Page 71 of Unlocking Ruin

“You should be. My life fell apart.”

“You’re strong, and you have a lot of people who want to help you,” he replies. “Why do you want a phone? I’ll order one but it will take time to get delivered.”

I want to scream and tell him to stop watching me. I don’t, because the sick truth is… I like it. Knowing someone cares, it’s something I’ve never felt.

Licking my lips I reply, “I want to see a photo of Alister. I don’t know what he looks like. I used to look at myself and wonder what parts of me looked like my biological father. I want to know.”

Steffen slowly nods as he stands. He pulls out his phone, unlocks it and hands it to me. “You hungry?” he asks. His fingers brush over the palm of my hand as I accept it.

Just like that? He’s going to give me his personal phone?

I shrug. “I can always eat,” I reply, feeling on edge as I hold his phone.

“I’ll go get you food,” he tells me, as he rounds the couch.

Suspicion assaults me. “You’re leaving me with your personal phone?” I ask, as I twist so I can face him.

Only the back of the couch separates us. “If I want you to trust me, then I have to trust you,” he answers.

“You’re so confusing,” I whisper, as I lower the phone to my lap.

He leans closer, his hand slowly reaches for me, cupping my face gently. “It’s odd seeing you here, so close to me.” His eyes trace over me sitting on the couch in his room.

“I thought this is what you wanted.”

“It is, but it makes me wish I would have come forward sooner. So many years wasted. Lost,” he says with a deep sadness in his eyes.

He pulls his hand back, feathering my cheek with an empty coolness now. “I do have one thing personal in here. It’s in my nightstand,” he informs me, looking anxious.

He pivots on his heels and leaves in a rush.

I look at the nightstand. What’s inside it that makes Steffen so scared?

I end up sitting there lost between the phone in my hand and the nightstand that I keep looking at.

“Fuck him,” I grunt. Placing the phone on the couch, I get up and go to the nightstand. Grabbing the brushed metal knob I pull open the drawer and spot a silver picture frame nestled inside.

Reaching for it, I bring it closer. It’s a family picture taken along the waterline of the fjord. The man and woman are breathtakingly beautiful, and I can see Steffen in both of them; these are his parents. Steffen is tall and built just like the man, with the same face shape too, but then his mother enters the genetic pool. They have the same whiskey colored skin, golden and tan; just staring at it makes me thirsty. Their hair is a rich, dark timber color. Nestled between the couple is a young Steffen, smiling wide.

Grief hits me. I’ve seen him smile but it wasn’t like this, carefree and full of hope and love. I run my index finger along the photo.

What happened? How did this happy family raise a man who wears both a cape and a villain’s mask?

Gently, I place the photo back and go to the couch. Grabbing the phone, I open the internet. The hacker in me wants to snoop but Steffen is right, we need to start trusting each other. I type in my biological father’s name and right away photos and bios pop up.

Clicking the first photo, I freeze. That’s him, the man who helped make me.

He’s lean but strong, wearing a suit that fits him like a glove. His hair is my exact shade of light brown. Tears blur my eyes. I told myself as a kid it didn’t matter, I didn’t need to know the man.

But I did.

I wanted to so badly.

Footsteps sound. I don’t turn to see Steffen enter. He sets a tray of food down, but I smell nothing but contempt.

He motions to the tray. “Let’s eat. I got toast and sliced meat and cheese as a snack. Torben is going to grill burgers.”

I look from the food, to him. More tears flood my eyes, spilling out. He scoots closer and tenderly tries to wipe them away. Something in me snaps and caves, I just want to feel someone.