~ levi
[ 11:59 PM ]
I throw the intruder's belongings into a bonfire until stopping at his wallet and looking through it. There's his ID, along with an investigator ID card and keycard. My brows slightly furrow as I read his name: Emelio Preston. I throw his wallet into the fire as I continue to read the information on the card, then I check the time on my phone. I could make a run to his office, see what I could find there since he was a private investigator. I let the burn barrel burn as I walk away, back down the alley to my car.
I park down the street from the address and walk the rest of the way in case the location had cameras. I flip my heavy hood over my head and raise my mask over my lips before scanning my surroundings. There was no movement, the lights in the brick building were off, no cars parked in the parking lot, front or back since I'd did a lap around the building as well. I found a fire escape on above the dumpster which would allow me enough height to get up there and find an unlocked window to get inside.
I climb up onto the hood of the dumpster and use all the power in my legs to grab the last bar of the ladder slightly hanging off the edge of the platform above me. I twist from beneath it and pull myself up onto the escape. Then I start trying every window I could reach until finding one that happened to be already cracked open.
I tighten the black gloves on my hands before pulling it up and stepping inside. I gambled with the alarm system; it was an older building with what looked like no renovations, so it was more likely they didn't have a motion censor based alarm. Plus there were no motion censored lights outside, so I should be okay. I grab my light and exit the dark office, stepping out into the hallway before checking the plate to the door. I was looking for E. Preston.
I was on the second floor, so I had no clue how long it'd take me to find his office. It really came down to testing my patience because his office was tucked away on the fourth floor, at the very end of a hallway on the very opposite side of the building where I had entered. Now I had to keep replaying how I got here so I'd know how to get back.
I enter Emelio Preston's office after again having to try every key on his keyring and discovering the right one. I flip on the light switch as I close and lock the door behind me. I glance around the medium sized room, tall bookshelves on the walls, a pinboard beside me next to the door and his desk accompanied by arm chairs directly in front of me. Stacks of paper decorated the surface with his computer between them. I walk over to start scanning the documents, searching for anything related to me and Astraia.
I find police report copies of the incident at the gala where Austin had gone missing and I had took down my target Xavior. I stop and read the details on his death, although it mentioned nothing about Austin. So he was investigating me for his murder that night...
I grab the report and keep looking. I stop again when I find another police-related document. It makes my breath deepen a bit and a bit of adrenaline spike my chest. It was an artist sketch of Astraia that night, with her bandages...
Astraia had nothing to do with what happened to Xavior.
My brows furrow as I take that as well. And I read on the very next sheet a schedule of Mando Enterprises, and I read Axel and Austin Mando's names over some of the events. What the fuck...
I pull out my malware hard drive, turning on his computer and plugging it into the USB port. I watch as the program pops up on the screen in a box, scanning through thousands of codes before unlocking the password to the computer. I take out the drive as I see several folders already opened on the device, and all of it has something to do with Austin.
I click and scroll through them before seeing he'd been contacting Axel.
"You son of a bitch." I whisper to myself as I realize Axel was the one who'd hired him, despite the story Astraia had told him at the club. He still believed she had something to do with it.
I immediately start deleting all of it and all of the backups. I install malware to corrupt the files for extra precaution and take my time meticulously destroying any evidence or leads towards me or Astraia. When I'm finished, I take the hard drive back and the paper copies with me as I leave the office. I return the way I came and exit down the fire escape again. When I get back in the car, I start planning out my next moves and analyzing everything I had to do.
I pull into the driveway of the house and set the PI's belongings on the island counter for now to burn later. I go downstairs to the basement to grab my toolbox, and then head back upstairs to Astraia's room. There wasn't much blood on the walls from my hand covering his sliced neck, but the carpet and her bedsheets were ruined.
I take off my hoodie get to work. First, I start undressing her bed, throwing her blankets and sheets in a trash bag before removing her twin mattress and pulling it into the hallway. Then I disassemble her bed frame and set that in the hallway as well. Next, I open the toolbox and grab the utility knife to start cutting around the stained carpet on my hands and knees. I made sure to not to hit the subfloor as I removed the damage.
I repeatedly stand and get back down to make sure I got every square of carpet that had even single drop of blood on it, so I'd broke a little sweat from that and all the pulling. I might have to put in all new carpet...
I set my hand on my hip as I check the time on my phone. It was past two in the morning now. I think that was enough work for tonight, and I'd have to go shopping for carpet when the stores opened up anyways. And after burying a body, going back and forth, and sweating from all the manual labor, I could use a hot shower.
I retreat to my room and strip of all my clothes before hopping into the hot water. I let all the dirt and sweat wash off of me with the suds from the soap and shampoo in my hair. I close my eyes and tilt my head down directly under the water as it now runs down my back in a clear rinse. I was thinking about Astraia now, what she had done. Surely she'd had enough time to get out.
I turn off the water and wipe my hand over my face before stepping out and grabbing my towel. There was only one way to find out.
[ 3:31 AM ]
I head up to my temporary villa, conflicted thoughts in my head. I'd found myself getting used to Astraia being there, but another part of myself, I think, wished that she wouldn't be when I unlock this door.
I pull out my keycard and swipe it into the lock where it beeps green and lets me enter. The suite looks even nicer in the dark from the lights of the city illuminating the kitchen and living room. But the silence is extremely thick.
I close the door behind me and glance around as I leave my shoes by the door. I felt my heart beating hard in my chest as I walk right of the living room, down the short hallway to the bedroom. I open the door, flipping on the light switch to discover an empty room. The bed is made like she'd never as much as touched it. I check the bathroom; empty. She had to had left fast, as soon as I left damn near. That's how untouched the place was.
I turn off the light and head back out to the kitchen to make something to eat. I wash my hands directly in front of the windows as every thought of Astraia flashed through my head.
She's going to talk. No, she won't. She knows better. What if she does? What if she tells someone about me? Where I stay? The things she's witnessed? She's probably hated me. She's going to talk if she's hated me this whole time...
I glimpse up at the knife holder beside the sink.
Even if she did tell someone, would I be able to find her in time? First person she'd go to is the police, right? But what if she didn't. Maybe she just decided to return to how she used to live. Both of us can do that, go back to how it was before. But I can't be too sure. I have to make sure she can't. She made her choice.
I grab the largest chef knife, watching the light glisten off of it as I examine how sharp it is.
I can't. I won't. I gave her the choice. It wasn't a test. She's smart, and non-confrontational for the most part. She wouldn't try me like that. It was me that caused all of this, so I won't punish her for it. I can't punish her for making her choice.
I return the knife to the holder and grab the edge of the counter.
I trust her.
I sigh deeply and tense my shoulders up before relaxing them and letting my head fall forward lazily. I trust Euphoria enough to know she will go on with her life as if she never knew me, as if she never had anything to do with me. She'll never tell a soul about my career, those deaths. The way I strangled her with that coil wire, the way my hands squeezed her throat, or how they touched her at all. Fuck. She'll never tell anybody about the things I did to her in my bedroom. I could no longer exist to her since she was gone.
After that little self-reassurance settled, I began to feel that relief I was talking about earlier. A relief of responsibility, that failure on my part to protect what was mine. A relief of any attachment I started to have. I could just... go back to how it was before her.
I check the small fridge, seeing it's empty and wondering why I expected any different. I roll my eyes and decide to sleep off my hunger. I go to the bedroom and undress to my boxers, rolling into the bed and setting my hand behind my head. I stare up at the ceiling, lacking any emotion at all and waiting to eventually fall asleep.
That was until I heard a soft beep against the blatant silence and the villa door quietly opening. My brows slightly furrow as I get up walk over to the open door, looking down the hall towards the living room where Astraia now stands, closing the door behind her and taking off her shoes. I see her notice mine as she holds an open honeybun in her left hand, most of it gone and only a bite left.
She glances over at me, swallowing the food in her mouth before speaking. "You're back."
I walk to her as she walks across the living room to the trash can in the kitchen, eating the last of her snack.
I seem to instantly dismiss her obvious observation. "Why'd you come back?" I was confused.
She throws the plastic wrap in the trash before rinsing her hands in the sink and drying them with the backs of her pants. "I never left," She shrugs, "Besides to go get something from the vending machine. There's nothing to eat in the cooler."
I watch as she so casually walks pass me and towards the bedroom, "You don't have any money for something in the vending machine."
"Is that what you thought?" She asks while reaching into her back pocket and flicking up a debit card. I squint a little at it as I follow her, taking it from between her index and middle fingers, "This is mine. How'd you-"
"I've lived on the streets most my life. You learn how to steal." She answers while suddenly removing her jeans, pulling them down to her plain black panties before walking to the other side of the bed and sitting down.
"Why'd you stay?" I ask forwardly.
She freezes a little before I hear her soft breath. "Because you were right." She turns her torso to look back at me, "I have... nothing. No one. So you got what you wanted. Someone you can mold for yourself, like you said." She glimpses down, "I mean I'd probably have a better chance of living with you than going back to selling myself for whatever I can get." She stands and slowly makes her way to me, "I've been raped, robbed of what little I've had, I've been beaten to what felt like inches from death on those streets-"
"Who? Tell me who-"
She scoffs softly as she stops in front of me, her big gorgeous eyes looking up at me sweetly. "That's what I'm talking about," She interrupts, "You're protective. Possessive too, but protective. I've never had anyone be that way for me. And how hard you were on yourself for not being at the house when it happened was kinda... sweet, in its own harsh way-"
"I wasn't being hard on myself, I was being honest-"
She suddenly pokes my chest, "You said you trusted me. That's why you left, isn't it? Do you regret trusting me?"
I grab her wrist and pull her closer to me, "No."
"Then there was nothing you could do about the break-in if you didn't know it was going to happen." She says sternly, "Stop blaming yourself and playing the what-if game. We know what is was now and there's nothing we can do about it."
I let her wrist go with a deep sigh, stepping beside her to sit on the edge of the bed, "But what if-"
"What did I just say?" She crosses her arms.
I meet her eyes and one of her brows raise knowingly. I grudgingly look to the side til she steps closer to me. "You said you trusted me... so, I'm going to trust you." I watch as she sets her hands on my knees for support as she lowers in front of me, onto the floor where she sits on her legs in the sitting pretty position. I already feel turned on from her pretty eyes looking up at me from down there. My heart beats harder and faster from her words as she sets her hands in her lap.
"I will be your perfect toy." She says before slightly tilting her head, "With a few conditions."
"Like what?"
"I still want freedom. I want to start living a life." She says, and she sees I'm contemplating it as she continues, "You gave me the choice to leave tonight and I stayed, didn't I?"
"What else?" I ask.
"You can't kill people over me. I know, shocker-"
"Euphoria."
"You can't!"
"He left a bruise on you-"
"It doesn't matter. Lots of people have, Levi. You included!" She exclaims, not letting me speak, "No matter what they do, hurt me, piss me off, piss you off, whatever the case, it doesn't give you the right to kill them. And look, I accept what you do, okay? As long they're bad people like you say. If they're anything like the people I've faced on the streets, you can send them a one-way ticket straight to hell, but just not over me, okay?"
I stay quiet, making her repeat okay? But it was hard to promise that. I have an extremely short temper when it comes to her, I don't know why.
"Levi-"
"Anything else?" I interject.
She exhales softly before shaking her head. "Those are the only two things I want. And in return, I will be a perfect toy, let you do whatever you want, whenever you want. Because I trust you... Deal?"
She offers her hand up to me.
I look at her hand before looking back up at her eyes. I then take it from how sure they looked. My brow cocks up, "You do know you just made a deal with the Devil, don't you, Angel?"
She exhales softly and nods. "Yeah... I do."