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Chapter Forty Eight Raya St Claire
"I thought you betrayed me again, you know?" I tell Archie, sitting in front of him in the leathered chair.
It was strange how fast the time has gone. It felt like yesterday when I came in here to ask him when he was going to start helping me find the people who murdered my family seeing that eight years has elapsed, only to find out that same night that he was one of the three men who went to my house that night, and that he saved my little brother from having the same fate as my parents.
"What do you mean?" He asks, his eyebrows pulled together in a confused frown.
"You said Winchester had a family because I thought you wanted me to spare his life, but you were right when you said that it would lower his guard. I got to him when I mentioned his family. I saw some emotion in his eyes when I mentioned his wife and daughter, and unborn son. And you know... for a brief second... I wanted to spare his life because of his family. Because just because he was the biggest asshole to me, didn't mean that he was the same way with his family, but then I realized something...I realized that they would be better off without him."
Archie nods, not saying anything at all.
"Do you know why I said that they'd be better off without him? Without a father or a husband?"
He shakes his head.
"Because he was abusing them." I nod, to myself. "He was abusing them, Archie."
"What?"
"Yeah." I tell him. "The 'concerned for his family' look he was giving me when I threatened his family was just an act." I sit backward, flush against the backrest of the leathered chair. "It was all an act. He couldn't care less about what happened to his family. I could see it in his eyes. And when he said that he only cared about the money... well... that told me that he couldn't care less about his family, too. That motherfucker deserved to die. Winchester deserved to die, Archie..."
"I know." He says, his voice barely above a whisper. "He did deserve to die." He says a little bit louder. "But what about me, Raya? I was there that night, too. I witnessed your mother and father get murdered and I acted as if I didn't know, for eight years, I acted as if I didn't know."
I nod, swallowing hard. "You are not like Winchester." I tell him. "You're nothing like him."
"But it doesn't make it okay."
"You regret it, Archie." I look at him, I really look at him. "I wanted to kill you, you know? When I found out that you were there that night. I wanted to kill you, Archie, but I didn't... because you were trying to make amends, for eight years, and you saved my little brother. It wouldn't be fair toward you if I still hated you just for being present when my parents was killed. You are not the one who pulled the trigger. You weren't the one who smiled at me after just murdering my mom and dad in cold blood, and was ready to murder me too, for fucking money." I sit forward again, resting my hands on the edge of the table. "I don't blame you anymore, Archie. You have saved my little brother from having the same fate as my parents, and you have looked after me as if I was your own daughter for eight years. I don't hate you anymore. I don't."
