Page 36 of The Sins That Bleed

Psychic Sidekick

RAI

I don’t see Valeska for nearly a week, and the only reason I know she is okay is through Nico, who got an update from Sunny.

I’m itching to see her, but my texts and calls remain unanswered, and no amount of waiting near or knocking on the doors of her apartment bring her to me.

I’m worried about her.

I can’t explain it, this ache in my chest, crawling under my skin and gnawing at my soul to find her, go to her. It’s tugging me toward her, but every time I follow it, she’s not there, and now I’m starting to think she’s avoiding me on purpose.

Nico and I are back at work following up on the details we were given by the men we’d already arrested, and who are back on the mend since their strange encounter.

We’ve been escorted to work every day by some of Valeska’s security detail.

One of them I recognise as the woman who was on the doors the first night we turned up at the tower.

All week my mind has been spinning on the thoughts of what or who did that to them, and I come back to the same conclusion every time.

Valeska.

It’s the only thing that makes sense, since I’ve felt haunted from the very first day I met her.

Okay, that’s a lie, since I definitely met those red eyes before that, here in this office and in my dreams. I want to ask her about it, confront her and demand she tell me if that’s how she got injured that night.

The dates match up and with how quickly those guys sang, and she’s the only person with the ability to make them. It makes me want to go back to their cells and do some damage of my own when I find out which one impaled her. I’ll break all the bones in their body.

I’m not a violent man, even though I’m built like a brick house and could easily fight my way out of a situation, but I’ve always preferred to talk them down. I work out so much as a way to channel my stress, guilt, and pain from losing my sister. It’s the same reason I like to clean and organise.

“Are you listening, Rai?” Nico speaks loudly in my office where we’re sat, making me jump.

“Sorry, Nico, I got lost in my head for a minute. What were you saying?”

I shake my head to clear it so I can give him my full attention, but I’ve been struggling all week, unable to focus on anything but this situation I’ve found myself in and the aching connection I have with Valeska that won’t be satisfied until I’ve seen her or touched her.

“I was talking about the case, but it doesn’t matter.

It’s Friday and the day’s nearly over. I can see you’ve been struggling all week to focus, so why don’t we wrap it up here and head back?

We’ve got tactical looking into the next sting; they’re planning how we interrupt the next shipment, so I think we’re good. ”

He gives me a gentle smile that tells me he’s worried about me, and guilt consumes me. Guilty for not being present this week, for dragging him into this mess, and for my sole focus not being on these people or trying to find my sister.

All my thoughts are consumed by my girl.

“Don’t, Rai.” My eyebrows shoot up in surprise as I see his face transform into sadness, sadness for me . “Don’t guilt trip yourself, you’ve been through it this past week, and none of it has been in your control which I know you hate. So, let’s go back to Lady V’s and relax, yeah?”

I let out a heavy sigh, thankful that he knows me so well and doesn’t make me feel worse for being a shit partner and friend right now.

He’s barely seen Sunny, which is odd. She’s using the excuse of work for both her and Valeska, that things have been going wrong or staff called in sick so they needed to cover.

I’m not sure I buy it, though. It’s starting to feel like they’re avoiding us.

“You’re right, Nico, you and your psychic ways always are.” I lock my computer and stand from the chair, stretching my arms above my head and hearing my bones click.

“Fuck, you’re getting old, princess. You’re one stretch away from a slipped disc!” He laughs around the words and it makes me chuckle.

“You’re not wrong about that, every time I stand up I think this is the time I’ll need a walking stick.” It makes him laugh harder.

I feel better already at the thought of not being so far away from Valeska, the tugging sensation beneath my bones easing as though it senses where I’m headed. Nico stands and helps me tidy up my desk, putting the files away.

We grab our jackets hanging by the door, ready to head out into the chilly fall air that makes you want to drink hot chocolate and eat everything laced with pumpkin. We make our way across the department floor toward the elevators, neither of us needing to talk to fill the silence.

Nico hits the call button and turns to me while we wait for it to come to our floor.

“Fancy a hot chocolate and a pastry when we get back? My fridge got restocked, and the premade cinnamon swirl pastry kits were in there. I swear those two, or whoever is stocking the fridges, can read minds. I swear I was thinking about them only the other day.”

He shakes his head, but I gasp and my mouth hangs open. It takes him a moment before he looks at me and catches me gaping at him. I don’t believe it—I mentioned that his psychic ways were always right moments ago, and here he is proving the theory.

“What is it, princess? Just noticed how gorgeous I am and suddenly you’re into the idea of dating me?” He throws me a salacious wink but I can’t respond.

My mind is whirling. I snap my mouth closed and decide that once we’ve had our food and drink, I’m hunting Valeska down and asking her about it.

Fuck giving her space.

“You’re freaking me out, Nico.” He looks confused, hurt even, and I quickly add, “I swear to you I was thinking about how nice a hot chocolate and a pastry covered in cinnamon would be before you said it.”

His face transforms into one where he’s thinking. I can tell by the way he scrunches his nose up and I wait for him to respond. I can hear the elevator coming up to our floor, but still he says nothing and I can’t help but watch him.

The elevator announces its arrival with a ding and the door slides open.

Nico moves towards it without saying anything and the anticipation is killing me.

I’m about to ask him what’s going on in his head when my boss walks out of the elevator and nearly into Nico.

My arm snakes out, catching his shoulder as I hold him back and stop him from walking straight into the man.

“Nico, Rai, you both heading off for the weekend?” he looks up at us since he’s about two heads shorter than we are.

I study his rounded face lined with wrinkles that are a split between age and all the things he’s seen in this job.

I want to smash it in until it’s concaved and unrecognisable, beat him until his skin turns black-and-blue.

I want to cut out his tongue and make him choke on his own blood for touching what is mine.

The violence takes over me so viscerally that I see nothing but him. it’s Nico’s turn to hold me back, which he does by stepping in front of me and taking the attention off me. I must look like a raging bull about to strike.

“Hey, boss, good to see you before we head out. we’re going to get rested up and prepare for the next stage of this case. You heading out to your lake house this weekend and doing some fishing?”

Nico moves strategically so that my boss is now turned away from me and walking towards the office floor. I take a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart and forcing my white-knuckled fists to remain locked at my sides.

“Yeah, going to head up there with Suzy and make a weekend of it. she’s got a new pie recipe she wants to try out and I want to get the last catch of the season before it starts to freeze over.”

The further he moves away from me, the more I can relax, the elevator doors start to close and I shoot out my arm to catch the doors, moving to stand in between them to stop it from going anywhere.

I’m tempted to get in and let it take me down, leaving Nico here to distract him, but I’m not that harsh.

“That sounds wonderful, boss, we hope you have a good time, and say hello to Suzy from us, won’t you? I hope the pie turns out well and you get a good catch. see you next week.”

Nico’s near me and elbows me in the ribs. I cough and force out a, “Yeah, have a great one, boss.”

The words are sour on my tongue and I want to wash my mouth out with bleach. The lying, cheating scumbag grins at us with a little wave and walks away. Nico all but drags me backward into the elevator and punches the button for the garage and the one to close the doors.

We don’t speak the whole way down; there’s a camera in here with sound and neither of us are stupid enough to talk about it.

We step out when it reaches the bottom floor, walking in silence to his car.

we don’t say anything until we’ve driven halfway across town toward Valeska’s. Tailed by her security team.

“What the fuck was that, Rai? Since when did you want to murder our boss in broad daylight?” He’s mad, and I can’t say I blame him since he doesn’t know what I do.

I don’t want to tell him. How do you explain walking in on your boss licking and sucking at the leg of a vampire, of the woman you are so entwined with that nothing makes sense anymore? She’s not mine but I want her to be, I don’t want anyone putting their fucking hands on her.

“Fucking tell me, Rai! I know you have a good reason, but if you keep this from me I’m going to explode.” He gestures at me wildly with his hands.

“Okay, okay, I’ll tell you, but please pay attention to the road.” He listens to me and goes back to watching the road instead of trying to look at me. “You’ll probably think I’m overreacting.”

His grip tightens on the wheel and I take that as a sign to spill. “I caught him with Valeska in her office.”

“Okay, Rai, that could have been for any number of reasons, they could have been talking about a business idea for all we know.”

I turn toward him as much as the seatbelt allows.

“He was on his fucking knees, Nico! I saw him kissing, licking, and sucking at her fucking legs! Worshipping her like she was a saint made only for him when she’s mine !

” I’m breathing heavily, hands braced on the seat and dashboard like it’s my lifeline, reliving the moment in my mind that has tormented me since I caught them—and everything that happened after it.

I’m thrown forward when Nico slams on the breaks at a red light. We weren’t going fast but the harshness of it throws me, luckily my seatbelt locks and holds me in place but it’s going to leave a bruise.

“Ow, that hurt.” I rub at my chest, but Nico is staring at me.

I study his face. I know this information is shocking but he’d never normally react like this. He looks terrified. We continue to stare at each other without saying anything and it’s only when the car behind us honks obnoxiously at us to indicate the green light that we move again.

He rolls forward and we continue on our way to Latrotoxin tower. After a moment he finally speaks to me. “I saw it happen, Rai, I thought it was a weird dream but I saw it. I’ve seen it all, everything that has happened up until this point and…other things.”

“What? Why didn’t you say anything?” I’m hurt that he didn’t tell me, but I quickly let it go. I’ve not exactly been the most approachable recently and I’ve kept secrets of my own.

“I’ve been seeing this stuff for eleven years, Rai. I did the maths the other day. They started the same day your sister went missing.”