32. Raven

32

RAVEN

"Another, miss?"

I looked up at the waiter and nodded. I was on my second glass of wine, but what was one more? Sitting alone in the hotel restaurant, I tried to push the anger on Nicholas's face from my mind. He was so pissed at me and I couldn't blame him. After everything we'd been through, I should have stuck around. Then he would be across the table from me instead of God knows where.

I thanked the waiter and took another drink of my wine. Seconds later, my meal came out, but despite the delicious smell, my stomach rolled at the thought of eating anything. I grabbed another slice of bread from the basket and tore off a piece, stuffing it in my mouth. Hopefully, the bland flavor would ease the cramping in my stomach.

"Smells delicious."

I craned my head to look at the stranger beside me. He was tall and handsome, but something about him was off. He had a sinister look in his eyes that I knew all too well from years of wandering the country and encountering the worst of humanity.

"And you are?"

Without waiting for an invitation, he took the seat opposite me and signaled to the waiter.

"Sir?"

"Scotch, please."

"Yes, sir."

I wanted to berate the man for taking this stranger's order without first asking if he was joining me. It looked like I didn't have a choice in the matter.

The man sitting across from me smiled slightly, crossing one leg over the other as he leaned back in his chair. "So, you are the beautiful Raven."

I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to encourage conversation. My spine tingled with anticipation as he continued to watch me. I needed to get out of here, but I had no idea how to accomplish that without this man following me.

I quickly glanced at the exits, noticing men standing sentry as if they were guarding someone. My eyes flicked back to the stranger.

"You will not be able to escape."

"Who said anything about escaping?"

The waiter returned and set the glass on the table. "Will there be anything else, sir?"

"Give me the special for the day."

"Yes, sir."

The waiter bowed as if this man were royalty. If he was well known around here, I had certainly never heard of him.

"Is there a reason you're inviting yourself to my dinner?"

"You looked lonely."

"I was perfectly fine on my own."

"No gentleman allows a woman to sit by herself in a restaurant."

"As I said, I was fine."

"I'm sure you were." Again, he sat there and stared at me.

It was unnerving to say the least, but I forced myself to behave normally as if he wasn't bothering me at all. Picking up my fork, I twirled the pasta around the tines and swallowed down the nausea swirling in my stomach. The flavor soured in my mouth, but I chewed and swallowed, not allowing this man to see the effect he had on me.

"Aren't you the least bit interested who I am?"

"I'm sure you'll tell me whether I'm interested or not," I retorted.

He burst out laughing, confusing me even further. "I like you. You're not at all what I expected."

"And what's that?"

Instead of answering, he continued on. "I guess we'll enjoy our dinner together before I get to why I'm here."

I twirled some more pasta on my fork and forced down another mouthful, washing it down with some wine. I almost asked the waiter for another glass, but I was already tipsy. The last thing I needed was to be drunk around this man.

We sat in silence until the waiter arrived with his dinner. He dug in ferociously, cutting his bloody steak and savoring every bite. I watched as he mopped up the blood on the plate with bread and nearly vomited. Not much bothered me, but there was something evil about this man, and I knew I wouldn't be walking away at the end of the night.

I reached forward to distract myself and straightened the bread basket, then centered the flowers on the table. It was just a small vase, but it was off-center and driving me insane.

"Something wrong?"

"Just crooked," I answered, continuing to fix things. Once everything was parallel to the table and centered as it should be, I felt myself calm just a little.

The man set his cutlery down and wiped at his mouth. "So, now that we're finished, it's time I tell you my purpose of being here. I am Ebarardo Zavala. Have you heard of me?"

I shook my head, grabbing my glass of water. "Should I?"

A crooked smile filled his face. "You helped someone steal a shipment from me. It cost me millions of dollars."

Shipment. I hadn't done anything like that. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Of course you do. You provided the keycard to the storage unit."

No matter how hard I tried to keep my face neutral, I failed miserably.

"Ah, I see you remember what I'm talking about. It wasn't easy to track you down. You've been busy."

My mouth went dry as I realized who I was sitting across from. Although I wasn't entirely sure who this man was, I knew it had something to do with a powerful crime syndicate Rafe had been trying to take down. And now they knew I was involved. No wonder the waiter didn't ask him any questions. He commanded power like a Roman God.

Any hope I had of walking out of this restaurant tonight quickly dissipated. In the span of an hour, my night had gone from bad to the verge of death. I couldn't see any way out of this. I had no information to barter with this man, and I had a feeling all that would do was make my death faster.

"Who are they?"

The question took me by surprise. "Who are…what are you talking about?"

"The men who broke into my storage unit. You were stealing something at the museum, but you were just a distraction. So, tell me who these other men were and you can walk away."

Those other men were most likely from OPS. While I didn't know that for sure, it would make sense that Rafe used them since they had already been involved in getting to Hugo. Still, it wasn't definitive proof, and it didn't matter anyway. I wouldn't turn them over to this bastard, not even to save my own neck.

Besides, if he found out I was involved, it wouldn't be too much longer before they found OPS on their own. Chances were, they already knew, but were looking for other information from me about them.

"I'm sorry, I can't help you."

"Can't or won't?"

"Both," I said, holding my head high. "I only know the part I played. As for who else might have been involved, that wasn't for me to know."

"And if you did know?"

"I wouldn't tell you. I'm not a rat."

His lips twitched with a smile. "Admirable, but that won't save your life."

After everything I had been through, this was the one thing I refused to give. "A friend of mine recently betrayed me. He tried to have me killed, and when that didn't work, he turned on me and sold me out to the Russian mob. I know firsthand what it means to have loyalty in this business, and I will not be the one to turn on someone else. Do what you want, but I won't breathe a word."

Though my words were strong and fearless, I was quaking inside. I had no way out, no one to help me out of this mess. Nicholas was gone and I had no idea if he had any intentions of returning, and if he did, he would only end up on the wrong side of things—just as I had.

Zavala stood, pulling out money from a clip and tossing it on the table. "It's time to go."

"I'm not going anywhere with you."

I felt something hard pressed into my side and nearly gasped at the sudden intrusion.

"I wasn't asking. Get on your feet or I will make sure everyone in this restaurant pays the price. And then I'll take you anyway."

I quickly tallied the number of patrons in the restaurant. Even one death on my head was too many, but there were at least twelve people still in the restaurant, and that was just the diners. What about the waiters and cooks and hostess?

I had no choice but to do as he said. If I was lucky, I might find a way to escape, but I couldn't allow him to kill innocent people because I got wrapped up in the wrong thing. Very carefully, I folded my napkin and placed it on the table, ensuring it was parallel to both sides of the table. I watched as Zavala did the same, probably figuring that if he didn't do it, I would do it for him.

And as I watched, that's when I realized that Zavala wore a tie pin and it was emblazoned with the letter Z. I pushed back from the table, glancing over my shoulder at the man who slid my chair back. As Zavala stood in front of me, I took my chance while I could.

Slowly, I reached up to his tie, fixing the slightly crooked state, then ran my hand down the tie, smoothing it before straightening his jacket. His eyes were glued to mine the whole time, but he didn't try to stop me. Finally, I stepped aside.

"Lead the way."

The lecherous grin on his face sent shivers down my spine, but I forced myself to stand still. As the men turned, I dropped the tie pin on the napkin and followed Zavala out of the restaurant. I had no clue if Nicholas would come back to find me or if he would see it, but it was the only chance I had.

A black town car was waiting at the curb and the driver opened the door, waiting for me to get inside. I glanced at Zavala, then slid inside. When the door shut behind me, a shiver of cold raced down my spine. I held my breath, wondering what would happen from here.

Zavala grabbed a glass, pouring a small bottle into it. Handing it to me, he grinned. "Drink."

"No."

He pulled a gun and pointed it at me. "Drink or I can end this faster."

I stared at the gun, wondering if I should just allow him to shoot me. The thought of what was to come scared the shit out of me, but ending it all without giving Nicholas the chance to find me was something I couldn't do.

I grabbed the glass and drank it in one swallow. It didn't take long for the drugs to kick in and the world to go black.