Page 159 of Loving the Tormentor

My mouth drops open, my tears paused by the shock.

Eugene Duval.

His eyes cross with mine, and his upper lip curls. "Convenient, isn't it? That he had it all ready before he killed himself."

The wordskilled himselfstill short-circuit my brain. I’ll never get used to the fact that it's what Achilles did, even though it's not a shock that it was within him to do it.

"Sir, move forward," the officer behind him calls out.

That attorney who offered me a favor from the Circle is there too. I recognize some men from that party. Some women. There aresomany people.

"Holy shit," the young cop at the front says as he grabs a remote and turns up the volume of the TV in a corner of the room. The news is on, and a red breaking news banner appears at the bottom of the screen as the anchor's mouth drops open for a few seconds. She collects herself and carries on.

"We're stopping our evening coverage with breaking news. A major development in the race for the White House. David Falcon, a leading contender for his party's presidential nomination, has been arrested just over an hour ago at his home in Stoneview, Maryland."

My ears perk up, and the entire group I'm with is focused on the TV too. In fact, I think the whole precinct is focused on the TV as the group of Shadows is led away.

"This comes just months before the first primaries are set to begin and only a few weeks after one of his campaign assistants was also arrested. We'll continue to follow this breaking story and bring you the latest updates as they come in. For now, let's turn to our reporter, Cindy Goodman, live in Stoneview."

The reporter doesn't know anything, and they just talk about the upcoming primaries until the anchor's voice cuts through.

"I'm sorry, Cindy, we have some updates…some other breaking news. The United States Attorney General, Vanessa Godwin, has been taken into custody in what seems to be a huge FBI operation..."

The news carries on, but we're all looking at each other now.

"Wren?" Peach asks, clueless and lost, which sounds nothing like her.

"It's him," he confirms.

My eyes blink away tears. I chuckle. "Even from beyond, that man manages to cause chaos."

"How?" Ella asks.

"He had it all ready. It was in a message he sent me this morning." He turns to me, emotions in his voice. "That's why I drove to your house. I thought something must have been wrong if he told me. That's when I found him."

"What did he have, exactly?" Xi asks.

"A protected hard drive. Lists, evidence, files on files on files that he had ready, exposing every big player in the Circle."

He looks at all his friends. "We weren't on it."

I nod, swallowing more pain.

"It was years in the making," he concludes. "But I think he used Hermes as bait to cause chaos within the Circle, to weaken them, not to accuse anyone per se. The hard drive, though... Yeah, that has everyone going down on it. With proof. I gave it to the cops this morning."

I take a deep, trembling breath. "Erm, does anyone know how to contact his mom?" God, this hurts. "She needs to know. And…and Sophie will have to know someday too, or however it works. I'm not sure."

Sophie lost a brother, and a dad she never knew she had. My heart breaks for her.

"They can come back," I tell Wren. "Finally."

"Yeah," he whispers. "But at what cost?"

The cost of my happiness, my life, myeverything.

Chapter Forty-One

Nyx