Page 38

“Excuse me?” Arkane asked, his brow rising further.

“I need to wash my hands.” I flushed.

Arkane gave me a bizarre look before he waved a hand to Mikhail, who produced a bottle of water, and Arkane did what I asked. I was sure no one in his life had ever made an unusual request to a man like him. Who in their right mind ever would? But apparently, I had a death wish when it came to testing his resolve.

It was only when I scrubbed my hands clean that I felt like myself again and nodded thanks to Arkane. Thankfully, he didn’t say a word as he held the car door open for me, and I got in, grateful for the warm leather seats and the tinted windows. It was like my very own private hideaway from the city’s darkness.

Sometimes I wondered if it all started after that night, or maybe if I was always like this. Even before that night, I didn’t like people touching me or my things, but after that day, it only escalated. It made me want to tear my skin away at a stranger’s touch. It was the one thing that I never got over. I recalled my time in the Valerian mountain, training among my peers. The urge to burn my skin haunted me so much that every night, I spent at least thirty minutes scrubbing my hands till they were raw and bleeding.

“Did you throw away the dress I gave you as well?” Arkane asked dryly as our car sped through the streets. I didn’t know where he was taking me, and I didn’t question it either.

“No, I didn’t,” I muttered. “It’s not everyone.”

“So I am an exception?” he quipped, his upper lip curling.

“Oddly, yes,” I said, seeing him watching me intently. “You, my sisters, Shouma-kun and Sensi.” I weirdly never got the uneasy feeling with them, maybe because I felt like I knew that, on the inside, their heart was good. It was stupid of me to think that way about Arkane as well, but his presence only brought me calm, and for some reason, I didn’t think it would ever change, even if his intentions toward me weren’t honest or if he left me forever. I felt a kind of closeness to him that I hadn’t felt for any other man, and I chose to cling to that comfort rather than shying away from it for logical reasons. “Do you think I’m weird?” I jested with a smile, trying to break the awkwardness in the air.

“Not at all.” There was no underlying sarcasm in his voice, only a rare softness in his deep eyes. “Nothing about you is typical, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

A smile spread across my lips. No one had blindly understood me the way he did, without a question, without a reason. How rare was it to find someone like that in our lives?

“So she does smile for me.” A slight grin tugged at the corner of his lips, and I shook my head, shifting my gaze to the window.

“I’ve always been like that, but I think it’s this extreme because I was touched once when I didn’t want to, kissed once when I didn’t want to,” I said in a low whisper after a long minute, my eyes staying focused on the blurring skyscrapers covered in dark, plump clouds. I didn’t dare look at his face. I never said that out loud. Those who knew just knew, and my sisters and I never talked about it. We all lost something that night, though I never let it have power over me. The same couldn’t be said for my sisters.

They still had nightmares that they never woke up from.

“Is it one of the five men who killed your family?” Arkane asked in a tone that made the air inside the car thick and biting cold.

“Mm-hmm.” I nodded, rubbing my arms back and forth.

Right at that moment, our car drove straight into the basement parking of a building that I didn’t recognize. There wasn’t a single soul in sight. From the unpainted walls and the scaffolding still in place, I could tell this building was brand new.

Arkane let me borrow his coat as he ushered me into the service elevator, leaving Mikhail behind. I huddled closer, feeling the warmth of his expensive coat that still carried his spicy scent. Would he be mad if I never gave it back to him? He probably wouldn’t even care, with the money he had.

“I thought you were treating me to dinner at some fancy restaurant, Arkane. Are you going to murder me here?” I asked dryly, not even caring if it was true since I followed him blindly, just as the elevator landed on the twenty-ninth floor.

Arkane gave me a look over his shoulder. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

The entire floor was unoccupied, like an unfinished office space with its industrial-type ceilings and rough concrete floor. Every step we took echoed through the walls like a loud whisper on a cold night.

“Why did you bring me here?” My brows knotted as I threaded further into the wide-open space that had full-length windows instead of walls. It was only when I reached them that I noticed the building was adjacent to Stormhold Tech HQ.

“Told you I would help you with the HQ,” Arkane murmured, gesturing to the table that was set up with camera monitors, showing the inside of an empty meeting room along with plenty of takeout boxes that smelled delicious.

I crashed into the chair, sighing in relief that I didn’t have to tail Timothy Walters, not that it was any use anymore with the change of plans. I had no doubt that he was lying about tonight. But what about?

“Did you know about the Rose Ellen Hotel?” I asked. “I’m sure you have eyes on the White Hand.”

“No, it’s news to me. Which is why I want to check it out tonight.”

I nodded, my hands to my mouth as a tired yawn slipped out of me.

“When was the last time you slept?” Arkane frowned at me while he handed me a bottle of water.

“Thanks,” I muttered, sighing as I drank the entire thing and sank back into a comfortable position. My back was still complaining about being stuck on a tree branch in the chilling cold for the past couple of days. “About forty-seven hours ago,” I answered him.

“Very specific,” he said. “Help yourself. I didn’t know what you liked, so I ordered a lot.” He waved a hand toward the cartons.