Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
REON
My attention is directed at her as she rushes out of the bathroom. Her blue dress swaying as she goes.
Perfection.
Pity she doesn’t realize how faultless she is.
She will, in time.
She glances back once, and her gaze falls to my neck, where I’ve lifted a thin chain from inside my shirt. I know she sees what I put there, what I refuse to take off—her necklace. In truth, I took it from her that first night and slipped it into my pocket, and I’ve worn it ever since.
She shakes her head before she turns and continues her escape. She was put on this earth to torture me. To sway her sweet ass in dresses and kill me slowly as she does.
No knife to my chest is needed.
I simply need to watch her walk away.
That does it for me.
The door shuts behind her, and my view of her is cut off. My breathing returns to normal, and I hadn’t even realized it had increased while in her presence.
The door swings open once again, and my eyes are hungry, waiting for her to be on the other side.
“Reon.” She comes into view, but it isn’t the correct she. No, it’s Maya, and she looks pale in the face, slightly off balance. “Who is she?” she asks.
“Why would you assume I know her?”
“Because you hate people. And yet you willingly offered to walk her out. And you’re standing in the women’s bathroom she just left.”
“Maya.”
“Think of your next words carefully, Reon. Think very carefully. You can’t take back what you are about to say.
Do you want me to go to my brother and tell him about how we ended things?
” There she is, the secret part of Maya that she keeps hidden to present a perfectly manicured woman, not the selfish, spoiled brat everyone says she is.
I had heard the rumors, and now she is showing me.
She knows he would hunt Lilith down and remove her from the situation if it meant making his sister happy. They are close, very close. I find it odd, but that’s because I don’t have that type of relationship with my sister.
“This is new for you, Maya. Threatening me. Who knew you had it in you?”
“Who knew you had eyes for someone else?” she throws back.
“I don’t have eyes for someone else. I will have someone else.”
“I will have her removed.”
My jaw tics at her threat. And it takes everything in me not to step forward and wrap my hands around her throat and choke the air from her lungs.
I don’t play with anyone else but Caterpillar.
Maya is playing a dangerous game, and it’s not one I like. To threaten her is even worse than threatening me.
“You should try to make an effort with me, Reon. You haven’t been trying. And I have given you space, but it’s time you see what you have and start appreciating it.”
“And what do I have, Maya?”
She dares to smirk at me. “You have me.” She turns and glides out.
Stepping out after her, I find Soren waiting for me. When did he fucking arrive? He watches his sister walk off and then turns to pin me with a stern glare.
“You visit the ladies’ room often?”
“I don’t want to marry your sister,” I declare, realizing how desperate I have become for Lilith.
He tightens the hold he has on the glass in his hand. “You will marry Maya.”
It’s a foolish thing to go against the Lord. No matter how much money and influence I think I have—and it’s a hell of a lot—Soren holds a ten-fold level of power. And we both know it.
“I’d suggest you go and make up with Maya before I do something you will regret.”
He leaves without me saying another word, and I want to follow him. Instead, I walk straight to my car and go home. And when I get there, the first thing I do is open my computer, and I search for her…
I search for my caterpillar and come up empty.
* * *
A knock comes on my door the following day. When I open it, I find Maya standing there with a suitcase next to her. Her gaze roams my chest, and I remember I forgot to put on a shirt.
“Maya.” I don’t move from the door to let her in. Frankly, I don’t want her here.
“I’m moving in,” she says with excitement.
“Sorry, I misheard you. What did you just say?” My forehead scrunches in disbelief. What the fuck is actually happening?
“I have her other suitcase,” Soren announces as he comes up behind her. Maya turns to look at him, and I can already see the hard glare he is pointing my way. “Do you plan to let us in or block the door?”
I step to the side and let them both enter.
“Smart choice,” he says, pushing past me. “Maya, go to the car and collect the other bag. I want to speak business with Reon for a moment.” She nods and happily obeys him.
Once she’s gone, Soren shuts the door. Dressed in his black suit and ready for work, Soren embodies a business mogul.
He runs a media empire, and his presence exudes power and authority.
His stride across the room is purposeful, and it’s evident he commands respect from the confident set of his shoulders and the unwavering focus in his eyes.
His every movement is deliberate, and every gesture is calculated, getting ready to make the next strategic move in his relentless pursuit of success.
“Respect. It will be given to Maya.”
“Why, because you say so?” I ask, crossing my arms over my bare chest.
“Reon, I respect you. I do. It’s why I thought you would be the perfect match for my sister.
Do you think I would have given her to anyone?
” I say nothing. No, I don’t think anyone would have been good enough for her.
“You’ve been off for at least a year, Reon.
Off your game. Just off, period.” He shakes his head.
“People are noticing. You haven’t participated in a Hunt for a while. Why is that?”
The Hunt.
We are assigned a target and a set of instructions.
Then we hunt them and kill those who are chosen.
Sometimes in teams, sometimes as individuals.
It’s a game. The game is strategic, so it shows our loyalty to the Society and creates a bond—because killing someone with others creates a trust that can’t be broken.
Most of the people who have been killed are chosen because they’ve done the Society dirty in some way or another.
It is also about manipulation because when it comes to killing for game, if trust and loyalty are forgotten, blackmail will always win out for the Society.
“I’ll be at the next one.”
“You’ve missed both this year,” he states, clearly not impressed.
“I was busy.”
Soren shakes his head. “You and I are the same, Reon. We both crave the Hunts. They are exhilarating, and most of the time, we are the winners. Your absence has been noted…” He runs a hand through his hair. “Frankly, I’m tired of it.”
“I’ve been busy,” I repeat.
“Yes, so you said.”
“With your sister. Would you prefer me not to be with her?”
His jaw clenches at my words.
At first, I hated Soren. I think it all went to his head when he was chosen as the leader of the Society.
His great-grandfather was a leader, but then he lost it to someone else before Soren took over.
The thing is, while we are all powerful men, Soren and I hold the most weight, even though I am not second-in-command. I run the guns, and he owns the media.
The two of us being at odds is not what anyone would want. I believe it’s one of the reasons he paired me with his sister—to keep a careful eye on me, as the saying goes. Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.
“You know I want her happy,” Soren says.
“I don’t want your sister,” I tell him. “You can’t tell me you want her to be happy and then watch and encourage her to be with someone who doesn’t want her.”
“Try, Reon. You better fucking try with her. Or so help me God…” His expression hardens into a mask of stern determination, his jaw setting like concrete as he stares me down with an intensity that brokers no arguments.
I step toward Soren, my fierce and unyielding glare cutting into his. With my head held high, a sinister grin on my face, I lower my voice; my gravelly timbre is all the more intimidating. “The thing is, Soren, the others may be afraid of you, but my demons are bigger than yours.”
The door opens, and Maya steps in, carrying another bag. Her golden gaze flicks between Soren and me.
“Should we plan a dinner together…
for all of us?” she asks.
I turn and stalk straight to my bedroom and slam the door.
Fuck them.