SHADOW
I stepped out of the bathroom in a towel and found Califf sitting in the corner with his phone.
“Why are you still here?”
“I’m coming to Italy with you.”
“Don’t trust me much?”
He lifted his gaze from the screen of his phone and swallowed to see me still in the towel. “I trust you, but I wanna be involved with your plan. I want to help. Until now, our tracks of finding Elder Aciano just went cold, and his mate loses her mind whenever she hears nothing but bad news from Duke.”
“Yeah.” I felt terrible, but my abilities were not like they used to be, making me less useful. “I have a feeling what happened to me and to Aciano were done by the same people.” I put a shirt and jeans on and grabbed my jacket. Then I remembered something. “Where did you put my knives?”
His lips spread into a full-blown smile. “You know who reminds me of?”
I arched a brow. “Who?”
“Black widow.”
I rolled my eyes. “I wish I was at least ten percent as good as her. My knives, Califf.”
“She’s a fictional character, my love, and you are real.” He pointed at the drawer.” In there.”
I tied my boots and pulled the drawer. I slipped my knives into my boots. “Let’s go. What did Zarah say?”
“I just sent her a text. Zack is coming with us.” He rose from his seat.
I looked at his ass as I followed him out. He locked the door and caught me ogling at his rear.
“If you like my ass, feel free to touch it. I won’t charge you.”
“You could always pull off and look nice even if you wear a burlap sack.” I hid my smile.
“And you look hot in that getup but more irresistible naked.”
“Shut up.” Just as I finished my words, Zack appeared in the hallway. I guess he told him through the pack link, which I missed very much.
The portal appeared.
“See you in Italy, Alpha.” I walked into the living room of my father’s castle, and no one was there. I called Zarah. “Where are you?”
“Meet me outside your father’s office.”
“Okay.”
Califf and Zack arrived.
“I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?”
“Zarah is waiting at Sebastien’s office. Go get some drinks.” I ran towards the hallway.
“You look different.” Zarah was waiting, wearing an unimpressive look on her face.
“This is what every human looks like.”
“What do you want from me?”
“Can you make a tracker or something?”
“Oh, Goddess.” She rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me Califf is cheating on you.”
“Of course not. We may have different opinions lately, and I’ve been under a dry spell for over a month, but I don’t think cheating is one of our issues. We are still monogamous.”
“He will never do that.”
“Just do it. I need it now.”
She slipped her hand in the pocket of her pants. “Demanding while I’m doing it for free.”
“I love you. And you never asked for payments.”
“Here.”
I stared at the nickel in shock. “I asked for a-”
“Tracker. Yes. Slip it into someone’s pocket if you want to track them. There you go. It’s not suspicious than an Airtag.”
“Thanks.” I took it hesitantly. “Then how do I track him? Her?”
“You’re planning something dangerous, Shadow. What is it?”
“I’ll tell you once it’s done.”
“I’m not gonna like it, and don’t piss off your father.”
“I won’t. Trust me on this, okay?”
“Whatever.”
“Thanks.” I ran away from her, and I could feel her shaking her head behind me.
The universe seemed to be in my favor tonight. Despite having cameras everywhere in the palace, I knew how to avoid some of them.
At the back, a heavy steel door was always locked and guarded. Only my father and the guard had the keys.
“You shouldn’t be here, Luna Shadow,” said the guard, the big, tall black man.
“I wanna see the human prisoner.”
“That’s not a good idea, and you don’t have the authority. I didn’t receive a message from the Alpha King for your visit.”
“I was just with my father. He disagreed at first, but I managed to convince him. If you don’t believe me, go ahead and ask him yourself. He’s in his office, and see what he tells you because you didn’t believe what I said to you.”
He didn’t budge.
Oh, shit.
I breathed deeply and struck him on his jaw, catching him off guard. Before he could hit back, I did a carotid slap. He fell to the ground.
With my heart hammering in my chest, I grabbed the key from his pocket and unlocked the door. I sprinted downstairs and found at least ten jail cells with thick iron bars. In the corner, a man was sitting on the floor.
“Hey.” I kicked the bars. “You were the one who spiked my drinks, weren’t you?”
“I didn’t do it.” He got up slowly, and he smelled horrible. He had dried blood on his broken nose. His face was unrecognizable, full of bruises. He was human if he hadn’t healed for days down here or he got beaten every day.
“Then who did?”
“I have no idea. I swear. I’ve been trying to convince him. The man with a long hair. He was the boss, right?”
“Yes.”
“I sat on the stool trying to get some drinks there, but no one believed me.”
“Your accent is American. You’re in Italy in a high-end nightclub alone. Why should I believe you?”
“It’s not a crime to be an American in Italy. I just wanted to get some drinks and maybe take a girl to my hotel room.”
“Where’s your hotel room?”
“At Kings. Why? I’d been here for days and booked only for two days.” He was lying, but that was the whole point. I wanted him to trust me.
“Do you know how long you’ve been here?”
“It’s hard to track time when I don’t see sunlight. I only see four corners of this cell.”
“You wanna get out of here? You have to tell me something. Who paid you?”
“I swear to you-”
“I don’t believe a shit. Just give me something concrete, and I swear I will open this door and let you escape.”
“Why would you do that?” Hopes sparked in his eyes.
“Because I want to prove to myself that you’re innocent, and I didn’t die, did I? I’m giving you a chance, but you have to leave Italy immediately before they will come and find you, and if the guard wakes up soon, you will never get the chance to get out of here. Maybe you can get out of here but as dead. And they would ban me from coming down. I actually sneaked out to come here. I knocked down the guard.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“After what you did to me, do you think I don’t want to kill you? I think about a million ways to kill you slowly, but somehow, I convince myself that you’re innocent.”
“I didn’t do it. You have to believe me. You can find me if I lie. I just wanna go home.”
I stared at him for a while as if reading his thoughts. “Don’t make me do this.”
“Please, I just get out of here. I’m innocent. I swear to you.” Wasn’t that what every guilty person would say?
“Gah!” I threw my hands in the air with a little exaggeration. “I’m gonna be so dead for this.” I blew a shaky breath and fumbled to find the key to his cell. I made it look convincing, shaking my hands a little.
“Come on, come on, come on.”
“Just shut up. Let me find it.” After the third attempt, I found it. I opened the cell and looked at his clothes. “You can’t escape with that, and you don’t have shoes.” I locked back the door. “Follow me.”
The guard was still unconscious.
“Take off his shoes and shirt.”
While he was busy, I grabbed the nickel and slipped it into my jacket. He was fast for an innocent and had been beaten many times. He was already done wearing the guard’s shirt and shoes.
I took off my jacket and offered it to him. “Wear this jacket so you won’t look like homeless.”
“I don’t have money and my passport. I don’t know where it is.”
“I’m sure you will figure it out, but I can give you money.” I pulled out some cash and my card holder. I showed him hesitation. “Fine. Here’s my card, but it has limits. Once you get home, cut it. Can I trust you?”
“Yes.” He nodded.
I also gave him the cash. “Now get out.”
“Where should I go?” He looked around. “This place is huge.”
“Shit. Cover your face. Follow me.” I sidestepped to dodge the cameras stalled outside the building and on the posts. I knew they would eventually catch me because my plan was flawed from the start.
“Then what?”
I looked at the wall around ten feet. “Can you climb up? There’s no barbwire.”
“I don’t know. My body hurts.”
“For someone whose life depends on his escape, you’re not so eager.”
“Are you kidding me?” He widened his eyes at me. “My heart is pumping so fast right now. My body shakes.”
“You know what. We’ll just walk to the gate. Most of them don’t know you’re here. And they won’t stop me. Just act like we’re friends or something.”
“That’s not a good idea.” He hesitated.
“If you have ideas, please, now is the time.”
He wavered for a second, but we were running out of time. “Fine. Let’s go.”
We walked side by side out of the lawn towards the gate.
“Relax.”
“How can I? My body hurts. My face is swollen. My nose is broken, and I’m escaping. I feel like someone is pointing a gun behind my head.”
“Well, that’s what you got from trying to kill the daughter of the billionaire.”
“Your father is a billionaire?” he asked in shock. Either he was dumb or playing to be dumb. I bet the latter.
“A secret billionaire, but yes.”
We finally reached the gate, and now we had to deal with the security guard about why I had a man who was not Califf.
“Ma’am,” the first guard said. They knew how to be discreet with our true nature.
“Let him out.”
“May I-”
I stopped the second guard. “Just let him go. I paid him to fuck me. Now I’m done, and maybe I went a little too far when he did with his tongue.” I shrugged off. Jeez. I would never be good at lying. I glared when they didn’t move. “Do you have any problem with that?”
They shook their head and opened the gate.
“Now go! You should practice more on a papaya!” I was still yelling, even if he was already gone. “And apply some ice on your face!”
The guards stopped laughing when I faced them. “What’s so funny?”
I got back to the house, to the living room. I stopped dead in my tracks when all eyes were pinned on me- my father, Zarah, Zack, and Califf.
“Hey, guys. What’s up?” Then, the guard, still rubbing his jaw with a new shirt and shoes, was standing behind my father. “You didn’t fire him, did you?”
“You better have a damn good reason for doing what you did, daughter.”