Page 50 of The Devil We Know

He stops a few feet from me and motions to the priest, who walks over and stops in front of him. They put their heads together, and the priest nods, speaking incoherently. Not being able to understand is starting to piss me off.

Matt turns to Kaian and says, “See if Marie is still out there.”

Kaian takes off across the room, opens the door, and peeks out. Then, the younger woman steps back into the room and shuts the door behind them.

I force myself to stand, my entire body feeling like lead, and then I walk over to the group and ask, “What’s going on?”

The priest hands another cloth and bottle of water to Matt. He dumps the water on the cloth, swiping at himself, dumping some of the water straight onto his face and using the cloth to scrub. He does the same with his hands and grabs onto my right hand which I didn’t even realize was still bloody, and does the same to it.

“Someone answer me,” I growl.

Matt swallows and clears his throat, his gaze focused on cleaning the blood off my hands as he whispers, “You need to get out of here.”

“Wait. What?”

He doesn’t say anything for a moment, and then the priest responds, “The marriage pact has been broken. That’s the only way to protect you.”

I frown, shaking my head. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

Matt raises angry eyes to mine, and he spits out, “Nothing about this is a fucking joke. And you’re going to fucking do what you’re told.”

I bristle, not at all accustomed to being dictated to and certainly not accustomed to having those types of words come out of his mouth.

I go to speak, but Marieka steps over to me. Resting her hand on my forearm, she leans in and says, “He’s right, Jessica. You must do it.”

I look at her and ask, “But what about you all? Won’t that put you in danger?”

She shrugs and then answers, “That is not our main concern right now.”

Kaian speaks up, “We have several different plans on ways to protect ourselves. We’ll figure it out, but right now, we don’t have any time to waste.”

Matt drops the bloody cloth and the water bottle on the floor. His hand grips my wrist painfully, and he yanks me closer to him, his eyes boring into mine, pleading. “Please. You have to go.”

The priest doesn’t spare me a glance, and I frown at him and then glare at Matt and glare down at myself, covered in blood. I can’t say this is how I ever saw myself once I managed to get out of this shithole.

I lean closer to Matt and whisper-shout, “There has to be another way.”

“There isn’t. If you’re not here, then they can’t touch you.”

I don’t say anything for a moment, panic rising in my throat. Not because I have any concerns about leaving, as frustrating as it would be to be once again shoved out, but I can only imagine what’s going to happen to Matt and Kaian once the slaughter is found out.

Matt leans close, his hands gripping the sides of my head, and he leans in, staring into my eyes as he says, “This should be the easy part, Jess. Any other option will be hell. You have to go before it’s too late.”

A sob catches in my throat. I raise my hands, gripping his wrists as I contemplate my answer. Not that my answer even matters at this point because it’s too fucking late for any of it. So, after a moment, I shake my head, letting a little of that maniacal laughter trickle out as I say, “No. I’m not fucking leaving.”

His eyes widen, his brow furrowing as my words sink in. Then he glares down at me, his hands tightening painfully on my head. “You must. I swear to fucking Christ, Jess, I can’t have something happen to you.”

“Then you’ll do what has to be done for me stay.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You know me leaving won’t be the end of it. You know there will always be someone looking for a reason to be mad, demanding restitution for some wrong done to them.”

“No,” he sputters. “Not this time, they won’t.”

I laugh bitterly, shoving his hands away from me angrily. “Yes, they will, and you know it.”

Matt’s hands drop to his side, his shoulders dropping slightly as he stands before me helplessly. But he says nothing, so I continue, “They will hunt me down like a fucking dog and drag me back here to pay for my sins.”

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