Chapter 34 - Scarlett #3
My eyes lifted to see an older man walking by. At first, I had no idea who he was, but then I caught a whiff of his old, musky cologne.
Pastor Masters.
I lifted my chin as he sat down in the chair Mr. Alascer had been in yesterday. Was he here to finally claim the pussy he had grabbed in the Back Hall what felt like a lifetime ago?
He had the same color of eyes as Thomas.
Brown, old, his face covered in wrinkles weighing him down.
He was wearing the white robe he had worn my entire life, but rather than hatred in his eyes, I saw sorrow.
His gaze was still cold, and I saw the tar as vivid as the sunshine, but the deep sorrow was there too.
Pastor Masters looked at my probably already bruising neck and then quickly looked away from me all together. “I’m sure you’re wondering what I’m doing here.”
I wasn’t.
“Scarlett,” he released a breath, his eyes flicking to Kat for several seconds before they found mine.
He leaned in a little and shook his head.
“They sold me a fantasy,” he explained, causing my head to tilt.
“The Elders. They came to me, a man of a failing church, and claimed that I would be able to save millions. To cleanse the world of the impurities and open the gates of Heaven to those who desperately needed it. A hospital for the broken, they said. Of course, I said yes, I said…” he ran out of breath, but I wasn’t sure if it was because he was so old or because he didn’t know what to say.
After a moment, his eyes met mine. “I’m so sorry, Scarlett.
Your mother never should have gifted you to my son.
She should have taken you and run. Now I find out that the Founder’s children are from the very family we were terrified of.
The very family Thomas wanted to go to war with.
I never knew. I only ever met the Elders. I only knew them.”
He must not have met with them since Azrael started attending or else Azrael would have known who they were, I was sure of it.
If Pastor Masters knew the Elders, he would know their names, but not knowing the Founder?
It made sense. Malachi never would have allowed anyone in that church to see his face or hear even a whisper of his name in regards to it.
He wanted his name to remain tied to his criminal empire, to his precious sons and his elite program.
That’s why he hired the Elders. That’s why, I’m assuming from Pastor Masters’ words, he had the Elders do the hiring, the seeking, the everything.
I’m sure even Mr. Alascer was recruited by an Elder.
But that would mean that all of the original Leaders knew who the Elders were. Unless they weren’t ever told that the people who hired them were the Elders.
Hiding in plain sight, just like Azrael’s brothers.
What better way to keep them a secret but watch their every move than to have the men who aided in starting this business go out and recruit? Malachi kept it ‘in the family’ so to speak until he grew too big. That’s when the Elders became truly faceless unless Malachi needed them specifically.
He glanced behind me, studying Kat again.
“Thomas has taken control of the church, I’m far too old now.
My age caught up with me very recently. Cancer,” he explained solemnly.
“I suppose that’s my penance.” His eyes found mine again, searching them, clearly tired.
“The Elders…their names are Adams, Mors, Cansen, and Miller,” he rushed, the sound of Kat cursing finding my ears. “They’re hiding in plain sig—”
I expected the gunshot, and I was used to the sound of a gunshot in close quarters anyway. My family had shot their guns off so many times in the basement simply to train me because, more often than not, our opponents never had silencers anyway. I was grateful for that training.
So, when the bullet exploded out of the back of Pastor Masters’ head and his brain matter splattered all over the kitchen sink and cupboards, I wasn’t surprised and I didn’t flinch.
I simply sat there, my smile a little less sharp now at the knowledge he had provided me. Knowledge that was proven right at the reaction of those around me.
I stared at his lifeless body, slightly upset at the fact that I would never get my revenge on him, and carefully cataloged those names away.
Adam, Mors, Cansen, and Miller.
The Elders finally had names.
“Get the fuck up,” Kat ordered, grabbing my arm and jerking me away from the table.
He dragged me over to the stairs and tossed me onto the steps. “Get to your room, and if I hear a peep from you, it’ll be you we’re cleaning off the walls next.”
I forced myself to a stand and started up the stairs, a little gleeful that he had become so unnerved that I now knew that information.
Some piece of me frightened him enough to get angry, which meant I was still a threat, still in the game.
It meant that there was a small part of him that was terrified I would still escape.
“Tick tock goes the clock for the Lady and her spades. Tick tock goes the clock the blood will soon cascade.”