Victor didn't tell the boy about the accident and the twisted details that led to this reunion.
His words were short, cold even.
"She is dead."
Deep inside Austin's chest, a strange, sickening bubble of pure joy suddenly burst.
Dead? Like the cold corpse of that Auntie from the third street?
"Dead?" he asked aloud, his large blue eyes blinking with a terrifying, innocent purity at the man before him.
Victor looked back at him with the same colored eyes.
"Yes," Victor replied, crossing one leg over the other. "From now on, you will stay at Vale Mansion. You will live with your elder sister and me."
She is really dead.
The realization washed over him like the warmest of air.
His breathing grew easy, his ache receding.
It meant no more sharp heels raining down on his ribs. It meant no more dark rooms, no more freezing under the bed, and no more starving for days in the dark.
