Reverence In Ruin

Chapter Eight

Amelia was furious throughout the ride home. She gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles matched the white colour of the seat covers. Every time she glanced in the rearview mirror at her child in the back, her heart did a panicked somersault.

​“How did you even know how to get up there, Lila? Tell me! Do you want a s***k? I told you this morning that where I was going is no place for children,” Amelia lashed out. The anger was a shield for the terror still clawing at her throat.

​Lila kicked her legs against the seat, clutching her toy with a stubborn pout that made Amelia’s stomach turn. It was his pout.

​“Mama, I know you said the bad men live there,” Lila responded, nonchalantly.

“But the witch brought me.”

​“The witch? Lila, don’t use those words.”

​“Auntie Clara,” the girl corrected herself, though the mischief didn’t leave her eyes.

​Amelia pulled into their driveway and didn’t even wait to take off her coat before dialling Clara’s number. Her hand was shaking so violently she nearly dropped the phone.

​“Clara? Why on earth would you bring Lila to that building?” Amelia’s voice was a jagged edge.

​“No, no, no, Amelia…that wasn’t intended!” Clara’s voice came through in a frantic rush, the sound of traffic in the background. “I got an emergency call and had to leave fast. I told her specifically to stay in the lobby, I swear. She must have slipped away when I wasn’t looking.”

​Amelia stood in her small kitchen. Something felt off like a prickle at the back of her neck, but she waved it off because of the exhaustion she was feeling.

"Fine", and ended the call.

​“Lila Hart!” Amelia shouted.

​Lila ran in from the living room, leaving a trail of plastic dinosaurs in her wake.

​“Why didn’t you just stay in the lobby like Auntie Clara told you?”

​“Mama, the wi…", Auntie Clara said, “Go, your mother is up there.” She pointed at the big doors while she was talking to the man in the uniform. And I did.”

She looked at her daughter’s innocent face and felt a cold realisation dawning. This wasn’t an accident.

​Voss sat in silence after Amelia stormed out, lost in deep thought until Rino tapped him; he tapped on the doorframe first and eventually just walked in when he got no response. He set a fresh bottle of Scotch on the desk with a heavy thud.

​“What is the problem?” Voss muttered, his voice sounding like it had been dragged over gravel.

​“I’ve been standing here for five minutes hoping to finally grab attention,” Rino said, pulling up a chair and pouring two glasses. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. But you actually did. didn't know she was such a damsel, a beauty to behold, Voss.”

​Voss shot him a stare so lethal Rino actually paused mid-sip.

​“She got married, Rino.” Voss slammed his fist onto the obsidian, the sound echoing like a gunshot. “She betrayed me, sold the ring, and then went and built a family with the proceeds. None of it was ever real. Not Bonifacio, not the promises. Nothing.”

​He leaned back, his mind looping the image of the child. He hadn't seen her face clearly, but he remembered what she said.

​Is this where the mean man lives?

​“That little beast called me a monster,” Voss hissed. “She looked at me and saw exactly what her mother told her to see.”

​Rino sipped his drink, watching his friend carefully. “So, what now? Are you going to bring her back? Force her to talk?”

​“Nah.” Voss sat back, his posture suddenly relaxing into a terrifying, cold calm.

​“Tell the boys to find the husband,” Voss said, his eyes turning to polished flint. “Find him and kill him. If she wants to play the happy little family game with my money, she can learn what it feels like to lose everything. I want her to feel the exact weight of the silence she left me in.”

​He took a slow, deliberate sip of the Scotch. It didn't taste like truffles or roses anymore. It tasted like iron.

​“That would be the first payment," Voss whispered. “By the time I’m done, she’ll wish she let the sea take me.”