Page 262 of Like Grim Death: Part One
Atlas doesn’t deny it.
Lucifer doesn’t add to it.
My heart starts to shatter.
I don’t look at Ella.
I don’t want to see how far gone she is. I need Mikhail out of here, I need the doctor—who I can only hope is still alive, yet I assume his absence is on Mikhail’s orders somehow—but until Rain is safe, I know that won’t happen.
Focus on the next step.
And as I repeat it to myself, over and over, looking for the loophole, the plot twist, ignoring the accusations Mikhail is throwing like bombs my way, I see a shadow behind his guards, creeping from the other end of the hall, near Atlas’s room.
I don’t focus on it.
I can’t, because then the guards themselves will look.
And I saw enough of the shadow to know he might help.
Sevryn, with a lamp in his hand, turned upside down, held like a bat.
I refuse to look at him. I pray to Satan my sister, my brothers, they won’t either. The dim light overhead doesn’t reach Sevryn, and he can continue to move in shadows and secrecy toward us.
“Now, I will need Ella to come with me, of course. If you are a good boy, Maverick, you may get her back. She has upheld her end of the bargain. But if you refuse…” He glances down at Rain, then pulls his thumb from his mouth. Instead, he circles the space between his thumb and forefinger over Rain’s neck, beneath the chubbiness of his chin.
Rain flails his arms, staring up almost stoically at his tormentor.
Mikhail’s eyes flash to mine. “If you refuse, you will no longer find yourself an uncle.” A smile curves his lips, and he flicks his gaze somewhere behind me. “Besides, Ophelia here would like to take a little revenge for the death of her brother. But even she will choose Lucifer and his son over your toy, Maverick.”
I tense up, my nostrils flaring as Lucifer spins around, turning to stare past me. I can see the whites of his eyes, the demonic blue of his irises, the fear etched onto his face.
Sid doesn’t take her gaze off her son.
I feel exposed and I wouldn’t believe Mikhail, just like I don’t want to believe anything he’s said, but when I turn my head, past Cain’s massive form, still kneeling beside Ella, still touching her, I see blonde hair.
Green eyes.
Dressed uncharacteristically all in black, smudges of makeup beneath her eyes.
A gun in her hand, aimed at my girl.
Ophelia, her bottom lip trembling.
She is pale, scared, and I don’t know what she knows or how Mikhail coerced her here, or even why, but I know she doesn’t want to be here.
Lucifer says,“O,”with a jagged sound, and I think I know what he means by it, and I hate him for it.
Because he means to offer up Ella without a fight, to get back his son.
I hate him but I can’t fault him. I can’t kill him over it.
I can’t save her.
I can’t save you.
I hate everything.
Ophelia’s hand trembles as she aims the gun poorly at Ella, but more at Cain, because Cain, I realize, is shielding my girl with his own body.
