ᴀᴘʜʀᴏᴅɪᴛᴇ // $ᴜɪᴄɪᴅᴇʙᴏʏ$

Chapter Seventeen

SCOTT

I stared at the wall as I sat on my bed, the letter from Sienna's father in my hand, and suffered as my body screamed at me in distress.

Sienna was dead. It was said in the letter that I was not allowed to attend her funeral. Her dad gave a strict threat that I would be killed if I showed up. Killed because my cousin murdered her. But how did that make any sense? It wasn't my fault, after all. And she was my wife.

I didn't know which feeling to focus on. There were just so many going on inside me at the moment.

I felt grief. Of course I felt grief. Sienna, the only woman I had ever loved, had rotted away.

I had fought my heroin addiction for Sienna. I'd given up everything that came with being a normal man for her, to being one that had to be constantly on the run from her father. And I'd been fine with that. It had been worth it to save her, and to be able to touch her afterwards. But to be without her now...

I closed my eyes.

Her face instantly came to my mind. The last image I had of her while we blew up on each other in a heated argument about my cousin. I focused on her furious face in my head, her beautiful face, her silky brown hair, and her full lips. When I'd glanced at those lips, and desperately wanted to grab her, shut her up, and kiss her. But she walked out the door and slammed it behind her before I got the chance.

I hadn't kissed her that last day I saw her.

I almost cringed when her last words came to my mind now, her voice smooth and exotic as always, right before she left.

"Why would a man like you bother to marry, Scott? I'm sure you'd be happy if your cousin killed me, wouldn't you? Happy to be rid of a nagging wife."

And I'd just stood there, and watched her leave. I could remember the raw emotion inside me as I watched her walk away from me. That was the last image I would always have of her now.

I could remember lying here other nights, right next to Sienna, constant thoughts that would drive me crazy. It was then that I realized, all the nights thinking about her and planning for our wedding, I'd unintentionally given myself hope.

There can be no true despair without hope.

I squeezed my eyes shut and refused to go back to that place inside me. Instead, I hung on to the hope so I could push back the despair.

Aphrodite suddenly came to my mind. The caring, almost maternal woman who fell in love with my cousin. As much as I was grateful for the small things she'd done for Ari, I would use her to leave this place. Sienna would have wanted me to avenge her death. And I would honor her death by thriving once again.

My cousin had taken my love from me.

Who was I now that she was gone?

I was still the same, I told myself. And I would take the only woman my cousin ever loved from him.

An eye for an eye.