"I see."

My jaw hardens as I consider that I've hit another dead end. While I don't necessarily believe Eli without a doubt, what he's telling me makes sense. The Tribunal would not have involved him any further in the matter than necessary.

"It sounds as if you have made some enemies within the organization,” I point out. “Perhaps what you are trying to suggest, without saying as much, is that it was one of them who poisoned you?"

"Poisoned me?" His lips set into a grim line, and he shakes his head in disbelief before something seems to occur to him. "Are you telling me I was poisoned?"

"Yes. That is exactly what I'm telling you. Your bloodwork confirmed it."

I allow him a moment for this information to really settle over him, and as it does, I realize he's coming to some sort of silent conclusion as he processes it. At first, he appears angry, and then confused, and then... hurt.

"You know who it is, don't you?"

He shakes his head. "I... no, I don't know for certain."

"Spit it out, Eli. I saw the anguish in your eyes. You think it's someone close to you. Perhaps even your own son."

"No," he declares. "I don't believe that."

"It wouldn't be a stretch to consider." I examine him as I deliver the next blow. "He poisoned me as well."

"What?" His eyes snap to mine, and his anguish morphs to fear.

Eli understands what this means. I don't even have to tell him. But I will.

"He also kidnapped my wife and attempted to abort our baby. There are hundreds of Society hired men out combing the streets for him as we speak. His time on this earth is coming to an end, Eli."

"No." He looks at me pleadingly. "Please, let me talk to him. There has to be something I can do to make this right—"

"Come clean," I suggest. "And perhaps I will consider not bringing forward the evidence of his attempt on my life to The Tribunal."

"You haven't yet?" He searches my face, his love for his son foolishly overshadowing everything else I've just told him.

"No, I haven't yet. But there is still time.”

"What do you want to know?" he asks. "Come clean about what?"

"Why were all those files in your ex-wife's house? Dossiers on me, other members of IVI. All the members who were killed in the explosion…"

I want to believe the confusion on his face is real. That it can't be faked. But it also angers me because I am certain he must know.

"I... I don't know. I haven't even been to that house since Hazel..." Panic washes over his features when he realizes what he's just admitted to. He helped her escape.

"So, you are telling me that was Abel's doing then?"