Page 90 of The Phantom's Vice

My cheeks flame as I press my face into Ghost’s back, thankful for the barrier so Maverick can’t see the effect he has on me.Becausethatwould be embarrassing…

Maverick chuckles, seeming to already forget the injury. “Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Jane used to bust my balls, too.”

At the mention of my mother’s name, I freeze. “Wait—you’reMaverick? Like, the Maverick from my mom’s notes?”

Maverick’s shoulders tense, and his face turns to the side. “Yes. I knew your mother well. She was taken from this earth far too soon.”

Ghost steps to the side, feeding his arm aroundmy waist and pushing me forward gently. “I think you two should talk for a while… alone,” he adds at my wide-eyed look. “We can plan the attack later… I know you have questions about your mom, Brett. Maverick is the only one who can answer them for you.”

I swallow hard, giving Ghost a resolute nod before turning my attention to the masked man across from me. “Is that true?”

“Yes,” he murmurs, his hand flexing lightly at his side. Ghost stares hard at the motion, then floats toward the kitchen. I watch his back until he disappears around the corner, the ball of anxiety in my gut growing now that me and the strange masked man are truly alone.

“You have her eyes.”

The tone is his voice is so sad, so full of regret, that it causes my chest to pinch. “I’ve… it’s been a while since I’ve heard that.”

He nods, his hand flexing again. “I imagine so. Jane did not keep company with many people. The ones she did are no longer in this world—unable to make such a connection.”

I pick at a stray thread hanging from my sweatpants, lost for words. Ghost wanted me to talk toMaverick—for closure, probably—but now when I’m faced with the opportunity, all of my words, my feelings seem to have dried up.

Maverick takes a cautious step toward me. “I know it must be hard for you to talk about her. It has been years for me, yet, the memory of her death cuts just as deep as the day it happened. I wish I…” he pauses, his gaze following the light streaming in through the main window. “I wish I could have carved a spot in this world for her.”

“I read some of her journal entries,” I whisper, taking a slow step forward. “It was easy to see you cared for her.”

Almost imperceptibly, Maverick nods, all his earlier bravado vanishing at the mention of her. “I loved her.” I expect him to elaborate, but he says no more about it.

“Did you know about Hudson? Did you know…?”Did you know she loved him, instead?

Another nod. “I was willing to live with it. But when I discovered his treachery… how he sold her out. What they did to her…” He shakes his head, as if to cast away the memory of her lifeless, disfigured body. “I spent the next month tracking down every last bastard involved, saving Hudson for last. He was hiding out, knowing I was going to end him for what he did to Jane. Without Ghost’s help, I probably would not have found him?—”

“Wait…Ghosthelped you?”

Maverick nods tersely. “My apprentice back then. He tracked Hudson to his hideout in the Moriton forest, then held him down for several hours as I…” Maverick clears his throat. “As I enacted the same pain he had caused Jane.”

Maverick steps toward the piano, running his fingers over the keys lovingly. “Jane loved to listen to me play. She would slip off into this expression… this little smile that only ever came out when I played for her. In Hudson’s final moments, when he begged for mercy… it was that smile I saw in my mind. That laugh of hers filled my head.”

He turns to me, dragging his fingers from the keys as if the motion pains him. “And when it was all over, I thought of the piece of her that still remained in this world. I thought of her daughter, of the pain she was feeling—ten-fold whatever I was going through. I knew what would happen to you if you were left alone in this world, in this city that devours any scrap of goodness. I sent my apprentice to do what I could not. I had him watch you—keep yousafe.”

I reel from the information, the knowledge thatGhost has been so closely tied to my life this entire time. He’s been defending me, lurking in the shadows like the guardian angel from hell. I think back to my foster father, at the night he tried to attack me. His failure, and the strange turn of events after that ended in his murder.

I gasp as the puzzle pieces align, at the realization that it was Ghost who saved me that night, who left his mutilated body in the woods for all to see. Formeto see.

“All this time… it was him? You?”

Maverick nods, his shoulders slumping ever so slightly. “Jane was not around to protect you from the monsters of the world, so someone had to,” he murmurs, turning to face the window once more, as if the blue of the sky offers him some comfort. “I am sorry you lost her, Brett. Of everything that has happened, I most regret that this world took your mother from you.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” I whisper, reaching a hand up to clutch my chest. “It was the Sanctum?—”

“Iworkedfor the Sanctum,” he interrupts, his voice soft. “I could have… I could have saved her, if only I had opened my eyes. If only I realized…” he looks away again, his chest heaving. “They want to quash everygoodthing in this world. Every ounce ofjoy. To profit off the collective misery of the world.” Maverick takes a deep breath, his hand spasming at his side. “Theytook herfrom me. From you. From every person she could have helped. They took her, and they butchered her. The most beautiful, delicate flower, crushed to sludge under the Sanctum’s golden boot.”

Maverick’s body trembles with the memory of the horrors the organization has exacted. At what they will continue to do if left unchecked. “These reasons and more are why I’ve agreed to help Ghost. I may be older—slower—than I was in my prime, but I will use my last breath to avenge what they’ve destroyed. To protect what is left. Imust.”

I take a shaking breath, unable to believe what he’s telling me. This man—thisPhantom—loved my mother so much, he’s willing to give his life for the mere memory of her. It seems too preposterous to believe, yet… here I am. In love with one, myself. I shake the thought away.I’m not in love with Ghost. That would be… well, that would be crazy. I care for him, of course, but I’m not inlovewith him. I can’t be. Can I?

“I want to help. In any way I can,” I say, a wave of resolve coursing through my veins. “I’m a quick shot, and I’m not afraid to do what needs to be doneto these fuckers. Plus, it seems like you two could use the extra body.”

Maverick tenses at the proposition. “I do not want you anywhere near the Sanctum. If your mother knew what you were doing she’d?—”

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