Page 257 of Like Grim Death: Part One
“Who?” I whisper, my voice cracked. I swallow the tightness in my throat as she stays silent, her back rising and falling beneath my arm. “Give me a name.” It comes out like a plea. At the same time, I twist my head and whisper, “Call afuckingdoctor,now.”
“Already did,” Ezra whispers, his voice jagged. “The same one who saw you. He’s staying on the first floor.”Thank fuck no one let him leave after he treated me.
I rest my temple over Ella again and play back her words.“It’s not the first time.”
What does she mean? What the fuck is she talking about? This had to have happened inside this penthouse, how could it have occurred anywhere else?
I would have known.
I would have, right?
How did I not know?
I know what my dad did to Sid when we left for Noctem. I know what Lazar Malikov did at Sacrificium. I know about Jeremiah’s origins, and how the Forgues kept him in that fucking cage. All those times I’ve been away for Council, for work with the 6, raids and murders and bullshit in the night, I’ve left her alone, trusting in the guards vetted byall of us.
But someone got their hands on her because I left her alone. I thought I took her away from hell. Turns out, I just sent her to another level.
And I’ve been worrying over Sid and Lucifer and Rain and turning my eye away from my own fucking home. I’ve been thinking drugs were the problem between us, that Atlas gave her something before our threesome and I’d have to beat him again for that.
But this…This is something else.
“Ella. Who fucking touched you?” It feels like blood is drowning my chest cavity, like I can’t fucking breathe.
“It’s not what you think.” She whispers those words, but they sound like a bomb detonating to my ears as she trembles on the floor.
My entire body is tense, my limbsachingat how tightly coiled they are. My lips pull back, curling into a snarl, and slowly, so fucking slowly, I straighten, pulling away from her, but I don’t let go of my hold on the back of her neck.
Her eyes flutter closed as I ask, “It’s not what Ithink?”
It’s deathly quiet up here.
I hearnothing. Not even the sound of my own breathing. All I can imagine in my head is Atlas’s neck snapping beneath my hands, and how goodthatwould sound.
“Mavy,” she whispers, her voice hoarse, her body going limp. “Let me explain.”
Let. Me. Explain.
She cannot be fucking serious.
My hands are shaky, as angry as I am, but if I don’t handle this correctly, she won’t tell me anything. She freezes, from fear.I massage her neck, forcing myself not to look at what’s happened to her.
Instead, I stare at her perfect face.“Explain.” Because I don’t understand, baby.
“I did it,” she whispers, her eyes still closed.
My heart skips a beat. I want it to be true, but I know it isn’t.
Still, I can’t help but hold onto a shred of delusional hope when I ask, “What?” It’s the only thing I can think to say. My brain is fucking broken. It was one thing, thinking someone else had hurt her. The solution to that is simple.They fucking die.But if she did it… What then? And why?
Do I want you to lie? Do I want to know?
My mind flickers to Lucifer. I don’t know where he is right now, I don’t know how everyone else heard Ella out here, but there are things I’m keeping from my best friend too. Like the kidnapping from Corpus, when Mikhail insisted ImakeLucifer obey commands. And the meeting with Elijah, before any of that, to protect Rain at all costs. That was my job.Protect your nephew, no matter what.
What secret things has Lucifer hidden from me? If it has anything to do withthis…I will bury him beside Samson.
I watch Ella’s pale throat bob, her lashes splayed over her cheekbones. “I…” She takes a deep breath. “You hurt yourself too.”
I feel as if she hit me with those words. I drop my hand from her neck, my fingers curled tightly into fists as I sink back on my calves. “That’s different.” The excuse falls lamely on my own ears, especially as my body is still devastatingly sore from the last time he beat me, only a day ago.
