gets next to me, the gun in my back. “Still, you get points for creativity, which we value above all else.”
I close my eyes, biting back a retort that could get me shot. Except his words are settling into my brain. “They” value creativity; “their” killings are clean. So, maybe he won’t shoot me.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“Toward the house, but you can’t go to the party tonight, I’m afraid. Even though your friends are there.”
I stop short. “Molly?”
“And your boyfriend.” He sighs heavily. “I hate when we find one with such potential who can’t pass the simplest, earliest tests.” He takes a few more steps. “Then there are those who can pass every test but just can’t be lured with the astronomical amounts of money we make.” He gives me a look rich with meaning, but I’m not able to decipher what that meaning is.
Except, deep in my heart, I know. Conner.
“They’ll be gone soon,” he says, pulling me back to the moment. “Levi went back to the house with Josh, thinking that’s where you are. When he finds a drunken Molly, he’ll be taking her home in a car that is rigged to have an unexpected fire and explosion just ten minutes after he turns on the engine.” He pauses dramatically. “That leaves us with only you to deal with. One more accident.”
He pushes me toward an unexpected turn, a dark corner off the corridor.
“You’ll never get away with this. Eventually, you’ll be caught.” My voice is thick, trapped in my throat.
“We’ve gotten away with it for two thousand years. Nihil was formed in Rome, started by slaves who took money for killing noblemen as a favor to other noblemen. Nothing’s changed now. Only instead of a patrician who falls into a well, it might be a CEO in a freak biking accident, a hedge-fund trader whose private jet goes down. Assassinations are nothing new. Neither are assassins. We’re all over the world, working quietly, killing neatly, amassing fortunes for our work.”
I stare at him. “But why would you kill innocent girls?”
“Our members have to train on someone, Kenzie. That’s why we make a list of easily manipulated girls. And, of course, boys who help us manipulate them. Not all those boys know why, just that they’re getting much-needed cash. But the organization is undergoing some drastic changes and, well, Jarvis wanted to make a point. He’s my son and I brought him into the business. I have to support him.”
“Is Josh in on this?” A wave of disgust rolls over me. Did I kiss a killer? An accomplice? An assassin?
“Not fully, but Nihil is in his blood. Of course, he thinks he’s being groomed and tested for something a little less … deadly. Tonight’s one of his exams. He has to make Levi think he’s being a hero, stealing a car to drive a drunk girl home.”
Levi wouldn’t steal a car to drive a girl anywhere. Unless he thought he was saving her.
“Once that’s done, it will be time to tell Josh exactly who he is and what family he is part of. I have great hopes he’ll be overjoyed to learn his father is alive.”
Only his father. “But his mother was one of your victims, wasn’t she?”
“One of Jarvis’s victims,” Rex corrects. “In fact, getting rid of his wife was his first official training assignment with Nihil Relinquere et Nihil Vestigi. They’re all much easier after you prove yourself. We ask all trainees to assassinate someone they care about. A sort of hazing, if you will, with the same benefits. It would have been interesting to see how Josh did with you. He does care about you, you know.”
I’m sick as I process this secret society of assassins, training on innocent people. “Is it only Josh?”
“This year, yes. We haven’t had a good recruit in years.” He makes a low grunt in his chest. “Came so close two years ago. So close.”
I know exactly who he means.
He inhales slowly, as if savoring the moment. “An extraordinary young man, Conner.”
Yes, he was. I fight the urge to lunge, but only because of the gun pointed at me.
“Training is important, of course, and all the assassins of Nihil Relinquere undergo rigorous training all over the world. But recruitment is so important, and it’s my forte. That’s why we run the scholarship program, which is really a way for me to spot talent. Of course, it is a legitimate scholarship. But sometimes … I recruit.”