Page 31 of Claimed By River

“I learned a few things during my detective days.” He shrugs as though tracking someone through the city is no more remarkable than making coffee. “Once we had your location, Royal took over.”

I smile despite myself. “That sounds dangerous. What did he do?”

“He hacked into the hotel’s reservation system and found the room your father had booked.”

I stare at him. “Royal is terrifying.”

“He absolutely is.”

I shake my head. “I don’t think I’ll ever completely understand the four of you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“But I want to.”

River grows thoughtful. “We’re not superheroes. We’re just four stubborn men who got tired of watching criminals walk away because they had enough money to buy better lawyers.”

I think about my father. About the empire he’d built on fear, the politicians he’d bribed, the police officers he’d bought, and the witnesses who’d disappeared. I know better than anyone that justice doesn’t always belong to the innocent.

Sometimes, it belongs to whoever can afford it.

“My father,” I whisper. “He’s ordered terrible things, and he never got his own hands dirty.”

“I know.”

Silence stretches between us. Then I hold his gaze, asking the question I’ve been avoiding. “What happens to him?”

River doesn’t answer immediately. He studies me for a long moment before speaking carefully. “We can’t let a man like Damir walk free.”

My chest tightens. He doesn’t say the words. Yet, I understand. I lower my eyes to my hands. For years, I’d imagined confronting my father. I’d pictured screaming at him and demanding answers. Asking why I was never enough.

But I heard the answer tonight, from his own mouth, in that suite. I was never not enough. That would have meant he measured me against something and found me short. He never measured me at all. He put me in a column, the way he put my mother in a column, and when the number stopped working, he closed the book.

Twenty years of waiting to find out what I did wrong. It turns out I was never in the running. That should hurt more than it does.

Instead, all I feel is relief. He admitted to killing my mother, and he stood in a hotel room and explained, patiently, what a man in his position does with a cost he can no longer carry. Those are the actions of a monster.

When I finally look back at River, my voice is steady. “I’m not sorry.”

He searches my face. “Are you sure?”

I nod. “My father stopped being my family a long time ago.”

River reaches over and gently squeezes my hand. “I’m sorry you never had the father you deserved.”

We sit with that. There’s only one thing left between us now, and neither of us wants to be the one to name it.

Eventually, River breaks the silence. “What does this mean for us?”

The question catches me off guard. I look down at the wedding ring still circling my finger. I still don’t know how to answer. “I’m not ready.”

His expression doesn’t change. “Okay.” He nods. “Take whatever time you need.”

I look back up, inhaling sharply at the intensity behind his gaze. I can’t think.

“I’m going to lie down,” I blurt out. I stand instantly, not waiting for his response.

“I’ll be here.”