Chapter 9 – Lev
It had been five days since the incident, and she'd been silent, too afraid to make any funny moves. She could’ve gone to the police to report what she witnessed, but my stern warning must still linger on the fringes of her mind.
She hadn't reached out to me, and I hadn't done so either. No phone calls, no texts, nothing. I figured she needed some time to process the whole situation, and I didn't want to overwhelm her more than she already was.
Ravyn was in so much shock that she hadn't left the apartment she rented barely a day after the incident. I couldn't understand why she didn't just run back home to her parents instead of renting a place for herself in the city.
Perhaps she did that to avoid the temptation of spilling the beans. Whatever the case, it was a wise decision because now I could watch her every move. I had hidden cameras planted outside her new apartment to keep me updated on her activities.
Naturally, she shouldn't be alive after what she saw. One of the rules of the game was that there should be no eyewitnesses. Whoever saw us being the gruesome men that we were should be eliminated on the spot; that was the law.
However, regardless of how ruthless I was, I never killed women and children. These two categories were off-limits. If a man had stumbled on me carrying out such activity, he would never have left the mansion alive.
Andrey would have shot him in the leg to cripple him until I decided on what to do with him. No loose ends! That was how we operated.
Ravyn should’ve called me first rather than popping up unannounced. That was a dumb move, and I hated that she was silly enough to pull a stunt like that. She was a smart woman, and she should have known better. Now, look at the mess she'd created.
My fingers drummed a slow rhythm on the armrest as I sat in the silence of my office, a faint veil of smoke swirling around my chiseled features. Lost in thought, I dragged on the stick of a Cuban cigar smoldered between my lips, the soft crackle filling the air.
In the dimly lit office space, I leaned back in my chair, gently rocking sideways, shrouded in smoke. I pondered what to do next. I hadn't considered how to best handle the situation, and it was gnawing at me.
I installed those cameras outside her new residence to ensure that she wouldn't do anything stupid. It didn't matter who she was or how I felt about her; in the end, people would always do what was best for them.
I'd put the fear of God in her, but at the same time, I wasn't going to just sit back and expect her to do as she was instructed. The fact that she was afraid was the reason she still needed to be watched. People could do the unthinkable when they were afraid, and that was why, in this situation, I couldn't trust that her fear would keep her in check.
Underestimating what she was capable of would be folly on my part, and I wasn't going to do that. Ravyn had proven to be an intelligent woman, and right now, I had no idea what was running through her mind.
My inability to understand her thoughts was a clear indication that I was in the dark about her plans. She might have been silent, but knowing her, she was definitely cooking something up.
However, to play it safe, I spent most of my time watching the live feed from her apartment. She hadn't had any visitors since she moved in, hadn't left the house for one day, and all she ate was pizza.
The delivery man often came around the house twice daily, by 11 AM and 6 PM.
Dressed in his uniform—a red polo shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and a red hat on his head—he would always knock three times on her door. On the third knock, Ravyn would step out onto the porch and accept the delivery.
The exchange of cash and goods never exceeded a few seconds before she'd get back in the house and shut the door behind her.
This was the pattern, day after day, repeating the same routine over and over. For this entire time, she'd been surviving on pizza, and a part of me felt sorry for her. This version of Ravyn was a stark contrast to the fiery woman I grew fond of.
She was reserved, silent, and maybe subdued by the fear I'd inflicted in her. It seemed like it was better that way, like she was finally starting to understand her place. But why did her silent compliance feel wrong?
I didn't know her too well, but she didn't strike me as one who would so easily accept defeat. Her silence may or may not mean that she'd chosen to comply. What if she had something up her sleeve? It was strange that she hadn't gone anywhere, hadn't been visited by anyone except for the delivery man.
Why did she choose to eat only pizza? Why only twice a day?
My eyes narrowed as I absently rubbed my jaw, a number of thoughts tugging at my mind. I watched the live footage of her apartment on the screen flickering on my mahogany table.
The same delivery man arrived at her doorstep at exactly 6 PM. He knocked three times, and she answered on the third knock. Ravyn paid him in cash, accepted the box, and receded into the house.
I squinted, leaning toward my laptop, suspicion creeping into my gaze. Something was off; I could feel it. My brows furrowed, faint creases forming between them as I peered closely at the screen.
With fingers rattling across the keyboard, the keys clanked rapidly as I rewound the tape. The images blurred together in a mad rush, replaying the events in fast motion. A sharp, high-pitched whine emitted from the speakers, filling the air as the footage reversed.
I paused the tape, eyes narrowing as I studied the images, comparing them to those from the previous days.
Wait a minute. That's not right, I thought, scrutinizing the feed playing on my screen.
The more I flipped through multiple days’ recordings, the more the pattern solidified, momentarily stealing my breath. From my observation, the feed had been the same since the second day she moved into the apartment.
Everything was identical, down to the most minute details. The time it took the delivery man to reach her porch was always the same—not a second longer or shorter. The brief exchange between him and Ravyn was also the same for each day's footage. Same body language, same movements, same timeframe.
A faint scowl settled on my face as I realized she'd been messing with me this whole time. She knew that I was watching her, so she decided to play smart. I wasn't sure how she did it, but somehow, she had managed to set up the camera to play the same recording every day.
“Clever girl,” I muttered under my breath, raising an eyebrow to mirror my astonishment.
I knew her silence, her so-called compliance, wasn't to be trusted. She was up to no good, and as impressed as I was by her ability to fool me, I couldn't risk her doing something stupid.
Without a moment of hesitation, I picked up my phone off the table and dialed Maxim's number.
“Boss,” he answered.
Maxim was the man I had put in charge of watching Ravyn's apartment. He and a few other men were tasked with reporting to me should she try anything funny.
“Check the apartment. Now,” I ordered, my voice dripping with urgency as I got out of my chair, heading toward the door.
I left the office at a fast pace, my mind filled with thoughts of what Ravyn was up to. Deep down, I knew what had happened, but I was yet to believe it until I saw it with my own eyes.
The drive to her place didn't take so long, considering how busy my head was. I pulled over outside her apartment and headed inside to find my men standing in the cozy living room.
They bowed slightly in reverence as I stepped forward, my sharp eyes scanning the room.
“Boss.” Maxim's deep voice drew my attention to the stairs where he stood. “You might wanna come see this.”
My jaw clenched, knowing exactly what I was going to find as he led me upstairs to her room. We stepped inside, and my fingers balled into fists the moment my eyes settled on the cleared-out wardrobe and the empty hangers. All her clothes were gone.
The floor was a little dusty, a testament to the fact that no one had been here in a while. My jaw tightened, the scowl on my face deepening as I strolled to the open window on the east side of the building. This was a blind spot that the camera would never have captured. She must have known that, hence the reason she used it as an escape route rather than the front door.
This was premeditated.
She'd been planning it for a while—that was the only logical explanation for how she pulled it off so effortlessly. Ravyn had been gone for at least two days, and I’d had no idea because I hadn't realized the feed had been tampered with.
My blood boiled, anger simmering beneath the surface as I stared out the window, my chest heaving slowly. In silence, I seethed, tightening my fists until my hands trembled.
She’d slipped through my fingers!
She’d outsmarted me!
Rage surged through my whole body, a lone vein straining along my forehead as I struggled to keep my anger in check. However, I lost that fight and gave in to the fury that had overwhelmed me.
Like a ravaging beast, I let out a savage growl, slamming my fist into the wall with a deafening thud. A spiderweb of cracks radiated outward from the impact site, the sound of splintering plaster echoing through the air.
Ravyn had just made an enemy out of me, and now she'd forced me to see her as one. Since the plan was to run away from me, tracking her father's house would be useless because that was the last place she'd go. She must have relocated to a place she knew that I wasn't going to be able to reach her.
Running away from me was one thing; staying hidden for so long was an entirely different thing altogether.
Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but I would eventually find her, and when I did, she would regret her actions.