Page 51 of His Ruthless Match (Below #3)

EVA

I paced the kitchen restlessly while Jareth was in the shower. Grelth moved methodically around the kitchen and cleaned up the lunch things. He moved with such mechanical precision that I found myself oddly comforted by the rhythm of it.

I leaned against the counter. The words were there, pressing against my throat, but it took a moment to force them out. “You’re close with Jareth, right?” I asked tentatively.

Grelth’s ears twitched, but he continued wiping down the counter. “Master Grelth has known him long enough.”

I hesitated, then decided to hell with it and plunged ahead. “So, you know how... difficult he can be? He’s cocky, reckless, infuriating...” My voice trailed off as Grelth finally looked up, one eyebrow raised in his usual deadpan expression.

“And?” he prompted.

I huffed. “And maybe I’m starting to care about him. Which is ridiculous, right? He’s an assassin. I’m a lawyer. He lives in The Below, I live here. And my brother—” I stopped myself, shaking my head. The tangled mess of it all felt overwhelming, and saying it out loud wasn’t helping.

Resuming my pacing, I tried to untangle the knot of frustration in my chest. My voice grew sharper as I continued, as if reasoning it out could make it go away.

“Raffaele would lose his mind if he found out. Jareth would probably lose his job. And let’s not forget, I’m being targeted. This is not the time to... to...”

“Catch feelings?” Grelth supplied dryly, his tone impossibly neutral.

I groaned, flopping into one of the chairs. “You’ve been watching too much reality TV. But yes. Exactly. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.”

Grelth set down the cloth he was using and folded his arms, studying me with that unnerving gaze. “Master Grelth wonders... if it is such a disaster, why do you linger on it so?”

I blinked at him, caught off guard. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means,” Grelth said slowly, “that you do not strike Master Grelth as one who wastes time on impossibilities. Perhaps you should consider why this particular impossibility occupies your thoughts.”

The weight of his words landed harder than I expected, leaving me momentarily speechless. I stared at him, my mind racing in circles, but before I could respond, my phone buzzed. The sound cut through the tension like a knife, and I jumped to grab it.

Gabe: New videos of Genevieve. You need to see this.

“Shit,” I muttered as I clicked on the link. My stomach dropped as the first video loaded. The footage was grainy, clearly shot on someone’s phone in the middle of the night. It showed Genevieve stumbling through the streets of New York, slurring and laughing maniacally.

The next video was worse. She was yelling at a cab driver, her voice shrill and full of venom as she swung her purse around wildly. Her movements were erratic, her eyes glassy and unfocused.

None of it made sense.

“She’s been holed up in that hotel with guards outside her door,” I murmured to myself. “How the fuck did she get out?”

Jareth walked into the kitchen, rubbing a towel over his hair as he walked in, looking far too relaxed for my current state of panic.

“What’s going on?” he asked, his eyes flicking between me and Grelth.

I shoved my phone at him. “This.”

Jareth’s expression darkened with every second he watched. When he finally looked up, his jaw was tight, and his voice was low and dangerous. “Where the hell were the guards?”

“That’s what I’d like to know,” I snapped, pacing again. “Gabe says he can’t access the hotel’s security footage. It’s like it’s being deleted as soon as anything happens. Who the hell has that kind of access?”

Jareth set the phone down on the counter. “Someone with resources,” he said grimly.

“You think I don’t know that? This isn’t just about her reputation anymore. This is about her life now, Jareth. How do we get this under control?”

“You need more eyes on her,” Jareth said firmly. “If the hotel cameras are compromised, you install your own.”

“We can’t just waltz in and set up cameras inside her room,” I countered. “We’d need permission from the hotel management.”

Jareth gave me a pointed look. “It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but he wasn’t wrong, and we both knew it. Letting out a frustrated sigh, I crossed my arms. “Fine. But she’s already on edge. We’ll need to handle this delicately.”

His gaze softened, just enough to loosen the knot in my chest. “We will. This isn’t going to go away on its own, Eva. Whoever’s behind this isn’t going to stop until we make them.”

“Do magical beings even show up on video cameras? Or can they go undetected by technology?”

“Everything should show up on video surveillance. Even if they can make themselves invisible to human eyes, their magical essence will show up. Just like the glimmer we saw on the video of Genevieve outside the gas station.”

I nodded, my resolve hardening. “Then let’s do it.”

I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my contacts. My thumb hovered over Genevieve’s name for a moment before I pressed call. The dial tone buzzed in my ear, each ring ratcheting up my tension. Finally, a quiet, wary voice answered on the other end.

“Hello?” Genevieve sounded exhausted, her voice thin and strained.

I got straight to the point. “Genevieve, I’d like to install additional surveillance in your hotel room. Just as a precaution. Are you okay with that?”

There was a pause, long enough that I almost repeated myself. When she finally spoke, her words were tired, resigned. “Will it help?”

“It will give us a clearer picture of what’s going on,” I explained, keeping my tone calm but firm. “If anyone gets in or anything abnormal happens, we’ll know about it immediately.”

Another silence. Then she agreed. “Okay. Do whatever you need to do.”

Relief flickered through me. “Thank you. I’ll have Gabe head over with the equipment. He’ll be discreet.”

Jareth nudged me. “Tell her I’ll need to drop by for a separate installation.”

I looked at him quizzically, but relayed it to Genevieve.

She murmured an acknowledgement before hanging up.

I set my phone down and quickly fired off a text to Gabe with instructions to head to Genevieve’s hotel and install the surveillance gear.

As I hit send, I stood and grabbed my coat from the back of a chair.

“I’m going to head to Genevieve’s hotel. What is it that you need to install?”

“Vivian created some fancy-ass magical technology that creates wards and notifies you on your phone if those wards are breached. It allows you to flag safe creatures and only be notified when an unknown creature breaches the wards. She says it still has some kinks to work out, but she’s thrilled to help. Grelth’s going to pick it up for me.”

I took a deep breath. “That sounds… perfect, really. She blows my mind sometimes.”

“Yeah, she blows us all away.” Jareth pushed off the counter with a low grumble and grabbed his jacket. “I’m going with you to see Genevieve. Remember, wig.”

“Ugh.” I rolled my eyes but didn’t argue as I pulled my blonde wig into place.

The crisp air hit my face as we stepped outside.

It was refreshing and a welcome change from the stuffy weight of my thoughts.

Despite Jareth’s complaints about the city’s unique aroma, the walk did wonders for me.

I stuffed my hands into my pockets as I scanned the streets while we walked to the hotel.

The building was sleek and modern, exuding an air of quiet luxury. The doorman nodded politely as we entered, and I led the way to the elevator. Jareth stayed close, his presence steady and solid. It was both comforting and unnerving how natural it felt to have him there.

When we reached Genevieve’s suite, a guard nodded in our direction, as if absolutely nothing out of the norm had occurred.

“Have you noticed anything unusual with Genevieve?”

He shrugged. “No, she keeps to herself. It’s actually been the easiest assignment I’ve ever had.”

I crossed my arms. “Are you saying she hasn’t tried to sneak out? That you’d actually notice if she did?”

“Yes, ma’am. That’s correct.”

I glanced at Jareth. He shrugged.

When we entered the room, Gabe was already crouched by the window as he adjusted one of the cameras. He glanced up as we entered, giving a quick wave. “Almost done here,” he said.

Genevieve was perched on the sofa, wearing an oversized sweatshirt that swallowed her frame. Her pale face and red-rimmed eyes told me everything I needed to know. She looked like she might shatter if someone so much as breathed wrong.

I sat in the chair across from her. “Genevieve, I need to be honest with you. I’ve done everything I can to counteract the negative press and to find out who started this, but it’s not working, not when new press keeps coming out. I’m doing my best to figure out a solution, but…”

Her lips trembled, and she looked down at her hands, her voice barely audible.

“I’m so sorry. I never wanted any of this to happen.

I don’t even know what’s happening.” She took a shaky breath, her shoulders sagging.

“Everyone’s dropped me, Eva. My agent, my marketing deals—everything is falling apart.

Even the luxury perfume deal I had. It was supposed to last five years.

They terminated the contract yesterday.”

The pain in her voice cut deep, and I felt a pang of guilt for not being able to stop this sooner. “I’m so sorry,” I said softly. “You don’t deserve this.”

“The only contract that couldn’t be legally terminated is a movie production that’s due to begin soon here in NYC.

But I wouldn’t be surprised if they find a loophole and kick me out of that, too.

Who wants to watch a movie starring a fucking unhinged actress like me?

” Tears spilled down her cheeks, and she wiped them away with trembling hands.

“I don’t even remember leaving the hotel.

I don’t know how those videos exist. I feel like I’m losing my mind. ”