When the Flame of Love Fades

Chapter 14: The Past

They had planned to go straight to the warden, but he wasn’t there. Bradley called Cameron for more details, then arranged for a prison guard to meet them. The guard had been bribed before, and just by looking at the Xander brothers’ clothes, he knew they weren’t ordinary visitors. Even if he didn’t follow celebrity news, he recognized Sean.

“We want to know how Sierra spent her three years here,” Bradley said.

“Sierra?” The guard shook his head. “We go by inmate numbers here. Do you know hers?”

The Xander brothers’ expressions darkened. For the first time, they had to face the reality of what prison actually meant. Sierra had been gone for three years, but they had treated it like she was on some extended break, assuming she would just come back one day as if nothing had happened.

“Yes, we know,” Bradley muttered. As her legal guardian, he had access to her records. Cameron had looked it up earlier. He recited the number, “00061.”

“00061?” The guard’s eyes widened slightly, his expression turning a little odd. He cleared his throat. “What’s your relationship with her?”

“We’re her brothers,” Evan answered. “We just want to know how she lived here.”

The guard hesitated, then gave a vague response. “Same as everyone else. Wake up, eat, exercise, work, lunch break, work again, dinner, watch the news, free time, lights out.” His eyes darted away as he spoke, his smile forced.

“Liar,” Evan said flatly. He wasn’t a fool. “She was hospitalized multiple times, and each incident was worse than the last. Don’t tell us those were just accidents.”

The guard pressed his lips together, silent for a moment, then sighed. “It’s over now. What’s the point of digging it up?”

“What the hell does that mean?” Sean snapped. “We’re her family. Of course we should ask!”

The guard scoffed. “Family? In three years, not a single person came to visit her. Even death row inmates have visitors. She had no one. During the holidays, she was the only one without gifts or food from her family.”

“So tell me, what kind of brothers are you, showing up now?” Each word was like a knife to the gut. Bradley, Evan, and Sean felt the weight of their silence. Their guilt.

Bradley took a deep breath and pulled out a card, slipping it into the guard’s hand. “We’re not here to cause trouble. We just want the truth.”

The guard hesitated, rubbing his thumb over the card. Bradley pressed on. “You have my word—no one will know you told us.”

That was enough. The guard exhaled and finally spoke. “New inmates always get bullied. Her cellmates were two of the worst ones here. And since no one ever visited her, everyone assumed she was an easy target. That’s how she got those injuries.”

Bradley’s grip on his cigarette tightened. Fury burned in his chest. They dared to touch her? Sierra was his sister. Their sister. A Xander. And they had treated her like that? He wanted to explode. But the guard’s words echoed in his mind. It was their fault. They had disowned her. They had said she could die and it wouldn’t matter. They hadn’t visited her once in three years.

A heavy silence settled over the three of them. Bradley lit his cigarette and exhaled slowly.

“Give me names,” he said coldly. He wanted every single person who had laid a hand on Sierra.

The guard hesitated. “What’s the point? She’s out now.”

“Like hell it doesn’t matter!” Sean snapped. “Answer the damn question before I make you regret it.”

The guard’s face tensed. Bradley, sensing the tension, smoothly placed another card into his hand. After another long pause, the guard finally started talking.

“Sleep deprivation was just the beginning. They used to lock her in the bathroom. That fire you mentioned? She was locked in her cell when it happened—she almost didn’t make it out. Her throat was permanently damaged from the smoke. And everything else? The humiliation, the beatings… those were daily.”

The more he spoke, the darker the Xander brothers’ faces became.

“Look, we tried to intervene when we could,” the guard added quickly. “But we can’t monitor everything twenty-four hours a day. And besides, the men’s and women’s wings are separate. Most of this happened in the female section.”

If Sierra hadn’t become such a notorious inmate, he wouldn’t have known much about her at all.

“Then what about the snakes and insects?” Evan suddenly asked.

The guard’s face instantly changed. His expression went stiff. Without hesitation, he shoved the card back into Bradley’s hand. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said hastily. “Forget we even met today.”

Before any of them could stop him, he turned and left.

“He’s lying,” Evan muttered. Bradley clenched his jaw. Something wasn’t right. The guard had been talking just fine—until Evan mentioned the snakes and insects. Then, he had panicked. Why?

“There’s more to this,” Bradley said. “We’ll dig into it later. Right now, I want every single person who hurt her to pay.”

He pulled out his phone and called Cameron. When the call ended, he exhaled sharply.

“She’s not easy to deal with,” Bradley admitted. “But she’s still our sister. No one outside the family is allowed to touch her.”

Evan and Sean both remained silent. Neither of them disagreed. After a long pause, Bradley added, “We should treat her better from now on. She… she’s had it rough.”

“Got it,” Sean muttered. He felt uneasy. After a while, he asked, “Bradley… do you think she hates us?”

When everything happened, all they had cared about was Denise. None of them had thought about whether Sierra had been scared.

Bradley didn’t answer immediately. Then, after a long moment, he said, “Families don’t hate each other. We’ll make it up to her. She’s always been obedient. She’s easy to win over.”

“Yeah,” Sean nodded. “She’s always listened to us.”

Bradley’s words reassured him.

“We should keep an eye on her at school,” Evan added. “She’s been locked up for three years—she might struggle to adjust.”

“Yeah,” Bradley agreed. “And finish setting up the lab as soon as possible.”

“Understood,” Evan replied.

If they had known how much she had suffered, they would have given her a lab immediately. Maybe then, she wouldn’t have been so difficult.

As the Xander brothers sat in self-satisfaction, thinking about how they could make it up to Sierra, she had already met with Shane again. This time, he drove her to a research facility. Looking at the building, Sierra was stunned. It was just as advanced as the Xander family’s labs. She hadn’t even known a place like this existed in Lim City. The people inside were visibly afraid of Shane, going stiff the moment they saw him. Shane led her to a scanner and had her record her fingerprint.

“You have access for three months,” he said. “After that, it’ll cost you extra.”

Sierra pressed her lips together. “Fine.” She didn’t ask what that cost would be. She didn’t want to know.

Just as she turned to leave, Shane’s phone rang. He listened, his expression shifting. Then, his gaze flickered toward Sierra, amusement glinting in his eyes. A bad feeling settled in her stomach. Hanging up, he spun his phone between his fingers and smirked.

“Guess who just called me?”

Sierra didn’t answer. But she already knew it had something to do with her.