What was Cyril supposed to do?
He felt like he didn’t know Vale anymore.He’d thought Vale had been honest with him since he’d told him about his job and the people he killed, but clearly, he’d been wrong.Vale had been hiding more things than he’d told Cyril about, and now, Cyril was finding out.Maybe he’d never truly known Vale.Maybe Vale had lied.Maybe Cyril should’ve realized that when a professional assassin had told him that he didn’t kill innocent people.Wasn’t that what professional assassins did?
Cyril had stuck his head in the sand because he wanted to be with Vale, but he couldn’t do so anymore.He couldn’t ignore the signs that pointed to Vale killing Melissa.
A movement next to him made him jump.He jerked away, turning and ready to defend himself, only to find Vale standing there with both hands raised.He was watching Cyril in a way that told Cyril that his boyfriend knew something was up.Hopefully, he’d think Cyril was still jumpy over the nightmare.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” Vale said.
“You didn’t.I was just lost in my thoughts and was startled.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”It was a lie.Cyril was anything but fine, and he suspected that Vale knew it.Thankfully, he didn’t say anything.He probably would, eventually, but if Vale didn’t want to talk about his past with the Organization, surely it was okay for Cyril to not want to talk about his nightmares?
He hated this.He and Vale were supposed to support each other.They should be telling each other what was happening so they could work together and find a solution.Instead, Cyril was jumpy and felt like this relationship was slipping out of his hands.He didn’t know how to keep it there.He didn’t know how to trust Vale again or if hecouldtrust him.He didn’t know anything for sure right now, and it made him want to scream.
He didn’t.Instead, he gave Vale a tight smile and turned back to the eggs on the stove so he wouldn’t burn them.From the corner of his eye, he could see Oscar hovering around as if ready to defend him.He still didn’t understand why his pet was behaving the way he was, but maybe he was reacting to Cyril being so jumpy with Vale.Maybe it was Cyril’s fault.
The problem was that Cyril wasn’t sure how to fix any of this.Even if he and Vale talked, what were the odds that he was wrong and that Vale hadn’t killed Melissa?Vale was hiding something, and Cyril had seen what that something was in his nightmare.Even if Vale told him, would it change anything?Would Cyril be able to trust his boyfriend again, or was their relationship too damaged now?Cyril didn’t know.He didn’t know how to find out, either.The only way would be to talk to Vale, but Cyril was terrified.Where did that leave him?What was he supposed to do next?
He couldn’t talk to Vale.He didn’t think Vale would hurt him, but he just couldn’t.That meant that he’d have to come up with another way to find out what had happened to Melissa.
She was dead, so normally, there would be no talking to her.This situation was anything but normal, though.Cyril wasn’t just a guy.He was a necromancer, and who better than him to talk to a dead woman?
Chapter Five
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VALE NEEDED TO KNOWwhat was happening.He needed to do a lot of things, including fixing his relationship with Cyril, but keeping an eye on the Organization felt more urgent.
He wouldn’t be able to do anything about his relationship with Cyril if the Organization found and killed him.That meant that he had to find out what they were up to, but it had been more than a decade since he’d left.He didn’t even know who was in charge anymore.If he was going to take them down, he needed to know that and a lot more details, and there was only one person who could provide him with those.
He dialed Artemis’s number.It wouldn’t be a conference call with Russell this time around, but that was fine.He was sure that Russell would be informed of what had been said.He wouldn’t have it any other way.He’d told Vale he wanted to be involved, and Vale hadn’t been able to say no.
He’d do this for Russell, too.If Russell needed his help, Vale would be there without even asking why.It made Vale feel odd to accept any kind of help, even from his best friend, because he was used to doing everything on his own.
He didn’t have to anymore.He had support.He had his friends and Cyril, and while three people weren’t a lot, to Vale, it meant everything.It was one of the reasons he hated feeling so far from Cyril.He wanted to change that, but he didn’t know how to or if Cyril would let him try.He hadn’t even told him about the Organization, for fuck’s sake.They were tiptoeing around each other, and Vale was pretty sure they both hated it, but neither of them was willing to break and reach out for now.
“So, the Organization,” Artemis said when she answered.
“They’re the reason I’m calling.What do you know about them?”
“A lot of things, and none of them are good.You really worked for these people?”
“You don’t have to remind me that it was a bad idea.I’m aware.”
Artemis hummed.“That’s good, I’m still going to kick your ass when I see you.You’ve made yourself powerful enemies, Vale.They’re not going to stop just because you ask them nicely.”
“I never expected them to.”The Organization didn’t stop.They forged ahead until they had what they wanted, and in this case, it seemed they wanted Vale dead.
“From what I was able to find, they’re cleaning up their hidden operation,” Artemis explained.“You know there’s been a lot of talk in the government about looking into the people they work with.The Organization is one of them.They have legal contracts with several branches of the government, including the military.They would lose that if the people looking into this found out that they have a not-so-legal side, especially if the ones to find out were journalists.”
“That’s the side I worked with.”
“Exactly.Now, this side of the operation works with the government, too, but for very different contracts than their official ones.Like you said, they’re mercenaries.That’s the kind of contracts they take from the government, and they’re very good at it.”
But it also made them vulnerable.Vale was sure no one would ever be able to find any proof of what the Organization was doing, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t be exposed for other shady things.If the government truly started looking into them, things would come out, and none of those things would be good for the Organization or the people they worked with.
