Page 105 of Like Grim Death: Part One
I stand straight, rearing back as I do.
Elijah drops his hand. “Please don’t act surprised. I can’t deal with your theatrics.”
My mind is still reeling, but I don’t show it. Instead I ask, “Does Mav know?”
Elijah narrows his eyes, but it doesn’t look like anger. It’s as if he’s studying me, searching for something.
My mind flickers to the burner phone. To the impossible things I’ve been tasked with. The shady shit we speak of as little as possible.
“No,” he finally answers me. “Why do you ask?” he pushes, but doesn’t give me a chance to answer. “Do you think he’s hiding things from you too? Like you are him?”
I straighten at the question, pushing my hands into the pockets of my pants as I glare at him. Unease threads through me, manifesting as a prickle along my scalp. “Is he?” My voice is rough as I ask, but I don’t look away from Elijah.
He doesn’t even blink. “What did I tell you, when we first discussed Ortus, Lucifer?”
I take a breath in. Out. “You saiddon’t trust anyone.”But I do trust Maverick. I trust him with my life.But what about with Rain’s? Sid’s?Over the summer, the answer would have beenyes.But now… I’m not so sure.
Elijah smiles, but it’s not warm. “There’s your answer.”
“You’re playing us against each other.” I speak calmly, thinking of what Lilith said to me, about the initiation being some sort of test. I know she meant something more than the obvious.
But Elijah shakes his head once. “No.” He shifts in his chair. “I’m certainly not. That would defeat the entire purpose of a family bound in blood.” The 6. The Unsaints. “You are handling Ella to ensure she belongs, correct? But you, Maverick, Cain, Atlas, Ezra…” He pauses on his son’s name, glancing down at the table, then bringing his gaze back to mine. “You’re blood brothers. Loyalty unmatched.” His voice is strangely quiet as he speaks those words. “You already belong together.”
I don’t say anything, but I know he knows what I’m thinking.What do you mean, then, about Mav?
“Even still, RC is not part of that bond. So, as I said, while they are here…” He lifts one hand for a second, before he sets it on top of his other, on the table.“Don’t trust anyone.”
I ignore those words and instead ask, “You said Atlas isn’t good at following orders. That’s why Samson was murdered. So it’s more than his social media shit?”
“He was told by his father to stay away from Natalie for reasons relating to Samson. Now, he’s reaping the consequences of his disobedience.”
We stare at each other for long seconds. I know why Atlas wouldn’t stay away. Love fucks up your head. As far as I know, he hasn’t been hanging around her as much as he was, but clearly he was communicating with her in ways he shouldn’t if Samson was killed the way he was.
But I push that from my mind and instead, knowing I have to stay on top of this even if I don’t want to, I ask, “Governor Phil. Have you been in touch with any of the Order’s men? Do you thinktheyare involved? Has RC come up with any evidence it was the Order who took those photos of Sid?” I don’t sayhisname, because it means something more to me now, and I don’t want to tarnish it, but Elijah knows what Order I’m speaking of.
Elijah is quiet for several seconds. Then he props his chin on his fist and speaks. “You asked me if I was involved in sex trafficking.” He says each word slowly as the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. “As I said, I’m not.” He lifts his brows, never looking away from me. “But the governor…” A sad smile.“He is.The hacking proved as much. And perhaps the photos were simply to throw us off. To worry you into thinking he should keep her.”
My body tenses, thinking of those weeks without Sid. And I don’t want to think of Jeremiah as some sort of hero. My half-brother is despicable. But in this, maybe he did the right fucking thing. “Why didn’t he just kill him?” I press.
“It would make things far more complicated if he did. Like I said before, it helps to have someone already corrupted in power.” Elijah says this like I should’ve known, and I hate feeling like Jeremiah was thinking two steps ahead of me.
I grind my teeth together but don’t speak for a moment. Then I ask, “And no one is after him for this? Not RC? Notyou?”Because I can only imagine Jeremiah was somehow involved in Edith’s disappearance too. A way for him to escape, perhaps.
Elijah laughs a little, folding his arms across his broad chest as he leans back in his seat. “Well, Jeremiah has vanished. And besides that, the trail the authorities found leads them to Cruor.”
I cock my head, confused.
Elijah shrugs. “A gang you don’t need to worry about. Trust me. I’m doing enough of that for the fucking both of us.”
* * *
I pace outside of the room thekidis being kept in deep within Sanctum. Another of Sid’s relatives, I’ll makesureshe doesn’t fuck this one. The hall is dim, I smell likeMonday,or whatever the fuck day of the week the girl was named, and I’m itching to get home. For once, I want to talk to my wife about all of this. No one around me has any good advice, and I know she would.
I curl my fingers into fists, my gun stowed once again in the back of my pants. The door is red, locked, and Elijah let me know the kid was being prepped for the ceremonies we’ll do together tonight and tomorrow evening. I got no more information on his background, not even his age. This is all part of being in a goddamn cult.Blind devotion.
It unnerves me, thinking of him staying under the same roof as my son. But I hold onto all this talk of me ascending higher.Ortus.No one has ever spelled it out for me, how I get the same power as my uncles, but I vaguely remember what Elijah referenced earlier. Mos Maiorum, the unwritten code of the 6, different from the virtues. It includes loyalty to our brothers, above all else, and I can almost grab a wisp of a memory of something else. Of a series of tests, before we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our fathers.
This is it. Maybe after this, I can change things, like Sid wants me to, if Elijah holds up our bargain.
