting, and final. I even shuddered.
“I can’t be secluded here forever.” Sin’s reply came fast, rough and frayed at the edges. “I can’t change who I am. The past is the past. I don’t live there anymore.”
Sin sounded like he was fighting so hard not to break, like the thing inside him was desperately seeking to break out.
There was a long silence. Then Mrs. Rivers' voice rose up. It was soft, almost gentle, the way she never spoke to me.
“I don’t believe you, son.”
Her tone carried something I’d never heard from her before: real fear.
“You look like you’re already there. You’re slowly unraveling, and it will destroy everything the therapist is trying to do for you.”
My back hit the wall. Therapist.
“I look like I'm already there because I can't have what I so desperately crave.” He confessed in a ragged voice. “What I want is forbidden. What I want will ruin everything we've worked so hard for.”
“Well you need to fight it.” Vivian's voice struck me square in the chest. I didn't even know she'd be there.
“You need to watch it.” Saint's reply was instant.
I pressed my back harder against the wall, my ear so close to the cracked door I could feel the vibration of their voices in my teeth.
“You think you can just sit there and disrespect me? All you two care about—-”
“Enough.” Sin ordered. The single word silenced the whole house.
But Vivian was still speaking. “.... Is your sinful, depraved cravings. You killed those two girls before you even clocked twenty. All in the name of your sexual desires!” She spat the words out like they tasted foul.
She continued in that same soul-wilting voice. “We suffered to bury that ugly truth, and it worked because you'd been abroad in London, studying. No one knew you existed because your childhood was complicated. We made sure of it. I made sure of it. Now….. now you want to ruin it.”
The silence that followed was worse than any scream. I couldn’t breathe.
My hand flew to my mouth to trap the sound trying to claw out.
Sin had killed two girls before his twentieth birthday?
No…. No… This couldn't be true.