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Chapter Eight
Day 14
“Not hungry?” Ryzen watched me closely as I moved food around my plate.
“Just a lot on my mind.” I scooped up a big piece of fish and shoved it in my mouth, smiling. The waiter refilled my glass of water and hurried off to another table.
I choked the food down and went back to picking at the vegetables on my plate. It had been a long few days. We were spending a lot of time together, and it was taking its toll on me mentally. There was a lot of resentment burning inside of me because of this man, and being in close proximity to him was becoming harder and harder.
“Your grandmother?”
I nodded, not looking at him. She was in the hospital with chest pains, and I worried that me going missing had something to do with it. Of course, when I talked to her on the phone, she swore it had nothing to do with me. She was actually ecstatic that I hadn’t gone through with the wedding. But if she had known the real reason why, it would be a completely different story.
I sighed, replaying the conversation over and over again in my head. All that mattered was that she was getting better. It was more of a false alarm, but they wanted to keep her there for a few days for observation.
The wire I had taped across my chest was making my skin itch, and I had to stop myself from scratching the area. Wearing the wire all the time around Ryzen was putting me in a constant state of panic. What if he could see? What if he tried to grab me and found it hidden underneath my clothes? I hated it, but it had to be worn.
“That’s a beautiful necklace.” He nodded at the onyx stone hanging around my neck. It was the necklace with the hidden camera, recording everything around us. “Where did you get it?”
I looked down at the necklace, heat flooding my cheeks. “Birthday present from Juliet last year.”
“It’s lovely. Goes perfect with your pale skin.” He eyed my breasts appreciatively and went back to eating his steak.
My skin, huh?“Thanks,” I mumbled and laid my fork down. “Have you talked to the insurance company? I haven’t heard back yet.”
He chewed his steak more aggressively, his shoulders tensing. I was beginning to see a pattern here. He did not like being questioned at all. Which was making it more difficult to get him to open up and trust me.
I placed my hand on his knee and squeezed. “Just eager to get the process started so we can get the Shiver Box up and running again,” I grinned, and he seemed to relax.
“I’m taking care of it.” He eyed my breasts again, his jaw working as he chewed.
Choke, choke, choke.“Jules and I are renting a small office space on the South Side in the meantime. We need to get our bearings and figure out how to get through this mess.”
“Is that so?” He raised his eyebrows, finally swallowing that wretched piece of meat. He already knew, but was pretending this was new information. Valik had taken Jules and I to meet the realtor yesterday to sign the lease, and I knew he was reporting back to Ryzen. I’d had Valik wait in the car because I wasn’t clear if the FBI or even Cian was going to be in there, but it was just the real estate agent. She was cold, unwelcoming, and I didn’t know if she was having a bad day or just hated her job. Either way, the conversation was quick and to the point, which was perfectly fine by us. It was definitely a terrible location, one that Ryzen would not want to come visit. Graffiti covered the outside of the building, and a group of men on the corner had looked awfully suspicious.
The office came furnished with scratched-up desks and tattered chairs. The real estate agent had pointed to a door with a stack of boxes in front of it and mentioned it led up to an apartment up top, but it was off limits. OK, so maybe she wasn’t working with the FBI.
“I could have given you an office on my floor, Nova.” He reached over and squeezed my hand. “So we could be closer.”
I had to stop my eyes from rolling to the back of my head. Had he always been like this? So fake and convincingly charming? No wonder I had believed every word out of his mouth before. The way he stroked my hand and smiled would have most women swooning.
“Thanks, Ryzen, but I don’t want to be a burden.” I tugged my hand from underneath his and went back to eating. The waiter filled up my wine glass, and I sipped it slowly, feeling eyes on me.
Was it Cian? Or the FBI? I turned my head casually and glanced around the room, but didn’t see anyone with a familiar face. Dessert came, and Ryzen spoon-fed me tiramisu while I did my best to appear as if he was the sun to my moon. To the outside world, I’m sure we looked like a couple madly in love. But if they only knew the truth…
He wiped chocolate from the side of my lips and then sucked on his finger, not taking his eyes off of me. Oh, boy, he was really laying it on, and had been the last two nights when I had stayed over at his penthouse.
It was the only way to stay close and keep an eye on him. When I had told him I felt frightened to sleep alone, he’d been more than eager to offer me a spot on the bed next to him. And when he wrapped his arm around my stomach and pulled me tight against him, I wanted to scream. To fight. To hurt. But I couldn’t do any of those things, and I knew it. I knew I had to play this part—scared, worried, needing the big muscular man to save me from the shadows in the night. I fucking hated it, but it had to be done. He had tried many times already to get me to sleep with him, but I had told him I was still too shaken up, that I wanted to take things slow so that we could do it right this time. Gag.
I scanned the restaurant again, the feeling of being watched intensifying. There was a man sitting at a table near the back, dressed in all black with his head down. We made eye contact, and he narrowed his eyes at me.
“Ryzen, there’s someone watching us,” I breathed and gripped his hand. He followed my gaze, his face reddening.
“Don’t worry about it, Nova. It’s nothing.” He yanked his hand out of mine and typed something into his phone.
I peeked over his shoulder, the man still sitting there openly staring at us. He didn’t look like any of the men in the pictures the FBI had shown me, but now was a good chance to bring it up again. “OK, whatever you say. I just… I googled that name, Kaviathin, and found a lot of scary information online.” I took a drink of my wine and leaned closer to Ryzen. “I think he’s in the Mafia,” I whispered.
Ryzen clenched his jaw and stuffed his phone back into his pocket. His eyes were dark when he looked at me, and a spike of fear raced down my spine at his expression. “Let the police handle it, Nova.” He wrapped his hand around the back of my neck and tugged me close. “Stop looking things up before you get yourself into trouble.” He kissed my forehead and released me.
