Page 86 of Violence and Vice

Harry’s off in the corner, typing away on a laptop, a headset in one ear.

Then his phone rings.

“No way,” he breathes.

“What is it?” Sysco asks, sitting up straighter.

Harry puts it on speaker before answering. “Cliff?”

“Hi, Harry.”

Holy shit. My eyes go wide as I look at Ares.

That is definitely Cliff’s voice. And we’ve all spent weeks thinking Cliff was dead.

“I thought it was a ghost calling,” Harry says dryly as he looks up and meets Ares’ eyes.

“What the actual hell, Cliff?” Sysco pipes up so he can be heard. “You just disappear off the face of the planet and let us think you’re dead?”

“We all do what we think we have to,” Cliff says, his tone slightly biting. “Contrary to popular belief, I wasn’t tracked down like my cousin.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Ares asks. His voice is tight, a little fractured. He’s been living with this for weeks, thinking he killed one of the Barons, and we just hadn’t found the body.

“Didn’t exactly seem safe in New York, did it?” Cliff bites back. “I saw the signs, saw the danger. I won’t apologize for taking my family and getting them somewhere safe. Somewhere sane.”

“Wait,” I interrupt, trying to wrap my brain around everything I’m hearing. “You left New York?”

“Of course I left New York,” he says like the question is stupid. “How many bodies have to drop before logic sets in and you see a lost cause? That fucking city has never been friendly to our kind. My family might have been there for decades, but I’m not sitting and waiting around for some psycho to take me out.”

Ares stares at the floor and shakes his head. What Cliff doesn’t know is that Ares was said psycho taking out the vampires. He just had no damn control over it.

“Where’d you go?” Sysco asks, his brows furrowed.

“Somewhere with a lot more protection for vampires,” Cliff replies. “Let’s leave it at that.”

What does that mean? Maybe somewhere close to one of the Royal Houses? I don’t even know.

“Look, Harry, I just called to tell you I need to sell my half of the Atlantic Front development. I’m not coming back. It’s just not worth the risk anymore.”

Harry stares at the phone like it just insulted his mother. “You’re really walking away? From everything?”

“I’ve seen enough blood spilled in that city. Watched too many friends fall apart. If you’re smart…” his voice lowers, “you’ll leave too.”

The call ends with a click. No goodbye.

We sit there, stunned. The silence stretches so long it starts to feel heavy.

“Holy shit,” Sysco whispers. “He’s really alive.”

“Not just alive,” Ares mutters. “He walked away. He… chose peace.”

I look to Ares.

His head is bowed, eyes distant. I can practically feel the guilt draining out of him. His voice is barely a breath. “I didn’t kill him.”

“You didn’t,” I assure him as I take his hand. I give it a squeeze, trying to push every ounce of love I have into the touch.

None of us speak for a long moment.