The Road Ahead (A Hunter Hayes Fanfiction, Book 4 of The Hardships Saga)

Chapter Fifty-Six

Maria took a deep breath, steadying herself. "I married a man who was heavily into drugs and gambling. I didn't know it at the time. But he got into shady deals trying to earn us money. Deals that got him into debt. They threatened to hurt me, and I left him. I wasn't about to let myself get hurt."

"Then what?"

"I had nowhere to go, but Charlie and Martin, they took me in. Gave me a home, food, and of course, they gave me you."

"What?"

"You were born just a few months after I began living with them. They named you Phoenix for the place your mother and your father met, and Xavier was your grandfather's name. I couldn't have children, so you were the most priceless treasure I could ever have. You were the sweetest little boy. Your eyes always shone, and you smiled at everything. When your parents were too busy to take care of you, I'd look after you. I'd play games with you and cook for you and rock you until you fell asleep."

Phoenix could almost imagine it. A fire crackling in the lonely fireplace across the room, Charlie and Martin sitting together and drinking hot cocoa while Maria cooed at a tiny baby with pale skin but otherwise dark features.

"Everything was perfect for a little while. But then it all went wrong."

"Wrong how?"

"They found me. The people who my husband was in debt to. I was in the kitchen when I heard a gunshot and a scream. It was... Charlie. They thought that she was me. We looked so alike... we looked too alike. Even our dear old mother mixed us up a few times. Only Martin knew exactly how to tell us apart. By the time I had gone upstairs to hide, to warn Martin, she was dead. He had been in the middle of tucking you in, and he was... he was angry.

"Martin was always a calm man, but realising that Charlie was dead unleashed something inside him. He hid you in a closet. Told you not to say a word to anyone and that Daddy would be back soon. The men made their way up the stairs, and they found him. Martin didn't have anything but a broomstick. He fought off a good three of them, but they had guns. I heard them shoot him."

Phoenix was dead silent, his face not betraying a flicker of emotion. It was like he had shut down completely. He remembered something Hunter had told him, seemingly eons ago. "You didn't talk at all for the first day."

"They left. They thought they had gotten everyone in he house. They thought I had been seeing another man already, so by killing Charlie and Martin, they thought their jobs were done. I was left behind. And so were you. You were silent. You didn't say a word to me, no matter how much I tried to talk to you. You were always such a good child. So obedient. The moment Martin told you not to speak, you didn't.

"I couldn't keep looking after you. If they came back, if they killed you, I'd never forgive myself. So I went to a friend of mine, an undertaker, who laid their bodies to rest side by side, and I went to Nashville with you. I left you with a household that I knew would be able to provide for you, and then I came back here."

He felt cold all over. "You didn't change your name to Ruscoe?"

"No. This house is still under Martin's name. I take care of it. I live here. The men after my husband's money killed him a few years ago now. I'm safe here, I know that."

He looked up. "So it was your fault. You came here and then you hid yourself instead of handing yourself over after they killed my mother. You were the person that destroyed my family."

She looked shaken. "I... No, Phoenix, I didn't mean-"

Phoenix looked numb. "Where are their photo albums? Their wedding album? Diaries, journals, anything?"