Page 119 of Broken Obsession
“Of course he did! He’d do it so you would go easier on him! You’ve been messing with Sedos for weeks, don’t think I didn’t notice. Ellery has always been a vicious little fuck.”
“Would you believe me if I said Sedos had it better than Zonnie?” Eden grunted. “Near the end, he was begging for death.”
“So you killed him?”
“He’s certainly dead, isn’t he?”
Inzer gave a manic laugh and motioned to Eden’s multi-slate. “Did you forget you’re recording? So much for your evidence. Now we’re both implicated. Let’s come to an arrangement. You promise to drop this, and I won’t go to Daven Dephik and tell him about you.”
Eden lifted the device closer to his mouth and said clearly, “I told you I didn’t kill Zonnie like I killed Sedos, and that’s because I didn’t.”
“But you just—”
“They died differently, and Zonnie’s death was arguably worse.” Eden had still been so angry then, stricken by grief. But afterward…It’d been like a load off his chest, knowing what had really happened and how. The details had disgusted him, enraged him, but at least he’d finally known.
And he’d known he would get revenge on the others involved. Three years of searching, and Ares had rolled in and unearthed everything in a handful of days.
Eden hadn’t realized, but ever since that night, he’d been changing.
He sighed, some of the energy zapping out of him all at once. “This isn’t fun anymore. The way Sedos went, off-screen like the worthless scum he was, was better. I’m over this game.”
Originally, he’d wanted them all to suffer the same way his family had, but now…He could sort of understand what Zar had meant when he’d casually mentioned removing people from his reality swiftly. Hadn’t that also been Ares’ suggestion at the start of all this? They’d only dragged it out because Eden had wanted to.
“I’d rather be posing nude for my boyfriend than here wasting breath on you.” They still had entire walls to correct back in Ares' room. He’d made the Black Hart take down all the drawings of Ransom, and they were slowly replacing them.
Inzer reached into his pocket, freezing when Eden rolled his eyes and tsked at him.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Eden was certain the man was about to pull out a weapon, and that would take up even more time he didn’t want to bother with. “The God of Creation is in my corner.”
“Ares isn’t here, which means—”
Someone cleared their throat loudly from the way back, and Inzer froze.
Ares waved from the shadows when the professor finally gathered the courage to turn and look. He’d arrived as planned shortly after Inzer, but had hung back to allow Eden to play things out how he saw fit.
“I meant literally,” Eden quipped. “He’s in the corner of my classroom right now.” He waved to the left, not bothering to entertain further conversation. “You can use the side entrance.”
Inzer swore and took off, racing from the room as fast as he could. He slammed into the door, causing it to clatter loudly against the outer wall, and disappeared down the hallway.
“Chance of running into company?” Eden asked as Ares unfurled from his seat and started down the center of the steps, hands casually stuffed into his front pockets.
“Everyone has left for the evening,” Ares reassured, “and I locked the door when I got here.”
“Perfect.” Eden had purposefully worked after hours, waiting for Inzer to take the bait and confront him. Considering this was the third night in a row they’d done this dance—they’d sent that email with the dumb phrase days ago—and the asshole had only now gathered the courage to appear, Eden was entirely over the whole scenario. “Don’t drag this out too long. We still have to pay Dephik a visit.”
“Sure thing, babe.” Ares reached him and planted a kiss on his forehead, then winked and strode out the door.
Eden was debating whether or not to follow when his multi-slate rang and Noon’s name flashed across the screen. Probably for the best. He didn’t experience any remorse or empathy toward the people Ares killed, but he had to admit he had a weak stomach when it came to witnessing the carnage.
“Hey,” he answered, turning to lean back against the podium. His eyes wandered to the large numbers projected on the upper wall, the clock seemingly reminding him they were on a tight schedule. Daven Dephik was hosting a holiday party at his main office tonight, which meant he would be there, and there’d be a ton of foot traffic.
Certainly enough for Eden and Ares to blend in with the crowd.
Maybe Inzer had done them a favor by being such a coward. The timing was impeccable. After tonight, they’d finally be free of all this.
“I did some digging on your behalf,” Noon jumped right to the point. “Most of the information was scrubbed, but I have a contact who has access to Demeter Station, and they were ableto get me copies of the old police report. I’m emailing it to you now.”
Demeter Station was the information hub of the Intergalactic Space Conference, the group that oversaw peace in the universe. It made sense Ares and Zar wouldn’t bother hacking into their systems and risk pissing off the wrong people.