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Grief…for Ellie.
We all watched her face crumple when Raymond told her the truth about her parents. I saw the exact moment she tried to shut down, tried to retreat to a place and time where despair and fear couldn’t reach her, but they gnawed at her, despite her best efforts. They refused to be shut out or ignored.
“Would I lie about something like that?” Raymond demands.
Zane tosses his knife into the air and then deftly catches it, the blade pointed in Raymond’s direction. “I don’t know. You lied about everything else. Who’s to say you didn’t lie about that?”
One of Raymond’s eyes begins to twitch. “I never lied. I just omitted the truth in some instances. And the only reason I did that was to keep you all safe.”
How fucking dare he?
Did he keep us safe when he withheld information about The Divine One’s true identity?
Did he keep us safe when he ordered us to kill some of the men on his hit list?
Rage rushes through me, but common sense quickly tempers it.
I can’t lose my shit, not when Ellie needs me.
My whole body feels sluggish and heavy, as though the entire force of Earth’s gravity is pushing down on me. I know that I’m struggling to wrap my head around everything we’ve learned, just as much as Ellie is. For entirely different reasons, of course.
She discovered that her entire life is a lie.
I merely learned that the enemy we’ve been hunting this entire time…is my love’s mother.
Does that fact change anything for her?
Will she want to grant clemency to the woman who gave birth to her?
There are so many questions clamoring for attention, but I can’t give them the attention they so desperately need. Instead, they begin to pile up on each other, creating a precarious Jenga tower that can topple at the slightest provocation.
“So, what’s your plan, Raymond?” Ryker hisses. “Kill Aria…and then what? How do you plan to destroy POP once and for all? Won’t a new leader just come and take her place?”
Raymond’s savage grin chases a chill down my spine. “Do you really think it’s that easy, boy?” He huffs out a dry, humorless laugh before leveling us with a serious stare. “Do you know that The Divine One is the only person in the entire organization who knows the name of every member?”
“We already have a list of names,” Beckett says with a flippant wave of his hand. “We don’t need?—”
“And The Divine One also has leverage on each of the members. To make sure they don’t betray the cult. Take Reece, for example. When he first chose to leave the Paragons of Prosperity, they tried to destroy his home life by showing proof that his wife was cheating on him. Little did they know, Reece didn’t give a damn about her. But scandals like affairs are just the bottom of the barrel. Most of the material The Divine One has on hand is…well… Let’s just say that most of the members will skip prison and head straight to the electric chair if these details ever see the light of day.”
“A smoking gun,” Beckett breathes in awe.
“Exactly.” Raymond snaps his fingers together with a pleased smile. It slips almost instantly, replaced by his customary scowl. “But only Aria knows the location of it.”
“So, we find Aria, ask her where her little burn book is, then destroy all of the cult’s members?” A malicious glint ignites in Zane’s eyes, and a sharp-toothed grin tugs up his lips. “Sounds like my perfect Friday. And then, of course, we can end the day by a nice orgy with El—” Raymond tosses Zane an angry look, and Zane backpedals. “With elephants! Duh!”
Whatever Raymond says in response to that is drowned out by the chirping of my phone. I dig it out of my pocket and glance down at the caller ID.
My brother’s name, Doyle, appears in dark letters.
What the fuck?
I didn’t even know I had his number programmed into my phone. I’m not sure I’ve ever talked to him on the phone in my life. Hell, we don’t even text. His number must've been automatically transferred when I purchased a new phone a few weeks ago, after I destroyed my old one.
Tentatively, I click accept and hold the phone to my ear. “Yeah?”
“Dom!” My brother’s voice is rife with urgency and something else. Something akin to fear.
I don’t really give a shit about my brother, but I find myself asking, “Everything okay?”
