Page 86 of Like Grim Death: Part One
I scrub a hand over my face, shaking my head.
Right. Because now, thanks to me, she no longer has a fucking choice.
“Boo.”
I jump, dropping my hand and reaching for the gun stowed in the back of my pants, whirling in the direction of the noise, one hand extended, the other braced against my opposite one to steady my aim even though I don’t know what the fuck I’m aimingat.
A raspy laugh and the scent of minty gum—Lucifer’s new habit—fights through the thick haze of incense. “Goddamn,” he says, his voice betraying how tired he is. “You’re jumpy.”
I don’t lower the gun, blinking in the darkness. I can make out Lucifer’s tall and lean figure, the gleam of his eyes, but nothing else.
“Why were you just waiting in the fucking foyer?” There’s another set of double doors ahead of us, and this is not a hang out.
“I heard you pull up,” he says easily enough. “Put the fucking gun down.”
I slowly lower it to my side, but I don’t put it away. “Where is everyone else?”
I hear Lucifer sigh, and I see him lean against the wall beside the doors leading into the sanctuary. “Who fucking cares?” He shrugs. I can make out the silhouette of his shoulders as my eyes adjust. “Hopefully it’ll mean this goes quickly.” A beat of silence, then, in a lower voice, he says, “I don’t want to be here.”
I don’t want to meet this person. I don’t want to take him home. I don’t want anyone else near my family. I want to kill my fucking uncle.
My chest tightens with those things he won’t say, and I almost forgive him for what I saw. It was probably nothing. It was probably, like Sid said, completely consensual, because Iknowhe doesn’t want to be here. I know when he agreed to come back, it was for Sid. For Rain. Maybe to right some wrongs within the 6. Pedophilia we might be able to stop, homicides against innocent people, dealings and inner workings of the Bratva and others.
But most of the time it seems like we can’t do shit. We don’t evenknowshit. Elijah denies any ofthosekinds of wrongdoings, and since we’ve been questioning everything, they tell us less.
I think about Atlas and thatlaughteron Tuesday night.
I think about the greater betrayal. The blow to my head, the interrogation, Mikhail asking me about Rain.
If I pushed past the fact I truly believe I’d be putting EllaandRain in danger if I told Lucifer right now, I still don’t want to worry him.
It’s probably a series of routine tests, and Lucifer is having a hard enough time holding his shit together. I don’t need to burden my brother with speculation. And maybe there’s a part of me that thinks he’ll hate me for it, and maybe it would hurt a little even though I know why. Lucifer doesn’t give a fuck about anything except my sister and their son.
Before I can reply to his confession, the door beside him is yanked open, and soft light pools into the foyer from candles lit along the windowsills of the sanctuary. Lucifer and I both step away from the door, shoulder-to-shoulder, and I’ve still got the gun in my hand, my finger on the trigger, even though I keep it by my side.
I blink, adjusting to the light, and the first thing I see is the red cross paintedon the wall where the baptistry would be if we, you know, baptized people. Shit, maybe it’s still there, but we’ve never used it.
Then my eyes find Elijah Carter Van Damme,Dominus,his palms propping both doors open as he stares at us, his face thrown in shadow.
He’s in a dark red dress shirt, tailored gray pants. His shoulders are broad, and for a dude pushing fifty, he’s in impressive shape. He always looks like he just walked from a mob meeting, coming out on top. Now, he looks like he wants to kill me for the shit I said to him when I was pacing out in front of my house.
It wasyouwho wanted Cain to babysit my girl.Should I be thanking you or fucking decking you?
“Maverick,” he says, turning his gaze to me. “Put the gun away.”
I glance over my shoulder, and I don’t even know what I’m looking for. I just know all this shit feels weird. Where are the rest of my brothers? But Lucifer’s shoulder brushes mine, and I know it’s his silent code for,I got your back.
I tuck the gun in the back of my pants again and cock my head, leveling my gaze on Dominus. “Where’s everyone else?”
“They’ll be here momentarily.”
The hairs lift at the base of my neck, and I glance at Luce, but he’s staring at Dominus, a muscle in his jaw ticking.
Well fuck that. “‘Momentarily’ is how many minutes, exactly?”
Elijah narrows his eyes at me. Then he just says, “Come with me.” He turns, holding one door open for us as the other falls shut with an ominous thud.
Luce doesn’t look at me as he heads through the door, and I sigh, following him, thinking about Ella and wishing her and Sid were together right now. Last time they were, it didn’t work out too well for them, but I think they’d be more vigilant now, especially with Rain.
