Away From the Dark (The Light #2)(94)

My heartbeat raced. I’d never seen Dylan like this. His blue eyes glowed with conviction, yet he wasn’t looking at me, but seeing things I couldn’t. In that moment I had no doubt he was part of it. “Why? Why you? How long?”

He shook his head and took another long drink from the brown bottle. Grinning, he said, “I bet good old hubby had a field day with your questioning. Did he get off beating your ass? I remember you having a mighty fine ass.”

I gritted my teeth. “Is Father Gabriel really your uncle?”

He nodded. “My mother’s half brother.”

“And when your parents died?”

“They were part of it. They died doing work in the Shadows for The Light.”

“So he took you in?”

“I lived with my grandparents, like I told you. But Gabriel and I had always been close. He never had any children.” Dylan shrugged and lifted a brow. “None that he let be born. He always wanted me to work with him, but I refused to be involved in the shit like you’ve been doing. I prefer the Shadows.”

“So those brides, have you ever . . . ?” I wasn’t sure I wanted him to answer.

“Hell no! They are, or were, his. They just know I’m a man with high ranking. That gives me unlimited power. I told you, I’ve never been into that shit. But, up until now, I never stopped it.”

“Until now?”

“Elijah. Shooting him. I’d given orders to keep you untouched.” Dylan lifted his shoulders and cocked his head dismissively to the side. “He disobeyed. When it comes to the Eastern Light, being Gabriel’s nephew, I hold my share of power. You said it yourself, earlier tonight, disobeying isn’t an option.”

“Those women . . . you said . . . were . . .” I swallowed the churning bile. “Are they dead?”

“Didn’t you see the fire? Did you feel the explosion?” he asked. “No one in that house survived.”

“Why?”

“Damn, Stella, have you lost your ability to comprehend? I told you. This all started because of you and the fact that Thomas Hutchinson was in the dark, making threats. There’s always been a contingency plan. Witnesses are too dangerous.”

Oh, God!

Because of me?

“Kool-Aid?” I whispered.

“Only at the Eastern Light. Uncle was confident the other campuses are too well hidden.”

Thank God!

No Kool-Aid at the Northern Light.

“What did you mean that Thomas was making threats?”

“He was part of the outside Light, a follower in the Shadows. But when he called his connection, he told him that he wanted out of prison, where the marshals had taken him. He knows The Light is capable of getting him out.”

“Will it?”

“The Light can do anything. Will it? No, and it’s his fault.”

“The threats?”

He smirked. “Maybe you are listening. Yes, he didn’t just ask to be released. He said that if it didn’t happen soon, he’d start talking to anyone who’d listen.” An amused grin graced Dylan’s lips and his eyes narrowed. “The Light is everywhere. I’m sure that if it hasn’t already happened, very soon, the * who threatened to rape you will no longer exist. Who knows, if it’s another inmate, Hutchinson may get to know your fear of rape before he leaves this world. If I have anything to say about it, and now that I know what he did to you, I’ll suggest it.”

Part of me cringed at the idea that Dylan had that much power. The other part of me liked the idea of Thomas suffering for what he’d done to me. The evidence was mounting supporting my diagnosis of dissociative identify disorder.

“But you’re a policeman, a detective. You help people.”

“I do. I just helped you, for a second time.”

I looked down at my hands and lifted my fingers for him to see. When I did he closed his eyes and took another drink. I waited for him to finish before I said, “You knew. When we were at the morgue and the woman, the one who we were afraid was Mindy, you knew she was part of The Light?”

He nodded. “What do you want me to say, that I’m sorry? Because I’m not. It’s the way it is. You work the game in your favor or you lose. I’m not a loser, neither is Gabriel.”

I took a deep breath, my cramping nearly gone. “Mindy?”

“Last I heard, she made it to a campus. I’m not sure which one, and I honestly didn’t want to know.”

“But she wasn’t investigating The Light. Why did they take her?”

“She was investigating a business from outside The Light, Motorists of America, MOA. It’s a shell corporation. She stumbled across too many things, like you.”

I recognized that name. It was the company Foster had told me about—the one I had been too impatient to listen to him discuss. Oh, shit, it was the one that Foster had found when he was investigating Dylan. Dylan’s name was on a utility bill for a house in Bloomfield Hills that was owned by MOA.

Could that be where we were? Was this the house Foster had found by researching Dylan’s name?

Dylan ran his hands along the dark-blond scruff lining his defined jaw. “I f*cking warned you. I told you to leave it alone, but you were too stubborn.”

I closed my eyes. “Did Bernard or Foster ever see my research?”