Page 36 of The Devil of Hollywood

“With?”

Elec looked at his empty glass, his lip curling back in anger as he turned to Quinn. “The team is waiting for you. Go suit up.”

Quinton quickly nodded, leaving us alone in the room. Elec let out a heavy sigh, placing down the glass.

“We can’t speak to The Unavowed unless we have someone in The Council accompany us. Even that’s dangerous, but he’s broken laws. It’s a process, but one we don’t have time to challenge, hence the fucking meeting. We have to come up with a plan.” He paused. “What I am going to tell you doesn’t leave this room.”

“You know it won’t.”

He nodded.

“My cousin is on his way to pick us up.”

My head reared back the smallest amount. “Your cousin? Bram Whitlock?”

“He is part of The Collective High Council now. He’s our access to The Unavowed.”

“Oh… shit.”

“Yeah.” Elec’s face turned harder with his anger. “Of anyone they could send. I bet he asked to come. I think he does it on purpose. We don’t get along anymore. He betrayed us when he let Whitlock fall.”

“The first trafficking underground fortress,” I said under my breath. “I heard he did it for love. For Everleigh, the slave.”

Elec laughed. “The infamous twenty-four-six-ninety. Yeah, her. Although… she never should have been a slave. She was one of us. She was an elite, and everyone knew it. I should let it go. It happened, and it got me my position.” At my look he shrugged. “I have shit to work out. I’m taking it slow.” A smile came to his face. “Bram’s having an heir, did you hear?”

“I didn’t.”

“I’m happy about it, even if I can’t stand him. The child will do right by us. Especially considering the mother. Everleigh is strong. It was a good match. I’ll admit that.”

I nodded. “I’ve heard good things. She works with the Jane Doe Foundation, helping people.”

“Which is not good,” Elec said, his voice deeper. “Those missing people Everleigh’s helping that pesky reporter, Anna, look for… they were taken because of me. They’re coming to the Gardens.”

“Oh… right. They let Bram into The Council knowing this?”

Elec rolled his eyes. “They know. There’s nothing that can be done. They know that too. The Whitlocks help who they can, but they don’t cross lines. They know better. Even Everleigh knows better. It makes her feel good to be able to save a few. I’ll let that slide. I’m not worried about it. We have no issues filling the quota.” He paused. “Speaking of quota, Marian is at The Order. They have her, Drayton, and I’m not seeing them hand her back over smoothly. The Unavowed, he fought like hell for her, but I won. He’s not going to make this easy.”

“The Unavowed. Can we stop saying that? Does this bastard have a name?”

Elec’s head shook back and forth. “Not one I’ll say, nor you. It’s best you don’t even know.”

“Fine. Why does he want Marian? Not for himself if he has Penny.”

“No.” Elec’s head lowered. “It’s a mix of things, really. It’s her mother. It’s me.”

“You? Why you?”

Ice blue eyes rose to meet mine. “Because I allowed and supported the death of Charles Redman, the previous Main Master of The Order. You see, he plotted with other Main Masters to help take the life of Gavin Draper’s pregnant wife. He was the former Main Master of Red Island. Layla almost died. One of their twins did. It was unforgivable. Gavin Draper wanted revenge. I gladly gave it to him. Bram was present as well, so… I’m not sure how well this is going to go over. Redmond’s death forced The Unavowed to take his place. He wasn’t ready for that, and he didn’t take to it kindly. That’s when he met Melissa, Marian’s mother. He wouldn’t work with me. He’d only speak with her. Even then, they had their differences. I have no idea what damage Melissa caused, but it was enough for him to rebel against The Council, and that’s never good.”

“Great. He has to give her back though, right? I mean, she’s mine. He can’t keep her or give her to someone else.”

“Not for good but… he can stall. He can delay. In the meantime⁠—”

“She suffers,” I breathed out.

At Elec’s silence and agreeable nod, I cursed.

“Where’s this meeting? Why doesn’t Bram just come here so we can talk?”