Page 92 of Veil of Dust

But we both know it won’t hold forever.

“We should clean up,” she says.

“Yeah.”

She turns.

I grab one of the dead men by the collar.

Start dragging.

Tomas is already coming back out the front door, holding the phone like it just confessed.

“Encrypted,” he says. “But I can break it.”

“Do it,” Vespera says.

He nods and disappears back inside.

I look at the blood still wet on the pavement.

I know it’ll stain.

But that’s the point.

I kneel by the man I gutted. His eyes are open. Unblinking.

I wipe my blade clean on what’s left of his shirt.

Vespera’s hand is still steady on my forearm.

“We’re deep into this now,” I say, voice low.

She nods.

“Bound by it. Forged in it.”

I meet her eyes.

“And we’re not done yet.”

Chapter 21 – Vespera

Blood stains my palms.

I scrub harder.

The metal basin hisses with pink water, circling the drain like it's trying to forget what it touched.

My nails scrape my skin. I keep going.

“Need a new towel,” Tomas had said earlier. But he didn’t bring one.

Didn’t move from that crate stack.

Too still.

Too quiet.

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