Page 42 of Like Grim Death: Part One
But of course, the police don’t need to pry into the ways my mom died, by Jeremiah’s knife. Or my dad, by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
No one needs to know all the ways we’re fucked up. All the ways we hurt.
Just like with Malachi. I know now his death was swept under the rug too. No funeral, no memorial, I didn’t get to attend his burial.
For a second, I can’t breathe.I’m running through my childhood home. I’m right behind him, I’m so close, butshe’scloser, and if she gets his hands on him, she’ll…
I sense something near me, and a second later, the blindfold is pulled from around my eyes, then the figure steps back. I have to blink once, twice, three times, until my pupils adjust to the dim light, a small room illuminated by a sconce on the wall, enveloping the dungeon-like place in warm light. Cement walls, dark floors, and in front of me isBoaz,Mikhail Malikov, a man who could make my life a living hell if he wished.
As it is, considering the circumstances, I think hedoeswish. My temple feels as if a truck ran over it and my core muscles are on fire.
“Would you really choose the 6,Rain,over the girl?” he asks carefully, his hands behind his back. He’s dressed in a black, long sleeve shirt, buttons done up high. Tailored pants, black shoes. No robe this time. Just high pale cheekbones and the eyes that mark him as a Malikov.
I don’t think he was the one to hit me, because behind him a few feet is a man I vaguely recognize as being some distant childhood friend of Lucifer’s. Golden eyes, dark blond hair, tattoos snaking beneath his own dress shirt. He’s wiping his knuckle over his lip, and I see flecks of blood on his mouth.Mine.
I lock eyes with him, and a slow smile curves on his face, but he says nothing.
“Or did you know it was us all along?” Father Tomas asks the question, coming into view from behind me, standing closer to Mikhail but nottoo close.
Mikhail’s eyes seem to spark in the darkened room. “How did you guess?”
I think of Father Tomas’s voice in my ear before he hit me and drugged me, and consider telling Boaz just to watch Tomas squirm. I’m sure Tomas wasn’t supposed to let on it was him. But I say nothing as I glare back at Mikhail.
“Would you let her die, for us?” Mikhail asks, his lips curling upward.
A cold sweat breaks out along the back of my neck, under my arms. I feel sick, thinking of my past and present colliding.
Malachi.
Brooklin.
Sid.
Ella.
I failed the first three. Atlas fucked up any chance Brooklin had of staying under the 6’s protection when she was younger. I remember my fist launching into his face at the merry-go-round. I remember the sticky feel of his blood. How I thought I might’ve actually killed him when Cain jerked me away from his limp body. That took him a while, but no one can get away from Cain.
But I won’t fail Ella like I did my sister.
I won’t fucking fail her.
I have to answer these questions carefully though. I work up my saliva and spit blood from my mouth, turning my head so it lands on the dark floors. Then I slowly drag my gaze back to Mikhail.
“Go fuck yourself,Boaz.”
His smile widens. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Father Tomas turn a little pale, his brown eyes going wide as he fidgets with the ends of his clerical robe. I don’t trust him. He’s a snake, just like we all are. Truth is currency, and none of us are very charitable. But his reaction isn’t feigned.
Mikhail comes closer to me, slowly, then he deliberately squats down right in front of my knees. He cocks his head, props his chin in his fingers, one tapping his lip as he stares up at me.
His other hand comes to my knee, gentle.
I stiffen, but I don’t stop glaring down at him. “I am told, among all of the 6’s offspring, you are the most grounded. Interesting, considering your head seems to constantly be inside a haze of marijuana.”
I bite down on my back teeth and say nothing.
His fingers trail higher, up my thigh, and I hold in oxygen. His eyes don’t leave mine. “Your brother, your first in command, he disobeyed a direct order of mine last night.” Another smile, dimples flashing in his cheekbones. It is unnerving how similar all the Malikov men look. “There is no room for waywardness here, Maverick. You should know that well. Obedience is a 6 virtue, but disobedience is punished in blood drained from your families.”
My teeth are clenched so tightly my jaw aches and I want to scream.
