Chapter 23
Ryven
Rory messages me.
I sigh and look over my shoulder to make sure no one is looking before I message back.
I’ll be there.
I pocket my phone and pull open another folder on my desk. Each folder holds a life—where they work, what they look like, who they love, and why they’ve been marked to die.
Every one of these came from the council. Filtered down through Cedric—and now through me.
I groan at the large stack that looks like it is close to falling over. Why are so many people marked for death? What the hell did all of these people do to deserve the council attacking them?
I look at the reasoning on the first page in my hand. Tried to escape.
That’s all it takes.
One step out of line—and your life is forfeit.
I grab another folder and open that one. Label: Child predator. My stomach turns.
There’s no appeal. No second chance. Once your name is in a folder, you’re already dead.
Why the hell do we have so many child predators in this fucking district? It's like living under the cult's thumb is not hell enough. People want to make other people’s lives even worse than what they already are.
I put that folder off to the side for my own personal stack and start to divvy out the next folders in the stack.
Hours of going through each folder lead to determining who actually deserves to die and who doesn’t.
If I didn’t see the harm in what they had done to warrant death, I made a special area for them.
Child predators went into my personal stack, and the rest I made piles for each of our other members to carry out.
“You got my orders ready?” Westley asks, barging into my office.
I roll my eyes and point to the stack closest to the edge. “Those are yours there.”
He nods and grabs the stack of five folders. Glancing through the first few, he scoffs at some. “They deserve to die for this?”
But he doesn’t hesitate. He never does.
I shrug. “This is what the council wants. We have to give them something.” If we don’t, they’ll notice, and I can’t afford their eyes on me right now. Not with how closely they’ve been paying attention lately.
“Fine. I’ll start tonight,” he grumbles, heading for the door.
I can’t trust him with what I’m doing tonight, even if it would be nice to have a friend with me on the inside. He is too loyal to the cause. He follows blindly like we’re supposed to.
After the others come into the office and get piles, I gather mine and head for the door. Just as I am about to walk through it, I grab my mask from the hook hanging on the back of the door. I put my items in the back seat of my truck and open the driver’s door.
Cedric comes barreling down the stairs after me. “Wait!”
I close my door and meet him halfway. “What is it?”
He catches his breath. “Westley said you were done with the orders. May I have a word with you?”
I nod and follow him back inside with a huff.
Once we are inside, he closes my office door behind me and instructs me to take a seat.
“I wanted to talk to you about the council member.”
I nod.
His mouth forms a thin line as he looks around the room. “I see you are taking well to your new position.”
“I am doing my best, sir.”
He waves me off. “Piss off with the sir shit. Now that you are basically taking over for the council, at least in this district, I have a few things I need to discuss with you.”
What could he possibly need to talk to me about? “Hmm?”
“Well, as you know already, you divvy out the kill orders to the other members.”
I nod.
“I was wondering if you would like to accompany me later this week for one of their meetings.”
My eyes widen. I knew a lot about this job, but I didn’t assume I would be allowed inside one of the meetings.
“Now, you won't be able to go inside the meeting room. But you can stick your ear to the door and listen if you wish.”
That’s not an invitation.
That’s a test.
I smirk at him. “Why would I want to do that?”
He chuckles. “Don’t you want to know what they talk about in those stupid meetings?”
I shrug. “I guess so.” I nod. “I will be there.”
He gets up from his chair at the same time I do. I check the time and realize I need to hurry up if I don’t want to be late to Rory. Tonight matters.
Cedric makes small talk as we return to my truck, and then he waves me off as I drive out onto the road.