# Read the first page of If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio Read the opening of If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio free, no signup. A paroled actor revisits the murder that shattered his troupe. - Page: https://uncovered.ink/read/if-we-were-villains-m-l-rio - Genre: Dark academia - Year: 2017 - ISBN: 9781250095305 - Read it blind (cover and title hidden): https://uncovered.ink/?b=9781250095305&s=read-page - Buy: https://bookshop.org/a/125786/9781250095305 - Borrow: https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=9781250095305 ## The opening I sit with my wrists cuffed to the table and I think, But that I am forbid / To tell the secrets of my prison-house, / I could a tale unfold whose lightest word / Would harrow up thy soul. The guard stands by the door, watching me, like he’s waiting for something to happen. Enter Joseph Colborne. He is a graying man now, almost fifty. It’s a surprise, every few weeks, to see how much he’s aged—and he’s aged a little more, every few weeks, for ten years. He sits across from me, folds his hands, and says, “Oliver.” “Joe.” “Heard the parole hearing went your way. Congratulations.” “I’d thank you if I thought you meant it.” “You know I don’t think you belong in here.” “That doesn’t mean you think I’m innocent.” “No.” He sighs, checks his watch—the same one he’s worn since we met—as if I’m boring him. “So why are you here?” I ask. “Same fortnightly reason?” His eyebrows make a flat black line. “You would say fucking ‘fortnight.’” “You can take the boy out of the theatre, or something like that.” He shakes his head, simultaneously amused and annoyed. “Well?” I say. “Well what?” “The gallows does well. But how does it well? It does well to those that do ill,” I reply, determined to deserve his annoyance. “Why are you here? You should know by now I’m not going to tell you anything.” “Actually,” he says, “this time I think I might be able to change your mind.” I sit up straighter in my chair. “How?” “I’m leaving the force. Sold out, took a job in private security. Got my kids’ education to think about.” For a moment I simply stare at him. Colborne, I always imagined, would have to be put down like a savage old dog before he’d leave the chief’s office. “How’s that supposed to persuade me?” I ask. “Anything you say will be strictly off the record.” “Then why bother?” He sighs again and all the lines on his face deepen. “Oliver, I don’t care about doling out punishment, not anymore. Someone served the time, and we rarely get that much satisfaction in our line of work. But I don’t want to hang up my hat and waste the next ten years wondering what really happened ten years ago.” I say nothing at first. I like the idea but don’t trust it. I glance around at the grim cinder blocks, the tiny black video cameras that peer down from every corner, the guard with his jutting underbite. I close my eyes, inhale deeply, and imagine the freshness of Illinois springtime, what it will be like to step outside after gasping on stale prison air for a third of my life. When I exhale I open my eyes and Colborne is watching me closely. “I don’t know,” I say. “I’m getting out of here, one way or the other. I don’t want to risk coming back. Seems safer to let sleeping dogs lie.” His fingers drum restlessly on the table. “Tell me something,” he says. “Do you ever lie in your cell, staring up at the ceiling, wondering how you wound up in here, and you can’t sleep because you can’t stop thinking about that day?” “Every night,” I say, without sarcasm. “But here’s the difference, Joe. For you it was just one day, then business as usual. For us it was one day, and every single day that came after.” ## Books with a similar feel - [The Secret History by Donna Tartt](https://uncovered.ink/read/the-secret-history-donna-tartt.md) - [The Dog Stars by Peter Heller](https://uncovered.ink/read/the-dog-stars-peter-heller.md) - [The Correspondent by Virginia Evans](https://uncovered.ink/read/the-correspondent-virginia-evans.md) - [All's Well by Mona Awad](https://uncovered.ink/read/alls-well-mona-awad.md) - [Star's End by Cassandra Rose Clarke](https://uncovered.ink/read/stars-end-cassandra-rose-clarke.md) - [Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carré](https://uncovered.ink/read/tinker-tailor-soldier-spy-john-le-carre.md) --- Source: Uncovered (https://uncovered.ink). A short sample shown for reading and discovery. Rights holders can request removal at https://uncovered.ink/takedown.