Chapter 66 066

Chapter 66 066

Rayna
By the time night arrived, my nerves were already flayed raw, and this time, there was nothing, absolutely nothing I could do about it. Tonight was the eighteenth night according to my calculations, but it didn't feel like it. Right now, I was feeling all of the negative emotions I once felt the first night I arrived here, and I hated that I couldn't shake off the fact that it was a bad sign.

The House was quiet in that peculiar way it always was after dusk, like it held its breath once the sun disappeared. I wasn't a fan of believing that the walls had ears, but all that had changed since I walked into this cursed hotel. Not only did the walls have ears, the entire House could literally be referred to as a living breathing human, one that was waiting for the right moment to devour you no doubt.

I pushed the thoughts aside as I walked its corridors with careful steps, my thoughts anything but steady. No matter how hard I tried, my mind kept circling back to the guard’s voice. I wasn't sure which was worse, the message he had for me, or the fact that he'd delivered it in a low, warning and final tone that spelled only doom for me.

He breaks women.

Three words. Three words that were either going to break or make me tonight. The folded note pressed against my side with every step I took, its sharp corners an almost physical reminder that I hadn’t imagined any of it. I’d tried leaving it behind, tried pretending it was nothing more than a mind game meant to scare me off.

It hadn’t worked.

Each footfall brought me closer to Zero’s room, and with it, the question I’d been avoiding all day. The one that sat heavy in my chest, tightening every time I thought of Lila’s name.

I slowed outside his door, fingers curling briefly into the fabric of my dress. For the first time since these nights began, I wasn’t sure which version of myself I needed to be, sharp tongued and teasing, or stripped bare and honest.

The door opened before I could decide, and I stepped inside.

The room was the same as always. The dim lights barely touching the rest of the room, the still air and Zero seated where he always was, composed and unreadable, like nothing in this world had the power to unsettle him.

Except I knew better now.

“Well,” I said, forcing lightness into my voice as the door shut behind me. “You look… lively tonight.”

Nothing. It probably didn't hold any water, but I didn't particularly blame Zero for that one. I wasn't myself tonight, not one bit.

I crossed the room slowly, my movements deliberate, waiting for the familiar spark of playfulness to kick in, but it didn’t. Instead, the tension clinging to me refused to loosen.

“Not in the mood?” I tried again, tilting my head. “That’s a shame. I was thinking of keeping things interesting.”

I still got nothing, not even the smallest reaction.

The silence pressed in, heavier than usual, and I felt something inside me crack, not loudly, not all at once, but enough to make pretending feel pointless.

I exhaled and stopped in front of him.

“Okay,” I said quietly. “I can’t do this tonight.”

His head didn’t lift, but I felt his attention sharpen, like a blade turning in my direction. Maybe I'd startled him, but there was no way to really confirm since he barely said a word, but I continued still.

“So something happened today.” I swallowed. My heart was starting to thump loudly in my chest right now, and even though a tiny part of me was whispering in my ears that I was doing the wrong thing, I didn't listen. “I tried to forget what I was told today. I really did. But it won’t let me go.”

My fingers brushed the side of my dress where the note was hidden, grounding myself.

“They said you break women,” I continued, my voice steady despite the tremor in my chest. “I don’t know if that was meant as a warning or a threat, but either way, it stuck.”

I searched his face then, looking for something, literally anything that could give him away, but his expression remained carved from stone.

“I know you're not going to ask how or who told me.” I let out again, even though I knew I was full on rambling at this point, but I didn't care. I was way past caring at this point. “but that doesn't matter, and I'm not going to tell you either.”

“So here’s what I need to know,” I said, the words burning on my tongue now that they were so close. “And I need the truth, even if you don’t give it to me out loud.”

My heart hammered as I leaned forward, close enough to see the faint shadow beneath his lashes.

“Did you kill my sister?”

The question landed between us like a gunshot that made no sound.

The room seemed to freeze. The air thickened, charged with something sharp and dangerous. I watched him intently, every nerve alive, waiting for the smallest shift, the tightening of a jaw, a breath held too long, or a flicker of something I couldn’t unsee.

I didn’t move, I didn’t breathe, and I doubted he did too, or I would have caught it by now.

I just waited, standing on the edge of a truth that could destroy me, staring into a silence that suddenly felt like it might answer back.

As I waited for his response, I couldn't help the many questions that ran through my head.

What was he going to say? Was I going to like it? If he did have a hand in Lila's death, what was that going to mean for us? For me?

My gaze darted to Zero again as I pulled myself back to reality, and even though he hadn't answered, I hated that my mind was already cooking up answers for him.

Shit.