Chapter Thirteen
Liam
After spending a few days running surveillance on every one of Ravi’s friends, known associates, and even a classmate who texted about borrowing his macroeconomics notes, I’m coming up empty on his location.
Sunday morning I scoped out the diner where he and his friends like to have brunch, but for the first time since he started going, he wasn’t there. Perhaps he knew I’d be looking for him.
I’ll get him eventually. Finding people is what I do. It’s the not knowing that’s making my head hurt.
Like a fucking addict, I keep going back to that email Bev hasn’t managed to pin down.
Letting it fuel my terror and my rage. Soothing myself by plotting the death of a faceless stranger.
The idea that someone out there is seeing Ravi as theirs, as some sort of possession or plaything, has me sharpening my knives every night as the vague threat eats at me from the inside.
Isn’t that how you see him?
I bat away the image of his smooth, firm ass, heated by my handprints.
It’s completely different.
Are you sure?
“Fuck yes,” I growl to myself. “It’s completely different. I’m trying to protect him. It’s different because…” Fuck it. My conscience has never gotten me anywhere good, so I tell it to take a fucking hike.
The hour is late when I pull up to Shadow.
When Daniel Corvus first arrived in town looking to set up shop, I did some digging into him and found almost nothing.
No criminal record. No education. Not even much of a credit history.
Whoever he is, someone who’s deliberately erased their own past is bad news.
Until now, I’ve never had a real reason to deal with him.
The black-painted door to the club is guarded by a man bigger than my refrigerator and about the same shape.
In spite of his tuxedo and slicked-back hair, he’s got the posture of someone who expects to get into a fight at any moment.
While I see no outward signs of incarceration, no obvious prison tattoos, my money is on ex-con.
If my theory about Daniel being a criminal is right?
Well, birds of a feather and everything.
Showing my little-used membership card does nothing to make him move.
“I’m here to talk to Mr. Corvus,” I tell Gigantor when he throws his arm across the door.
“He’s busy. VIPs only tonight.”
“How would you know he’s busy?”
There’s a little earpiece in his ear. This place probably has cameras everywhere. It’s possible someone’s already recognized me and has given my presence a big thumbs-down. Still, playing dumb works more often than you’d think.
“He’s always busy. Mr. Corvus has a lot of responsibilities.”
It only takes a brief scan of the overhang above the doorway to spot the small black dome that more than likely encases a camera. Hopefully it has a microphone as well.
Giving the camera a little wave, I say, “Please tell Mr. Corvus if he’s too busy to see me, then the next person he’s going to see is whichever member of the local SWAT team holds the battering ram, because I’m about to call in a suspected hostage situation.
He’s got the whereabouts of someone important to me, and I’ve launched missiles at a building for less. ”
Big Man only grins. “I’d like to see you try.”
In spite of his dismissal, a moment later, he puts his finger to his earpiece.
“Mr. Corvus will see you now,” he says, making a growling noise under his breath.
Now I’m the one grinning. This is the first good news I’ve had in days. “Thank you. I had a feeling he might.”
Big Guy throws me a murderous look before turning to open the door. “Stay behind me and don’t talk to any of the other members.”
As if I’d want to. Tonight, I’m here about Ravi. “Anything you say, Big Guy.”
When I’m led to a private room where the man in question is sitting in a high-backed chair like it’s a throne and being serviced by a lanky young man with dirty blond hair who’s kneeling between his feet, I’m curious. Is Corvus trying to make me uncomfortable, or is he simply multitasking?
For that matter, how old is this kid? He looks about Ravi’s age, but with the practiced and performative movements of someone who’s been selling themselves for a long time. Christ almighty.
“Told you he was busy,” the bouncer says. He ushers me into the room with a wave of his arm, unable to make eye contact with anyone as he excuses himself to return to his post.
Well, if Daniel’s thinking seeing another man get his dick sucked will get me flustered, he doesn’t know much.
“Liam Masters. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“From where I’m standing, the pleasure’s not on my account at all.”
Daniel chuckles. Looking down at the young man between his knees, he runs a hand through that shaggy blond hair with an almost fond look on his face before quietly pulling out of the young man and zipping himself up. “Take a break, sweetheart,” he murmurs. “Grab a drink. We’ll finish this later.”
Now that I get a better look, the kid—boy?
Young man?—looks maybe a little older than Ravi.
He’s skinny, but on the taller side, without the lean definition Ravi’s worked hard to pack on this last year.
Wearing nothing but a tiny pair of shorts similar to the ones Ravi wore the night I caught him crawling through his window and a pair of boots that could have come from my closet.
He bows to me and then Daniel before slipping out and closing the door behind him.
“Sorry to interrupt your important business matters,” I say without any kind of sincerity.
Mr. Corvus has a lot of responsibilities, my scarred ass.
“For a man who’s seen the world, Mr. Masters, there’s a lot you don’t know. Some people need regular sexual stimulation. It’s air. It’s food.”
Give me a fucking break. “You’re telling me a man of your age can’t survive without getting your dick sucked?”
Not that I’m entirely sure of the man’s age given the sparse information out there, but local records list his date of birth as being a few years before mine. That he looks several years younger than I do is one more reason I’d like to stab him.
Daniel scoffs at my jab. “Of course I can. I meant the boy. I’m sure you know how…passionate and enthusiastic they can be at that age.”
I rub at the sudden throb in my temples. “Jesus Beverly Christ. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me right now.”
Whatever. If Daniel Corvus wants to use his club as a thinly veiled excuse to fuck barely legal young men, it’s not my problem. The boy could use fewer blow jobs and more sandwiches if you ask me, but nobody did.
So long as one of those young men isn’t mine.
“Where is he?”
Daniel’s eyebrows go up.
“Don’t act like you don’t fucking know who I’m talking about. Ravi Novak. Where. Is. He?”
The smug bastard clasps his hands behind his back. “What gives you the impression I have any idea?”
“He’s not at home where he belongs. I’ve checked out everyone else he knows, including Brennan fucking Doyle.
He’s not with any of them. Word’s out that the auction is being held here.
Right now he’s an asset to you, and you don’t seem like the sort of man who would let a million dollars wander around freely when there are threats against him. ”
Suspicion crosses Daniel’s face. “How do you know there are threats against him?”
“How do you know?” I’m assuming he hasn’t read Ravi’s emails. And if he has, I’ve got a lot more questions.
“Tell me,” Corvus says with his jaw tight.
Leaning against the door behind me, I cross my arms over my chest. “Show me yours and I’ll show you mine.”
Daniel Corvus stands, having the actual audacity to glance suggestively at my crotch. “I believe I’ve already shown you mine.”
“Fucking hell you’re an asshole.” My hand goes to my gun holster.
Corvus makes a discouraging noise. “Careful, Mr. Masters. Discharging a firearm in here would be extremely dangerous.” He seats himself back on his throne, looking unconcerned in spite of his warning.
A glance up shows me another camera, tucked away in the corner and barely visible. Something tells me security is already on their way.
“Someone sent him an email.” I hold up Ravi’s phone. “It’s vague, but the proprietary tone gives me the creeps.”
Corvus nods. “We’ve had a few attempts at preemptive bids, including one person who approached Ravi himself at Mercer Oak’s last cocktail gathering. In addition, there have been a few anonymous messages demanding we shut the entire thing down. Frankly, I wondered if those might be from you.”
“Wouldn’t be me. If I have a problem with someone, I let them know directly.”
He nods. “Clearly. Well. Rich men get astonishingly turned on by a bargain. Perhaps that’s all the notes have been about—not wanting the auction to drive up what they’d have to pay to have him.
I see an equally great likelihood that someone out there—” He gives me a pointed look.
“—aside from you feels an unreasonable level of ownership over Ravi and doesn’t want anyone else getting him. ”
“I don’t feel—”
He cuts off my protest with a wave of his hand. “Let’s not waste each other’s time here, Masters. Yes, Ravi is under my protection until the auction. No, I’m not releasing his whereabouts. Not even to you.”
Fuck if I’ll tell Corvus he’s right. I do feel an unreasonable level of ownership. And his refusal to tell me where Ravi is, what the kid might be doing… Jesus Christ, who he might be doing it with. I need to fucking pummel something.
There’s a frustrated growl building in my throat. “This is completely fucked. Ravi’s not savvy about how the world works. He makes these impulsive, reckless decisions. I guarantee he has no idea how dangerous this is. I need to let him know about these threats.”
“Do you?”
My fingers clench tight around Ravi’s phone before I force myself to shove it back into my pocket. “What the hell kind of question is that?”