Page 186 of Shadow

“Sister Esther arranged it. She called Cady from therapy to meet with her. Once Cady was there, Emerson had her taken.”

“How do you know?” Church asked, his voice a low, dangerous growl.

“We had to kill one of the lower-level priests here to get the information,” Mirage said, tapping his head. “Father Stanley will no longer be joining us on Sundays or Wednesdays.”

I looked back at Church. He was working through what Mirage had said.

“Let’s kill her,” Sirena said, her voice filling the silence.

I blinked and looked over at her.

“Angel, baby, we’ll handle it?—”

“I want to handle it. Let me.” She gave me a wide-eyed, innocent look.

“So be it,” Church said. “Let Sirena have this. It’s retribution for taking Cady.”

“I don’t want her to,” Ashes said immediately. “I don’t want her to get hurt.”

“She won’t be hurt. We’ll be with her,” Mirage said, tapping his head again and smiling at her, his hand still enclosed around hers.

“I’ll be there too. You guys will wait and watch. Make sure we aren’t interrupted.”

“So that’s it? You’re just going to walk in and kill the old bitch?” Sin asked.

Church contemplated his question before nodding. “Yes. I believe that’s exactly what we’ll do. We need to start fucking cleansing this place of the scum. They all need to die. If we take them slowly, it’ll send a strong fucking message.”

“And what’s the message? We’re putting ourselves in danger, and Sirena, by doing this. They’re under your father’s protection,” Ashes argued. “I want them to fucking pay, too, but he has Cady. What if he lashes out and goes back on his word and hurts her?”

He was right. Everett was a fucking snake.

“They’re too bold. Too ego-driven. Too fucking narcissistic,” Mirage said softly. “They enjoy the game. Everett will adore this. He’ll think we’re losing it when we’re really strategically taking out the pieces.”

“Do you know this works?” I asked, staring him down. “Can you guarantee it, Seth? Because I need a guarantee.”

“Nothing in life is guaranteed except death, and to that I say, yes. I can guarantee it.”

“Yeah, but whose death?” I mumbled.

“Faith, Malachi. I promise it’ll work out. The road will have many bumps, but the journey is worth it. I swear it to you.” Mirage looked straight at me. “Trustthe fall. The fire refines. Truth will carve through tangled lies. The ones who must suffer will, in disguise.”

I nodded. He’d never steered us wrong before so I would trust the goddamn process even if the process fucked my head inside.

“OK. I’m in,” I said. “Blind fucking trust.”

“I appreciate that.” Mirage smiled at me.

“I’m in too. I just… fuck, man. I’m scared, though.” Ashes sighed.

“That’s how you know it’s real. The fear,” Mirage said. “Now we use it to our advantage. Sinclair? You in?”

“Until the death,” Sin said, nodding.

We all looked at Church.

“Specter, get your hatchet. We have work to do.” Church’s lips turned up into a sinister smile.

If I didn’t believe in hell before, I did now, because I was staring at the fucking devil himself.

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