Raphael (Deadly Virtues #1)(80)

“She went to tell the bishop about the Brethren.” Raphael poured himself a strong black coffee. He drank it like a parched man drinking water, ignoring the scalding of his throat as he drank the caffeine down.

His hands shook. He launched the mug against the wall, the china shattering on impact. Raphael paced the floor. But with every step, he grew more and more agitated. Something was wrong. He knew something was wrong.

“Have you told Gabriel?” Diel asked. His neck cricked from side to side under his heavy collar.

“He’s finding out where she is.”

The room plunged into silence, until, “You told her?” Raphael stilled and looked up. Sela was watching him. “You told her what they did to us? The Brethren?”

Raphael opened his mouth.

“I did.” Gabriel entered the room. “I told her what they had done to me. I didn’t say anything about you six.” Raphael stared at the floor. She knew. She knew what Father Murray had done to him. The scars, being pinned down . . . why he needed pain.

He struggled to breathe.

She knew, and she hadn’t turned him away. She hadn’t been repulsed. She’d held him, kissed him . . . let him inside her.

He was lost to his heavy, racing thoughts when Gabriel stopped in front of him. Raphael raised his head.

“I got copies of the security camera footage from Bishop McGuiness’s house.” Gabriel turned and headed back to his office. Raphael followed, as did his brothers.

Miller was beside Gabriel’s large computer screen. His face was pale. He turned the screen and pressed play. Raphael’s body was stone as he saw Maria, dressed in his clothes, enter the bishop’s home. Then there was nothing . . . until two familiar men walked through the gate.

“Father Murray,” Diel growled.

“Father Quinn,” Michael echoed.

Raphael’s heart thumped as he watched the screen. The van the priests had arrived in moved. “Where is she?” Raphael snarled, focusing on the screen. The screen switched to another camera.

“These cameras are protected. Someone had paid off the city to turn a blind eye to anything that happens there. Luckily we have people who can hack into anything,” Miller said, and the screen came to life. It showed the back of the bishop’s home. Nothing happened for several minutes, until the back door opened and Father Murray walked out, something in his hands. No, not something. “Maria,” Raphael snarled on seeing her in that cunt’s arms. Maria, his Maria, unconscious, being taken by the man who had made his life a living hell for so many years.

Raphael couldn’t stand it. He couldn’t stand the blood rushing through his veins, making his muscles ache. He couldn’t stand the tightness of his breath or the inability to fucking breathe. His hands rolled into fists, but they were shaking as he watched footage of the van moving through downtown Boston, all the way to—

“Holy Innocents,” Bara said, and the tension in the room thickened.

“Purgatory,” Uriel added. “They’ve taken her to Purgatory.”

Raphael stood back and let the rage of seeing Maria unconscious, of seeing that cunt holding her and taking her to Purgatory, devour him, consuming every cell in his body until he burned like the depths of hell. Releasing a roar, he threw the screen off the desk, but the shattering of it against the wall did nothing to calm him down. He ransacked the office while his brothers stayed quiet.

They had Maria. They fucking had Maria! His Maria!

Sela stood in front of him, blocking his path. “Calm down, Raphe.”

“I can’t,” he snarled. His body was too pumped full of fury for him to calm. “They have her.” Raphael looked at Gabriel, who was watching him closely. “We’re getting her back.” Raphael hit his chest. “We’re fucking getting her back.” His voice dropped dangerously low. “And I’m killing Father Murray. Finally, I’m gonna kill that cunt for taking Maria from me. For touching a hair on her head.”

Gabriel held out his hands. “We have contacts who can go in and get her—”

“No!” Raphael said, cutting him off. He shook his head and pulled at his hair. He was coming out of his motherfucking skin. In that moment, he was death. He was the evil the priests had accused him of being every single day for years. And he embraced it. Devoured the darkness flooding his veins. “I’m getting her.”

“Raphe, listen—”

“No!” Raphael stepped forward and pointed at Gabriel. “I’m sick of hiding from the Brethren. This time they’ve fucked with what’s mine, and I’m going in and getting her. Not your contacts, not the men, not the mercenaries who got us out years ago. Me. I’m going in.” Raphael took a deep breath and felt a vicious smile pull on his face. “And I’m going to kill them. I’m going to kill as many as I can . . . then I’m killing Father Murray, slowly, staring straight into that motherfucker’s eyes.”

“Raphe—” Gabriel began.

“He’s right.” Bara came to stand beside Raphael. “They deserve to die. I’m going with him.” He smirked and licked his lips. “You have no idea how many times I’ve envisioned walking into that place with a flame thrower and going to fucking town on those sadistic fuckers. They love all that fire-and-brimstone shit. I’m happy to deliver it.”