Page 64 of We Will Reign

“Why are you asking about Neo?”

Eyes wandering around the room, he avoids eye contact with me. My thoughts go crazy as I try to figure out what he’s talking about. Is he hinting at the governor’s death? Is he trying to get me to discuss it without being the first to bring it up? Where would he have gathered any information about that incident?

Unless…

“Are you a Guardian?” I spit out without thinking first. I, of all people, know he can’t answer that, but this isn’t your typical situation. Lives have been lost and mine is at stake. “That’s why your dad came, isn’t it? He’s an Elder and a Guardian?”

He gives me a quizzical eye, hands now stretched out over the table. “Are you a Guardian, Riley?”

“Maybe.”

“Well…maybe I am, too.”

Relief washes over me. Guardians are good. Then again, we are only as good as we want to be. I’m a Guardian, and I’ve killed before. What’s not to say Maddox isn’t keeping secrets of his own.

“Okay. Now that we’ve established that, tell me what you know about my past at The Academy.”

“I can’t go into detail because it’s not my place to say. Information was given to me in complete confidence. But I will say, The Elders have gathered a team who is looking into the governor’s death.”

“So, you know?”

“What you did? I know.”

I’m mentally exhausted. Ready to throw in the towel and confess all my sins to anyone who will hear them. I’ll take whatever punishment I’m given. Be it abolishment or a life of misery. I can’t take it anymore.

My eyes close, lip quivering.“Do you also know that it was in self-defense? I never wanted to kill anyone.”

“I believe you. But they won’t. Which is why I asked, how well do you know Neo Saint? It was his dad, after all.”

“No,” I blurt. “Neo hated his dad. In fact, his dad shot him accidentally before he died. There’s no way in hell Neo would try and frame me for Zeke’s death.”

“His sister?”

“Maddie? God, no. She’s so sweet and she saw the worst of her dad’s actions. Sebastian Saint had their mom killed, Maddox. They don’t want to avenge his death. They’re grateful he’s out of their lives.”

“I hope you’re right. I wanna help you, Riley. But first I need to know I can trust you. If we’re gonna do this, we have to work together. No one can know about this.”

“Ridge?”

“He knows some, but not everything, and he can’t know about all of this.”

“Lev?”

“Fuck no. And I hate that we have to keep this from them, but Ridge and Lev both react on emotion, or lack thereof. We can’t risk it.”

There is a sense of relief that I can finally talk to someone about all of this, aside from Scar. “You can trust me, Maddox. I’m not a bad person. Question is, can I trust you?”

“I don’t think you have much of a choice.” He stands up and pushes his chair back in. “Let's go back to your room, where it’s safe, and we’ll make a plan.”

CHAPTER22

RIDGE

After goingto the morgue to take a look at Zeke’s body, cussing him out a few times, I’ve concluded someone definitely stuck that tempered glass in his jugular. One doesn’t just fall onto a shard of glass from that angle. So, whoever did it, knew exactly where to find that main artery that would end Zeke’s life quickly.

I don’t think Riley did it. At first, I toyed with the possibility, since she was under the influence of whatever drug Zeke slipped her. But there’s no way in hell she overpowered him in that state and then not only threw him out a window, but also made it all the way downstairs to finish him off. There were no traces of blood in her room, so the fall had to have happened first.

Now, I just need to go and tell her. I need to apologize for even accusing her of such a thing. I’d understand if she never wants to speak to me again. But I won’t allow that because I breathe just to hear her voice.

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