Page 46 of Maddening Fixation

No one answered.

No one denied it.

I continued.

“In this same house, my little sister, Sarah, was thrown from the eighth-floor window like she meant nothin’.”

My jaw tightened.

“The moment she hit those stones, ye already had a story prepared.”

I looked directly at my father.

“Ye pointed at me.”

Then to my grandfather.

“Ye judged me.”

My gaze swept across the rest of the family.

“And every last one of ye helped bury the truth.”

I straightened slowly, never taking my eyes off them, then rounded the shattered edge of the table with deliberate, unhurried steps.

“Ye called me a murderer before the police even arrived.”

Another step.

“Ye watched them drag me away in chains.”

Another.

“And not one of ye had the courage to ask whether I was innocent.”

My voice remained steady, but years of pain lay beneath every syllable.

“For ten years, I rotted inside Ravencliff.”

“I woke every mornin’ wonderin’ if that’d be the day someone finally managed to kill me.”

“I slept with one eye open because men were paid to bury me inside those walls.”

“I bled. I starved. I fought.”

“And through every bloody day...”

I shook my head slowly.

“...not one Flynn came through those prison gates.”

“Not one letter. Not one visit. Not one Christmas card. Not one birthday. Not even a priest sent to ask if I still drew breath.

“Ye abandoned me because I wasn’t the son ye wanted.”

The words came quieter now.

“Because ye believed whispers about my mother’s blood.”