Page 118 of Broken Obsession

He cared.

Truly.

Which meant they needed to wrap up the revenge scheme and start letting the rest of the pieces of their lives fall into place. Had to start figuring out where they fit in the world together, and if they would last without the promise of an exchange between them. This had started with Ares’ obsession with Random and Eden’s need for an assassin. If both of those things were removed from the equation, what then?

Eden was worried Ares would change his mind, and Ares was concerned Eden would stop needing him. Getting rid ofDephik, living in the reality formed after, would ideally ease both of their concerns.

Because Eden wanted this to work too.

He cared.

Truly.

“What the hell is this?!” Inzer’s loud exclamation pulled Eden from his thoughts, and he glanced up from the computer he’d been typing notes on and met his old friend’s angry gaze.

“I beg your pardon?” Eden feigned ignorance, frowning as Inzer stormed down the steps of the lecture hall to the front, where Eden stood, waving a holo-pad aggressively.

“This!” He tossed the device onto the angled podium, forcing Eden to scramble to catch it before it slid off and smashed into the ground. “I know what you did three summers ago? What the hell!”

The words flashed on screen in big black letters.

“It’s a good movie,” Eden said with a shrug. “It used to scare my sister shitless.” The corner of his mouth twitched. “Seems to be having the same effect on you now, Inz.”

“It was you, wasn’t it?!” He came around the podium, grabbing Eden by the shirt collar. The holo-pad crashed to the ground, but he didn’t seem to notice. “No one can get a hold of Zonnie. I looked into it, and he’s been missing ever since he visited your side of the planet.”

“I didn’t realize we’d divided the planet in half.”

Inzer shook him. “You killed him like you killed Sedos, didn’t you? Admit it!”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Eden shoved the man off and adjusted his clothing.

“I know you’re the one who sent this,” he thrust a finger at the broken device, “and I know you’re behind their deaths. It’s too coincidental otherwise. You show up, and suddenly the two other people involved in that night are—”

“Hold on.” Eden tapped on his multi-slate and then waved him to continue. “If this is a confession, I want to get it on recording.”

Inzer stared at him as though seeing him for the first time. “Bastard. What is this? Payback?”

“I already know it was you, but I’d like to hear it anyway.” Eden felt a thrum of fury but banked it down. He couldn’t lose his cool and risk the plan. This was about so much more than just revenge now. Inzer had become another stepping stone on Eden’s path toward Ares. Another tiny piece of reality that needed tweaking so they could form their perfect world. “You’re the one who shot Ella, right?”

Zonnie and Sedos were both responsible for his parents, but Ella had been killed by a single gunshot to the head. In some ways, that was better than the alternative, since she’d avoided the excruciating pain their parents had been forced to endure.

“She was upstairs,” Eden said. “She wasn’t a threat.”

Inzer’s face fell, and for a fleeting moment, there was real regret before he got a hold of his expression. “If she’d stayed there, she wouldn’t have been, but she heard the noise and came down. I made sure she didn’t go into the front room of the store. She didn’t see them like that. But…”

He wanted points for protecting her from the horrible sight of their mangled parents?

What a joke.

“She recognized you,” Eden filled in. It wasn’t too hard to guess. He hadn’t known Zonnie or Sedos, but Inzer had been a friend from his class. A person he’d brought home occasionally. “My sister had a crush on you, and you chased her up the stairs and killed her.”

“It was Zonnie,” he insisted, but Eden knew better.

“Liar.” If Inzer had chosen to throw Sedos under the bus, he might have hesitated to believe him. They hadn’t botheredinterrogating him the way they had Zonnie, after all. “I already heard everything.”

“They were lying to you!”

“Zonnie had no reason to lie.”