Lahat ng Kabanata ng Ruin Me, Brother: Kabanata 171 - Kabanata 180

Celeste“Is this how people die?” I asked Joy quietly, standing beside her near the coffee station. “So suddenly. So violently.”The entire office was subdued today—voices hushed, movements careful, as if everyone was afraid to make too much noise. The news had broken yesterday morning: Mina’s body was found in Riverside Park by joggers. The details that had leaked were horrifying.“I still can’t believe it,” Joy whispered back, her face pale. “I know she could be... difficult. But no one deserves that.”“No,” I agreed softly. “No one does.”Despite everything Mina had done to me—the humiliation, the cruelty, the deliberate torture—I’d never wished her dead. Never imagined anything like this. Who could have done something so brutal? What kind of person could hurt another human being that way?“I’m sorry,” I said, looking at Joy’s stricken face. I knew she and Mina had been close, in their own toxic way. “Please accept my condolences.”Joy nodded, her eyes filling with tears she was tr

HenryThree Days Later“How is this possible?”My voice came out shaking despite my best efforts to control it. I stared down at the document in my hands, the DNA test results that David had just delivered, and felt the world tilting beneath my feet.Subject: Celeste Monroe. Relationship to Henry Parker: No genetic match found. Probability of paternity: 0%“She’s supposed to be my daughter,” I whispered, more to myself than to David. “I could feel it. I was so certain—”“Sir, are you alright?” David asked.I couldn’t answer him. Couldn’t look away from those damning words on the page. Celeste wasn’t mine. That beautiful, kind, gentle girl who looked so much like Sienna, who had that same grace, that same warmth—she wasn’t my daughter.“Sir?” David said again.I forced myself to look up. “I’m fine. Thank you for handling this so discreetly. You may go.”David hesitated as if he wanted to say something else, then nodded and left my office, closing the door quietly behind him.The moment

HenryI scrolled through my contacts and dialed David’s number.“Sir.”“David, I need you to conduct an investigation. A very thorough, very discreet investigation.” I kept my voice low. “Twenty-three years ago, my wife gave birth at The Queen’s Hospital. I need to know everything that happened that day—who was on duty, who had access to the nursery, and any unusual incidents reported. Everything.”“That’s going to be difficult, sir. Records that old—”“I don’t care how difficult it is. I need answers. And David? No one can know about this investigation. Especially not my daughter, Amelia.”“I understand, sir. I’ll start immediately.”I ended the call and went back into Sienna’s room. She was resting with her eyes closed, but I could tell she wasn’t asleep. Amelia sat in the chair on the other side of the bed, scrolling through her phone.Whatever had happened in that hospital twenty-three years ago, I was going to uncover it. Every dark corner of it. And then I would decide what came

SiennaThe world tasted of copper and old dust.My head throbbed so badly I couldn’t tell if my eyes were open or if I was still trapped inside a nightmare. My lungs felt heavy, as if someone had poured wet concrete into them while I slept.I tried to lift my hand to my chest, but my wrists pulled against something cold and tight.Metal clinked against metal somewhere in the darkness.“She’s waking up,” a voice said.I knew that voice the way I knew my own heartbeat. I had hummed lullabies to that voice when it was small and frightened. I had wiped tears from the face that voice belonged to.I had stayed up three nights straight when that voice was burning with fever, pressing a cool cloth to her forehead and whispering that everything would be okay.But tonight, that voice sounded like ice breaking beneath your feet, beautiful for one second, then terrifying.“Amelia?” I croaked; my throat felt like I’d swallowed broken glass. I forced my eyes open, blinking hard against the darkness

HenryI pressed the accelerator down hard. The warehouse was still miles away, but every second felt like hell. My mind kept painting pictures I didn’t want to see: Sienna’s face twisted in pain, Celeste frightened and alone, crying for a father who wasn’t there.Even Amelia. As wicked as she had proven herself to be, she was still someone I had held as a baby. Someone I had stayed up at night worrying about. That thought made me feel sick with anger.Then my phone rang.“Where are you, Henry?” Richard’s voice was steady. His calmness was the only thing keeping me from falling apart.“Almost there.”“Good. Jace and I are already at the front with our men. Don’t do anything stupid when you get here.”“Noted.”When the warehouse finally appeared in the headlights, I barely stopped the car properly before jumping out. My legs carried me to Richard before my brain caught up.“I will make her suffer,” I vowed.Richard gripped my shoulder. Hard. Grounding me. “And she will. But you stay sha