Page 45 of Ignite

EZRA

Cain slams my head onto his desk after dragging me down the three flights of stairs to the office. Pain flares through me, but not enough to make me scared for my life.

Cain won’t hurt me.

“You've been working for Gabriel this whole time, haven’t you?” Cain roars. “You preying on us? Passing information back to your murderous fucking friends?”

He’s putting so much pressure on my skull that I’m starting to believe it might crack.

“What! Where is this coming from?” I grit out, struggling against his hold. My muscles are complete goo after my extended time in the gym. “What are you talking about?”

“Lenny!” Cain shouts in my ear. “How come he ended up with a fucking hole in his head? Who's next, Ezra? Rev? Gwen? Fucking Seth, themail guy?”

Lenny’s… dead? No, that can’t be right. I just met him hours ago. He served me up one of the best sandwiches of my life. Treated me like a friend.

Panic creeps along the edges of my mind. Cain believes it was Gabriel’s guys. They must be stalking me. Waiting for me to fuck up. Hurting anyone I come into contact with.

It’s definitely a threat, and that makes me worry for Jakey more than ever. Rev said he would take care of him. Will that change now that Cain seems to think I’m a traitor?

“Gabriel must have eyes on me,” I say, fingernails digging into the surface of Cain’s desk as anger and fear tangle in my stomach. “Jakey. I need to make sure Jakey’s alright.”

“Your little homeless friend?” Cain chides.

To my embarrassment, hot tears spring to my eyes. “Please,” I beg, thrashing under Cain’s punishing hold, terrified by the idea that someone else was killed just because they were seen with me.

Without Jakey, I have no reason to exist. No support. No backbone.

Cain scoffs. “Is that all a fucking lie, too? A way to win sympathy? I bet he’s just some fucking rando you had us pick up from the shelter.”

“Fuck you, Cain!” I yell. “I don’t give a shit if you kill me slowly or do it fast! Just… just let me make sure he’s okay first. None of this is his fault.”

Cain’s grip on my head loosens. His rough hands snatch me off the desk and shove me into his chair. An inferno burns deep in his brown eyes when he stares down at me. Hellfire on a level I’ve never seen before. Lenny’s death has him fucking rattled.

My own temper bubbles in my veins, and I can’t help but taunt him. “Thanks, but I don’t want your job.”

“Quit with the smart-ass remarks, Ezra,” Cain spits out. “I’m not in the mood.”

We stay locked in a glare for what might be an eternity until Cain’s chest stops heaving with breaths.

“I want to crack that head of yours open and see what’s inside,” he admits. “Iwantto trust you, Ezra.”

His words dissolve my own anger, leaving me feeling paper thin.

“I’m not lying to you.” I swipe at the stupid tear that rolls down my cheek. “I’m really sorry about your friend. Really fucking sorry.”

His jaw remains clenched, but I catch his throat bob. “You think crying is going to make things better?”

I shake my head. “It never makes things better.”

No, my tears never stopped anything.

Cain kicks the armrest on the chair, spinning me until I’m facing his computer. He clicks open an unmarked folder on his desktop. He points a finger at his screen as horrifying images reveal themselves, better suited for nightmares. “You want to run around with crime lords? This is what you’re in for. This is what they do in the shadows. Why we work tirelessly to purge them from the world.”

Most of them are photos of crime scenes. Bodies missing pieces, some almost unrecognizable as human, laid out in public places and dark rooms in homes.

They grow increasingly more disturbing.

There are pictures of hostages, heads covered in burlap sacks, skin burned and cut, hands bound. And then children. Dirty. Shackled. Too skinny. Crammed in bedrooms and closets and… basements.