Shayna looked up from her copy of Pride and Prejudice, her gaze lingering slightly on the old clock in the corner.
The same one she had brought from the previous house.
Thinking about it, Shayna actually felt surprised that the clock had survived the damage. In fact, apart from the slight crack on the glass, there was no sign of it being purposefully thrown on the ground.
She looked back at her table, just breathing in the calm night air while thinking about her situation.
For as long as she could remember, Shayna had always been the person who avoided trouble. Being invisible could not save her indefinitely, but it could certainly increase her chances of survival.
In fact, that was her only condition for working as Vixen. Complete, unshattered anonymity amongst the majority of people in the underworld.
Deep down, Shayna knew it was selfish. She remembered Rebel, Munay, and so many others who stayed behind to protect those other girls from being as helpless as they had been.
But, in reality, it could never be enough.
Anybody who crossed the underworld, and was not born into it whether by choice or forcefully, was eventually screwed in the end.
There were no medals or recognition in this field.
Sure, people would be scared of you, but it also made you a direct target for anyone seeking revenge against the mafia family.
The only prize was getting to keep head for another day.
She shifted uncomfortably. For the longest time possible, she had imagined herself eventually walking away from the underworld, under a guise or by completely changing her identity herself.
She probably would have, if that asshole Lucas wasn't onto her ass all the damn time.
And now as a cherry on top, she had managed to piss off the craziest and most psychotic assassin in Scotland.
It was almost as if some ninety-year-old granny she'd accidentally pissed off had stitched together a fucking voodoo doll of her and spent every evening cursing it alongside the other residents of the nursing home.
Her phone rang somewhere near her table, making her furrow her eyebrows.
Rebel.
She immediately picked up, her mood lightening.
"Shayna?" Rebel asked, her voice sounding almost quivering.
"You're alright?" I asked, immediately trying to switch to a video call as I heard coughing sounds in the background.
"Yeah, I'm okay," she replied heavily.
I call bullshit.
"Just stay where you are," I told her, already grabbing my shirt from the door hanger. "I'll be there in 10 minutes."
"I'm alright. It's you we need to..."
"Oh, for fuck's sake," an extremely angry voice rang out from behind her. "Your room was set on fire. You can be a little selfish for a moment and tell her about your it."
"Your room was on fire?" I screeched, stopping suddenly. "How long ago?"
"It's been around half an hour," Rebel said calmly.
"Did you see who it was?" I asked, coming out of my trance while grabbing my sneakers.
"Not anybody I know."
"Also, isn't your room in the most fucking secure place in the house? How did anybody even get there?"
An uncomfortable silence settled on the other side.
"Rebel," I said, opening my door and stepping into the frozen night, "You've got 10 seconds to tell me whatever the fuck is going on. Or I'm going to beat your ass up."
"Yeah, that..." Rebel replied, her voice slightly heavier. "I don't think that they were after me."
Huh?
Shayna stopped, her legs scraping suddenly against the concrete.
"What do you mean?"
"He climbed in through the window directly in front of my bed," Rebel explained quietly. "The moment he got inside, he saw my face. I was completely passed out. If he'd come there to kill me, I would've never opened my eyes again. If he'd come to kidnap me..."
She let out a slow breath. "I saw the zip ties. He had more than enough time to use them."
She fell silent for a moment before continuing.
"That's what's been bothering me. He looked straight at me... and then he hesitated. It was like he realised I wasn't the person he was looking for in the first place."
"Why would he set fire to your room, then? That would gather attention for no reason."
"I think he realised she saw him," Munay replied this time, thinking. "And he was desperate not to leave any witnesses.
Definitely a stupid idea though."
"Who the hell would he be after then?" I asked, confounded, opening my car door.
"Could be anybody," Mairi replied. "With the engagement and all, there are a fuck ton of mass murderers all gathered in a single house in a celebratory mood."
I'd probably just set the house on fire, to save the trouble.
"But that means that whoever entered is fucking professional at this. Because the security is so fucking tight over here, it's almost impenetrable."
"Unless they were someone from the inside only," Shayna suddenly realised something.
A very dangerous, professional assassin who she had just tipped off, not so long ago.
It would make sense.
To the entire underworld, Vixen supposedly had lived in the Fraser Villa for the past three years.
Rebel's room in the house was pretty close to both Mairi's and Lucas's rooms and was large enough to be misidentified for a bedchamber rather than for the servant quarters.
And Lynx would definitely know about Rebel being Vixen's best friend. They were basically glued together anytime they were there.
"Did he try to kidnap you at all?" Shayna asked, suddenly careful.
If the situation was as bad as it sounded, it would be better to not involve Munay or Rebel.
"I think he did for a moment," Rebel said after a moment. "But I had the gun right there on my side. So he didn't try it."
And that would add up.
If he could kidnap Vixen's close friend, he could torture her into giving details about her.
"Did he run away after?" Shayna asked, now fully convinced.
"I didn't see him. I was more busy trying to get out of the burning room," Rebel said sarcastically.
"He surrounded it as well. For one moment I thought that she wouldn't make it out," Munay agreed. "That man was probably one of the good ones."
Well, of course, he was.
"I'm gonna check on everybody," Rebel replied. "I'll see you when you get here."
She hung up the phone while something struck Shayna's mind again.
Her fingers automatically dialed the person she thought she would never dial in her life.
"I'm a little busy right now, darling," Lucas muttered in a low tone. "Mind calling..."
"Listen to me," Shayna cut him off. "Get to your room, right now, and tell me whether it was broken into."
"What?" Lucas sounded completely confused. "Did you have too much to drink?"
"Just do as I say." Shayna's voice remained eerily calm.
Lucas walked from his basement to the room, with Shayna just sitting in complete silence on the other side.
She heard his bedroom door squeak open and his breath hitch immediately after.
"Zephan," Lucas yelled, still on the phone,"Get the whole fucking place checked. Nobody should be able to get out of the place. Pull the footage of the room and gather everyone in the hall while the search is conducted."
" RIGHT FUCKING NOW."
Shayna slowly lowered the phone.
Everyone in the underworld believed Vixen belonged to Lucas. If Lynx had been searching for someone connected to Vixen, Lucas's room would've been the first place he'd look.
"How did you know?" Lucas asked, his voice noticeably darker now.
"I'll explain when I get there."
She ended the call.
For several long seconds, she simply stared at the blank screen of her phone.
Her thoughts twisted into something unfamiliar.
The reflection staring back at her from the car window hardly looked human anymore. Her crimson hair framed a face stripped of every trace of warmth, while her eyes seemed almost blood-red beneath the scattered streetlights.
She had always known that Lynx was a dangerous, ruthless murderer who valued his secrecy above everything.
But to think he'd actually go as far as to try and burn her best friend alive?
A wave of familiar numbness washed over her, just like it had five years ago.
He was gonna fucking regret this.