Page 92 of Delirium
“She’s stationed in Portland?” Ophelia asked. “Where?”
“God,” he groaned. “Can you get the knife away from me?”
“No,” Ophelia grunted, pressing the blade into his skin. “I make the rules here, pretty boy, not you. Now tell me, where is she stationed?”
His dark eyes dragged over Ophelia and then over me, the realization that he wouldn’t get out of here alive finally setting in.
“You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?”
“I thought I’d made myself clear on that matter already.” Ophelia scoffed. “Or do I need to repeat myself?”
“No.” He shook his head. “I just… I just wished that things didn’t end up like this. I wish that I never took this job.”
“Why did you?” I asked. “If you knew where you would be going, you shouldn’t have taken it.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“It never is,” Ophelia piped in. “But sometimes you have to think for yourself instead of letting other people think for you.”
“I wish I had.” He smiled. “I’ll tell you everything, just… just don’t go after my family, please,” he whispered. “I didn’t know who you were when I took the job,” he told Ophelia. “I had no idea we would be going after the infamous Ophelia Aster.”
“Didn’t you ask?” Ophelia asked. “How can you take a job to assassinate someone without knowing who you would need to kill?”
“We weren’t supposed to kill you,” he answered, looking at me now. “We were supposed to kill him and take you with us. She wants you, but I don’t know why.”
And then it dawned on me.
“How did you know where we were?” I asked, leaning closer to him. “How did you guys find us?”
He fidgeted in his seat, avoiding my eyes, but he would tell me, one way or another.
“Simon!” I barked. “How did you know?”
“They’re watching you,” he answered, avoiding our eyes. “They have people surrounding the area, watching your every move. I have no idea who it is, but I know that they’re around, watching and waiting. We’ve been camping in the forest for the last ten days, waiting for an opportunity.”
“An opportunity to kidnap me,” Ophelia said.
“And to kill me,” I added. “Simon,” I murmured. “Are you sure you don’t know who these people are? The ones who are watching us?”
He kept quiet until Ophelia pressed the tip of her blade to his cheek. “Tell me,” she bit out. “You know something.”
“I only know one name, but I’ve never met the man,” he murmured. “Ivan,” Simon added. “His name is Ivan.”
“Is he blond, with a scar over his cheek?” Ophelia asked, my eyes flashing toward her. “Is he?”
Simon nodded. “Yes. He’s a scary motherfucker. He’s the one leading the men who are here. He’s the one that told us you were out in the forest.”
“Sunshine?” I asked as she stepped away from Simon, walking to the other side of the room. I followed after her, needing to hear what she thought. Did she know him? “Phee—”
“I know who that is,” she murmured, fire blazing in her eyes. “I know him.”
“Who is he?”
“He was one of Nikolai’s generals. He always hated me, thought I didn’t earn my position in the Syndicate.”
“Does Lazar know?”
“Lazar killed almost every single member of the Syndicate who stayed loyal to Nikolai. The rest ran away, scattering around the globe, because they knew what was coming for them. And now they’re working with her, with Belladonna.”
