Page 29 of Boy of Ruin
He should be dead.
Elijah clasps his hands together. “It wasn’t Maddox, Lucifer. If he knew who did this, he’d—”
“He’d what, Elijah?” I ask, tilting my head and stepping closer to the new Dominus, given that title since I killed my father, in this very room. “He’d tell us, is that what you’re saying?” I taunt him, another step closer.
I hear Ezra growl my name, no doubt angry that I’m in his father’s face, but I think he should know by now I don’t give a fuck about anything, much less fathers.
Elijah’s eyes narrow. “Back up.”
I don’t. I grip the photo so hard my hand shakes, but I do not back up. I step closer, and Elijah has to look up at me, because I’m fucking taller than he is, and if he thinks I’m going to let Maddox Astor off the hook, he’s delusional.
He’s insane, right alongside me.
“No, I don’t think so,” I tell him, so close I catch the dark scent of his cologne. “You trust Maddox? You think he doesn’t deserve to fucking die?”
Elijah’s jaw ticks. “Maddox Astor is not your father, Lucifer,” he says, his voice strained, like he’s trying to reason with me. Trying to remain calm, so he doesn’t snap, like I feel I’m about to do.
“Did you know, Elijah?” I ask him instead, thinking about what my wife went through. All the men that put their hands on her without her permission. All the people that were supposed to care for her but hurt her instead. Fucking betrayed her. Made her the kind of girl that runs away from someone who only wants to love her. “Did you know what was going to happen to her?” To him? I don’t ask, because I don’t care what happened to Jeremiah fucking Rain. He’s a piece of shit. But my wife? My wife is everything.
Elijah shakes his head. “Lucifer, there are things you don’t understand—”
“Then make me understand, because if what you’re telling me is that this fucking pedophile ring is still alive and well and you knew, then I think you might need to die, too, Dominus. Because that’s why they’re after her, isn’t it?” I shake the photo in my hand in front of his face. “To keep their dirty little secret buried?”
Elijah’s chest is heaving as he stares at me, trying to hold back from what he really wants to do with me. Probably punch me in the fucking face.
I don’t care.
I hope he does.
It’ll give me an excuse to go at him.
“Lucifer,” he says softly, dipping his chin and arching a brow, “there may be things we have to look into within the 6. But right now, our priority is figuring out who shot my guard, and who took this.” He glances at the photo in my hand, and I tense. “She could be in danger, because you’re right. Whoever it is likely knows about her, about her connection to the 6, and about her…past.”
I try to hold onto his words, but it’s all rushing back to me.
“We have our own watchdogs, and if more people learn she’s not under your protection, they could kill her before we get the chance to bring her back. This is not a good sign, as it is.” He blows out a breath, runs a hand over his short, dark hair. “We’re going to need to work with Jeremiah Rain. He might know something.”
My stomach churns.
He keeps talking, but I’m not seeing him.
Barely hearing him.
Instead I’m thinking of that night.
Jeremiah’s hands around her throat, the smile on her drunken lips, because she thought he was me. The way I screamed, how the rope cut into my flesh. Warm blood trailed down my torso, seeping into my pants, but he didn’t stop.
His hands were all over her.
He was straddling her, pinning her down, but he didn’t even have to. He didn’t need to go to the trouble.
My wife is a fucking slut, and maybe she didn’t think it was me at all. Maybe she knew it was him or someone else, and she didn’t care.
She’s spread her legs for anyone who’s wanted her. Anyone who’s shown her the slightest bit of attention.
Before I know what I’m doing, blinding pain shoots through my fist and someone is at my back, their arms tight around me as they speak something in my ear.
I realize I’m not holding her photo anymore, and my fist is against the wall beside the pew, the drywall split and cracked like my knuckles, but I don’t care about that pain.
