“Hey, baby,” I murmured as I stepped closer. “Dinner’s—”
The words died in my throat.
He was awake.
Not just awake—he was staring down at my phone, both hands wrapped around it like it might disappear if he loosened his grip. The screen glowed against his face, reflecting faintly in his eyes.
“Fuck.” The sound of my voice made him flinch. His head snapped up, but instead of the panic or guilt I’d expected to see, there was a hollowness behind his eyes.
He didn’t scramble to lock the screen, didn’t apologize or make excuses, didn’t even move to hand the phone back to me.
No. He just looked at me.
“I remembered your password,” he said quietly, “from watching you do it.”
He didn’t mention the news—didn’t say what he’d seen or how much. He didn’t need to. The weight of it was written all over him.
I stared at my phone in his hands, then back at his face, my tongue suddenly useless.
The food cooled on the plates behind me.
14
Elior
I’d watched him unlock it a hundred times. Muscle memory, maybe. Or maybe I just paid attention to him in a way I never quite knew how to pay attention to myself.
The screen lit up, and then it was too late to stop. One click was all it took.
CULT LEADER ARRESTED IN WIDENING INVESTIGATION
Below it, smaller text.
Questions Remain About the Other Members—Including His Son
I stared at it for a long time, my thumb hovering uselessly above the glass. My heart didn’t sink as I expected it to. I didn’t feel nauseous or lightheaded. My thoughts didn’t race.
I just felt… tired.
When I tapped the article, more appeared beneath it.
INSIDE THE COVENANT: WHAT DID THEY KNOW?
WHY IS ELIOR RANSOM FREE WHILE MALACHI RANSOM AWAITS TRIAL?
SURVIVOR—OR ACCOMPLICE?
DEATH CULT? FBI DIGS UP SEVERAL BODIES ON PROPERTY
That one made my throat ache, but still no tears came.
I wondered, distantly, if my lack of tears meant I was doing better. Or if it meant I was just running out of whatever part of me used to react.
One article talked about indoctrination. Another talked about radicalization. Someone used the phrasereligious extremism.
The comments under the articles were numerous, but I stopped reading after a few.
“He had to know.”
