“Your past doesn’t define you, Ryder. No, I don’t know the full circumstances, but I know you lost yourself after your mom died. I would never blame you or judge you for that.” I knew he’d gotten mixed up in some bad things. When I’d been afraid he would forget me that night of her funeral, he had. Everything had changed after that. For years, he’d detached himself from our family. Had become reclusive. A ghost. The rumors had run rampant. The poor orphan who’d lost himself. The one who’d started hanging out with a rough crowd in the next town over. I had seen it in the demons that had played
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