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“Privacy,” Maverick said as a way of explanation for our destination.
He pulled into the lower parking deck and parked close to a set of doors that led inside. There wasn’t much conversation as we exited the SUV and entered the building with a specialized keycard. Once we went down a short hall, a private lift took us the rest of the way to our meeting spot, a luxury penthouse.
If I’d known this was where we’d be going, I wouldn’t have come. Being alone with these guys was already testing my nerves. Being alone with them thousands of feet above the ground with only one known exit seemed suicidal. I had come this far now, though.
I wasn’t going back without some kind of viable explanation or help to find my sister.
“Ladies first,” Maverick smoothly insisted.
“You don’t want to check my bag or pat me down?”
“I would, but I value my limbs.” He noted my confusion with a boyish grin. “He promised to cut off my hands if I touched your strings.”
Still not sure what he was talking about, I took a quick breath to calm my nerves and stepped off the lift. My lacey flat went from shined marble to flushed concrete. The temperature dropped significantly due to the AC.
Maverick sidled passed me and motioned for us to follow him down a hall lined with rich-colored trim. There was a freshness in the air along with a hint of pine.
Everything looked immaculately clean, not at all the bachelor's pad I’d been envisioning. I wondered if all of them lived together.
I glanced over my shoulder at Mel and Grace to see if they were okay, getting a smile and thumbs up.
Voices grew louder in volume, remaining soft in tone until we entered a living room filled with plush ivory furniture. A massive floor-to-ceiling window made up the back wall, giving a beautiful view of the city lit up beneath us.
Ciaran stood from where he’d been sitting the second he saw me. He was dressed down in jeans and a simple t-shirt and still looked as good as he did when I saw him in suits and tuxedos.
Struck by the full weight of his intensive stare I came to a stop in front of a large television that had been mounted on an accent wall above a fireplace.
Grace and Mel stood beside me, their eyes taking in the room.
“You can sit down,” he prompted.
“Yeah, it’s not like we’re deranged killers or anything,” Charon quipped with thinly veiled amusement.
I began to object but then thought better of it. I didn’t want to stand in the center of the room like an item on display. I walked over to two plush-looking armchairs and perched on the arm of one, leaving the actual cushions for Mel and Grace.
Ciaran sat down on the end of the larger sofa, close to me, placing Charon to his immediate left. His brother remained in the same spot he had been, a loveseat that was aligned with Grace’s chair on the opposite side of the room.
I rested my clutch across my thighs to add more coverage, crossing my legs at the ankle.
Wanting to get straight to it, I made a point not to look at Ciaran directly and focused on the room as a whole.
“Why are we here?”
“To talk.”
“About?” Mel challenged.
Ciaran leaned back and looked at Maverick. He cleared his throat and stepped forward.
“We wanted to explain what happened at the party.”
“The game…?”
“That was Judicium,” Kyrous corrected me.
I think this was the first time I’d ever heard him speak. It wasn’t my first time hearing that word, though, thanks to Ciaran. I belatedly recalled it’s what had been carved into the top of the archway leading into the corn maze.
“Judicium means judgement. It’s what the land the barn sits on is for until the next location is constructed,” Charon explained.
“But what’s being judged? All we did was try to solve some riddle that got a guy’s hand cut off and then run through the woods.” Mel pushed for clarification.
Maverick crossed his arms and leaned against the wall beside the television. “That’s what was being judged. Your ability to think, act, and if or when necessary, kill.”
Grace clasped her hands together on her lap. “It wasn’t random?”
“Most people are willing participants. They know it’s expected of them if their families wish to name them as an official heir when the head steps down.”
“And the ones that have no idea what this is?” I asked.
“Is usually so rare it’s unheard of,” Charon answered.
Mel scoffed. “So, everyone else knew what was going to happen that night? Their fear was pretty convincing.”
“Most aren’t like you three.” Maverick smiled at her. “Just because people know they’re going to have to do something terrifying doesn’t make them fearless.”
I didn’t appreciate his honesty in this regard. I studied the floor and tried to wrap my head around this. “My sister trusted you with something, what was it?”
