Page 97 of Finders Reapers

My teeth mashed together as I reached forward and jammed the button, the door popped open, and a pile of papers greeted me. Manila folders and other miscellaneous paperwork.

Maddox reached forward again, but this time I slid my knees to the side so that he couldn’t touch me.

“What are we doing here?” I asked again.

“Just a minute,” Maddox said as he grabbed the files and slid his chair back to get comfortable as he shuffled paperwork. After a moment, he opened a folder and held it out for me to take.

“What is this?” I was impatient to get to the bottom of this entire outing and to find out why Maddox had driven us all the way to Vegas to see my dad, but he wasn’t forthcoming, so I settled for scanning the document.

“Your file,” Maddox told me.

“My file?” My eyes caught on my own name in black and white. “Fletcher already showed me this.”

“That was the autopsy report,” Maddox said glumly.

I squinted as I took in the strange runes along the edge of the paper, and my eyes slowly widened. It was in a mixture of Cyclian and English. “You got my soul report from Charon? How did you swing that?”

“He may not be aware that it’s missing.” Maddox gave me a shark-like smile. I wasn’t sure if I liked that expression. It was cheeky, but Maddox was too severe to pull off cheeky. “Go on. Read it.”

I gave him one last look before turning back to the folder. Skimming the report as I searched for answers.

Aside from the front page with unfamiliar sigils and my name in black and white indented on the page as if it had been through a typewriter, there wasn’t much about the concept of souls. Just a birth date, a birthplace, and the names of both of my parents. Maria Giovanni-Rossi and Antonio Rossi.

The second page looked like a contract, and I sat forward in my seat.

“He traded my soul so that my mom would go to heaven?” I whispered. “Why wouldn’t mom go to heaven? She was literally the best person I knew. She volunteered at the animal shelter and brought lunch for the kids at school who didn’t have any. She was a teaching assistant in Ohio. Was this because she killed herself?”

“That’s why we’re here, princess,” Maddox whispered.

I jolted at the endearment but did not comment on it as I closed the folder. My hand covered my mouth, holding my breath back from escaping.

“We can’t go in that house,” I said, matching Maddox’s hushed tone.

“We can.” He said, holding his hand out for my file. “But, you won’t be able to tell him who you are. It’s going to be painful. It’s going to hurt. You’re going to have to look your father in the eye and know that he sold your soul to the devil.”

Anger burst through me, like a firework exploding against a starlit sky. “Is this why you drove us all this way?” I growled as I sat up and turned to Maddox. “So I couldn’t say no? We’re here, so fuck it, might as well cause my father some emotional damage after his daughter died by turning up on his doorstep and asking questions about his dead wife as well.”

Maddox brushed his hand down his face, and all of a sudden, he looked tired.

“I know that this isn’t the best or most appropriate way to go about this, Valentina.” Maddox sighed. “I’m running out of options. You know about Antwan and the fact that you aren’t the only person with a soul contract to die at the hands of Purgers. Those souls aremissing. Whatever cosmic force that powers that app and alerts us when someone dies just isn’t picking up their deaths. Something big is happening. The guys and I are trying our best to find out what’s happening, but nothing is adding up.”

I frowned. “Rome found me in the desert. When I was a soul, I mean. He told me that he had been waiting for me. Or trying to find me. Or whatever.”

Maddox closed his eyes and nodded. “Rome was at the party. Your twenty-first at the Paris rooftop pool. He saw you die. You didn’t spark a notification on the app, but he watched and waited for your soul. You didn’t show up.”

“Why was Rome at my party?” I asked, more to myself than to Maddox.

Maddox answered anyway. “Don’t tell anyone, but he’s actually a huge fan of yours. It was one of the reasons he was an ass when you first met. He was nervous.”

I snickered incredulously; the sound was wet with unshed tears. “What a nerd.”

“Are you okay?” Maddox turned to me; his hand twitched as if he wanted to reach out and comfort me.

“Sure?” My nonchalant laugh sounded like a sob. “I don’t know why I’m crying; I can’t even remember dying.”

Maddox ignored my comment. “Rome was driving back to HQ to check in after the party and found you on the road. He brought you in, and the rest is history.”

“How many other contracted people have died recently?” I wondered.