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She searched my face to see if I was lying. “It’s just a Halloween costume?”
“Yes,” Thora piped in and grabbed Sophie by the hand. “Go get Valik and then lunch. We’ll see you in an hour.” She patted her on the back and guided her to the stairwell.
As soon as Sophie closed the door, I let out a shaky breath. “Holy shit, what the hell is this, guys?” I reached my hand closer to the box, but stopped at Valik’s voice.
“No,” he boomed. “Don’t touch anything.” He slammed the door and came closer to inspect the box. “This looks like actual blood, Nova.”
My pulse quickened at the worry in his voice. Who would send this to me? Why the hell would someone do that? I swallowed the lump in my throat. Was it some kind of sick joke? Maybe Piper was pissed I had slammed her against the car yesterday. It couldn’t be from Ryzen. Could it?
“Stop that.” Juliet came over and put her hands on my shoulders. “I can already see the crazy wheels spinning in your eyes, Nova. It’s probably a joke. A sick one, but a joke.”
That didn’t make me feel any better. But if there was one thing I had learned about people, it was that some of them really sucked and most of them, at least the internet trolls, lacked empathy.
“I’m calling Delove.” Valik pulled out his phone and pressed some buttons. “Nobody touches anything, just in case.”
I sat down and rested my head in my hands, focusing on my breathing. It had been a while since I had felt this type of panic coursing through my body. Months of hard work of reeling in my anxiety was about to be blown to smithereens if I didn’t get my breathing in check. I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath in, exhaling through my nose. “I need to call Cian.”
“On it.” Juliet pulled out her phone and spoke briefly before coming to kneel in front of me.
Having him close by would make me feel better. I couldn’t let this get to me, especially without knowing exactly what “it” was.
Valik came back into the room, a crease in his forehead. “Delove said to not touch anything. He’s on his way.” He walked over and stared down at the dress inside, clenching his fists.
After what felt like an eternity, loud footsteps pounded up the stairwell and the door flew open. Cian’s eyes darkened when he saw the open box, and I rushed into his arms. It was better this way. Safe, nestled close to his body where nobody could hurt me.
“It’s OK, Nova. I’m here.” He gripped me to him, practically choking all the air out of my lungs, but I didn’t care. “Don’t be afraid.” He stroked up and down my back before pulling back slightly and searching my face. “I’ll never let anyone hurt you. You know that, right?”
I bit my bottom lip and nodded. The assurance in his voice was enough to calm me down, and I relaxed into his grip. He had made that promise to me a million times, and I knew he meant it each and every time. I could tell he was holding back now; the rage was practically seeping out of every bone in his body even though he tried to mask it with a comforting smile.
It wasn’t long before Delove showed up, looking pristine as always in his pressed suit and neatly combed hair. I wondered if he ever let loose or if his idea of fun was a puzzle and beer on a Saturday night.
“Cian.” Delove shook his hand and then gripped mine. “Nova, good to see you. Not under this circumstance, of course.” He patted me on the shoulder, and I had to stop myself from jerking my arm backwards. It wasn’t like I hated him, per se, more that I had been blown away by his and Agent Dobbs’ incompetence over the past few months. First, they’d forced me into this bullshit situation where I had to get evidence Ryzen was working with the Mafia. And when I actually gave it to them, they’d either lost it or said it wasn’t good enough. To top it all off, Ryzen had fucking escaped. Escaped! So no, I wasn’t exactly thrilled to come face to face with Delove after all these months.
“I have a forensics team right behind me. Is this it?” Delove pointed at the box and pulled out a pair of latex gloves.
We all took a collective step forward as he poked around the box with a pen. I covered my mouth with my hand as he pulled out a red envelope with my name written across it in big black ink.
“Oh, my God,” I let out a shuddering breath, and Cian pressed his chest to my back.
“Open it,” Cian grumbled, his grip tightening on me.
Delove looked over my shoulder at Cian, a look in his eyes I couldn’t decipher. He didn’t want to, I could tell. Was it because he knew it was from Ryzen?
No. Stop.I shook my head to stop the horrible thoughts piling up in my brain. Ryzen wouldn’t dare. He wouldn’t risk being so reckless.
Delove cleared his throat and pulled out the letter. He unfolded it and scanned the page. It was so quiet in the office as we all held our breaths, you could hear a pin drop. Juliet came to stand next to me and held up her fingers in our secret code, the code we used to tell each other that everything was going to be OK no matter what. I tried to smile back at her, but couldn’t bear to. Not while we still didn’t know what the letter said.
Cian stepped forward and stood next to Delove, who turned the letter partially so he could read it. Cian’s eyes darkened; his jaw clenched as his eyes moved from left to right. “Fuck,” he muttered under his breath, dragging his hand over his mouth.
Delove huffed, his entire body tense. “It’s from Goodacre.”
My eyes squeezed shut at the mention of his name. I had thought we were going to finally be able to move on. But apparently Ryzen had other plans.
“Tell me,” I whispered. “Cian, tell me what it says.”
He looked at me then, like he absolutely did not want to read what was in that letter. His eyes said it all. They were practically begging me to turn around and ignore everything that had just happened. But I wouldn’t. Because I wasn’t a victim, and I would not let Ryzen Goodacre control me anymore. That was what the letter stood for. Control. Fear.
Delove held up the letter so that I could see, and nausea rolled through my entire body as I read it line by line.
