Page 88 of Deliver us from Evil

It’s been months.

Secretly—selfishly—I’d hoped the guys had put everything behind them. That they were starting new lives and leaving their Ghosts and Guardians and all of that behind them.

Now this.

“He…kinda didn’t have a say in the matter,” Apollo says.

I roll my eyes. “What have I told you lot about being cryptic? It’s just plain annoying.”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I venture deeper into Apollo’s room, until I’m standing beside Rube. He smooths a hand down my head, toying with a curl as I lean in to read what’s on Apollo’s screen.

VIRGINIA PRIEST FOUNDDEAD IN TIJUANA

My skin goes cold. “No,”I murmur. “Oh my God.”

The article states Gabriel’s body was discovered by hotel staff in his room in Tijuana, Mexico a day after he hung himself. What the hell he was doing there was anyone’s guess.

I stop reading halfway through. Clear my throat. “Well…I guess that…ends it?” But when I look up at my men, they’re all staring at me like they’re waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“What is it?”

“You read that last bit, right?” Cass asks, pointing.

I decline to answer, instead I’m craning over Apollo’s shoulder again.

The last line of the article sends a centipede crawling down my back.

The executor of Father Gabriel Blake’s estate requests that any next of kin contact them urgently.

And then a phone number with a Virginia area code.

“Nope.” I shake my head as I retreat. “Not interested.”

“Trinity,” Rube says, sliding his hand down my shoulder. But before he can grab me, I dodge away from his touch.

“Nope.” I cross my arms even tighter. “Nope, nope, nope.”

When I turn, fully intent on stalking out of the room, Zachary’s barring my way.

Goddamnit! I hate it when they gang up on me outside of the bedroom.

“I’m not calling,” I tell him, holding up my hands. “You can’t make me.”

“What if he left you something?” Apollo asks. “Don’t you want to know what it is?”

“I couldn’t care if he left me a private jet and some of Fort Knox’s gold,” I say, glaring at Apollo over my shoulder. “I don’t want anything to do with him.”

“He’s your father, Trinity,” Rube says.

“He’s mostdefinitelynot.”

“Whatever you don’t claim goes to the state,” Zachary says.

I turn away from all of them, instead staring out the window at the distant sea. It’s idyllic out there which is bullshit, because nothing short of pre-hurricane weather will suit my mood right now.

“Including whatever’s in that safe.”

The sudden hush in the room after Zachary’s statement isn’t from us being quiet. It’s the hush of breaths being held.

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