Chapter 36 Thirty Six
By seven that evening, the mansion was extremely quiet.
Salvatore had been gone for hours, and somehow his absence changed the entire atmosphere of the house.
Mira noticed it.
The maids moved still around carefully. The guards spoke less. Even the air felt lighter without him there… but also stranger.
Like he was watching them wherever he was.
Mira sat in one of the lounges downstairs with her laptop open in front of her, pretending to scroll through articles while secretly watching everything around her.
Listening. Paying attention.
She had spent most of the afternoon trying to gather information without making herself obvious.
And it had gotten her absolutely nowhere.
Every conversation felt incomplete. Every answer sounded like a warning hidden inside a sentence.
It was exhausting. At one point, she had cornered one of the older maids in the kitchen.
“Does Mr. Corvin always disappear like this?” Mira asked casually while leaning against the counter. “Cause he’s not back yet.”
The woman paused while drying a plate.
Then smiled nervously.
“The moon goes where it pleases, miss.”
Mira blinked.
“…What?”
But the maid had already walked away.
Another time, she tried speaking to one of the guards outside.
“You’ve worked here long?” she asked.
The man nodded once.
“And Mr Corvin how well do you know him ?”
A pause.
Then the guard answered quietly… “Some doors are safer left closed.”
Mira stared at him.
“…Why does everyone in this house talk like cursed fortune cookies?”
The guard said nothing after that.
Just walked away.
Now, hours later, Mira sat back against the couch with a frustrated groan.
“This place is sick,” she muttered.”Everyone here is as sick as their boss.”
Her laptop rested on her thighs while several tabs about Salvatore Corvin stayed open across the screen.
Business articles.
Old interviews.
Charity events.
Pictures of him smiling beside politicians and celebrities.Not one thing connected to the murders.
Nothing useful. And that annoyed her more than anything.
Because she knew it was fake.
Nobody was that clean. Especially not him.
Mira rubbed tiredly at her eyes before glancing around the lounge again.
Empty and quiet.
The large grandfather clock near the staircase ticked softly through the silence.
Her ankle still hurt, though not as badly now.
At least Salvatore had been right about the ice.
Which irritated her.
Again.
Mira leaned her head back against the couch cushions with a sigh.
“What are you hiding?” she whispered.
Her mind flashed back to last night again.
The dead birds. The message on the glass.
The unknown number.
Then this morning— Him standing in her room holding breakfast like some dangerously attractive psychopath playing house.
Mira groaned loudly and covered her face with both hands.
“This man is actually ruining my brain cells.”
A voice suddenly spoke from behind her.
“You look stressed, Miss Voss.”
Mira nearly jumped out of her skin.
She whipped around quickly— Only to see Lena standing there holding a folded blanket.
Mira pressed a hand to her chest.
“Jesus Christ, Lena.”
Lena blinked innocently. “Sorry, Miss.”
Mira narrowed her eyes slightly.
“You people really need to stop appearing out of nowhere in this house.”
Lena smiled faintly this time.
Then her gaze shifted toward the laptop screen.
“You’re researching him again,” she said quietly.
Mira’s fingers immediately moved to close the tabs.
But too late.
Lena had already seen enough.
Mira studied her carefully now.
“…Do you know something about Salvatore?” she asked slowly. “What’s he really like?”
Lena went still for half a second.
Then looked away.
That alone was enough to make Mira sit up straighter.
“Lena.”
The maid stayed quiet.
Mira’s pulse quickened slightly.
“Everybody in this house acts terrified whenever his name comes up,” she said. “And every time I get close to asking a simple question, people start speaking in riddles.”
Still nothing.
Mira lowered the laptop carefully.
“Please,” she said softer this time. “If you know something… tell me.”
Lena finally looked back at her.
There was hesitation in her eyes now.
Fear too.
Then quietly—“ Some people survive monsters by pretending not to see their teeth.”
Mira stared at her.
“…That’s not an answer.”
“No,” Lena whispered. “It’s advice.”
Before she could push her for more she turned to see him standing at the door his eyes on her staring at her
Mira swallowed hard.
Her eyes flicked toward the doorway the moment the air in the room shifted.
Salvatore.
He stood there as he had always been there… like the mansion itself had simply decided to shape him out of its shadows. His gaze was already on her, steady and unreadable, pinned directly to where she sat with her laptop still open on her thighs.
For a second, no one moved.
Lena, went still where she stood
Then, without a word, she turned and left. Quickly. Like staying any longer would be a mistake she couldn’t afford.
The lounge felt colder the moment she was gone.
Mira’s fingers tightened slightly around the edge of her laptop, but she didn’t dare close it now. Not with him watching.
Salvatore stepped inside slowly.
Each step echoed faintly against the polished floor, though the mansion was otherwise silent. His presence didn’t fill the room so much as it pressed against it… like the air itself had learned to yield around him.
He stopped in front of her.
Close enough that Mira had to tilt her head slightly to meet his gaze fully.
He didn’t speak at first.
Just looked at her.
Like he was assessing to see what she had done. Or catch her off guard.
Mira held his stare, refusing to look away even though something in her chest tightened uncomfortably under it.
A full minute passed like that.
Then he moved.
Without warning, Salvatore bent down and lifted her into his arms as if her weight meant nothing at all.
Mira’s breath caught sharply.
“Hey—!” she started, instinctively grabbing at his shoulder. “What are you doing? Put me down!”