Wild Tiger Chase | Book #2 (Complete)

10: deal with the Devil

"Still, we did enter his territory, by accident or not." Modraniht scratched his beard and sharpened his gaze, his eyes resting on a figure standing behind Léon—Vanessa, their former guide and kidnapper. "That means we'll have to find a way to pay our way out of it."

Phillip had been rolling a slice of carpaccio around an orange cube. He paused before topping it with a small chunk of cheese. "So we'll have to pay for all this too?"

Cae chuckled. "You're smarter than you look." He watched as Phillip mouthed the delicacy and took his time to lick his long fingers. "But not by much," Cae completed in a whisper.

"If we're already deep in shit, might as well take a swim," Phillip said with a wink.

"That is just disgusting, kid," Modraniht said, his voice drenched with laughter.

"What is it you'll have us do, then?" Léon asked. He still had a few cubes of cheese in front of him, but he couldn't stomach them anymore.

"Nothing much." Cae leaned back and fished for something in his front pocket.

Modraniht's dark, intelligent gaze set on Léon like a calming balm. He placed a hand on his head and caressed his hair as if assuring everything would be okay.

It was a relief to receive his affection again after how hurt he had looked before. Léon answered with an eager smile.

"Here, take a look." Cae tossed a small screen on the table, and it slid, grating its way towards Léon. Léon took it before it could fall from the wooden surface.

He looked at the photo. Something twisted inside his guts. That face seemed strangely familiar, but he couldn't say why. Léon furrowed his brows. "A kid? What do you want with a kid?"

It was difficult to say if the teenager in the photo was a boy or a girl, but they looked way too young to be over fifteen. They had long legs sticking out of oversized shorts, and a blindfold hiding their eyes. In their lap, a large tapir nuzzled their smiling face.

"The kid's one of my guy's little cousin. You can think of him as an extended family of mine. He went missing a few weeks ago, and we suspect someone took him." Cae's eyes were crystal clear and furious when they met Léon's. "He was in my territory. Nobody takes anyone from me. I want him back."

"That's it? If we find the kid, you'll let us go?" Phillip asked. He blinked a few times and scratched his jaw. "Are you sure?"

"With a NAV and everything." Cae pulled a keystick from his shirt's pocket. "I'll have everything ready for when you bring me the kid back."

Something didn't sit quite right with that situation. Léon placed the screen back on the table. "Can I speak with his cousin? Maybe he has some important information to help with the search."

Cae shook his head no. "My guy is on leave, staying with his aunt. He's helping her deal with the disappearance."

Léon hummed. He couldn't see any trace of a lie in what Cae was saying, but that didn't mean he was sincere.

After all, he had never noticed Rob's lies either.

Phillip narrowed his eyes. "We're not trackers. Why don't you go to the police or something?"

Cae scoffed and stared at Phillip. He didn't answer it at first, maybe wondering if the latter would be bright enough to understand what his question implied—but it didn't seem the case. "Does someone care to explain to the pretty boy what we're doing here and why we want to keep our distance from the police?" he asked in a sweet voice, looking around.