48. Lilith
CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT
S ilas was warm and heavy between my legs, his head resting o n my lap, one arm draped lazily on my thigh like I was his personal throne.
If I stayed still long enough, I was pretty sure he’d start purring.
My fingers stroked lightly through his hair as I tracked the city below us. If I squinted hard enough, I could just make out the warm glow of Sonnets & Spines on the outskirts.
It looked small from up here, almost insignificant, but the sight of it made my heart falter. I was lucky enough that I’d been allowed as much time off as I needed. But I missed it so damn bad.
I tapped my fingers against his shoulder. “Be honest. You ever use binoculars to spy on me?”
He let out a low hum, not even bothering to open his eyes. “No,” he said, voice lazy, rough from exhaustion. “But thanks for the idea.”
I huffed, swatting lightly at his temple. “Creep.”
He chuckled, the sound low and warm, but before I could fire back, a forceful bang shook his office door, rattling it in its frame.
Silas sat up slowly, rolling his shoulders and stretching his arms out in front of him.
“You’re disturbingly calm about that.”
He just ran a hand through his curls, yawning. “It’s Finn.”
I frowned. “How do you know?”
Another bang. “Graves! Open up!”
He shot me a look ‘ see?’ then walked over to the door, cracking his neck before unlocking it.
The second it opened, Finn fell through. Hair a mess, chest heaving, eyes wild.
“Dude,” he burst out. “He wants to set up a meeting. He said he’ll do it, but he wants a fat injection—cash, off the books—to help. ”
Silas’ jaw ticked. His hand shot up immediately, a sharp motion, like a silent warning. ‘ Shut up.’
Finn did not shut up.
“I’ve had to pull some serious fucking strings, dude, but he said he’ll help us catch that bleach-blond, creepy eyed pri—”
Silas moved fast. One second, he was standing in front of a heaving Finn, the next he was gripping his arm, dragging him into the room while shoving the door shut behind him.
“Fucking shut up,” he hissed.
Finn’s eyes widened even more as his gaze flicked past Silas and landed straight on me.
“Oh, dude. Shit. I—” he raked a hand through his messy, sandy waves. “I didn’t know you were here, Lils. Mind if I call you that? Or we could go with Lily, or Lulu or something? Whatever you’re comfortable with?”
I arched a brow, but before I could speak, he sniffed—audibly.
His brows furrowed. His nose scrunched. Then his mouth fell open.
“Oh my God.” His face lit up like a kid on Christmas. “Did I just walk in on some post-fuck bliss?”
Silas closed his eyes, like he was summoning patience out of thin air.
Finn, meanwhile, inhaled again like a bloodhound and grinned. “Yup. Smells like sex in here.”
He immediately put his hand out to Silas for a fist bump. “My man.”
Silas just stared at him.
Finn wiggled his fist slightly, waiting.
Silas didn’t move.
Finn sighed, lowering his hand. “You’re such a killjoy, dude.”
Silas exhaled sharply, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Can we talk in your office instead?”
Finn’s brows lifted slightly. He looked at me. Then back at Silas. “Should she not know about it?”
The air shifted, like someone had just cracked open a window in the dead of winter, and I sat bolt upright on the couch. “Should I not know about what?”
“Per l’amor di Dio,” Silas said, tipping his head to the ceiling.
My pulse ticked faster. I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees, eyes flicking between the two of them. “Hello?”
What the fuck was going on? What should I know? Was it bad? Why were they staring at each other like they were about to start telepathically arm-wrestling?
Finn’s fingers twitched at his side.
Silas’ jaw flexed.
A short, nervou s laugh left me. “Hello? Still here.”
Silas finally tore his eyes away from Finn and rolled his shoulders. “It’s nothing, sweetheart. Just work stuff for a meeting. You can leave now, Finn.”
“Wrong. You just lied. You have a tell.”
His brows lifted slightly, eyes narrowing at me. “I don’t have a tell.”
He was right. He didn’t have a tell. At least not one I’d ever noticed. But now I knew he was lying.
The room was too still.
Fine.
Worst-case scenario here? They called my bluff.
Best case? They outed themselves like complete idiots.
Pushing myself up from the couch, I sighed and stretched my arms over my head like I was already bored of the conversation. “Relax, Silas. I already know.”
His eyes went wide. “You do?”
“Yeah, Finn told me the basics earlier when you were in one of your meetings. It’s fine.”
Finn’s mouth dropped open. “Wait, no, I didn’t, I swear du—”
I spun on Silas, pointing a finger straight at him. “You’re a bullshitter.”
His lips parted, but nothing came out.
I turned the finger to Finn, levelling him with a look. “You. Speak. Now.”
Finn held up his hands, backing up a step. “Graves, I love you, but I’m not dying like this.”
And then, the words tumbled out of him. “It’s Clark.”
The room, the air, the sounds—it all faded to static.
Clark.
My brain tripped over itself, trying to keep up with whatever that was.
“Can you repeat that for me, please?”
He glanced over at Silas who just snapped, “Finn, shut up.”
Nope. No way.
“The fuck he will,” I shot back. “Keep going, Finn.”
He hesitated for a beat, looking between us, then blurted, “We’ve been looking for him for weeks.”
I took a step back, a laugh bubbling up before I could stop it. “You’ve been looking for Clark. For weeks. And you didn’t think to tell me?”
They stayed silent.
I laughed again. “You’re joking, right?”
Nothing.
Why weren’t t hey moving? They just stood there like two kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar—except the cookie was my entire damn life , and the jar was my right to know what the hell was going on.
I let out a slow breath. “No, no, I mean—this has to be a joke. Because there’s no way you’d keep something like this from me.”
Silas ran a hand through his hair, his jaw clenching. “I was going to tell you. You weren’t supposed to find out like this.”
I scoffed. “No, I bet I wasn’t.”
“Lilith, I didn’t want you carrying this. I didn’t want you living with fear every second of the day.”
“Newsflash idiot. I already do.”
“The cops aren’t doing shit,” he said, voice tight. “He’s just out there. I couldn’t sit around and do nothing. I won’t let him get away with hurting you.”
“Do you think I want him to get away with it?” I seethed. “Because I don’t. I want him to pay for what he did. Believe me. But you don’t get to keep me in the dark about it.”
He took a step closer. “Lilith—”
I shook my head, stepping back further. “I’m not doing this right now. I need a minute to cool off.”
I spun toward the door, needing space, needing air, needing to get away before I lost my shit, before I said something stupid—
A hand caught mine. Warm fingers lacing through my own.
Not Silas.
I looked up.
Finn’s smirk was gone. No teasing. No bullshit.
“Lilith,” he said softly. “I’m sorry. Come on.”
He tugged my hand gently and pulled me towards the door.
“Graves, move your ass.” Finn shot him a look over his shoulder. “Now.”
Finn’s office was the exact same size as Silas’, but that was where the similarities ended.
Where Silas’ office was all warm wood, sleek organisation, and brooding rich-guy vibes, Finn’s was chaos.
It had all the makings of a high-powered CEO’s workspace—a massive glass desk, multiple monitors, and expensive leather furniture. But instead of organisation, it was… Well, it was exactly what I expected.
A basketball ho op was mounted on the far wall, surrounded by faint scuff marks that suggested he took the procrastination game very seriously.
His desk was a battlefield of half-stacked files, tangled charger cords, two different keyboards shoved off to the side, and a neatly lined up row of empty energy drink cans sat next to a very expensive looking bottle of whiskey.
A massive whiteboard behind him was filled with scribbled notes, equations, and meeting reminders, right next to a pinned-up spreadsheet of some complicated looking data that probably made sense to him and no one else.
“Welcome to my kingdom, Lils. Try not to be too impressed.” Finn flopped down behind his desk and kicked his feet up onto the edge like he was about to conduct a very important board meeting. “Take a seat, make yourself at home—just don’t touch anything that looks like it might explode.”
I paused mid-step. “… Define ‘ might.’”
Finn’s grin stretched wider, eyes full of pure, undiluted chaos as he patted his lap. “If you’re worried, you can come take a seat right here if you like.”
Silas let out a low, unmistakable warning noise.
“Relax, Graves,” Finn snorted, dropping his feet off his desk. “You explaining, or am I?”
Silas rubbed his jaw. “Load it up. I’ll explain.”
Finn shot into motion and shoved aside half the contents of his desk before spinning toward his keyboard, typing something in. A beat later, he turned, grabbed a remote, and clicked a button.
Across the room, a screen lowered from the ceiling, smooth and silent, while a projector mounted above kicked on with a soft hum.
I stared at the rows of shifting numbers, flashing digits, long strings of data that meant absolutely nothing to me.
My ass met the leather of a chair, because clearly, I was going to need to be seated for whatever fresh hell this was. “… Right. No. What am I looking at?”
Finn grinned. “Numbers.”
I glared at him. “ You’re about to be a number. A body count.”
Silas exhaled sharply and gestured toward the display. “Everything on this screen? That’s Clark. His card usage, past purchase history, location data—everything we’ve managed to track.”
I squinted at the digits, brow furrowing. “Okay, and?”
“And it tells us one very important thing.” Finn said as he clicked another key. The data slowed, and then it just… stopped.
Silas’ jaw flexed. “Clark’s data presence went dark after that night.”
My stomach tightened. “No movement?”