Criminal Affinity [18+]

Chapter 69

An ugly vein grows in her stomach. Sold their bodies.

Ava's vision begins to darken. "Did he sell their organs?"

Ren's jaw shifts, tightening and loosening. "No, Ava. He sold their bodies."

The ugly vein grows longer and longer until it reaches her knees, shaking now. Six and twelve. Babies. Their bodies—

"Hey," Ren says sharply. Ava's eyes snap upto his and he takes a deep breath. "Go to your room. Recollect your thoughts. Panic and misery won't help here."

Ava stares at his sudden change of demeanor. His...shield. He's hiding behind it. A new trick he has learned after getting his heart completely shredded by the girl he loved.

"Don't be an asshole, Ren." Ava replies coldly. "That won't help here either."

"Anything else you want to say, Ava?" Ren replies evenly.

"God, why do you always turn into a dick?" Ava shouts at him, shaking. Tears burn in her eyes from the ugliness of the information he just gave her. "One second you're a goofy fuck the next—"

"You have no idea what you're talking about." The coldness emitting from Ren is nothing like Ivan's. It's not all-consuming or endless, it's an avalanche. Sudden, swift and deadly. It makes Ava angrier. "None. So I would suggest you deal with this in private and come back with a clear head."

During her inspection of the man, Ava notices that his eyes aren't bloodshot or glazed over. His clothes are in place and his hair is combed neatly.

"Ah." Ava says bitterly. "You're sober."

Something akin to shame slants over his face and Ava is quick to latch onto it.

"So you're only nice when you're sloshed and burying your dick in—"

"Stop." He says, already pulling away from her. "You're acting like you're my wife. Mind your business and do your job. Inform Lily. This is important, Ava. I'm not trying to be a piece of shit to you, you just don't know what this means. What Ivak being alive and hunting Ivan means."

Ava relaxes her cold features into neutrality, waiting for him to give her something to go off of. After a moment of hesitation and impatience, Ren gives in.

"He will hunt Katarina. He will hunt Lily. He will try to do the same thing to them. He enjoys hurting women, it's all he did growing up. Now you are on his radar as well, with another threat we have zero intel on." Ren says. "We will need to go on complete lockdown if Lily doesn't find us a way out of this."

Ava doesn't dwell on the thought. In fact, she doesn't dwell on anything. She simply nods her head and walks off to find her phone.

Within five minutes of ending the short call, Ava finds herself pacing in her room. The thickness of the walls keeps the noise out, but she didn't want it out. An older version of her would have enjoyed staying a whole floor away from them and the skeletons in their closet, but this one?

This one cares. This one scares the shit out of her.

But not more than the news she heard downstairs. She's being hunted, but they might have just found the real hunter all along. Who was this man? Ava begins to walk towards the door but stops so sharply, the inertia almost makes her trip.

She doesn't want to miss a single detail that is discussed, because she is the physical target, protected by a bigger target. Nothing and no one is safe.

But what if it's Dale?

A shuddering breath rocks through Ava. The word please repeats in her mind, out of her control, reminding her of how much of a hold he still has over her. If it's him, then...

Then it's him. It doesn't change anything.

Ava retreats back into her room. She numbly closes the blinds to create almost perfect darkness in her room, before stripping. The sound of her clothes hitting the floor only makes the thundering beat of her chest louder.

She will always be hunted. It's what came with the job. But it wasn't honest work then, and it definitely isn't now. She believed in it all for so long. Justice. Eradicating crime. Saving lives.

A chill passes over her naked flesh. And with it, she realizes that it would change everything if it was Dale.

*

Footsteps nearing her bedroom throw Ava out of slumber. They stop right before the door and Ava holds her breath to listen for sounds. She becomes hyperaware of her nudity and lack of defense, making the rise and fall of her chest deeper.

Silence.

Was it Lily? Did she come to check on her?

A knock eases some of the tension in her body. Ava opens her eyes into black nothingness, realizing that she fell asleep sometime after coming back to her room and dialing Lily. The sheets hiss against her scars as she gathers them around herself and audibly walks toward the entrance.

"Who is it?" She asks softly, speaking through the sleepy gravel.

"It's me." It's me. Ava's heart flutters in her chest, accompanied by worry when she throws open the door to find Ivan standing like a ghost at her door. Steaks of blood glimmer on his dark shirt, his hair tousled and his breath uneven.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you," Ivan says, not removing his eyes from the floor. "I didn't know where else—"

"Come inside," Ava says.

His eyes snap to hers, lined with a type of pain she has never seen in them before. Slowly, that gaze finds the covers she has used to wrap around herself, before shooting to something behind her.

Her pile of clothes.

Both of them choose to say nothing. He walks in.

Ava refuses to take her eyes off him. His tall form dwarfs her as he moves back to close the door behind him before the click of the lock resounds between them.

Hoping to ease some of the tension, Ava turns on the dimmest nightlight in the room, encasing them in a tender, warm glow.

It does nothing to hide the shadows lurking in his eyes.

"If I tell you everything," Ivan's words are a plea, a bargain and an offer all rolled into one. "Will you listen?"

Ava takes a deep breath before moving towards the edge of the bed.