Page 101 of These Monstrous Ties

I call Lucifer’s name, but he either doesn’t hear me or doesn’t care. He rains down blows all over Jeremiah’s body, most of his focus on his head. Jeremiah doesn’t even cover himself. He takes it. He slumps against the wall, sliding down into the broken glass and he lets Lucifer beat the shit out of him.

His head snaps one way and then the other underneath Lucifer’s fists, and then Lucifer drags my brother back to his feet and hits him again. For a moment, they stand there, Jeremiah’s face oozing blood again, both of them heaving.

I’m frozen. I want to run to my brother. I want to run to Lucifer.

I stay where I am.

And then Lucifer drags Jeremiah over to the balcony railing. Fear spills over me like ice water. Lucifer squats down, lifts my brother by his waist, and holds him over the balcony.

Eight floors up.

He might survive the fall. But it won’t be pretty.

My hands are over my mouth, but I need to get a grip on myself. Lucifer is going to kill my brother. My brother, horrible and broken and twisted as he is, is about to die.

His hand tightens on Lucifer’s arm, and there is fear in his bloodied eyes. But he doesn’t say a word. He only looks to me.

“Lucifer,” I whisper, unable to move. I’m worried if I get closer, Lucifer will toss him over before he loses his nerve. I wonder if the Unsaints planned this all along.

Lucifer is glaring down at my brother, hatred in his eyes. His jaw is clenched, and he’s still breathing hard. Blood coats his knuckles. Jeremiah’s blood.

“Lucifer,” I say again, bringing my hands to my side. I try to swallow. “Lucifer, please don’t.”

He still doesn’t look at me. But Jeremiah does. His eyes seem to be pleading, but not for mercy. Maybe forgiveness. His bloodied face is full of sorrow. A grief I feel, too, deep in my bones. We will never go back to what we were. And what we were hadn’t been good in the first place. We were broken beyond repair.

“Lucifer.”

I hold my breath, waiting. Hoping I can still reach him.

Slowly, mercifully, he turns to me. His blue eyes are so cold.

“Don’t,” I say softly, shaking my head. “Please don’t.”

At those words, something in his gaze softens. I see his grip loosen on my brother, and I worry he’ll drop him without meaning to.

But he doesn’t.

He hauls him back over the side, onto his feet. And then he lets go of him, backing away.

Jeremiah puts his hands on his knees and looks up at me, fear in his gaze.

“Leave,” Lucifer orders him. “And never fucking come back.”

For a moment, time stands still. I don’t know what will happen next. I feel sure that if Jeremiah doesn’t leave, Lucifer will kill him. I feel sure I won’t be able to stop him again.

But slowly, my brother straightens. His mouth twists, as if he’s fighting with himself on saying something to me one last time.

“Find out everything you can,” he says softly. “Find Ria.”

And then he limps through the balcony door and walks away, without looking back.

I watch him go.

Chapter Thirty

Present

He leaves.Jeremiah leaves, and the Unsaints that were waiting in the foyer on the main floor let him. He didn’t take anything or anyone with him except his black Mercedes. He left without telling anyone goodbye, even as his men watched him walk away. They already knew. They had known everything was now mine.