Rookery ~ Assassin's Creed Syndicate

Chapter Fifty Eight

The endless beatings stopped for a while. I hadn't even felt so much as a brush on the shoulder from Jack in almost a week. My cuts were healing nicely. That was until that morning.

Eli and I had made up a little game to pass the time in the cell. We would make up stories, each taking it in turns to say a word. He rarely laughed, and the time that we spent playing our game was just about the only time I ever saw his handsome smile. I revelled in those short moments, and remembered when he couldn't stop smiling. Then, I realised that Jack had taken that away from him, and my anger quickly bubbled up again.

The room was beginning to smell much worse than it had when we were first thrown in here. The combined smell of urine, sweat and hay was suffocating, and the small window at the top of the wall washed in a distinct scent of manure. Eli was often agitated due to the smells, so he would mutter in the corner to his imaginary friends to calm himself down. Plus, the two of us didn't need to huddle together for warmth anymore, as we had been given burlap sheets to use as blankets. They weren't awfully warm, but they were better than nothing.

Then, the door slammed at the top of the staircase. This loud, booming sound which echoed through the entire basement. Eli rushed to me and bundled himself under my arm. He shook ever so slightly.

"It's okay, little one." I kissed the top of his head just as the cell door whooshed open. Jack stood there, his sheet hanging in his face and his hat perched on top of his head. He gave a menacing chuckle. I quickly sent Eli into the corner again. I had told him previously that, if he stayed away, Jack wouldn't go near him.

"Well. It has been another week and your dear wife hasn't arrived yet. I heard news that your sister found one of my letters in the newspaper and she stole an entire stack of them from a news stand." He laughed again. "Your wife must be investigating my murders in order to link them all back to you. I should throw her off with a completely different one with no leads to me at all." He looped his arms behind his back. "Or, perhaps, I should stop her searching completely."

"Don't you dare hurt her." I growled. I knew that I must have sounded tired, as Jack let out a loud sigh and twirled a knife between his fingers. "Jack, don't do this. You were a good man once. Let me go, and I will do everything in my power to get you help." He crouched slightly against the wall.

"Why would I want to let you go?"

"I have helped you so very much. I looked after you when you were just a little boy. You weren't even my son. Most others would have left you on the streets, but I took care of you. I gave you a job and an Order to be a part of. Now, you lock me and my son up." I gestured towards Eli. "He's no older than you were, Jack. Look what you are putting him through. You know how it feels to see someone you love being hurt. Think of your mother. Would she have wanted this?" He stood and swung his arm towards me. His fist cracked against my cheek.

"Don't you dare bring my mother into this! You have no idea what she wanted!"

"I know she would have wanted to see you grow up as an honourable man, not a murderer."

"You let her die. You and your whore wife." I balled my hands into fists.

"Leave her out of this." Jack kicked my side, causing blood to fly from my mouth. Eli let out a little squeal. "Don't worry, Eli. I'm fine." I groaned as a wave of pain shot through me.

"You shouldn't lie to children, Jacob. Haven't you learnt anything?"

"Eli is nothing like you."

"No he isn't." Jack grabbed me by my collar and pulled me towards his face. I was close enough to feel his breath on my face, even through the cloth. "Not yet. Not until you corrupt him with your 'Order' and your 'philosophies'." He threw me back against the wall. My jaw connected with the rough, stone bricks and I could feel the flesh of my tongue tearing under my teeth. "You are a failure of a father. Look where it has brought you and your youngest son."

"This isn't my doing. It is yours." I turned just in time to see his foot coming towards my chest.

"You have only yourself to blame. Your eldest son's blood is on your hands." My eyes widened.

"What are you talking about?" I asked frantically. Jack turned to leave the room. "You get back here now and explain to me! What have you done?" He exited the cell and locked the door behind him. "Tell me, Jack! Answer me! What have you done to Ethan?" I clawed my way up the door and grabbed the bars on the window. "Answer me!"

"He is dead!" He screamed, then released a bellowing laugh. "You are now a father to only one son. And, his fiance is heartbroken."

"Emilia..." Tears rushed down my cheeks, and I could hear Eli sobbing from behind me. "You are lying!"

"Am I?" He stuffed a white cloth between the bars. It was stained red and the red liquid had dried and began to fall off in crusty flakes. "Mopped straight from the scene of his murder." The rag fell on me, a small section of the wet cloth touching my bare arm. I looked to my arm and noticed that some blood had been transferred onto me. I felt vomit rising up in my throat and ran to the corner to discard it into the hay.

"You monster! How could you?!" I yelled through my choking sobs. "How could you, Jack?" I asked, softer than I had previously. I rammed the balls of my hands to my eyes, bringing my knees up to my chest in the process. Tears ran down my arms. "Ethan..."

"Father..?" Eli whispered from the other side of the cell. I removed my hands to look at him. His face was soaking wet and red, his bottom lip quivered. I ushered him over and bundled him into my arms. He cried into my chest.

"I know, I know." I patted his hair flat with one hand. "It's alright. We are going to be fine." I could still feel the steady stream of water down my face.

"Ethan is gone." I sighed.

"I know."