Page 178 of Like Grim Death: Part One
Sid will not get away. Her husband might survive, because of the blood in his veins. But this girl’s life span may be incredibly short. If I do as I’m told, it will end within days.
I am here for her son. Because the sound of crying infants keeps me up at night. Because someone—a girl with blue eyes and golden skin—soothed my crying once upon a time.
I may not be able to helpSid,but I could help her son.
“Does it matter?” I counter, leaning against the wall. I sweep my eyes down the corridor of the fourth floor. It’s empty here, this place she whispered to me I should meet her at as everyone unloaded their bags. Even still, I know we will not have much time before her husband stalks around this mansion, looking for her.
I clench the papers in my fist, wrinkling them. Her throat rolls as she swallows, darting gray eyes toward the information she seeks but doesn’t want to grasp. Not yet.
Her hands circle into fists at her side, and she blows a stray strand of hair from her face as she cuts her gaze back to me. “Yes.” It’s a snarl, the single word. “Who are you speaking to? How? You don’t have a phone. You haven’t left our house except—”
“To go to Sanctum,” I finish for her, a small smile playing on my lips. I slip one hand into the pocket of my gray jeans, shrugging a shoulder. “Do you want it or not? We do not have all night.”
Her eyes narrow into slits as she lifts her chin, like it’ll bring her closer to my height.
Impossible. All the same, she steps toward me and I catch her scent, like lavender.
“Tell me where it came from.”
“No.” I straighten from the wall, dropping my hand by my side. If she doesn’t want it, that is her problem. I will do the best I can to watch over Rain Malikov, until I cannot anymore. I turn away from her, intending to head to my next meeting inside these walls.
But in the span of half a second, her fingers latch around my wrist, jerking me back toward her.
The force of her grip is surprisingly strong.
I freeze, the feel of her hand on me unwelcome and uncomfortable. I grind my teeth, staring into the darkness of the hall.
“Is it something I can fix? Right now?” she whispers, her fingers grinding against the bones of my wrist.
I almost laugh, but I swallow it down. “No.”
“Then why should I read it?”
I think of the photo and dread caresses my chest. I do not trust the man I have made a deal with. Adam Medici is not someone to be respected, but I did not have a choice and there is a possibility I will become just like the person who took the photo printed on the page in my hand.
I close my eyes and bite the inside of my cheek to the point of pain. It’s a sharp reminder.Cave adsum.I am here.
For now…I am here.
And I answer her question, the sharp prick pulsing in my cheek. “To understand who is truly your enemy, and who could be an ally.”
“Where did you go?” Atlas leans back in the pool chair, arms behind his head. The air is thick with the scent of chlorine, dark windows lining the entirety of the pool room, giving a view of the forest surrounding Liber. But he isn’t focused onthatview.
His gaze tracks Ella Christian across the Olympic-sized swimming pool, sitting on Mayhem’s lap. He’s not touching her though, and he looks annoyed, his lips pressed together and eyes on the water as she whispers something in his ear. He’s in swim trunks but she’s fully dressed.
There is a gun by his hip.
It is an interesting sight.
“Did you warn her?” I ask, keeping my voice low. Music pulses from hidden speakers though, drowning any chance someone will overhear us.
“Trap” by SAINt JHN.
Atlas curls his mouth into a semblance of a smile, but it sends a chill down my spine, despite the fact I’m not in a swimsuit. My blue shoes are planted on the concrete floor as I sit on the side of the black pool chair, arms crossed.
I hug myself tighter as Atlas speaks.
“I tried,” he says carefully, gaze still on Ella as he pushes his hand into the pocket of his pink swim trunks, pulling out an amber bottle with a dropper. He unscrews it, not bothering to hide his movements—despite the fact the men called Cain and Ezra are here too, with one girl each, in the shallow end of the pool—then lifts the dropper to his tongue, parting his mouth, his sharp canines visible.
