Chapter Three
Four days and tiresome nights later Rhia lay awake in bed watching the blades of her ceiling fan twirl but did nothing to help the small window unit beat back the suffocating heat. She closed her eyes. A wave of fatigue set in and nearly flattened her to the sticky sheets of her bed. Sleep came in fragments and fractured between nightmares of a mysterious man that lurked in the shadows and the kings.
After their one night together, they’d stayed until she drifted to sleep in Roman’s arms. When she woke the next afternoon, she found two things. Her body impossibly sore. Simply rolling over in bed taxed her muscles. And her apartment devoid of Sevastyan, Lucian, and Matteo.
And when she didn’t wrestle with her sheets for a few peaceful moments of sleep, she was at Roman’s wicked mercy. His heated touches, possessive kisses, and long nights of savoring her body were bliss and torture rolled together. Because while she craved his attention, the haunting fact she’d not progressed an inch in finding her answers scared off any chance of closing her eyes in peace.
Up until then, the other three had kept their distance as far as visiting her here, leaving her under Roman’s protection.
In fact, from sundown to sunup she had a gorgeous and very watchful Roman-sized shadow glued to her side and it didn’t look like the scenario would be changing any time soon. Unless she stepped up and put a stop to it. The only time she had a break was within Haven’s walls and then her bodyguards came in the form of her other bosses.
There had been no further incidents that should cause any of the kings to worry about her. And the reason the unknown criminals had busted her apartment up in the first place had been secured. She’d waited until Roman took a call on the small terrace off the living room and snatched the papers from behind the sugar. Five minutes later they were tucked away in a place no one would find.
She stood and eyed the time. Tonight was the last night she put up with pushy men and their demands.
Anger curled her fists. Why she put up with it this long drove the spikes of fury deeper and forced a huff of frustration from her. She’d grown soft, compliant to their wishes, ignoring her own, was the issue.
And addicted to Roman while the Russian had worked a spell over her.
Tonight the magic or whatever they used to control her stopped. Like right this very second.
Indigo had grown distant, and she couldn’t help but feel her change in status within the club had something to do with that fact. Another problem she needed to fix. Despite her attempts to talk to her, Indigo did little more than find an excuse to leave the room every time Rhia entered. What was she supposed to think?
Which brought her back to the crux of her problem. The kings. Her hurricane of anger would be pointed directly at the tall Russian who thought she needed a shadow. The problem with that was one: her shadow prevented her from doing anything that got her closer to getting answers for her father’s death. Two: Roman was damn good at his job. To the point that sneaking out her fourth-story window and pulling a Houdini back into Sevastyan’s office was a no-go.
Using the rickety fire escape that creaked and moaned wouldn’t work nor would the front door. Shaking him off had been impossible. Reality didn’t agree with her desperation to be free. In truth, it felt like Roman would forever be glued to her ass as long as Sevastyan saw fit. And Roman didn’t seem to mind the position.
She threw her legs over the side and let the silence of the evening settle over her. Her gaze lit on her closed door.
So silent in fact could the impossible have happened? Careful not to bump into the small table pushed up beside her bed, Rhia toed around the clunky chunk of wood with a drawer and eased the door open. Had she slept in? Night made a fast descent and masked a large portion of the living room and gave away the late hour.
She eased back in her room and headed for the closet, a plan taking root that would have her bodyguard free in less than two hours. From a limited selection, she picked her clothing for the evening that would go with a pair of flats. Her ankles were killing her and she’d learned from past mistakes. The last time she tried to do a recon mission in Sevastyan’s office, her heels damn near got her caught.
She needed more evidence on her father and the men. Tonight, she’d get what she came for and be done with this whole charade. Leave this town—and kings—behind for good before it was too late. But she’d need help pulling off looking at Sevastyan’s books again and thought of Maya. She could keep an eye out for her while they made their rounds on the main floor. She would feign a sprained ankle or something if one of the men insisted she walk with them like the last few nights. But that would require Rhia bringing Maya in on the truth, which had its own problems. Lesser of two evils would come into play here, and it had Rhia’s insides twined around knot after knot.
Another thought loaded a boulder’s worth of weight to her dipping shoulders. No one knew where Maya was. Not Indigo, nor a few of the hostesses she’d questioned when Sevastyan didn’t monopolize all her time. No one. She couldn’t get the thought of those bruises out of her mind.
Stories of the missing women from the club ran through her mind and no amount of denial pushed the possibilities of such a thing happening to her friend far from her thoughts. And the containers, her father, Bjorn? All the details swirled in her mind.
Rhia paused halfway through pulling her outfit together and spreading it out on her bed and picked up her phone. She sent out a rapid text, the hundredth over the last four days, and still nada. While she had a moment she also sent off a quick text to all three of her brothers.
All good here. I should be home within forty-eight hours.
She hit send. There. That should keep her ass to the fire to get this wrapped up. Her brothers would hold her to that timeframe. The longer she was around her men the more she got wrapped up in the mystery surrounding them. And the more she thought of them as hers which was a bad idea from the start. Her phone pinged in rapid succession.
Shoot over your flight and time of arrival. Her oldest brother, Loren, took his role seriously and thought smiling was a weakness.
About time, baby sis! Alonso popped up next. Her younger brother’s message made her smile. He was the exact opposite of Loren and the jokester of the three.
Finally! It will be good to have you back home. Don’t have us waiting long. Adryan is a good friend.
Clever with words and always to the point. Rhia shook her head at Zavier’s message. As the middle brother he sat somewhere between the two and had been the easiest to talk to growing up. He always brought her ice cream when a boy broke her heart.
She hit replay. Thanks for understanding. Will do. followed by a heart emoji and she didn’t touch the Adryan comment for fear of falling into that well-placed trap. Nice try though.
To her right Rhia caught a shadow pass through the light coming in from the crack at the bottom of her door, signaling Roman had finally decided he’d pampered himself long enough.
Her door swung open and bright blue eyes met hers. “Bathroom’s all yours, beautiful. Another five minutes and I was about to wake you up the hard way.” He stroked his hardening shaft forcing her to shake her head.