All Chapters of Ruined by her uncle: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

He needed to see that bullet that was taken out Lily and then he could determine if he could trace it back to Edna. Damien closed the laptop and drove straight to the police station.They made him give a full statement before they would discuss the bullet. He recited the story he had built: tracking Lily’s phone to the cabin, arriving just as gunfire erupted from the trees, getting her to the hospital. He was confident in this lie. Part of his job was learning how to read people and learning how to not be read easily. When they asked about the phone itself, he lied replied with the same confidence.“I never found it. The second I reached her, the shooting started. I tried tracing it again after the hospital. But the signal’s gone. Whoever took her must have destroyed it.”The truth was that he smashed it to pieces that morning, and hidden it safely in his car. He planned to dump it in the middle of the ocean once he was on his yacht for his solo fishing trip. He had taken out the sili

Then the phones and the laptop. Edna had told both Linda and Aubrey that she was leaving for a short work contract out of state. Then she had found Aubrey alone and tasked her with keeping her personal phone and laptop. “Just keep them plugged in and powered on every day,” she had told Aubrey. “Otherwise the battery goes bad. You know how these things are.” She also gave her her password “just in case anything goes wrong” because deep down she knew Audrey would take it to school and any other places she was visiting like the teenager she was. Thankfully she had already deleted any sensitive information. Aubrey had nodded, solemn and trusting. Then Edna had made her promise not to tell her mother. She had agreed eagerly. Secrets were the foundation of their relationship anyway. Edna had then rented a cheap, nondescript sedan under a different name and bought a burner phone. Damien’s tracking software, would show exactly what she wanted him to see: a woman that has moved on with

“Hey,” he said.“Hi.” The smile she had given him had been both automatic and empty. Her face stayed blank.“How are you doing?”She had sighed, a tiny frown pulling between her brows. “Good.”Her hair was in a loose, low ponytail. A few strands had escaped and stuck to her cheek. Without thinking, he had reached out and brushed them back. “You’re getting a little color back in your face.”She had looked up at him then. Her eyes were incredibly sad, already glassy with tears. “I need you to stop coming over, Uncle Damien.”His hand had frozen against her cheek.“Please,” she had whispered, and then the sobs hit her like a wave. She pressed both hands against her eyes and cried so hard her shoulders shook violently to the extent the swing chains rattled.The caretaker hovered a few yards away, watching. Damien had lifted a hand. “Give us a minute.”The woman had nodded and retreated toward the house.He crouched in front of her until her knees touched his chest. Lily had lowered

Weeks passed and the answers changed from “he’s around” to a constant string of nos. One day, Lily put the pieces together. The caretaker must have reported Damien as the trigger to her parents. The parents must have told Damien this and either asked him to politely stay away, or Damien himself had chosen to. The realization brought a complicated wash of gratitude and guilt. She hated the caretaker a little for the interference, but she was grateful for the space. Deep down she knew Damien wanted only what was best for her. And that none of this was solely his fault. Neither was the lose of their child. Yet every time she saw his face the darkness rose anyway and she didn’t know how to stop it.When Damien stopped appearing even for Sunday dinners, Lily began coming downstairs more often. She joined the family for daily meals too. Dax came every evening for dinner. Sometimes he slept over in the guest room. He coddled her so much like he was afraid she would break if he didn’t shower

They’d all nodded in unison. They’d noticed his drinking and how he was lagging at work. Dax had probably told them about the nightly escapades as well. “I can handle myself.” Damien had said before changing the topic fast. “Our main concern is Lily. We have to do what’s right for her so she can get back on her feet.” They’d all agreed. For now, as her trigger, he would stay away until Lily was doing much better. And it had worked. Using Dax as his only source of information, he’d learned that Lily had started feeling like herself again since he’d decided to stay away. That knowledge was the only thing that bought him any semblance of happiness. Even if he could have killed for even one moment to witness her recovery, to be there for her and hold her hand through it, he was happy just knowing his absence made her better. He’d resorted to finding the rest of his happiness at the bottom of the bottle. Giovanni had gotten him someone else after he’d requested Stella be removed. Her