Page 145 of Hell Breaks Loose

Between Gavin and Alaya, we made a hasty getaway. Minimal losses on their side. Not that either of them hesitate to kill.

It’s more of an encouragement on my part.

And maybe a bit of shock from seeing that Evan is one of them. That so many more of them are just unlucky citizens instead of ex-Holy Ghosts.

It definitely humanizes them. It makes me sick.

One crisis at a time, though.

And Sing just dropped an existential bomb of a crisis on me.

“Your mother is alive, Hell.” Sing repeats each word carefully, watching my face closely. I should have noticed it earlier, his subtle show of emotions. His discomfort at our conversation before we left to get the rings.

“Cynthia Vice. Cynthia Michaels. Who Marco killed. Is alive.” I take it step by step.

“He only thought he did.”

“So he almost killed her?”

“He did.”

“He did as in almost, or he did kill her?”

“I managed to revive her after he suffocated her.”

I’m gonna puke. No. I’m going to throw something through a window.

Like Sing. Not that I could.

Maybe Gavin will for me.

“Explain. Now.” Gavin leans over the table, as menacing as I’ve ever seen him. Atta boy.

“He sent me away that night. I barely made it back in time.”

“Rewind. Start over. With the parts that will make me believe what you’re saying. You were my mother’s bodyguard?”

“Right. I told you that.”

“And you set her up somewhere secretly?”

“Yes. I’m glad you put that together.”

“Like a toddler with a glue stick fixing a shattered flowerpot.”

“What?” he stutters.

“You’re terrible at this. Start from the beginning.”

“Which one?”

“I ran away when I was seventeen. That is the last time I ever spoke to or saw my mother. I don’t remember you at all growing up. Go.”

“You wouldn’t have seen me.”

“Did you just make a ninja joke?”

Ora snorts next to me, covering her mouth.

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