My heart pounded so hard it felt painful behind my ribs. I fixed my gaze on the dark corner above that pile of renovation wood. There, tucked between the shadows, a small lens glinted, reflecting the dim light of the warehouse. A camera. Someone had recorded every second when Hunter cornered me, every breath of his coarse air, and every inch of my humiliating fear.
Who?
I hurriedly straightened my slightly disheveled knitted shirt, pulling the collar as high as possible to cover the mark on my neck that felt hot. I felt naked. I felt like I was being watched by thousands of invisible eyes. The corridor of my soul churned between anger and deep ignominy. In this mansion, even privacy was a luxury that had been stripped from me.
I stepped out of the warehouse with legs that were still trembling. I didn't care anymore about the suitcase or my belongings. I just wanted to go back to my room and lock the door. However, just as I passed the corner of the corridor toward the main hall, someone suddenly appeared from behind an unpainted concrete pillar.
"My God! Sister Reia? You startled me!"
I flinched and almost screamed. In front of me stood Leo, the youngest of this family. Unlike his brothers who had threatening auras, Leo was the definition of a Pretty Boy. His face was very handsome with soft features, his skin was clean, and his slightly messy hair gave him the impression of a friendly college youth. His body was athletic as a student athlete—slimmer compared to the giant Hunter, yet the muscles in his arms looked very functional and tight beneath the white polo shirt he wore.
"Leo... you... since when were you there?" I asked, trying to manage my racing breath.
Leo smiled sweetly, a smile so friendly it almost looked innocent. He stepped closer with a somewhat spoiled manner, typical of a youngest brother who always got what he wanted.
"I just got home from practice, Sister. I looked for you everywhere," he said in a soft voice tone, almost childish. He tilted his head, staring at me with round eyes that seemed caring. "Your face is so pale. Did Hunter do something to you in the warehouse earlier? I saw him come out with a terrifying face."
That question made me freeze. Did he know? Or was he baiting me?
"No, he... he was just helping me look for things," I lied, turning my face away so he wouldn't see my agitation.
Leo nodded, but his gaze remained fixed on me with a strange intensity. He suddenly reached into his pants pocket and took out an elegant little box containing the latest model of a cellphone.
"This is for you, Sister Reia," he said while offering the box cheerfully. "Dante said your phone was broken during the trip yesterday. Because that stiff husband of yours is too busy with his meetings, he told me to give this to you. I've set it all up, you just need to use it."
I stared at the phone box with mixed feelings. Amidst the onslaught of gazes from the predators inhabiting this mansion, Leo's friendliness felt like a soothing oasis. He smiled so sincerely, the small dimple on his handsome face making him look much younger than his twenty-one years.
I accepted the box hesitantly. "Thank you, Leo. You didn't have to go through the trouble."
"Eh, don't be like that! We are family now, aren't we," Leo laughed softly, his hand briefly touching my arm—a touch that felt light but for some reason made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. "Use it, okay, Sister! I've put everyone's number in this house in there, including mine. If you need something or feel unsafe... just contact me, okay?"
He winked, looking very sweet like a reliable younger brother. However, as he turned to leave, I caught a glimpse of a glint in his eyes—a glint of intelligence that was too sharp for a youth his age.
I watched him leave, feeling a bit relieved. At least, not everyone in this house wanted to eat me alive. I immediately went into my room, locked the door, and sat on the edge of the bed.
I opened the phone box. The contents were very complete. A pearl white latest model smartphone. When I turned it on, the wallpaper had already been changed to a beautiful photo of the mansion's backyard garden. Everything seemed very personal and attended to with detail. I felt a little touched. Maybe Leo was right, Dante told him because he was too stiff to give it himself.
I placed the phone on the nightstand, right next to the bedside lamp. I felt a little safer now. At least I had a tool to contact the outside world if something bad happened. I didn't realize that in the corner of the room, behind a newly installed wall decoration, a small red dot of light blinked once before disappearing.
Meanwhile, in a room in the isolated right wing of the mansion, the atmosphere was a stark contrast. The room was dark, lit only by the blue glow from rows of monitor screens that filled the walls.
Leo sat in his expensive gaming chair, still wearing the white polo shirt he wore earlier when greeting Reia. His innocent friendly face had now evaporated, replaced by a very focused cold expression. His sharp eyes stared at one of the screens showing the corner of the warehouse where Hunter cornered Reia earlier.
"Hunter, you are so rough," Leo murmured softly, his voice now sounding very different—cold and manipulative.
He pressed a button, and the screen changed to show the corner of Reia's room. He saw Reia sitting on the edge of the bed, touching the phone he gave with a thin, fragile smile. Leo leaned back, crossed his legs, and sipped his canned drink while enjoying the view.
He slid the cursor to a hidden application icon on his computer. Instantly, the screen displayed a live transmission from the front camera of the phone Reia was holding. He could see the reflection of Reia's pale and sad face from a very close distance.
"So innocent... so easy to trust," Leo whispered with a terrifying thin smirk.
His hands moved nimbly over the keyboard, activating the microphone on Reia's phone. Now, he could not only see, but also hear every breath, every sob, even Reia's heartbeat recorded in frequency. To Leo, Reia was not just a sister-in-law or a family flower. Reia was the most interesting entertainment project he had ever owned.
He liked seeing how Reia trembled in fear when facing his brutal brothers. To him, it was a reality drama much more exciting than any movie. And what he enjoyed most was his own role, being the only man Reia trusted in this house of demons.
Leo sipped his drink again, his eyes not leaving the screen showing Reia changing clothes. He was in no hurry. He would let Reia feel safe in his grasp, before he used all the data he collected to drop a bomb that would destroy everyone in that house.
"Good night, my dear Sister-in-law."
Leo sipped his drink again, his eyes not leaving the screen showing Reia tidying the bed with movements that were still trembling. The silence in his dark monitor room was only broken by the hum of the computer cooling machines working hard to process thousands of visual data from all corners of the mansion.
"So fragile, Reia... as if one more hard touch will make you shatter into pieces," Leo whispered in a very low voice, almost like a hiss.
He spun his chair, staring at the main screen displaying the mansion's floor plan in the form of a digital blueprint. There, the red dots—his hidden cameras. His slender finger tapped the teak wood table with a constant rhythm.
"My stupid brothers... they are too busy showing off their muscles and fangs in front of you," Leo chuckled. "They don't know that the deadliest weapon is not a punch or a bluff, but what I hold in this hand."
He slid the cursor to an encrypted folder. Inside was stored every corner of the mansion's recordings, including Jax's room, even Reia's expression of fear at the dining table earlier.
Leo leaned forward, his handsome face now only a few centimeters from the screen displaying Reia's innocent face from the front camera of that new phone. His smirk widened, revealing a much more cunning side of a predator.
"Enjoy your pseudo-sense of security, my dear Sister-in-law," he murmured while turning off the audio button. "Because when the time comes later... when all the pawns are in the places I want... I will make sure you are the one who begs me to destroy them all."
He fell silent for a moment, staring at the darkness outside his window which pointed toward the building wing where Dante's room was located.
"After all, wouldn't it be very fun to see how that model husband of yours reacts when he finds out who is actually the most powerful in this house?"