“Eva.” I set my hand out to shake hers, but she leaned in for a kiss instead. “Nice to meet you.”

“Logan,” Logan said next, as if he needed any form of introduction. I didn’t even watch hockey and I knew who he was.

“Eva.”

“Nice to meet you. So, you’re Adam’s girlfriend?”

“I guess so.” I smiled.

Logan looked between us and at Adam a little longer, as if asking a question without words.

“She’s a Sword,” Adam said after a beat. I was surprised by his admission. I thought secret societies were supposed to be kept . . . secret.

“Oh shit.” Logan arched an eyebrow at me. “An official Sword?”

“According to my bank account,” I said.

Logan and Amelia laughed.

“You made it through the initiation then,” Logan said.

“I did.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever met a girl Sword,” Amelia said. “Have I?”

“Nope.” Logan said the word slowly, the p popping loudly in it. The two of them were totally scrutinizing me and I wanted nothing more than to get out of there.

“Hopefully this initiation will be the first of many,” Adam said, taking my hand in his.

“Well, we’re going to be late if we don’t leave now. Our table is available for you,” Logan said. “Dinner’s on us. Welcome to the family.”

“Thank you so much,” I said as we said our goodbyes, then turned to Adam. “That was so nice of them.”

“They’re Eights. They’re family.”

“Logan Fitzgerald is an Eight?” My brows rose. “Probably the only thing in life that can put him in that number.”

“Meaning what?” Adam dropped my hand as we reached the table and sat across from each other.

“Meaning he’s a ten in every other aspect of life. Even his wife is a freaking ten.”

Adam let out a laugh, shaking his head.

“What? You don’t use numbers to categorize people’s looks and achievements?”

“Not particularly.”

“Yeah, I don’t either.” I shrugged a shoulder when he shot me a look of disbelief. “Okay, fine, I didn’t, but Aisha does and it kind of rubbed off on me.”

“Hm. Do you miss her?”

“Yes.” I picked up the menu. “But, apparently I’ve fucked up too many times for Aisha’s liking and she feels her life is better without me in it.”

“Fucked up how?”

“I guess she got tired of my mercurial attitude like everyone else in my life.”

“There’s nothing wrong with your attitude, Eva.”

“Give it some time. I push away everyone I lo—” I stopped talking before I said the word and felt my face grow hot with embarrassment. Adam smiled, but didn’t say anything.

“You said the police picked you on Sunday morning, right?” he asked after a while.

“Detective Barry did. Yeah.”

“We should go see him.”

“I think he’s siding with The Maslows.”

“Why?” He set his menu down.

“He was at Karen’s house the day after Stella was there. He left his card with our new neighbor.” I pursed my lips as I thought about it. “Why would a cop put me in that position to begin with? Why would he agree to letting me go to The Manor, by myself, to look for a missing girl?”

“Maybe Thompson paid him off.”

“And you think he’s going to be helpful in this situation because?” We both paused to put our order in. Since we’d already had Chinese food, we went with dessert. When the server left, I looked at Adam again. “Detective Barry probably wouldn’t be there right now and if he was, he wouldn’t talk.”

“So our only hope is to go directly to The Maslows.”

“Are you kidding?”

“This is why justice is never made. People go after the people lowest in the chain of command and that’s not where change is made.”

“I’d rather go back to The Manor and see what else we can find. If Debbie and Neil are involved, they must have a reason. Besides, The Manor is swarming with clergy. I’d bet they have more to do with all of this than The Maslows.”

“Oh, the good Catholic girl is finally coming around?”

“I never said I was a good Catholic girl.” My gaze swung toward his.

Adam picked up his phone, pushed a button, and pressed it to his ear. “Will, go to the library and see what you find on Neil Maslow. What? What do you mean? When?” Adam shot a glance in my direction and the horror in his eyes was enough to make an uneasy feeling settle in the pit of my stomach. “Yeah, we’ll be there in an hour.”

“What happened? What’d he say?”

“The Chancellor stopped by today. He said there would be an initiation tomorrow night. Everyone, including you, should wear their red cloaks.”

“Another initiation?”

“A historic one.”

“What does that mean?”

“He didn’t say.”

“A sacrifice,” I said, thinking about that nun again.

Adam didn’t say anything, but the color draining from his face was enough for me to know what he thought about that.

Chapter Thirty-Two

We sat around the piano surrounded by books and laptops. It would have been a nice scene, two well-to-do boys and a rebel sharing a moment, if Will hadn’t been googling sacrifice while I leafed through more picture books. Adam sat beside me and set his hand on mine.

Tags: Claire Contreras Secret Society Romance
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