Page 32 of Ruthless Bonds

After a burning hot shower where I scrubbed every inch of my skin, I wrapped myself up in all my blankets and tried to fall asleep.

It felt impossible, my mind going over every single detail of the last twenty-four hours. Finally, when the sun was rising, I fell asleep. The last image in my head was of Kreos smirking, telling me to call him master.

*** ***

The rest of the weekend went by in a haze. I told Dove everything, from meeting Kreos six years ago and saving him, to Dylan stealing from me to help pay his gambling debt, to the dead body and the house exploding.

Dove reminded me she wasn’t a little kid anymore, and that I didn’t need to keep things from her. And she was right. The thing was, I’d been taking care of her since she was six years old, so it was hard to remember she wasn’t that little girl in pigtails anymore. She was a grown woman who was dealing with her ownshit, and I needed to stop trying to protect her from everything.

She felt terrible that Dylan had taken my money, and that we were now short on rent, especially since she couldn’t work, but I told her not to worry. Dylan was supposed to be bringing me back my money. And if he didn’t pull through, then I could still make more tips at the Altar. There was also the figure modeling in a few days. That would bring in an extra four hundred bucks.

I tried not to think about Kreos, but I couldn’t help it, so I did what any normal person would do and hid in my bathroom so I could google him. My heart was going crazy when all the results popped up. I didn’t know what to expect, but it wasn’t this good-guy façade all over the internet.

Publicly, he was completely legit—CEO of a prestigious financial firm, founder of a well-known import and export company, a philanthropist, and the owner of successful nightclubs and bars all over Manhattan.

There were tons of photos of him online at charity galas and business functions. He always looked impeccably dressed and wore that wolfish smile of his.

After searching for almost two hours, I came to find there was little to no personal information about him online. No talk about his criminal empire, no scandals—nothing. I found it beyond suspicious. Someone—probably Gavriil—had gone to great lengths to clean up his online presence. Which just left me with even more questions about the man who supposedly owned me now.

Saturday, we didn’t leave the house. I thought we were both afraid that a certain someone might be outthere waiting for us. I ended up searching for bus tickets to see how much it would cost if we needed to run, but quickly closed out the app and deleted my browsing history. God forbid Kreos found out.

I couldn’t help but think about the strange coin the dying man had given me. Should I have told Kreos? Maybe he would have known what it meant. On one side of the coin was what looked like two eagles holding a shield with something on it. On the other side were the words and the number eighteen twenty-two, with a vine pattern. My eyes blurred as I tried to figure out the tiny details, and I ended up tossing it back into my hiding spot.

On Sunday, I was tired of hiding inside and told Dove that was enough. We weren’t going to hide from this; we had nothing to be afraid of. And although I knew she didn’t want to, she did tag along with me so that I could take photos for the competition.

I usually took photos at night. I liked to use colored gels and small LED panels in the darkness to make everything look more surreal. But with everything that had happened, we settled on taking photos at an abandoned church just before sunset.

I’d spoken to Solene, who said the Altar’s roof was fixed, so I was going back to work. Thank God, because I needed the money.

By the time Monday morning came around, I was feeling a lot better. I hadn’t heard from Kreos or any of his cronies. It was like it hadn’t really happened.

Like it had all been a dream.

Well, more like a nightmare.

My good mood was quickly ruined when, at nine a.m., there was a knock on my door. Dread filledmy entire body at the persistent knocking, because whoever was on the other side wasn’t going to be anyone good. Unless it was that sweepstakes guy, which I doubted.

Sure enough, I swung the door open, and Agent Greene stood on the other side of the door, arm raised mid-knock.

“Morning, Alora.” She grinned.

“Agent Greene.” I didn’t return her smile, but I did my best not to scowl at her this time. “Kind of early for house calls, isn’t it?”

She scrunched up her face and checked her watch. “It’s nine. Don’t tell me you’re not a morning person?” She chuckled.

Everything about her irritated me, and I couldn’t figure out why. Mira would say it was because I didn’t trust anyone, especially the police.

But Agent Greene knew I worked the late shift at the Altar. So why did I have a feeling her showing up at nine a.m. was because she thought I’d be asleep and could catch Dove by herself?

A moment of silence passed between us, and she glanced over my shoulder. “Is Dove in?”

“She’s still asleep.” Actually, she was in the shower, but I didn’t want Agent Greene to know that. Then she might try to stick around. “Can I give her a message for you?”

“I could just come back another day.”

“Is that for her?” I nodded toward the thick white binder under her arm. No doubt the mugshots Dove was telling me about. “Mugshots, right? I can give it to her.”

“Oh, well, yes, but I really shouldn’t leave it here unattended. Government property.” She sucked in airthrough her teeth and looked down the hall.

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