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My fingers reached into my pocket. I pulled it free and stared at the screen.
Caleb.
Caleb? I scowled and swiped to answer the call. “Yes.”
“About damn time you answered. I’ve been calling for the last twenty minutes.”
Twenty minutes?
I stood in Hunter’s living room, in front of the TV mounted on the wall. Next to it was a clock. But the numbers meant nothing. Nothing much did at the moment. I felt…lost. “Sorry,” I said, suddenly remembering who I spoke to. “Caleb?”
“Yeah, Priest?”
“The Daughter,” I murmured.
“Taken care of,” he said carefully. “Just like you asked. So now it’s time to repay the favor.”
The TV droned as images changed on the afternoon news. I lifted my gaze to the screen as Cassius’ face filled the space, black suit, white collar. His face in full view with the headline, Local Priest Missing.
I stared at that face. “What do you need?”
My pulse was booming as he started. “We have the name of a man working with Hale to help him escape the country on a private jet. We plan on stopping that from happening.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow night. You, me, and Colt will meet with Benjamin Rossi and pay this guy a visit. If he knows Hale’s whereabouts, then we track him down. But more importantly, we make it so he can’t run. There is no escaping for him, not alive.”
My breaths deepened as a flicker of rage tore through me. My fist clenched, still feeling the weight of the cross in my hand. I’d murdered a man in cold blood, a man of the cloth. My focus narrowed in on the TV in front of me and Father Cassius stared back. A man I’d respected. The man I’d killed.
“Send me the details and I’ll be there,” I answered, my voice distant.
“Already have…and, Thomas?”
“Yes?”
“Pull yourself together or we won't make it out of this alive.”
I swallowed hard, unable to find the words to answer. But it didn’t matter, because he was gone. I lowered my cell, found message, and opened the app. The details were there, date, time, and address.
You, me, and Colt will meet with Benjamin Rossi.
London’s son was included in all this? For some strange reason, it felt on purpose. Me from our family. Caleb from his, and Colt from Vivienne’s family. The three outsiders. I stepped to the TV and switched it off, then made my way out and up the stairs.
Pull yourself together or we won’t make it out of this alive.
He was right. As tormented as I was, I had to get it together, or this would be all for nothing. Others were depending on me now. Others I loved and admired. There was no way I was letting them down. I unbuttoned my shirt and pulled it over my head as I walked into my room. The black suit and white collar still sat crumpled in the trash in the corner.
I kept moving, kicked off my shoes and unbuttoned my trousers, then replaced them with sweats and a dark t-shirt before I sat on the edge of the bed and pulled on my black sneakers, laces tugged tight. I pulled my hand away and that’s when I saw it.
There was blood under my nails. The rusted brown mess etched into the corners. I shoved upwards, lifting both hands, then lunged for the bathroom, slamming my shoulder on the doorframe as I ran for the vanity.
Water gushed, splashing around the sink. My hands shook as I lathered and scrubbed.
Get it off.
Get it OFF ME!
I’d done that. I’d…killed a man in cold blood. Not just any man…a man of the cloth. I closed my eyes and rocked forward, reliving that moment in my head. WHACK! You fucking WHORE! DO YOU KNOW WHAT GOD DOES TO FILTHY WHORES LIKE YOU?
