The next morning, Raina found herself staring out the tinted window of her car as Malik drove through the city.
Normally she used the drive to answer emails, review schedules, or prepare for whatever eting awaited her. Today she couldn’t focus on any of it.
The photographs sat inside her handbag.
She could practically feel them there.
Burning.
Waiting.
The image of the empty mountain clearing refused to leave her mind.
Neither did the rabbit mask.
Neither did the words.
I was there that night.
Every ti she replayed the conversation in her head, she arrived at the sa conclusion.
The man knew too much.
Far too much.
Which was exactly why she had called Tengu.
If anyone could tell her whether Bunny Head was bluffing, it would be him.
As Malik drove through a crowded intersection, her phone vibrated.
A ssage.
Malcolm.
Her stomach tightened.
We need to talk.
A second ssage appeared almost imdiately.
Call . It’s important.
Raina stared at the screen for several seconds before locking the phone and slipping it back into her purse.
Not now.
Whatever Malcolm wanted could wait.
Right now she had bigger problems.
Unfortunately, ignoring the ssage didn’t stop her thoughts from drifting toward him.
Malcolm already knew enough to destroy her life.
Now Bunny Head apparently knew even more.
The realization made her stomach twist.
Too many people were learning things they were never supposed to know.
The AGRESSA tower rose above the surrounding buildings like a monunt to money and influence. By the ti Malik pulled into the underground parking garage, it was a few minutes past ten.
"I’ll wait here, Miss Raina," Malik said.
Raina nodded before stepping out.
The elevator carried her upward in silence.
A minute later the doors opened with a soft chi.
The hallway beyond was empty.
She already knew which suite he would be staying in.
Tengu always used the sa apartnt whenever he ca into town.
So habits never changed.
She knocked once.
The door opened almost imdiately.
Tengu stood there with a glass in one hand and an expression that suggested she had interrupted absolutely nothing important.
"Raina."
A faintly sarcastic smile appeared on his face.
"Always a pleasure."
"I sohow doubt that."
"You should."
He stepped aside.
"Co in."
The apartnt slled faintly of expensive liquor and cigar smoke.
Tengu motioned toward a chair near the living room.
"Sit."
She remained standing.
His eyebrow rose.
"So serious."
When she still didn’t move, he sighed dramatically before dropping into a chair himself.
"You said it was urgent."
His tone beca noticeably more businesslike.
"I am here now."
He folded his hands together.
"So speak."
For a mont Raina hesitated.
Then she decided there was no point easing into the conversation.
"I need to know what happened the night you buried Felix."
The change in Tengu was imdiate.
The amusent disappeared.
His shoulders stiffened.
Without saying a word, he stood and crossed the room toward the bar.
He grabbed a bottle.
A glass.
Then poured himself a drink.
"I thought you weren’t going to ask about that."
The liquid swirled inside the glass.
"You told you trusted to handle it."
He took a slow sip.
"You told you didn’t want details."
"I know what I said."
Raina approached the bar.
"But things have changed."
His eyes remained fixed on the glass.
"What do you need to know?"
"I need to know where Felix was buried."
Tengu’s jaw tightened.
"And?"
"I need to know whether anyone could have followed you that night."
The reaction was imdiate.
"Impossible."
The word ca out sharper than intended.
Tengu set the glass down.
"I know I’m not good at many things, Raina."
His voice carried an edge now.
"But one thing I am good at is my job."
The glass struck the counter harder than necessary.
"Your grandfather knew that."
His gaze locked onto hers.
"That’s why he trusted with matters like this."
"I know."
"Do you?"
"Yes."
Raina opened her handbag and removed the photographs.
"Which is why this doesn’t make any sense."
She slid them across the counter.
Tengu frowned.
His eyes dropped to the images.
The mont he saw them, the color drained from his face.
Silence filled the room.
"Tengu?"
No response.
"Tengu."
Slowly he picked up one photograph.
Then another.
Then another.
The confidence that had filled the room monts earlier seed to evaporate.
"Where did you get these?"
His voice was suddenly quiet.
Too quiet.
"From soone who claims he knows what happened to Felix."
She watched him carefully.
"His na is X-Reveals."
Tengu continued staring at the photographs.
"That’s not possible."
"What isn’t?"
"He shouldn’t have these."
The words ca out almost as a whisper.
"He shouldn’t even know where this place is."
Raina felt her pulse accelerate.
"What place?"
Tengu looked up.
For several seconds he said nothing.
Then he exhaled heavily.
"Because that’s where Felix was buried."
The room suddenly felt smaller.
"So it’s true."
"Yes."
The answer ca imdiately.
"No question."
He tossed the photographs onto the counter.
"That’s the location."
A knot ford in Raina’s stomach.
"Who knew?"
Tengu rubbed a hand across his face.
"Your grandfather."
He raised one finger.
"Myself."
A second finger.
"And the n who helped bury him."
A third.
"That’s it."
"No one else?"
"No one."
His eyes narrowed.
"And those n know exactly what happens to people who talk."
The implication hung heavily between them.
Raina believed him.
Tengu wasn’t a man who made empty threats.
Which made the situation even worse.
Because if nobody had talked...
Then how did Bunny Head know?
As Malik drove them away from AGRESSA later that morning, another possibility began creeping into her thoughts.
One she didn’t want to consider.
One she actively hated.
If Bunny Head wasn’t lying...
If Tengu wasn’t lying...
Then sobody had betrayed them.
Sobody had shared information that should never have left that mountain.
There were very few people who knew enough to do that.
And every path eventually led to the sa person.
Her grandfather.
Raina imdiately pushed the thought away.
No.
Impossible.
Her grandfather had protected her for years.
Had cleaned up her mistakes.
Had built entire systems designed to keep her safe.
Yet no matter how hard she tried, the possibility refused to disappear completely.
The phone vibrated again.
Malcolm.
Raina. Call .
She ignored it.
This ti she didn’t even open the ssage.
Outside the window, the city gradually gave way to smaller roads and scattered forest.
Her thoughts drifted elsewhere.
Toward Ethan.
The timing irritated her.
Even now, with Bunny Head threatening to destroy her life, Ethan sohow found his way into her thoughts.
Maybe because everything eventually led back to him.
If Bunny Head exposed the truth...
If the photographs surfaced...
If Felix’s disappearance beca public...
Ethan would know.
And sohow that terrified her more than prison ever could.
By the ti they reached the mountain road, her nerves were stretched thin.
Before leaving the apartnt, Tengu had disappeared briefly into another room and returned carrying a folded map.
Without explanation he had written a set of coordinates on the back.
"This is the exact location."
His expression had been grim.
"If you go there, go prepared."
"Why?"
Tengu had hesitated.
Then looked away.
"Because if sobody else has already been there..."
His eyes darkened.
"...you’re not going to like what you find."
Now, standing at the base of the mountain trail, those words replayed in her head.
The climb felt longer than she expected.
The mountain was silent in a way cities never were.
Wind moved through the trees.
Branches creaked overhead.
Birds called from sowhere deeper within the forest.
The entire place felt isolated.
Forgotten.
By the ti she reached the clearing shown in the photographs, sweat dampened her forehead.
Then she stopped.
The ground looked wrong.
Freshly disturbed.
Uneven.
As though soone had dug there recently.
Her pulse quickened.
Imdiately she pulled out her phone.
"Frank."
His voice answered almost instantly.
"Boss?"
"I need you at this location."
She sent the coordinates.
"Bring shovels."
A pause.
Then:
"Understood."
Frank arrived twenty minutes later with several n.
None of them asked questions.
One look at Raina’s face told them everything they needed to know.
The digging began.
Shovel after shovel cut into the earth.
Dirt piled higher beside the growing hole.
Minutes passed.
Then more minutes.
The grave beca deeper.
Frank eventually climbed down into it himself.
Another man joined him.
Neither spoke.
Neither looked up.
The only sounds were tal cutting through soil and the occasional scrape of stone.
Then—
Frank’s shovel struck sothing.
Everyone froze.
Raina’s pulse spiked.
Another scrape followed.
Then another.
Frank crouched lower.
Carefully brushing dirt away.
For one brief mont, hope and dread collided inside her chest.
Maybe Bunny Head had been lying.
Maybe Felix was still there.
Maybe this nightmare would finally make sense.
Then Frank looked up.
The expression on his face destroyed that hope imdiately.
"No..."
Raina whispered.
Frank climbed out of the grave.
Dirt covered his clothes.
The shovel hung loosely in his hand.
"It’s empty."
The world seed to tilt.
Raina stepped forward and looked into the hole herself.
Nothing.
No coffin.
No remains.
No evidence that Felix had ever been buried there.
Only splintered pieces of old wood.
Broken fragnts.
As though sothing had once been hidden beneath the earth...
And later removed.
The wind moved through the trees.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody knew what to say.
Because there was only one question left.
If Felix wasn’t buried here...
Then where the hell was he?
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