Page 40 of His Ruthless Match (Below #3)

EVA

M y phone pinged with a new email, and I snatched it off my desk, grateful for the distraction from the files I was scanning through for another case.

It was from Genevieve, forwarding the physician’s report from her visit yesterday.

I scanned through it quickly. MRI: normal.

Bloodwork: within range. Every test result came back clean.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, explained her behavior. It didn’t make sense.

I hit the call button next to Genevieve’s name. She answered on the first ring.

“Eva,” she said, her voice trembling with emotion. I could tell she was trying to put on a brave face, but she sounded awful. “Thank you for calling.”

“How are you holding up?”

Genevieve let out a shaky sigh. “I’m… I don’t know. I wish I could move to another hotel. I know you said to stay put, but I can’t stand it here.”

“What’s wrong with the hotel?”

“It’s a fucking rat,” she said. “This huge, disgusting rat keeps showing up in my room. And it’s always the same one! It looks like it’s been electrocuted and then got rabies.”

I chuckled at her description. “Genevieve, are you serious?”

“Dead serious,” she snapped. “I hate rodents, Eva. I need to get out of here.”

Was this another clue? Or was Genevieve starting to lose it? “Listen, you can’t move hotels right now. You need to stay out of the public eye for a while longer.”

“I can’t live like this,” she muttered. “I’m losing my mind.”

“I’ll call the front desk and make sure they send pest control to deal with it.”

“I’ve already complained,” she said weakly.

“Leave it to me,” I reassured her. “I’ll take care of it.”

Genevieve sniffled, and I could hear the exhaustion in her voice when she spoke again. “I just wish we could figure out what was going on so I could get back to my life.”

“I’ve got people working on it,” I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt. “We’ll get to the bottom of this.” Before she could press further, my call waiting beeped in my ear. “Genevieve, I’ve got another call coming in. I’ll check back with you soon, okay?”

“Okay. Thank you, Eva.”

I switched over to the incoming call. “Gabe,” I said. “What do you have for me?”

“Something weird,” he said immediately. Jareth stood in the corner, so I put Gabe on speakerphone. “I’ve been cross-referencing the social media posts with nearby security footage. One of the videos, the one of Genevieve outside the gas station? Something’s off. Really fucking off.”

I sat up straighter. “What do you mean by ‘off’?”

“The footage doesn’t look natural,” Gabe explained. “I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s like it’s been tampered with. I don’t know how, but something isn’t right.”

I frowned. “Tampered with how?”

“I’m not sure,” Gabe admitted. “But I’m sending you the videos now. Take a look and tell me if you see what I’m seeing.”

“Thanks, Gabe,” I said. “I’ll be in touch.”

I ended the call and opened my email, quickly downloading the footage Gabe had sent. Jareth wandered over, standing behind me as I clicked play. His presence was impossible to ignore—broad shoulders looming over me, the heat of his breath on the back of my neck. It distracted the hell out of me.

“Stop there,” Jareth said suddenly, pointing at the screen. “Go back.”

I rewound the footage and hit play again. “What am I looking for?”

“Her feet. Watch.”

I squinted at her feet. At first, I saw nothing, then I caught a tiny flash of light near Genevieve’s feet. Barely noticeable, but definitely there.

“What the hell?” I muttered, leaning closer to the screen. “What is that?”

Jareth straightened. “That was a spark of fucking magic.”

I laughed in disbelief. “Genevieve is not a magical being.”

“You sure about that?” he asked, his tone serious. “Because that flash says otherwise.”

Frustration boiled inside me. “Of course, I’m sure. The whole world knows her story—her family’s story. There have been documentaries, interviews, everything. She’s as human as they come.”

“Well, that didn’t look human to me. And need I remind you of the remnants of magic I picked up on in Genevieve’s hotel room? Something magic related is definitely afoot.”

I replayed the footage again and again. The flash was faint but undeniable. What could this mean? I’d hoped it would be anything but magic, that it would be something I could legally manhandle into cooperation, but this…

“So, this confirms it,” I said. “What we’re dealing with definitely goes beyond the human world. Right?”

Jareth nodded. “Seems that way.”

I drummed my nails on the desk. “This just keeps getting more complicated.”

“Agreed.” Jareth cracked his knuckles. “We need to get to the bottom of this, because a magical being targeting a human is not the fucking norm. It’s unheard of, really. I’ll reach out to some of my contacts to see if they’ve heard anything.”

Jareth trailed me as I stood from my desk and walked to the bathroom. Hopefully, he’d take the hint and give me a few minutes of privacy. But, of course, the man was like a shadow—persistent, unavoidable, and mildly infuriating.

I pushed open the bathroom door and, as expected, Jareth followed me right in. I stopped dead, turning to glare at him.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I demanded, hands on my hips.

Jareth didn’t miss a beat. “Quick sweep. Can’t be too careful.”

I groaned as he proceeded to check each stall with the efficiency of someone who was either very serious about security or just trying to annoy me. “You’re doing this on purpose.”

He gave me a grin that was as smug as it was charming. “Can you blame me? The ladies’ room has always been shrouded in mystery. I couldn’t resist.”

I crossed my arms, doing my best to suppress the urge to shove him out the door. “Very funny. Now get out.”

Jareth finished his so-called sweep, then bowed dramatically and gestured to the nearest stall. “The throne is all yours, princess.”

I glared at him until he finally stepped outside, shutting the door behind him. Grumbling to myself, I ducked into the stall to finally relieve myself.

Having a six-foot-something, impossibly good-looking bodyguard following me around was starting to get old. I knew Jareth was only doing his job. But the lack of privacy and constant hovering was grating on me.

I finished up and washed my hands, taking a deep breath to calm my simmering irritation. When I stepped out, I found Theo had cornered Jareth.

“Your skin is flawless. Seriously, what’s your regimen? You’re not exfoliating too much, are you? That’s a common mistake, especially for guys.”

Jareth looked alarmed. “I don’t know what exfoliating is,” he said slowly. “But it sounds awful.”

Theo let out a loud, dramatic laugh and swatted Jareth’s shoulder. “You’re too much! You’ve never heard of exfoliation? It’s life-changing. Truly.”

Jareth looked at me, silently begging to be rescued. I leaned against the wall, arms crossed, and watched the scene unfold. It was rare to see him so flustered, and I wasn’t about to waste the opportunity.

“If you ever need help figuring out what products to use, I’d be happy to give you a rundown of the basics. I could bring my stuff here, or you could come over.”

“Oh. No, thanks.” Jareth stood straighter and cleared his throat. “I think I’m good with an old-fashioned bar of soap. You know, the manly kind without essential oils and whatever the fuck else is in the kind of stuff Eva uses.”

Theo laughed again.

After letting Jareth suffer for a few more moments, I stepped in.

“Theo, I need to steal Jareth from you. I have to stop by the courthouse on the way home.” I held up a hand.

“Of course, if you two would like to continue your conversation about skincare, I really don’t need an escort. I’ll be fine.”

“No.” Jareth practically ran in my direction. “You’re not going anywhere without me.”

As we grabbed our jackets and headed out, I could feel Jareth’s glare. I turned to him with an innocent smile. “What?”

“You could’ve saved me sooner,” he muttered.

“Where’s the fun in that?”

We slipped on our wigs as we got to the door.

As we walked through the city, the late-afternoon sun cast long shadows over the streets, and the faint sound of honking taxis punctuated the steady hum of foot traffic.

Jareth walked slightly ahead, his stride lazy but purposeful, while I followed a step behind, scrolling through my phone to check for updates from Genevieve’s hotel.

We passed the library, its grand stone facade and towering windows standing out against the modern architecture around it. Jareth stopped abruptly, turning to look at the building with a gleam in his eyes that immediately put me on alert.

He waved lazily at the doors, his golden-brown eyes sparkling with mischief. “Need to pop in and grab some lady porn?”

I didn’t even dignify that with a response as I strode past him.

“Oh, come on,” he called after me, his voice laced with exaggerated innocence. “You’re not even going to deny it? I figured you’d be all about those steamy paperbacks with shirtless men and questionable plotlines.”

I pulled out my phone and started tapping out an email, hoping he’d take the hint. He didn’t.

Jareth jogged a few steps to catch up with me, falling into step beside me again. “You know, they probably have audiobooks now. Save you some time.”

I let out a long-suffering sigh, but I had to work real hard to keep from smiling. “Do you ever shut up?”

“Not when I’m right. And I’m definitely right about this. You strike me as a woman who appreciates a good, smutty plot twist.”

“You’re insufferable.”

“Thank you,” he said with a mock bow, clearly pleased with himself. “So, what exactly are we doing at the courthouse today? It wasn’t on your schedule.”

“I need to pick up some transcripts from another case I’ve been working on for months,” I explained. “Tomorrow is the final hearing, and I want to review something I brought up last time.”

“Couldn’t a paralegal have done that for you?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.