Page 250 of Like Grim Death: Part One

But before I can say anything, Elijah continues to speak.

“Evil deed, wickedness, sin.” All translations of scelus. He shrugs one shoulder, dress shirt pulling tight over his broad shoulders. “You have to verify she has none inside of her. In other words, you need to test her loyalty, alongside teaching her the ways of the 6.”

I open my mouth to protest automatically. I have a newborn. I have a wife. What’s the point of being at the head of a wealthy organization like ours if I can’t take time to spend with my family when I wish to? I’m not mentoring Ella. Fuck that. I already have enough trouble just looking at her. No.

Someone else can do that shit.

But before I can say any of that, Elijah speaks again.

“You can pawn one of those tasks off to someone else if you find anyone so charitable. But you must test her yourself. Check for weaknesses.”

“How the fuck do I do that? You want me to proposition myself to her?” I snort. “I’ve already been there and done that—”

“Shut up, Lucifer.” Elijah rolls his eyes and cringes a little, like sharing is distasteful. I guess I can see his point now because I will never share Sid again in my fucking life. “I’m aware of your…closeness with your brother.”

I smirk at him. Good.

“No, it’s best if you do this from a distance. Watch her, maybe.” He leans back in his chair, hands coming to his lap. “You’ll figure it out. As Ortus continues, you keep an eye on her. If you findanyreason to doubt her loyalty, she’s out.”

I cannot imagine Ella being disloyal to Maverick. For all the things I dislike about her, that is her fiercest attribute. She truly loves him, and she follows in his shadow like a scared little kitten. She doesn’t take a breath without his permission.

But even still, I know we all keep secrets under our floorboards. Ella has to have a few. If I were the reason she was ripped away from Mav though, he would never forgive me, so I have to get very clear on what the fuck Elijah is talking about here.

“What do you mean when you sayout?”

Elijah stares at me for several seconds. Then he just says, “She dies.”

Well that can’t fucking happen. Not if I want Maverick in my life, which I do. Forever.

Elijah continues to speak as if he didn’t just drop a bomb on me. “In exchange for following the protocols of Ortus, including this one, I’ll give you something you want, and I don’t just mean your ascension, although that is plenty and you’d do best to remember it.”

I want to lift my middle finger to him, but I resist. Just barely, all of my fingers twitching.

“I will give you the very files you need to ruin someone’s life, and save the lives of foster children being… mishandled, in the system.”

Cold washes over me. It’s hard to breathe. I know I need to ask so many questions, but all I can think about is Sid, and thankfully, Elijah continues to talk where I can’t.

“They conduct business at a property someone in the 6 owns.”

I narrow my eyes.

“It isn’t mine,” Elijah whispers, turning to stare past me, like he’s looking into his mistakes. “And I’m too cowardly to risk my own brotherhood over it.”

“If Adam Medici comes to Pluvia, do not let him enter.” Elijah speaks quietly through the phone as I leave Mav’s bedroom, my back to the door. “He’s making deals with Boaz under the table. Something is going on between the two of them and as of now, I don’t trust him.”

I recall the conversation with Dominus about Ortus. Ella. I passed on the barest information to her with threats and coercion, but I letAdam fucking Medicitake over the training aspect. Feeding her information, that was his job. I assumed when I saw Atlas wandering around Corpus, wandering aroundher,his father had pawned off the task to him. He offered, the very night Elijah had given me the task, and Elijah agreed with a single nod and not another word.

Now, with Elijah’s words, agitation courses through me. “We can’t start a war with RC,” I whisper quietly in the darkened hallway, one hand clenched into a fist at my side. “Particularly if one of you has turned into a fucking rat.”

Elijah says nothing for several seconds and I pull my phone from my ear, checking if we’re disconnected. But he’s still there, silent on the other line. I jam the phone back against my cheek and open my mouth to speak, but he cuts me off with his own words.

“The war is already here.”

I frown, feeling a heaviness in my limbs. I can’t fight any kind of gang war right now. Maverick is down, Rain is here, Sid too. We have to organize, and right now, we’re holed up in a hotel we can’t leave just yet. I thought we’d bide our time until Boaz calmed the fuck down over the fact I didn’t kill Esther. But if there’s somethingmorehappening, that’s a big fucking problem. I want to have a confrontation over the 6 about my mom, the film, what the fuck is happening at Shadow Villa and what the fuck happened tomethere, but I want to do that in person. If I have to fight alongside the 6 while I keep all of that in, it’s going to fuck with me.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I ask softly. “I thought RC is checking up on me to approve my rise. Why the fuck do I need to have anything to do with Mikhail if he isn’t doing any of that—”

“He kidnapped mywifeand I cannot publicly go against him just yet unless I want to risk Edith and Ezra’s safety.”