Page 69 of Anathema
“Wait, what? Charlotte? As in…Atlas put a bullet in her head, Charlotte?” Chyler stopped walking and gave me a skeptical look as if doubting what I had just told her.
“Yes. I ran into her on one of my tasks, and the resemblance was uncanny.”
“What was her name?” She asked.
“Abigail Brit. I haven’t heard the name before, but everything about her screamed Charlotte.”
Chyler chuckled with a sigh, scratching the side of her head with the barrel of the gun.
“Now, that is a name I haven’t heard in a long time. That’s her half-sister. Where is she? Is she down here?” She raised a brow in curiosity.
“No, she’s dead. I put a bullet in her head during my second task. I think she was working with Adrian because of something she said.” I chewed on my lip. How did Chyler know who she was? How did she know Charlotte had a half-sister and I didn’t?
“Good.”
“Good?” I parroted. “That’s it?Good?I killed a half-sister of our former employer that I didn’t even know existed, and that’s all you have to say?” I held out my arms in confusion.
“What do you want me to say, Lex? She was just as big of a piece of shit as Charlotte in the end. It doesn’t surprise me that she would have worked for Adrian. Abigail hated Charlotte and would do everything she could to see her fail. Both of them apparently have an affinity for bullets to the head.” She chuckled at the last part as if this was all some sort of twisted joke to her.
“It doesn’t bother you that she was working for Adrian?” I questioned.
“No, it doesn’t. Anathema competed with us every chance they got, stealing clients and accepting low-end rates.” Chyler huffed.
“How is it you knew about Anathema and I didn’t? Madison even seemed to know who they were.” I gave her a confused look. How could they have kept this from me for so long?
“Lex… Here’s the thing you need to understand, and you’ve already witnessed what they are capable of firsthand. We kept this from you because of the temptation. They promise power, control, and corruption. Madison and I never told you of their existence as a means to protect you.” She placed a hand on my shoulder, her voice softening.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I shrugged her off of me. I wasn’t a child and didn’t need to be coddled like one. Just because they were both older than me didn’t mean they needed to treat me any differently.
Chyler sighed, tapping the gun to her forehead in agitation.
“They’ve been trying to recruit us for a while, but we’ve always denied them. Any time a letter would show up, we would burn it before you even had a chance to see it.”
“You say years, but Madison seems to have not known that Adrian was their leader,” I added.
“Adrian wasn’t the founder of Anathema. He likes to think he is because he brought them to a level of pitch black from where they originally stood. His corruption bled out over the time he took control.”
“How do you know all of this? Any of this?” I gawked, shocked that I had been this naive and blind to what was happening right in front of me all these years. Here, I thought I knew everything, but now I realize that I knew absolutely nothing.
“Look, we don’t have time for this. We can discuss everything later after we take care of Adrian.”
“No!” I shouted, stomping my foot. If they were going to treat me like a toddler, then I would act like one. “Tell me, right now. Did Madison know who Adrian was all along? What he was doing?”
Chyler gritted her teeth with a sigh, dropping her head and running a hand through her long strands.
“Yes. She knew what he was doing with Anathema, and that is why she had agreed to marry him in the first place. Madison was planning to join him in leading this fucked up cult with false promises. But that is her story to share with you, not mine, so if we are done here. We have an asshole to take care of.”
I sucked in a deep breath and nodded. I’ll have to take my questions directly to Madison after all this was over—if she ever mentally recovers from the trauma Adrian put her through yet again. Following closely behind her, we turned another corner and found Adrian up against a wall, held at gunpoint with a sly grin on his face.
“Alexis and Chyler, how nice of you to join us; Sergeant Drake was just indulging me in all the details about how he rescued you back there.” His voice was a purr.
“Shut up, you sadistic fuck.” Chyler shouted, holding her gun up with the barrel aimed directly at his head as we approached them.
“Chyler, you shoot him, and you’ll be leaving here in cuffs.” Sergeant Drake threatened, not removing his eyes from Adrian as he held him at gunpoint with his rifle.
“You really want to mess with me right now, Sergeant? After all we’ve been through over the years?” Chyler gave him a sweet yet venomous smile.
“No, I don’t, but if I have to go back up to the ground level empty-handed, it’s my balls in a vice.” He ground out.
