Chapter 27 #2
"I didn't touch you." Thompson tracked the movement, eating another cracker.
"Do you want me to thank you?" I snapped.
Lyra from a year ago would never let three cocks scramble her thoughts enough to lower her guard like this. I could handle the pain, but the shame? That suffocated. My cheeks flooded with unwanted heat.
Thompson arched a bushy eyebrow, and he reached a hand behind his ear and picked at the skin there.
"I feel like we got off on the wrong foot." He tilted his neck to the side, still digging at his skin. "This wasn't how I wanted things to go. But we could start again, couldn't we? I really don't want this sweet, innocent girl to wake up and be traumatized."
I flicked a look at Jenny, still asleep, and Thompson let out a gusty sigh. There wasn't an ounce of tension in the man's lean body. Either he didn't know who I was, or he didn't consider me a threat. Both options pricked my ego.
"You're making a huge mistake."
"Well, I needed to speak with you alone, and it's a feat to manage with your harem of men always on your heels. I'm sure you'll behave. If not for me, think of sweet Jenny."
Thompson's smile turned plastic and sagged. I blinked. Blinked again as he pulled off what looked like skin from his jaw. Thompson's face bunched and sagged in ways that weren't human. He tugged a strip of flesh colored material and tossed it over his shoulder with a groan.
I almost swallowed my fuzzy tongue as his face became a macabre puzzle. Thompson disappeared, and underneath someone else appeared. With a sharp jaw, gray eyes, and a sardonic smile. I swallowed a whimper. A face that haunted my nightmares and nipped at my heels.
"Prosthetics. You're not supposed to rip them off like this, but it's more dramatic, isn't it?"
I leaned my burning cheek against the pocked wall as my stomach twisted in protest. I knew who was hiding under the innocuous butler, and he was the most terrifying thing I'd ever seen.
"Ellington."
His genuine smile was grotesque. Smug underneath his perfect disguise.
"Ellington Vizor, the one and only." He stuck out his hand and chortled, remembering that I was tied up. I was trapped in a motel room, God knows where, with Ellington fucking Vizor, and I had no idea how I was going to get out of this one.
"Y-you…"
"It's a pleasure to meet you in person. I've enjoyed evading you. This has been the most fun I've had in ages. But you disappointed me, Lyra. I thought you were an agent I could respect."
I froze, leaning against the wall. A trickle of sweat crept down my spine.
"What did you say?" I croaked.
"You heard me." Ellington laughed, and it was so loud my ears stung. "You let yourself get distracted, first by Adelaide, and then by your boyfriends. I might have approached you sooner to work together."
"I would never work with you," I spat.
Ellington pouted, and I flinched as he dug his thumb under the cork, and it ricocheted off the wall. He stood up and poured a little into three mugs. Three? Were we expecting company? Ice trawled down my spine. If Connall walked through that door, I was going to strangle him.
"Never say never, darling." Ellington pressed the mug to my flattened lips. "Drink. We're celebrating."
I shook my head, but some of the effervescent liquid wet my lips and dribbled down my neck.
"I thought we decided last time that I wasn't buying any of your lies?"
Jenny let out a soft moan on the bed, and I grit my teeth. I had to be careful for her sake, and he knew it.
"The Unseen have told you all kinds of stories about me, I'm sure. Unite before a common enemy. But the organization you work for is corrupt, and I'm the first person who is alive after uncovering their bullshit."
"Why would I believe a word you say?"
There was a fever in his eyes, and it licked at my skin. Ellington believed what he said, but I knew enough of him not to trust his version of the world. This was a man who was consistently ten steps ahead of everyone else. He wouldn't be the first genius to lose his marbles.
"Angelo Amato. You almost died on that mission, and you know he didn't do what they accused him of."
My stomach twisted. "It wouldn't be the first time I'd killed someone. It's our job."
An itch between my shoulder blades irritated me. The look in Angelo's gaze. His final words. It disturbed me enough to get a copy of his database before I sent it to the council. I wanted to know if there were clues to his 'misbehavior.'
Ellington cocked his head, as if he knew where my thoughts went.
"They're funneling enough money to make them billionaires. And when someone points it out? They're killed. Amato had encrypted files of all the money washed through his businesses, but he still didn't believe me when I said he was next."
"If all of this is true, what's your endgame?"
"The council is corrupt, and do you know who they have earmarked to join them? Your dangerous boyfriend, Beck. I'm going to take them down, Lyra, and you're going to help me do it."
"That's another lie. He would have told me. And taking down The Unseen? You're crazy." I shuddered at the thought.
Who watches those in the shadows?
Ellington threatened to shatter my foundations. Everything I'd built my life on until this moment. My panic was dampened by the knowledge he was lying through his teeth. If Beck were joining the council, he would never have kept that from me.
Ellington's eyes narrowed. "I want you to remember this moment, Lyra. How kind I was, how generous. It didn't have to be any different. The Unseen murdered the love of my life and pinned it on me. I won't let them get away with that."
The sick feeling in my stomach intensified. These weren't idle threats. They were dark promises. Ellington looked like a failed science experiment with the prosthetics hanging off his face. Did he really think I'd believe he was in love with Thornridge?
"I tried to infiltrate the Orazios, but I couldn't find a way in. Your best friend is next, I hope you know that. The Unseen are going to do the same to her as they did Amato, and they're going to pin it on you."
I made a soft noise. The walls closed in around me, and I swallowed the knot that fused itself to my throat. A peal of hysterical laughter bubbled inside my chest.
"Why would they send you here to find me and not someone with more experience? They hoped I would take you out, or that they could use you as a patsy. It's right there, Lyra. You just have to free yourself from their lies."
A knock on the door distracted me, and I wasn't surprised to see Connall slink in a moment later. The bags under his eyes were dark as bruises. His vibrant red hair was lank with unwashed grease.