RDR2: Faithless

23: Savagery Unleashed

I stared at him in silence for a few seconds, everyone else was staring between us.

"Yes," I eventually said, "Edward Price was his name. I had been seeing him on and off for a few years, but he proposed to me... a few months before the whole Blackwater disaster. I originally said no, because I would have had to leave the gang but... then Micah joined..."

Micah made a noise and I glared at him.

"Things seemed different, I wavered for a short time, but it was long enough that Edward convinced me to leave," I sighed, "I went to his house, I was to meet him there, but the front door was wide open. It looked like it had been kicked in. I knew exactly what had happened at that moment."

"Who did it?" Javier asked.

"O'Driscolls," I said, "They found out about our relationship, I don't know how... None of you even knew! Colm, always keen on revenge, ordered a few of his men to kill Edward, his family too. It was brutal, they had been tortured first. I was gone for a few weeks, remember? I was hunting the ones responsible down, I made sure they paid. But his death made me realise, I was never going to be anything other than an outlaw, a criminal, and pretending otherwise would just get those I grew to care about hurt. So I came back, and I never spoke of him again."

There was a silence, I could tell Dutch was struggling with whether to get angry that I was going to leave him, or be sympathetic about the loss of someone I loved dearly, or tell me he was proud for dealing with the O'Driscolls. Arthur squeezed my hand tightly and I offered him a small smile, but my mind had wandered back to that day, the day I felt my world had ended.

I pulled Roach to a halt outside the huge country house, my heart dropping. The door seemed kicked in, hanging loosely on its hinges. Maybe it was just a robbery? I walked slowly to the door, hesitating slightly before pushing it, the creaking of the broken hinges resounding around the silent property.

The main hall was mostly empty, stripped bare of anything valuable, save a sofa at the far end of the room, positioned blatantly to be the first thing you saw when you walked in. On the sofa lay a body, short brown hair, they looked to be sleeping. I paused before stepping forward tentatively, moving towards the body of my lover. His back was to me, I couldn't see his face, couldn't see if his chest was moving with breaths.

I paused above the body, my brow furrowed, before sitting on the sofa by his feet. My hand moved hesitantly to his arm, I paused for a moment before pulling, his body falling limply as he rolled onto his back. He was cold to the touch, the empty house had done nothing to give the pretence he might have still lived.

I stood up, stepping back and turning to the door, grief ripping through my body once more. I stumbled backwards, collapsing on the bed again, my head buried in my hands. I was too late, too slow, I had known getting involved with him would put him in danger. But I was selfish, only thinking of how I could be free of this life. Of course, I could never be free. And now someone had murdered Edward in cold blood, and I could only think of one culprit. It wasn't a random robbery, the position of the sofa, how Edward lay. It was a targetted attack, one that aimed to destroy me. I knew then the culprit was Colm O'Driscoll, yet how he knew of Edward I was unsure.

I fought the sobs that threatened to break through, turning to my lover and picking his fragile body up, holding him against my chest and rocking him gently. I buried my head against his shoulder, the tears finally slipping out as I held him tightly, the guilt and grief settling inside me. 

"I know what its like to have someone you love killed by Colm," Dutch eventually said, breaking me from my trance, "Of course I'm glad you didn't leave in the end but... I'm sorry that those events had to transpire. We will both get Colm back in the end."