“So, you wanted me to know you were following me. Noted.” He blows out smoke, focusing his gaze back on the forest, a patchwork of brown and muted green, color finally returning to the trees after a relentless winter. “Can I ask why?”
“I think you know why.” I move to stand on the opposite side of the opening from him, leaning my shoulder and hip against the wall.
“You don’t trust me,” he theorizes, dropping the cigarette and stomping on it with his boot. Now that I’m looking closely, I can see that there are hundreds and hundreds of cigarettes littering this ledge. “You think I’m going to do something to hurt Ellie. My niece.”
“You used us to get what you wanted,” I point out, frowning at him. “We were just kids, and you made us into killers.”
He snorts, and a gust of wind ruffles his salt-and-pepper hair. “I never made you into anything. You boys have always been killers. I just made sure you went after the right people.” He slides his blue-gray gaze in my direction. “And it worked, didn’t it? We were able to keep Ellie safe.”
“Wewere able to keep Ellie safe,” I correct, my temper flaring before I corral it. “Me and the guys. You did jack shit.”
An unfamiliar darkness blankets his features. “You have no idea what I’ve done to protect that child. And you have no idea the lengths I’ll go to ensure that protection lasts.”
“You’re using her like you used us,” I remind him. “You had no problem sending her straight into The Divine One’s lair.”
Raymond’s jaw clenches. “Don’t put that one on me, kid. I didn’t ask her to do that, and I wouldn’t have, even if we had no other choice. The Paragons of Prosperity took everything from me. They murdered my own brother. That child, that little girl, is the last piece of him that exists.”
His words strike a strange chord in me, though at first, I can’t say why. But then I replay his words in my head, and a realization occurs to me.
“What about Fischer?”
Raymond freezes like a lightning bolt has been shot through him. “What about him?”
“Isn’t he a piece of your brother too?”
Raymond doesn’t answer, keeping his gaze on the trees swaying in the gentle breeze. I don’t see any houses or roads. Not from here. It’s almost peaceful, like the rest of the world can’t touch us in this fortress we’ve created.
But that’s not necessarily true, is it?
The world has touched us.
Fucked us over.
“Is Fischer your nephew?” I ask bluntly, turning to stare at him. I want to see every microexpression on his face, every twitch of his lips and slant of his eyes.
Raymond’s mouth thins. “What the hell kind of question is that?”
“According to you, your brother had two children with Aria—Fischer and Ellie. So why do you only seem to give a damn about her?” Questions and theories begin to froth in my mind, but I don’t know how to vocalize them.
“Who said I only care about her?” Rigid tension lines his shoulders.
“Is Fischer your nephew?” I repeat.
He spears me with a look that would make a lesser man shit himself.
But I’ve been best friends with Zane Lorenzo since we were kids, for fuck’s sake. Not a lot scares me.
Raymond turns away, pushing himself away from the opening and meandering back toward the door.
“Next time you want to follow me, maybe don’t bring that damn walking cane. It makes a shit ton of noise when it’s not on carpeting,” he calls over his shoulder.
Then he’s gone, leaving me with more questions than answers and a leaden feeling in my gut.
17
ELLIE
The modern mansion stands as a striking contrast against its isolated, untamed surroundings—an architectural marvel in the middle of nowhere.