“No, it was when he threw away a plate of food because his mash touched his sausage,” Felix chuckles.
“Hey!” I snap, pointing at him. “That is fucking disgusting and you know it.” I shudder.
“Anyway!” Felix cuts in. “How the fuck do you know Jack is connected to what happened to my sister?”
“Your sister told me something the other day. It triggered the memory and I finally figured out what Jack was talking to Fisher about.”
As if he knows we are talking about him, Jack groans. All of us look over at his battered body hanging from the chains.
“He knows where they keep the other girls…” I say, turning back to Felix. His skin drains of colour, his hand shaking as he pushes his hair back.
“He was that deep in it?”
“Yes. He called them the kennels. Why haven’t you killed Fisher yet?”
“Because it’s not that simple. Fae wants to do it, and I am not going to take that from her.”
I bristle. Not because I doubt she is capable, but because the thought of her anywhere near Fisher again makes me see red. I still need to get to the bottom of what he said to her at her Father’s house the other day.
“But,” Felix continues, pulling me from my thoughts, “we are not stupid. Killing an initiated without due cause is a one-wayticket to getting yourself taken out by The Company. For some reason, my Father has given up on her. It happened when we were seventeen, I think. I am not sure what changed, but he went from locking her in the house to giving her complete freedom. That also means his protection does not extend to her anymore.”
“So you wanted more evidence to justify killing Fisher?” Victor asks.
“Yes.”
The silence that follows is suffocating. The room hums with what we have learned, settling into our lungs as Jack’s wet and broken groan echoes in the room.
Victor stands like stone beside me. His jaw is locked and I can already see him working through consequences and containment. Felix has gone unnervingly still, the way he does when his mind starts pulling everything apart piece by piece. Atlas stares at nothing, his knuckles white, a fury held so tightly it feels like it could snap if someone breathes wrong. Riggs paces, his steps clashing with Jack’s whimpers until he stops at the sink and swallows hard, like he is trying to keep it down, but I can still hear it sitting in the back of his throat.
None of us speak. Whatever innocence existed before this is gone, replaced by a single, shared understanding.
“My sister was murdered,” Riggs murmurs by the sink, and Felix turns so fast his chair legs lift.
“What?” he whispers. “I thought you were an only child.”
“No.” Riggs clears his throat. “She was eleven when she went missing. I was nine. I found her body.” His hands shake as he clenches them again. “She was naked except for a dog collar around her neck with a lead attached. Covered in bruises. The autopsy report said she had been repeatedly raped.”
“How did she die?” I ask before thinking. It might be in poor taste, but if what he is saying is correct, then this just got a lot bigger.
“Death was from asphyxiation by water.” He fixes his eyes on Felix. “You understand what I’m saying?”
“Fuck,” Atlas mutters.
“Yeah.” Riggs nods. “I have wanted to find the bastards who did that to her for so long and kill them. It has been my only goal for so long I don’t know what is left after.” I have never seen Riggs like this. No laughter, no light, just something broken sitting under his skin. I wonder if the jokes were always just covering his pain.
“What are you saying, Riggs? Be specific,” Felix demands.
“I’m saying fuck The Company. Fuck whoever sanctions this. Whatever you or Fae need, I’m in.”
“Me too,” Atlas says, cracking his knuckles. “I can hack into Fisher’s emails and see what else I can find, if you want me to.”
“I, erm…” Felix looks at me, then back at Atlas and Riggs. “She won’t want to put any of you in danger.”
“Fuck that,” I bark. “She doesn’t get a say in what we choose to do, Felix, and you know that.”
“I’m in too,” Victor says, crossing his legs as he sits on the cold concrete floor. I internally cringe. With the filth and the cold, it is not the smartest move.
But I am surrounded by idiots.