Dark Mafia Kings by Penelope Wylde

Chapter Fourteen

Shit. Shit. Shit.

She’d slept with Matteo.

Twice.

Did that count as sleeping with the enemy when he took her against a wall? She rolled that thought around in her head.

And then what he and Sevastyan had done…

She dropped her head in her hands and groaned. Okay, new rule. From here on out legs closed and hands to herself.

What the hell had she gotten herself into? She knew better, but did she listen?

Hell no.

She couldn’t bring herself to look at her own reflection in the mirror.

She reached up and touched her cheek where he’d cupped her face in his hand. Everything from fear, shock, and surprise at how wonderful the tender gesture felt still coursed through her because he didn’t look like a man that did tender well.

She stared at her hands, unwilling or unable to accept the truth. Maybe a little of both, she conceded. From the second she walked into Haven, normal didn’t exist and she’d plunged herself into a horrific alternate reality.

The way her body hummed, drove her to distraction.

She fisted her hands and forced herself to meet her own gaze in the mirror. “You can’t afford to be stupid,” she growled.

She would keep her distance, gather the needed intel from her stunningly handsome bosses who would remain none the wiser until it was too late. With any luck, she would be out of there before any of them caught on. Hopefully sticking to it wouldn’t be as hard as she feared.

Her shoulders fell. Why did all the good ones have to be bad for her?

“Hey, Seraphina, you okay in there?” Maya banged on the bathroom door, the tinkling sound of her bangle bracelets like bells, her voice muffled through the wood paneling. “FYI, we can’t kick off margarita night without you. If we do, Indigo will down all the drinks when she gets here before you get a chance to snag one. Be warned I can’t hold her off long.”

Rhia pressed her palms against the bathroom counter and leaned forward until the brightly painted yellow walls faded and all she could see was the greenish-brown of her eyes. Visibly nothing had changed, but deep in the pit of her stomach, she could feel a coil of tension winding tight. Her time with Sevastyan and Matteo hadn’t helped any.

Had he seen her slip from his inner office? If so, why hadn’t he said anything?

For almost two days now she played over a thousand scenarios of how their encounter could have played out, yet the kings let her walk out the front door with her life—and job—intact.

Why?

A trill came from her phone, and she picked it off the bathroom counter with a long sigh. Knots tightened in her gut along with the already building tension weighing her down. What if her father was involved in whatever seedy crime she knew Volkov and his gorgeous goons were tied up in? How would he reveal that ugly truth to her family? Her brothers would never believe her.

She couldn’t think that way.

With a deep breath, she set aside shattered thoughts of forbidden romances with four beautiful men and hit the green button. “I see they sent the youngest of my brothers to do the dirty work.”

A harrumph carried over the line followed by an amused chuckle. “You say it like I had a choice. Our older brothers are bullies. Besides, count yourself lucky. I’m the more logical one that won’t demand you return at once and explain yourself.”

“As if.” She didn’t bother holding back her eye roll.

Older than her by a year and a half, the easier going of her three brothers grunted.

“So who put you up to calling the rogue sister this time?” Hip propped up against the bathroom counter, she lowered her voice.

“Again, you say it like they didn’t all gang up on me.”

“They’re all there, aren’t they?”

Another harrumph hit her ear.

She let out a deep sigh. “I’ll be home when I can, Alonso.” This time it wasn’t a lie. “I just need some time. I just need more time to grieve papa in my way. I’m safe. That's all you need to know.”

She cupped her hand over the mouthpiece. “I love you all. Now stop calling already.” Before the phone could be passed around and she got an earful from the overly protective men in her life, Rhia hit the end button.

Phone in hand, she stared at the now blank screen.

Names, details, connections all jumbled in her head. What did they all mean? She wished she hadn’t agreed to a girls’ night. She itched to comb over the pages she’d taken from Sevastyan’s office. A measured risk she hoped paid off.

She had to go back, dig deeper, get better proof no matter the cost. But one thing became evident. She needed help.

Maya banged again. “You’re not having phone sex in there, are you?” The knob rattled.

She flicked her tongue out to wet her lips and found the faint taste of vodka still lingered on her lips.

Matteo.

Not hardly,” she quipped. “I’ll be right there. Promise.” She laughed for Maya’s sake. The last thing she needed was to tip her or Indigo off that something was wrong. She’d never hear the end of it. “I’ll be right out, just washing off the night.”

But nothing could clear her memory of how he felt taking her. His hand gripping her ass. Her body still hummed hours later.

“Well, hurry. Or I might be the one that drinks your share.”

Rhia took a few more minutes and with one last glance in the mirror, she swung the door open, a smile she didn’t exactly feel plastered on her face. Maybe margaritas were a good idea, after all. A whole freaking bathtub full of them and then maybe she could get some sleep and lock out visions of what Sevastyan would look like undressed or what Matteo’s tats would taste like on her tongue.

God, she was a walking contradiction, and she feared there wasn’t enough tequila in the world that could help that fact.

Warm air greeted her from the hallway that led to the quaint living room backed up against a modest-sized kitchen. She followed the sound of her blender crushing a mountain of ice cubes. Summertime in Chicago wasn’t all that different from the heat waves that overpowered the Big Apple from late spring through the last days of summer and sometimes early fall. Only whoever built this old-timer left central air for the high-end condos and luxury houses across town.

She’d opted for something a bit more modest, she liked to call it, and definitely less flashy than what her alter ego preferred. A place her cover as Seraphina Carmichael could afford on her hostess salary. The apartments in this neighborhood were extremely small and shared walls with at least two neighbors. The entire area had a grayness to it like a cloud of hopelessness. Yards went unkept, but at least the roads were paved. After this, she hoped never to come back. Then again, if more people reached out maybe this part of town wouldn’t be the smudge mark on the city everyone considered it to be.

As she came to the end of the hall, Rhia caught the tail end of a conversation and her front door closing, Indigo slipping out.

“Where did Indigo go?”

Maya turned; her expression flustered. A quick smile slipped over her lips and she fluttered her fake lashes at her.

“She got a text and had to leave. Some hot date probably. Nothing to worry about.”

Worry, no, but she did feel bad that she’d missed her all the same. Rhia had hoped to use tonight to get a little friendlier and maybe find out the next time their bosses would be out of the office for a more thorough search.

Rhia brushed the awkward moment away. “I forgot to give her the note. By the time I was in the dressing room, I managed to lose the slip of paper you gave me. I’m sorry.” They didn’t need to know how or where it slipped out. She was only happy they hadn’t noticed the other papers she had tucked away under her bodice.

Might as well pile that lie on top of the rest she’d already fed them. Her insides ached at the thought. Maya and Indigo, she had to admit, had been nothing but kind and open-hearted with her and she’d only lied to them time and time again. Truth was, that piece of paper Maya asked her to deliver to Indigo probably saved her life. But she could never tell them that.

“You worry too much. Stop paying attention to too many details and small things.” Maya grabbed her hand and whirled them back to what served as her kitchen.

Rhia sighed and followed with little choice in the matter.

“I saw Maddox walk you onto the floor last night. Whatever did you do to get the hunk’s hands on you? He won’t give me the time of day.” Maya’s quick shift of topic gave Rhia whiplash. “And Matteo.”

Rhia considered Maddox more of a gladiator pulled through the centuries to modern times than some hunk. Thick arms, thicker legs, and she was pretty sure he thought the silent treatment was the best form of communication. She liked a set of broad shoulders and capable hands as much as the next girl, but she didn’t understand the attraction to that brute.

“Well, he’s definitely more alpha than your last date,” Rhia added to the conversation.

Maya plopped down on the cool linoleum. “Mm-mm. A man like that makes my insides quiver.” She gave an exaggerated shudder and pressed the back of her hand against her forehead.

Rhia snorted and tossed one of the million tiny pillows lying around at her friend. In front of them was a pitcher of fresh margaritas and glasses rimmed with salt. “Your insides are always quivering.” she teased with a wicked grin, pouring them each a glass.

“Thanks, babe.”

They clinked glasses, and the first hit of the cool drink felt like heaven against her dry throat.

“All I’m saying from my time at the club I think he’d be one helluva man. I bet he’s kinder than what you see on the outside. Like a teddy bear that doesn’t mind a little bite.”

Rhia witnessed a touch of what looked like longing in the other woman’s eyes. “Isn’t it against club policy to be playing handsy with anyone at the club?”

“I haven’t got fired yet. I think it’s more of a guideline than a rule. As long as you are discreet and as long as it’s not while on the clock or on club property, I don’t think management really cares what—or who—you fuck on your own time. They aren’t watching too closely.” Her friend paused. “Don’t take this the wrong way or anything, but if you have the right friends you could make some extra cash.”

“Prostituting?” She leveled a steely look at Maya.

“No. There’s more the body can offer than just what’s between the legs, Penny.”

Rhia tossed a pillow on the floor and joined her friend. “By the way, how long do you have before your work visa expires?”

“Two months, three days.” Maya paused to look at her watch. “And four hours, to be precise, before the world of posh dinners and the uptight world of politics crash down on me and I have to go back to mommy and daddy dearest with an answer. Unless I find a man willing to double his cuffs as a wedding band.” She paused and a distant look filled in her eye. “Which I haven’t yet. So right now, I’m just playing it one day at a time.”

Well, that answered that question.

Rhia felt her face pucker when she licked a little too much salt from her glass. Maya, the queen of playing the field, married? She nearly scoffed but held it back. She didn’t want to insult her friend or hurt her feelings. “You make it sound like your parents are stuck-up prudes.”

“That’s putting it nicely, my dear.”

Sadness seeped into Maya’s tone and had Rhia’s attention. Not sadness, she corrected. She’d seen that look in her mother’s eyes a few times before she abandoned her. She recognized loneliness when she saw it, and Rhia’s heart broke for her friend. Maybe she could see her friend settling down in the future, but she was too independent, in her opinion. Then again. What people said and did were two completely different things in her experience.

Rhia shook her head. “Whatever happened to you, my dear Maya, to make you so young a cynic?”

Maya rolled her eyes, an arm draped back to rest on the couch. “I don’t know how either of my parents actually got along enough to make me, but a good question. It’s so much better if I show you what happened.”

With a flick of her wrist, she downed the rest of her margarita before bounding to her feet from her place on the cool flooring and struck a regal princess pose. Hand out, the other straightening an invisible crown and her back impossibly stiff. Around her, the white of her skirt swayed to brush high along her ankles, and her crop top revealed the beautiful olive skin of her well-maintained midsection that made the most composed of men drool.

Rhia sighed and dashed thoughts of her own slightly less than tight midriff to the side and laughed at her friend's pose.

“My mother is what happened to me.” She cleared her throat and began in a nasally high-pitched squeak that made nails on a chalkboard sound like Mozart. “As Lady DeCarlo, you’re basically royalty, dear. Straighten your shoulders. You must live up to your namesake at all times. You must go to bed slightly hungry to prevent becoming fat. Sit properly, ask how your husband’s day was when he comes home, and for God’s sake, child, tame that hair of yours.” With each sentence, Maya’s British accent grew more regal.

For effect, she flicked her short hair as if tossing long, curly princess hair over her shoulder. Skirt in hand, she dipped into an old-fashioned curtsy, straightening her invisible crown once again as she stood.

Rhia stared, unblinking, for a full ten seconds before she cracked. “Oh my God, that’s horrible. You poor girl. I’m sorry!” Rhia rose to her knees and bowed then held out her arms and offered a hug. “That explains everything now.”

Maya snorted at her own impersonation of her mother. “Can you ever see me as tame?”

She considered that for half a second. “Not in the sense that your mother wants. Never!”

Laughter erupted like a contagious wave starting with Maya. They both held their sides and the waterworks wet their cheeks.

“I know, right? Apparently, a summer away is to teach me the importance of gaining responsibility.”

Now Rhia let out a snort that would have Maya’s mother blessing her three times over.

Maya plopped down on the couch and leaned back into the soft throw pillows Rhia tossed on the world’s most uncomfortable sofa. Honest, rocks would be softer.

Rhia turned a bit to look at her friend. In all the commotion Maya’s skirt rode up high on her thigh to reveal several bruises and what looked like lashes.

“Oh my God, are you okay? What the hell happened?” Rhia peeled back the skirt before Maya caught her hand.

“Nothing I didn’t want.”

Rhia didn’t believe that for a second. “Are you sure? That doesn’t look like it felt good.”

“I promise. Now leave it alone, please,” she added in a softer tone, pulling her skirt down.

Rhia didn’t want to do any such thing, but she could see the other woman shut down. Left with little choice, for now, she poured them another drink and passed her the freshly filled glass. “What are you going to do when you get back home?

“Who says I’m going anywhere? I can’t leave you all alone.” Maya winked at her. “You need me too much, and I’m sure my parents are much happier without the wild child muddying the family name.”

“Maya, be serious.” To loosen the atmosphere she worked a little laugh into her tone.

Maya nursed her drink. “Who says I’m not? What do I have to look forward to back there? Boring dinners, tennis-playing pansy men that wouldn’t know how to spank my ass when I need it, and a mother that would try to put me away if she discovered what her perfectly fucked-in-the-head daughter really likes behind closed doors? I’d probably off myself by the time winter rolled around. The only thing that could make going back even remotely worth it is my little sister. I remember being a teenager with our mother lording over us like some perfectly poised nightmare.” Maya shuddered, sloshing her drink over the rim.

Rhia grabbed a towel from the kitchen counter, tossing it over to Maya. Pitcher in hand, she padded barefoot to the small windowless kitchen that had enough counter space to fit a blender and the small toaster oven. She’d needed a place where no questions were asked, which meant fewer amenities like a working oven. At least there was hot water.

“Maya, don’t talk like that.”

She pursed her lips and scrunched her brows with worry.  “Be careful what you say. You never know what kind of juju you put out into the universe.”

“Juju. I know what kind of juju I want.” Maya worked her mouth over the end of her finger and winked at Rhia. Serious one minute and all jokes the next.

“God help you, child, no wonder you’re here instead of some Ivy League program or carted off to an arranged marriage to some foreign dignitary or something.” Everyone had that one friend that would sure as hell embarrass you and make you laugh at the same time. Like in some alternate universe she now had Maya. Or at least for now. A lump the size of a walnut formed in her throat. She either choked up or drank up. Since she couldn’t explain the teary eyes, Rhia opted for the latter, hoping her weak moment went unnoticed.

“What about you? Is Haven where you want to be?”

“I mean I can’t see myself working as a hostess forever, but the money is damn good.”

“Can’t argue that. Maybe I’ll put in an extension and see what happens after that.”

Rhia hit pulse on the machine. “You’ve been at Haven longer. Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary? Odd people gathering for meetings? Have you been approached by anyone, you know, looking for more?”

“That’s several loaded questions, why do you ask? You’re not still tripping out about those girls, are you? I told you to forget about that.” Maya sat up and placed her margarita glass on the table and planted her feet on the floor with a loud thud. “You need to get that out of your head. Seriously, Penny. Let it go.” A sharp look took over her expression. “Let it go.”

Where did that outburst come from, and what had her so worked up? The last time she’d mentioned the missing girls, she had the same reaction.

Interesting.

“How will the parents take you not coming home?” Rhia had to work the dismay and disappointment from her words at Maya’s sudden eruption.

Maya exhaled a delicate snort. “Never mind that.” She waved a hand between them as Rhia rejoined her in the living room, fresh pitcher in hand.

Maya sat back up. “You know what is really keeping me here?” Maya wagged her brows in unison at her, her tone sultry with a heavy dose of conspiracy. All the annoyance from just a moment ago dissipated as fast as it had come on.

Whiplash. This woman gave her whiplash. She shifted between moods and topics so fast Rhia had to wonder about her.

Rhia caught on quickly. “Me?”

Maya nodded. “You bet your pretty, perky ass.”

“Oh, this ought to be good.” Rhia had to hear this one.

“What kind of friend would I be if I left you a virgin?”

Rhia could feel the heat slide up her neck and bloom across her cheeks. “Umm…not really a virgin,” she tried to defend herself, but Maya pursed her lips and rebutted her defense with a wag of her finger.

“A quickie in the back seat of a Buick senior year of high school doesn’t come close to counting.”

Good point. There was very little she could share from her true past, but the more she could keep in line with the truth the better. Getting people to open up only worked if one did the same. Or made them believe so, anyway.

Rhia hooked a thumb at herself. “That may be true, but still...no virgin here. No matter how crappy the experience.” Not after Matteo for damn sure. More truths she couldn’t share.

“Seriously, that’s…” Maya started to tally the years on her fingers.

Rhia held back a groan but just barely, her head rolling back to rest on the couch pillow. “Three years and some odd months with now sex” she answered for her friend and immediately felt the burn of two wide eyes pinning her to the couch.

She shrugged. “What, I’ve been busy.”

“But not the right kind of busy. You don’t know the feeling of being worked by a DOM that knows how to handle a submissive in the right way. The utter bliss you slip into when you hand over control.” Maya reached over the end of the couch and pulled out her cell phone from a small purse abandoned on a table.

Wait. “What are you doing?”

“Calling a friend. I have the perfect DOM for you. He’s good with beginners. Knows how to ease them into the life. He’ll show you everything you need to know and more.” Maya paused and considered Rhia as if a perfect idea hit. “You, amiga, need an intervention before you die a craggy old cat lady with cobwebs in your lady parts.” Maya motioned in the general direction of her ‘lady parts’.

She couldn’t help it. Laughter bubbled from Rhia. “Oh my God, you are killing me. My vagina is doing just fine, thank you very much.”

Matteo and Sevastyan saw to that already.

Handing over control to someone else seemed counterproductive when it came to matters of the heart and body. She wondered what it would be like to have that much trust in someone else, but ultimately? Would or could she let someone have that much control over her?

Rhia swallowed back a healthy helping of margarita and refilled her glass.

“What are friends for if not to help their girl get some?” Maya patted her hand. “Plus, you obviously need some kind of help. Your phone keeps going off and you’ve hit the end button at least five times tonight.” Maya abandoned her phone on the couch cushion and grabbed Rhia’s from the coffee table.

“Never you mind.” Rhia snatched the phone and clutched it close to her chest before she stuffed it into the side of the couch. Panic sent her heart rate hitting the danger zone in record time.

For a moment Maya held her gaze, shocked.

Careful to keep her tone cool, Rhia shrugged. “A girl can have her secrets.”

Though they’d met under false pretenses and she was forced to continue the ruse, Rhia couldn’t help but feel a fierce bond with her newfound friend. Her insides ached to spill the truth. All of it.

Her false ID, the reasons behind it, and her time with her—their—powerful bosses.

But that would place her in unnecessary danger, and she couldn’t have that on her conscience.

Being an only girl among three overprotective brothers made her appreciate the bond girls formed, blood family or not. When this was all over, she hoped both her friend would forgive her.

Maya stuck her tongue out, and Rhia sighed with relief that she hadn’t offended her friend. Or at least she didn’t let on if she had.

To distract from an awkward exchange, Rhia changed the subject back to the booty call Maya wanted to make. “I love you; you know that right? But no late-night booty calls are needed.”

“Right backatcha.” Phone forgotten—thank God—Maya pulled her in for a tight hug.

Maya smiled and wrapped her arms around her. “Don’t worry, before the summer is up, we’ll find you a man that will turn your world upside down.”

Rhia groaned through a laugh and raised her glass. “To not putting out bad juju, to rebels by heart, love—”

“—a good spanking, handcuffs and a man—or two—who knows how to work a woman’s G-Spot.”

“Okay then, not even close to what I was about to say but that works too.” Rhia sighed from relief. When this was all over, she would personally see to giving her brothers a huge piece of her mind and for not trusting she knew how to handle herself. All their calls would eventually blow her cover.

Maya whipped her hair into a high bun and snagged the empty pitcher. Three hours later Rhia pulled a blanket over her sleeping friend. Though they’d nurse a hangover in a few hours, they would not go back to the club until late that evening. Rhia glanced at the clock. It was early morning and the sun barely touched the horizon.

Assured Maya wouldn’t be waking anytime soon, Rhia made her way through a mountain of pillows on the floor. Standing at the kitchen counter she flipped open her laptop, the cool floor countering the intense heat of the small apartment. In a couple of seconds, she had her cell phone hooked up and all the images from her investigation of Sevastyan’s office pulled up on the screen.

As the sun peaked over her neighboring roof, Rhia slipped into her room and closed the door, punching in a number on her phone from memory. “Adryan, it’s me.” Rhia popped open the lid to her laptop and lowered her voice. “Sorry for the early wake-up call. Look I don’t have much time but I found something. I think you’ll want—”

“It’s about time.”

She’d obviously woken her friend. Gruff from the early morning, Adryan cut her off.

“Your brothers have called nonstop. Something tells me it won’t take much longer for them to narrow down where you’re at, and those three can smell a lie.”

“For both our sakes I hope that’s not true.” While she knew her brothers wouldn’t do anything to her, she knew the man on the other end of the phone wouldn’t fare too well if they thought he held back information from them about their little sister. Especially after they learned he helped place her in the lion’s den in the first place.

“You tell them and you might as well be signing your death certificate. I don’t think you want any of them on your doorstep or your precinct.”

“You have an uncanny way of putting things. Always have, Rhia. I knew better than to do this. I should have gone to Chicago with you.” Exasperation carried over the line. Rhia wanted to reassure him, but what could she say?

“You’re of more use to me in New York. Keeping your fingers on the pulse there.”

“But your father was killed there. I’m not sure I can be of much more help.”

“You are. Trust me.”

Together since diapers, they were inseparable at first. Their high-society parents had moved in the same wealthy circles and they went to school together. He was her first everything. To most, it seemed they’d end up together. Especially her.

Then he’d moved cross-country for college and time had a way of working like a wedge.

They’d stayed in contact over the years and met up for coffee a time or two when he returned home.

After hearing he made detective they’d tried to rekindle the romance over fine wine and a little dancing. But it’s true what’s said about long-distance love. It never works out.

And now fate had drawn them together once again. Having a foot in the blue-collar and white-collar worlds meant one forged ties that would make a politician envious. Lucky for her Adryan was a people person and kept his family’s ties strong. She had the best of both worlds in him, and it tore at her to use him like this, but she had little choice.

“You never could say no to me. I’m sorry I placed you in this predicament, but you know I had no choice.”

Adryan sighed a raspy reply. “You didn’t exactly ask for your father to be killed, sweetheart. I’m the one who is sorry. But you know at some point I’ll have to answer your brother’s. You know that, right? They will find you and they will come.”

He was probably right.

“It was either you help me or I found a way on my own.”

“You’re a dirty player. You can say what you will, but you know I’m right.”

“Right now they think I’m staying with a friend, grieving our father. Let them think that for a while longer.” She was grieving. Just in her own way. “I’ll just need to work faster.”

A long pause carried over the connection before her friend broke and forced a sigh. “What do you have?”

“I’m sending you several pictures. I found my father’s name on some paperwork and the word red beside his. And then there’s a set of initials. I think they stand for our company, but the name he’s associated with I don’t recognize.” She pulled the pages she’d torn from Haven’s books and stashed behind a bag of sugar on a top shelf as soon as she returned home. Albeit it wasn’t the smartest hiding spot, but she didn’t have a lot of time to consider her options with Maya and Indigo on the way over.

She set the flash and snapped pictures of each page. “I need to know who the names on these pages alongside my father’s belong to. I know you have some friends in high places here in Chicago who owe your family some favors. I’ll owe you big time if you can call in a few for me. Get some answers. I need to know. Those take precedence.”

She queued up the other pages she took pictures of in the office. “There’s a second batch. If Haven is dirty and working as a middle man or whatever, I don’t know, then maybe someone on those pages is dirty too and willing to spill what they know for some leniency from the authorities.” She hoped all that made sense. In her mind it did, but she didn’t know the law. What she did know was that a few of those names belonged to politicians and blackmail worked in all languages. If Adryan couldn’t do anything, she’d have to find a way to do it herself… if she didn’t find what she needed here.

“Sweetheart, you’re pulling some major risks. Do you think it’s worth all this?”

“I have to know why my father was killed. If I don’t do this, who will? My brothers? They’re too busy trying to save the company. Not many people want to deal with a business where the owner is murdered for suspicious reasons. And the cops? They have so many cases. What’s one more dead billionaire?” She paused and forced the tears from her voice. “And I need to know if he had anything to do with the missing containers.”

Adryan kept quiet.

She hit send. “You should have them now.”

“I’ll go over them, but I can’t make any promises in finding the answers you’re looking for.”

“Volkov doesn’t know I was in his office or that I took these. I hope they give us something.” She paused. “That reminds me.” She searched around under papers spread out over her dresser. “Hold on a second. I found a case file number I wanted you to check out. A cold missing person case.” She searched the inner pocket of her uniform. Dread dripped into her veins.

She’d dropped it.

Inside Sevastyan’s office or his hidden chamber, she didn’t know, but where else could it be?

If Adryan found out she’d been compromised he’d flip. “Never mind. I must not have written it down,” she lied.

Rhia eased her bedroom door open and checked on Maya, who stirred on the couch.

Closing the door quietly, Rhia eased out her window to stand on the fire escape, drinking in the early morning light. “If I find it again, I’ll send it through. I have to go now. I’ll call if I find anything else. You do the same.”

“Wait, Rhia.”

“Look, Adryan, you can’t protect me from this, so just find the information I need. I have to do this.” Monsters were real. They hid in plain sight and almost always were wolves in sheep’s clothing, and she had to find out if her father was one of them.