Instead of reaching out for her, Vesper held onto Bellamy tighter, watching while Wisp and Ro ventured closer to the parents to see what the issue was.
“What’s going on?” A stern voice snapped. The illusion had fully disappeared, and Vesper could see clear as day as Mazz—wearing more clothes than she’d ever seen her in—entered the building and looked down at the man screaming on his knees.
“What the fuck is happening?” Vesper whispered under her breath. Bellamy tensed and clung even tighter to Vesper’s arm, her nails digging into Vesper’s skin. Before all this, Bel had been upset about Vesper’s history with Mazz. A near death experience clearly hadn’t changed that feeling.
CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
Vesper
Vesper’s world was turning upside down. She swayed on her feet, head swimming while they watched as more than one person filled Mazz in on the situation with Cypress’s parents. Mazz gave the order to remove Thoai and put him with Cypress’s mother.
Since when the fuck did Mazz get into field operations? And how the fuck was she in charge? Mazz owned and operated The Downstairs. She was a whore—a fucking good one at that. She did not do whatever the fuckthiswas. And did she just say the queen? Does Mazz work for the fucking queen?
Mazz nodded along to whatever the person in front of her was saying, heedless of Vesper’s group clustered in the center of the now almost-empty room as the last of the crates were carried away. Mazz took in all the information being shouted without so much as a twitch, standing straight with her hands clasped behind her back.
Vesper stared in awe, unable to look away until Mazz’s eyes finally drifted over to them. Her expression didn’t change, but Vesper could have sworn something in her gaze softened. She had so many fucking questions.
“Close your fucking mouth,” Bellamy seethed, glaringbetween Mazz and Vesper. Her grip on Vesper’s arm was painful. “Does anyone wanna tell us what the fuck is going on?”
Vesper snapped her mouth shut, tearing her attention away from Mazz to Wisp, who cleared her throat. “We work for a group that’s been… displeased with how your employers—” Wisp paused, looking up at the ceiling and tipping her head back and forth, weighing her words carefully, “conduct business,” she finally finished after way too long.
Bellamy laughed. “And what the fuck does that mean?”
“I can’t really give you details.”
“Seriously?” Bellamy snapped. “You owe us an explanation. We almost fucking died.”
“But you didn’t,” Mazz said, walking up to their group. Immediately, she grabbed Cypress and assessed her for injuries. “You okay?” she asked in a low voice, rubbing Cypress’s shoulders and scouring her face for any signs of emotion.
Cypress didn’t answer. She just stared past Mazz to where her mom lay unmoving on the ground and gnawed at her lip. Vesper watched, planted in place a few feet away despite everything in her screaming that she should have checked on Cypress already. She cursed herself for the newly forming fear in the back of her mind.
Bellamy squeezed Vesper’s hand, either wanting to ground her or keep her where she was. Either way, Vesper was grateful, and she gave Bel’s hand a little squeeze back.
“Hey,” Mazz whispered, moving in front of Cypress to block her view. “This isn’t your fault.” Did Mazz know what Cypress was?
Cypress sniffed. She lowered her eyes and stared through Mazz as if she could still see her mom. Her eyes were expressionless, her face was blank. Vesper just knew she was blaming herself for this. Cypress didn’t do anything wrong though, not really. She just lost control.
“Is she…” Cypress trailed off, biting her lip again. Vesper couldn’t tell if her question was based in guilt or relief.
“No, she’s alive. We’re going to take her to a secure facilitywhere she can never try to hurt you again. I promise, you won’t have to worry about her anymore. We’re going to work to dismantle this Embunuh branch now that the head is down. We’ll destroy the contract on your life. You’ll be free!” Mazz smiled at her, clutching Cypress’s shoulders.
“Why isn’t she waking up?” Cypress asked, ignoring the rest of what Mazz said. Vesper wondered if it even registered.
Mazz finally turned to watch as two women hefted Cypress’s mom up onto a stretcher and carried her from the building. They were the only ones left in the room now. They were standing in the center as a confused little group, waiting to be told what the fuck was going on.
“She got injected with something. She had a syringe when the blast went off. Our healer told me that it looks like she accidentally plunged it into her leg when she fell.”
“What was in it?” Cedar interrupted, stepping closer to Mazz.
Mazz raised an eyebrow, looking Cedar up and down for the first time. Mazz had never much cared for Cedar. Vesper couldn’t blame her, but in this moment, Mazz seemed even more standoffish than normal. Her body was tense, and she angled herself away from Cedar, not glaring at her but pretty close.
When she spotted the broken chain around Cedar’s wrist, she sighed, dropping her arms to her side.
“We don’t know,” Mazz admitted, briefly looking down before her gaze flicked to Vesper and then back to Cedar. “We assume, given her current state, it’s some type of sedative. We’ve got an herbalist looking into it, but according to the healer, her magic was also blocked. Though, we don’t know if that was the Dampener bomb or the sedative.”
“Let me look,” Cedar said. Her request sounded more like a question than a demand, her voice meek and timid.
“Why?”
