But before doing anything drastic, he’d get more answers.He would never forgive himself if he didn’t.That meant digging into Vale’s past, which scared him, but it didn’t matter.He’d do it.
He didn’t have any other choice.
Chapter Six
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WHEN VALE WOKE UP THEnext day, Cyril faked sleep.He didn’t have it in him to talk to his boyfriend yet.Vale was lying to him, and Cyril hated it.He couldn’t bring himself to break up with Vale, though, so it felt better to keep his eyes and mouth shut and act as if he was asleep.
Luckily, Vale didn’t call him out on it.Cyril wasn’t even sure that he knew.Either way, he didn’t try to wake up Cyril, and Cyril held his breath as he listened to his boyfriend getting ready.
Vale had stuff to do this morning.Cyril knew it, and he was planning on taking advantage of that.He’d come up with a plan last night when he should’ve been sleeping, and he wasn’t going to waste time implementing it.He just needed to be alone.
He would be with Vale busy elsewhere.
Cyril relaxed when Vale left the bedroom, but he stayed in bed and listened.He could hear Vale and John talk in the living room, then Vale move around the kitchen, no doubt getting coffee ready.Since Cyril was supposedly asleep, Vale didn’t linger.Cyril heard him leave the apartment just fifteen minutes later, after he peeked back into the bedroom for a second.Cyril was still in bed with his eyes closed.He needed Vale to think he was asleep.
As soon as he heard the front door close, Cyril reached for his phone on the nightstand.He unlocked it and typed Melissa’s name into the browser, praying something would come up.
Something did.Melissa had been eighteen when she was killed.Her father was rich, and she’d been kidnapped.Everyone had expected a ransom demand, but none had come.Instead, her body had been found a few days later in an abandoned warehouse.
Reading her story made Cyril cry.Everything he found pointed to her being a great person.She was an enthusiastic student who was planning to become a doctor.She’d had a lot of friends and family who’d mourned her.She’d been innocent, just like Cyril had suspected, which meant that Vale had lied to him.
He’d known that.He might even be able to accept it.He still needed to know more about the situation, though, so when he found the name of the cemetery where Melissa had been buried, he knew what his next step would be.
This wasn’t something he usually did.Normally, he’d never disturb her rest since he wasn’t getting paid to do so.He wasn’t a family member wanting to talk to her.He wanted to know what his boyfriend had done, and he hated himself for this, but he had to be sure.He had to know without a doubt that Vale was a monster who hadn’t thought twice about lying to him and killing a girl who’d never done anything wrong.
Cyril needed to go now.Otherwise, he’d stay with Vale with all his doubts, and he couldn’t do that.Talking to Melissa would put things to rest, and Cyril would finally be able to make a final decision.
He knew the cemetery where she’d been buried, so he knew he wouldn’t find many people there.They wouldn’t think anything of seeing him, but he’d still have to be careful.He was about to dig up a body he wasn’t authorized to touch, after all.It still wasn’t going to be pleasant.
He put on clothes he could ruin while digging and tried to be as inconspicuous as he could as he left his bedroom.John was on the couch, drinking coffee, but he looked up when he heard Cyril.His expression told Cyril he’d been busted.He didn’t know what it was about his face, but people could always tell when he was up to something.His mother certainly had when he was younger.
“What are you planning?”John asked.
“None of your business.”
“Unless you’re going to get yourself killed.Then itismy business.”
“Is it?You have nothing to do with this, John.You’re still healing, and you need to keep your nose out of my business.”
“I don’t think I can do that.”
“Why not?”Cyril eyed the front door.He could probably run out before John caught him.
“Don’t even think about it,” John said as he got up from the couch.“Whatever you have on your mind, you’re not doing it alone.I’m coming with you.”
“I’m going to exhume a body without authorization,” Cyril blurted out as if that would get John to change his mind.The man killed people for a living, for fuck’s sake.He wouldn’t care about Cyril needing to touch bones or desiccated skin.
John blinked, then blinked again.“That’s not what I expected.”
“Like I said, you don’t have to come with me.In fact, I’d feel better if you didn’t.”
“Considering what I know about the Organization, I’d feel better if Idid.”
Cyril hadn’t thought of that.In fact, he hadn’t thought of much except exposing Vale’s lies.He hated that Vale was lying, but now that he knew, he needed the whole story.“I don’t think it’s me they want,” he pointed out.
“Not yet, I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to grab you once they found out about you.You have a reputation, Cyril.You’re a powerful necromancer.Imagine what they could do if you worked for them.”
