And now I know they’re scared.
That’s valuable.
“It wasn’t him.” Cedric’s voice fills the silence.
“If you say so, but he’s your responsibility. If he fucks up, you’ll pay with your life,” the man replies.
“Thank you, sir,” Cedric responds.
Cedric really thinks I’m loyal—to the cause, to him, to any of this twisted shit. He has no idea. He’s betting his life on a lie, and I can’t bring myself to feel sorry for him.
If he dies because of me…good.He’s the one who brought me into this hell, gave me a mask and a number, and told me I’d be reborn. He stripped away everything that mattered.Joey. My future and any piece of myself I didn’t lock behind this mask.
Let him rot for it.
I’m not loyal to Cedric. I’m not loyal to anyone in the cult. I’ll play their game as long as it serves me, but if he thinks I’d hesitateto kill him instead of keeping Rory safe—he’s more delusional than I thought.
He threw his life on the table like a fool.If the council comes for him, I won’t flinch.
It feels like I’ve been sitting outside this door for hours. The council has been deliberating over so many useless things, so I began tuning them out a while ago. Talks about the price of rice coming from the districts and the other food sources fluttered in the air.
I’m zoning in and out when the door to the meeting room opens, and people begin to filter out. I quickly stand up straighter so as to not give away the fact that I was bored.
Cedric exits and heads straight for me. “Well?” He raises his brow. “Did you hear anything interesting?”
I smirk. “You were in there. You know what I heard.”
He laughs and claps my shoulder. “I unfortunately was. It was boring, as usual,” he replies with a smile, and we head toward the car. Before we get inside, he turns toward me. “I meant to ask you, have you seen Wes around today?”
I tense at his question. Can’t exactly say, ‘he’s dead, and I buried him behind your church.’ I shake my head. “No, sir.”
His mouth forms a flat line as he hops in the back seat of the car. “I swear that kid is going to be the death of me.”
We’re quiet on the way to the church. Cedric sits in the back seat, looking out the window, and I sit next to him as his driver takes us.
A masked member is walking out of the front door when we arrive and Cedric already has his hand on the door handle before the car stops. He opens his door and says, “What’s going on?”
I follow suit and stand next to him as the member seems like he’s in a panic. I take a step forward and place my hand on his shoulder. “Take a breath, brother. Tell us what’s happening.”
His frantic eyes meet mine, and suddenly, he calms. “My partner is dead, and Westley is missing, sir.” He clears his throat.
“What do you mean?” Cedric asks from behind me.
“I don’t know. I followed my orders for the day and things went smoothly. I did my sacrifice without my partner because he never showed to the location of the ritual. He told me he would be a minute and then never came back. So after I was done, I went back to our target’s house and found him in the hallway, dead.”
I release his shoulder and take a step back. “How was he killed?” I ask.
“Shot in the back of the head, sir.”
Fuck me.
“Well, who the hell did it? Was there anyone else there with you? Did you guys check behind you when you entered the house?” Cedric starts rattling off questions.
The member frantically shakes his head and holds out his hands. “No, no! The coast was clear. There was no one in sight. Everything ran so smoothly,” he whispers the last part like he doesn’t even believe it anymore.
Cedric looks over at me, his face hard as stone. “We do not leave our brothers behind.” He nods toward the church. “Bring this traitor to the basement.”
My stomach knots as the cult member in front of me pisses himself, the smell hitting a second later. He knows what happens in the basement.
