Page 38 of The Merciless

As if the rest of them knew, their eyes turned over her shoulder and rested on Angel.

He rolled his shoulders at the attention, fighting a bristle as he began, “Back at the ambush in the hotel, there was a man we caught. Who Ray shot down and was believed to be dead by the Larsens.” He said, and looked at Akash, who ran a hand through his hair, “Dead by the world. But we’ve had him for a while now.”

He risked a glance at Ira and was pleasantly surprised to find the girl simmering in her spot. Her short hair swayed atop her head as she leaned forward and glared down at her laced hands. Angel breathed out, “His name’s–”

“Arwan Lyall.”

Micah’s voice was far too dark to belong to such a young boy. But the fourteen-year-old only stepped through the open doors of another bedroom and looked calmly in Ira’s direction. The girl shook but didn’t flinch at his words. Nor did she balk when he took a few steps forward and stood right behind Sorin, something venomous shifting in his grey eyes. Angel rose a brow in question, and Micah, having had caught the look simply pointed at the small scar that marred his cheekbone and jaw,

“He gave me these.” He said and Ira finally looked up, her expression giving awaynothing, “I won’t forget his name.”

Angel blinked away the wave of rage that washed over him and turned back to the others, “Arwan’s been in our facilities for a while now. Half fighting for his life as he’s being questioned to give up more information about these new players.” He turned to Mia, “And up until now, we didn’t have any substantial leads.”

“All I know is that my father is one of them,” he continued and shook his head at the frowns that deepened most of their expressions, “It’s making no sense, I know. Which is why I think that he’s not the only one involved. And it’s possible he’s not the key player either way.”

“We’re dealing with a ghost here.” Ray said and massaged the back of her neck, “No one knows where they came from. And no one knows where they reside.”

“We knownow.”Angel interjected and Ray looked over her shoulder, her eyes betraying the same thing both of them were thinking.

Are you sure?

Angel gave his answer by continuing, “He’s finally broken.” He said and pointed in Mia’s direction. She nodded and handed him the phone, her eyes shining with conviction as he glanced down at the device and caught the five sites written in the message, “We have five facilities around the world where Lyall’s operated. Five opportunities for us to figure out who’s behind this mess.”

“And then we’re finally out of the fucking bind.” Ray ended.

“So how do we divide this?” Noah asked from up ahead, lacing his hands as he leaned forward, “We need to figure out–”

“This can’t involve any of you.” Ray interrupted and Noah frowned, but Ray shook her head before any of them could argue,

“If any idea of you guys being with me gets out, we’ll all be at risk. For now, their focus is solely on me as the alliance is riding on me. On whether or not I’ll wake from my coma or not.”

“But thereisno alliance anymore.” Neera interpreted for Cameron, who signed the words, “We’ve successfully managed to wipe the Lion’s out.”

Ray turned to Sorin, who averted his gaze, “We haven’t gotten rid of Kyle. Which means getting rid of Maya and Alessandro is also going to be difficult. We can’t have them joining hands with this group.”

“Kyle will agree to keep his mouth shut.” Sorin said softly then, and Ray heaved a breath from up ahead. Angel saw the look in Sorin’s eyes. Was afraid he was intercepting it as somethingelse.But then he looked back at Ray, his lips set with conviction,

“We’ll get rid of the Maya and Alessandro. Silence them as we’d planned to.” She spoke.

“You’re talking about killing one of the most powerful families in the world.” Mia said, her voice betraying doubt. But Ray only scoffed,

“There’s different ways of dying Mia,” she said, and goosebumps erupted on Angel’s arm at her cold voice, “You’re dead if you don’t exist for the rest of the world.”

“And making the world forget isn’t as difficult as it’s said to be.” Came Myra’s happy response. Angel blinked at her fake cheer, realizing that they’d done this before. Had probably been successful considering their confidence.

“Leave that to me.” Akash said softly, and looked at Ray, “I’ll take care of the Larsens,” he turned to Sorin, and nudged his chin in his direction, “He can handle Kyle and Vera.”

“Vera,” Ray whispered, and Angel remembered the girl coming to Ray’s rescue. ShootingKyledown, “Howdidshe get to know about me?”

“Maybe her cousin let it slip?” Mia said, her tone unbothered and matter-of-fact. Her words attracted a sharp glare from Ray,

“How about you worry about yourself, Mia?” she shot back.

Mia’s eyes flashed sharply at her retort, but Angel shook his head at both of them, “Enough.” He said just as she was about to snap back and saw Ray’s shoulders go taut. He turned to Mia,

“Stop the accusations, Mia.” He said calmly and leaned forward so he was within Ray’s line of sight, “And calm down.”

Ray’s teeth clenched but she nodded, calming in his hold, “I’ll get it out of her.” She said and moved so she was sitting with her back to his chest again, “For now we need to fix our plan of action.”

---