Page 93 of All Your Bloody Lies

“I love that you are angry, Sirion, I know we will get answers quickly with that.” He runs his hands through his short brown hair and walks in tandem with me to Achille, who is once again at his cart of booze.

“Father, always a pleasure.” Marcos’s tone doesn’t quite convey his conviction about feeling that way. “I’ve briefed Sirion Monroe.”

After pouring a glass of whisky, Achille turns toward me with a half-smile, “Kairhyse, good to see you boy. Marcos.” He raises his glass, and I nod in his direction. There aren’t any guards in the room with us, which does surprise me, but it’s just his son and myself, who are to be his most loyal.

“Not sure what my son told you.” He takes a sip, and sits down into his large brown leather chair, and kicks his feet up. “Ansford is pissed, and because it happened in our territory, they are requesting our help.”

My phone buzzes in my pants, but I ignore it. Likely Sydni, sending me another calendar invite because she knows that Xeraphine will ignore it. That butterfly, I swear.

“They need to come off their high horse a bit,” Marcos comments dryly. “Chatting here with Sirion Monroe, he says the girl that caused the scene was his but she walked out on him. He thinks maybe her and Clay ran off together.”

“She seemed fond of him,” the low groan in my throat isn’t necessarily forced. “As I said to Marcos, if I were to have killed either of them, it would have been her.”

“I understand, whores will always be whores.” I force myself to drop the fury that builds in me. He isn’t talking about MY little demon. “Plus, I know you wouldn’t do anything so stupid as to kill the fiancé of Desiray Ansford—”

Fucking Beyond itself…Suppose I let my anger slip and didn’t check into exactly who that shit stain was.

“It’s why they are so up in arms, and why we at least need to find a body if he is dead.” Achille continues, finishing off his whisky with a hiss.

Marcos groans, “It’s hard to find it all coincidental. I know that Mathas was employed to us, but for him to have been Desiray’s guard and end up dead here, and now her fiancé, it seems like someone is trying to send a message to the Ansford Hause.”

My phone buzzes again, and I put my hand into my pocket to silence the vibration.

“I’ll make it a top priority, Achille,” I say, looking at the very small file sitting on the table. “First, I’ll track down my ex to see if she’s—”

“No need.” Achille pulls out a newspaper. “She’s dead.” The front shows a picture of the twins, the headline ‘Bastilla twins dead, murdered by disgruntled driver’. “She was the girl with Clay.” He slips a photo of her, dead, over the newspaper. “Eerily similar to the one you brought to us, I must say.”

I’m so thankful I didn’t see her in that state in person. Seeing the haze over her eyes, blood, and fresh bullet wounds in her chest and head, it actually stops my heart.

She’s fine. She’s alive. She’s not glass.

“I’ve heard more than fifty percent of the population has black hair. We can dwindle it down to thirty percent for beautiful. She got what she deserved for fucking with me.”

“Told you, father.” Marcos’s condescending tone makes me more thankful he has a clear head. “When has Sirion Monroe ever not delivered? You are being a twat. Now, come on. Get to the end of it.”

My phone goes off again, and I pull it out of my pocket. It’s Sydni calling, and I need this conversation to hurry along so I can call her back. Instead of hanging up, I answer it but turn the volume all the way down so she can hear the conversation and know why I can’t talk.

“Please, continue, Achille. As I told Marcos, I was in the middle of something when summoned.”

“Right,” Achille sighs, “my apologies for being untrusting. You have to understand, Ansford being on my ass is not pleasant. They are a larger Hause than Sidence in sheer number.” He pauses to groan. “Anyway. They are following a lead but won’t share the details with us. I just recommend us finding Clay, his body, or who did it, before they do.”

“Why?” I press, my nerves shot. I’m unsure why, but I’m getting anxious.

“Call it a hunch, but we want to be ahead of this. Do what you must, Kairhyse, and report back daily, please. I just want to put this behind all of us.”

I nod and look to Marcos, who is giving me an appreciative smile. “You’ve got my number if you need anything. My resources are yours. Father, do you mind if I take another moment of your time?”

“Sure.”

As I enter the elevator, I wait three floors before pulling out my phone. Sydni never hung up, and I turn the volume up to hear sirens and her crying. “Sydni, what is it?!”

She’s barely able to get through her sentence, and I hear someone in the background calling her name. “They took her!” My entire body trembles. “Kai… I’m at her apartment… please hurry…”

31

Xeraphine

Twenty Minutes Earlier

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