Page 41

SYDNEY

Less than fifteen minutes had passed by the time I reached Kaito’s estate. I knew going in the front entrance would be a no go, so I parked AJ’s car on the street behind it, where most deliveries entered.

I glanced up and down the street as I killed the engine and turned off the lights. No one to be seen. I needed to work quickly, before news of his death reached here.

I got out of the car and jogged over to the side entrance, keeping my head down as much as possible so any security cameras wouldn’t be able to get a good look at my face.

I pushed on the gate, and it didn’t budge.

“Of course,” I said as I looked around.

There were trees planted along the wall, and one in particular looked strong enough for me to climb and get over the wall.

I hurried over to it, testing the branches as I put my weight on the first one. It sagged a bit, but overall, it would hold me up. I carefully climbed upward until I was even with the top of the wall, and then I slipped a leg over, straddling it.

I peered around the grounds of the estate. It was calm, not a soul in sight. The rain must be keeping any guards under cover.

I swung my other leg over the wall and dropped, landing with a thud on the damp ground.

I dashed over to the side of a large outbuilding.

I needed to stay in the shadows as much as possible.

I snuck as fast as I could past a few more sheds and what appeared to be a second living quarters on my way to the main house at the center of the property.

They had designed this place similar to a palace. It was no wonder people treated him as if he were royalty. He practically was with this amount of wealth, and with money came power.

He could have used that power to do good for the people, not try to ruin them with fear.

That was all over now. Kaito would never cause terror to people less fortunate than him. No longer would he be crushing the souls of hard working families, doing their best to get by. He wouldn’t be extorting people for their money, their properties, or their lives.

And hopefully, no one would take his place, and we would all be left in peace.

I crept up to the side of the large home.

There could be no mistake that this was Kaito’s house.

I saw a fully tinted black Mercedes-Benz AMG S65 parked in the driveway.

There was also a guard at the front door, but he looked to be asleep.

Time to see where else I could sneak in.

I wanted to avoid a confrontation if possible.

After a few minutes, I came to the back door. I expected it to be locked, but surprisingly, I twisted the knob, and the door popped open.

Finally. Now I just have to figure out where he kept his documents.

I remembered Raven telling us about the house after one of the first times she had come here, so I knew he had an office somewhere. I was betting that was the place he would likely keep them.

But if I thought it would be easy to find my way around this home, I was sorely mistaken. The minutes ticked by as I went from room to room, finding multiple spaces large enough to hold events to small bedrooms that could only be for a staff member to sleep in.

Which was another thing I found odd. The place was empty. I hadn’t heard a single voice or sound other than my feet gliding across the floor as I did my best to stay quiet and undetected. I thought I would be hiding in rooms from bodyguards or people who worked here, but the place was a ghost town.

Eventually, the hallway I was in led to a four-way intersection. One side opened into a room with large stairs leading to a second floor; another opened up into what appeared to be a large indoor Zen garden.

That was when I heard it. The sound of a sake bottle being opened.

I moved as quietly as I could over to the opening of the Zen garden. There were large pots of bamboo at the entrance, so I took cover behind one as I peered inside the room.

A man was sitting in a chair at the edge.

He wore a red-and-white striped suit, white leather shoes, and white gloves covered his hands, completing the look.

He was pouring a glass of chilled sake on a small table next to the chair.

He set the sake bottle back into an ice bucket, next to a fedora hat on the table.

He piqued my interest because, while he was sitting in an enormous room, his presence made it feel small. It made me uneasy, watching him as he took a sip. His eyes had an eerie red sheen to them.

Maybe I should get out of here and keep looking for Kaito’s office.

But right as I was about to turn around and make my way back, another man entered the room. One I had seen before.

I gasped silently as the butler-looking man I had bumped into at the fight ring the day Raven disappeared walked over to the man in the chair.

What the fuck? Why is he here?

I couldn’t leave now. If I did, the butler would see me backing out since he was facing in this direction. So, I stayed still and did the only thing I could do. Listen to the conversation unfolding in front of me.

“It’s been handled, sir,” the butler said.

The man in the striped suit took another drink as the smirk on his lips grew.

The butler nodded. “The car is packed and ready whenever you’d like to go.”

The man in the striped suit held his cup up toward the garden, almost like he was giving a toast, before taking one last drink, emptying his sake glass. Then he handed the butler his glass before he stood up. He reached down, grabbed the fedora, and placed it on his head.

“One last thing, and then we’ll leave,” the man said as he turned in my direction.

His butler nodded as the man walked toward me.

I quickly dipped back into the corner, hiding in the bamboo's shadow as best as I could.

He passed by, and when I glanced behind me, I saw the butler had busied himself with cleaning up the drinkware left behind. It was my chance to follow without being seen. I stayed close to the wall as the man in the striped suit moved through the mansion like it was his own.

Every step he took was sharp, certain, like he’d done this a hundred times before. He didn’t look around. He didn’t need to. It was like he knew exactly where he was going.

He moved fast down the long hallway, shoes making almost no sound on the marble floor.

I stayed a few steps behind, careful to stay as quiet as possible.

He didn’t stop to admire anything—not the huge paintings or the gold-framed mirrors that decorated the walls, not even the expensive furniture.

His focus was locked on wherever his destination was.

We entered the grand entrance of the house.

The staircase loomed in front of us, wide and modern, with each step illuminated by light.

He hit the first step without slowing down, climbing two at a time.

I waited until he was halfway up before I followed, breathing shallow, praying he wouldn’t glance back.

At the top, the hallway stretched out again. One side was lined with windows, spilling in warm light from the lamps outside. The other side was filled with closed doors, each one shut tight, keeping whatever they held inside hidden.

He didn’t hesitate up here either, didn’t even glance out the windows. Just kept up a steady pace as he strode down the hallway.

I pressed deeper into the shadows between each window, my palms sweaty against the wall. One wrong move, and I would be screwed.

He came to a stop next to a set of large double doors. These weren’t the same doors we had passed along the way; they were made to withstand some serious beating. And they were locked by an electronic pad on the wall next to them.

The man walked up to the keypad. Smirking, he punched in the numbers, deliberate and methodical.

Three. Eight. Six. Eight. One.

I repeated the combination in my head over and over as the door mechanism clicked, and he placed a hand on the handle.

“There you go,” he said as he shoved the door open.

My heart pounded.

Did he know I was here? Did he hear me walking behind him? I thought I was so careful. Maybe he was simply talking out loud? God, snap out of it. You’re just being paranoid.

He didn’t say anything else and disappeared inside the room. I waited as I heard him shuffling through things. The sound of something heavy being set down. More buttons being pressed. Another click.

A few minutes later, he reemerged.

“Let’s put some plans into action,” he said as he slipped an envelope into his vest’s inner pocket. He held out a key on his finger and twirled it to land inside his palm.

With that, he smirked, and I could swear he glanced right at my hiding spot before he walked back down the hallway where he had come from.

I held my breath, listening to see if he or anyone else would come back down, but it was silent.

I heard a car start up outside the window across from me, and I walked over to it, peering outside.

The two men were standing next to the black car that I’d seen parked out front, the butler getting into the driver’s seat as the man in the striped suit stood by the open passenger door.

He looked up at the house and smiled. There was no way he could see me, but it felt like he was staring straight into my very soul.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and my heart pounded.

But just like that, he slid into the passenger seat, and closed the door, and they drove off toward the front gate and out of my sight.

I hope I never see that man again. There is something about him that makes me want to crawl out of my skin.

I shook it off and turned, directing my attention back to the door with the keypad. I walked over to it and punched in the numbers I’d seen him do.

“Three, eight, six, eight, one,” I counted out loud as I pushed each button.

A click, and the lock unlatched. I twisted the knob and pushed the door open.