Page 21 of Avidian
I turn and blink at him, startled by his bluntness. “Uh, thank you for the compliment.”
He leans forward, his expression uncharacteristically serious. “What I mean is that you’re untethered. No family, no alliances, no loyalties—except to yourself.”
“Again, a real ego boost here,” I cut in, but he keeps going, undeterred.
“I’m going to risk telling you the real reason I’m here,” he says, his voice lowering slightly. The way he’s looking at me makes me pause. “I think we can help each other, but only if I can trust you.”
My curiosity sparks despite myself. “The real reason you’re here...” I tilt my head to study him. “You’ve been parading around like your father’s perfect little soldier, so forgive me if I’m not entirely convinced.”
His lips curl at the edges, but there’s no humor in it. “That’s the point, isn’t it? Marco and Viktor think I’m here to fall in line, to play the good son and follow orders, learn the family business. But I’m not.”
I narrow my eyes, my suspicion flaring. “So what are you really doing here, Malachi?”
“I want to learn the ins and outs of how they traffic people like you—Avids,” Malachi says somberly. “I’m working with a group in the Western District where I came from. We’ve been rescuing Avids across our region.”
He pauses, watching me as if waiting for a reaction. I stare back, arms crossed, not giving him anything yet. He exhales. “We want to put a stop to all of it—shut down as many houses as we can, save as many people as possible. Fuck, most Avids are kids when they’re discovered. Then they’re sold off to some wealthy family to be used for their gifts or exploited for wealth. My father and Viktor move more Avids than anyone else, and I want to destroy their operation from the inside out.”
I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. The way he huffs when he talks about the trafficking—it’s not just hatred; there’s something personal in it. But I don’t let it show on my face.
I ask, “What’s in it for me?”
His brows knit together. “Don’t you want to help put a stop to the very system that ruined your life?”
I bite down on the inside of my cheek, willing myself to stay calm. “That doesn’t exactly benefit me, now does it?”
I don’t know why I say it. Of course I want to stop the exploitation, to save the kids who never stood a chance—kidslike me, Aurora, Ramus, and the others I met before Marco bought me. But agreeing to Malachi means trusting him, and trust has never been something I’ve handed out easily.
I keep my glare steady, my stoic expression firmly in place, even as an unsettling feeling takes hold.
He doesn’t back down. “If you help me, I won’t just save others like you. I’ll make sure you’re free of my family forever. You’ll be free to lead your own life.”
My stomach twists.
Free.
The word lodges itself in my chest, dangerous and titillating. Hope like that can kill you. “Marco would hunt me to the ends of the Earth,” I say darkly. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
He leans forward, his expression shifting. “What if my father was no longer in the picture?”
That gets my attention. I sit up straighter, narrowing my eyes at him. “You plan to kill your father?” My voice comes out louder than I intended, and I instantly clap a hand over my mouth, glancing toward the door.
He smirks, leaning back against the headboard. “Relax. These rooms are practically soundproof.”
Convenient,I think bitterly, but the look in his eyes is deadly serious.
“I don’t know what my plans are yet,” he admits, running a hand through his hair. “That’s why I need your help.”
And there it is—the catch. “What do you need from me?”
His shoulders relax, like he’s been waiting for this. “My father might trust me, but my brothers. Not a chance. They don’t want me anywhere near their cut of the business. They see me as a threat, and they’re not wrong.” He pauses, grimacing. “I haven’t seen the other Avids and don’t even know where they’re kept. But I know my father and Viktor own many. They have to.”
“What does that have to do with me?” I ask, feeling skeptical. “I have no control here. No say over anything.”
He shakes his head, a glint of something dangerous in his eyes. “You have more power than you think.”
“How do you figure that?”
“For whatever reason, my father listens to you. He trusts what you say. It’s like he has some weird infatuation with you or something.” My skin crawls, but Malachi doesn’t stop. “You can get me in, Katja. Tell him you need help with the case. Say you need to see what the other Avids can do, if any of them have abilities that might be useful.”
