Sin Eater

NO MATTER HOW MUCH Ryu tried, he didn’t seem to be able to concentrate, and he was losing his temper. Even Gunther had pointed out how uncharacteristically Ryu behaved. He tapped his finger against the desk. The shadows grew on the walls of his office. Part of him hadn’t wanted to go in for work, but he was the owner and CEO of Hodo Security.

He stared at the laptop screen. He’d been attempting to read the same boring page over and over again, and he still didn’t know what it said. His fingers raked through his thick black locks. 

“Calm the fuck down,” he told himself.

He didn’t.

Shadows slipped over the window, blocking the light. They crawled over Ryu’s fingers, his desk, keyboard — “Calm the fuck down,” he said, clenching his teeth, his nostrils flaring with every breath. “You’re not a child. You’re not an untrained Mageía from the street. You’re Ryu Botan, and that name fucking means something now.”

But he’d hurt Roselin, a voice in the back of his mind whispered. He’d done a lot of things he didn’t normally do because of her, but every time he tried to cut her out of his life, she drew him back in. Roselin was like a drug, and he was unsure if he wanted to quit.

He stood up from the desk, the chair rolling backwards. His shadows followed him as he paced the office, matching his nervous energy.

Ryu had planned on killing her. The day after he slept with her — after she witnessed him murdering someone — he’d planned to kill her. To let her disappear so she couldn’t become a complication later. If only he had known then what kind of problem she would be.

The moment he first saw her, he realised she had a spark — something intriguing — so, of course, he was going to fuck her. Especially after she had proved to have wits. She challenged him in a way she didn’t realise. To be honest, he hadn’t figured out what he would’ve done if she’d said no that night. He’d already imagined what she’d look like with her back arched, her hair clenched in his fist, and his cock buried deep inside of her. In the last few years, he hadn’t been told “no” much in his life. Perks of having power and money. If one didn’t solve it, the other would.

Roselin had told him no multiple times. It was infuriating. It made him obsessed.

He lowered himself onto the chair beside the bookcase. His arms leaned on his legs as he stared into the nothingness of the room. He had to breathe the shadows away. Breathe through the emotions. Breathe to regain hold of himself once more because he was the epitome of control, and that wasn’t going to change by some random girl he picked up from the streets.

Roselin was supposed to be a one-night stand. In his mind, he kept revisiting that day. He had wondered if he had realised he wasn’t actually going to murder her. The bright green eyes of hers haunted him. If he closed his eyes, he could still remember hers widening when she witnessed him kill the murderer. And if he was honest with himself, he’d admit that he could’ve gone after her right then and there.

And he didn’t.

Perhaps because Hugo and Gunter were with him, and they’d have an opinion about how he’d handle the situation. He told himself he didn’t enjoy taking innocent lives, and she was just that. Innocent. That part was true when he’d told Roselin. 

Perhaps some part of him was curious to see what she’d do. The keeper of ethics. It wasn’t so hard to find her again with access to the information he had. Besides, the police wouldn’t believe her over him, and even if they did, they wouldn’t. So, he found her. And he saw her. Really saw her. Maybe not at first, but when the painting caught his eye…

One more time. Ryu had told himself. He’d sleep with Roselin, have her watched to ensure she wouldn’t inform others of his activities, and let her go. But as he said before, she was his drug, and he kept coming back for more.

A knock on the door pulled him out of his breathing exercise. The shadows hadn’t returned to their regular shape, but they were of an acceptable size.

“Come in,” he said with a rumbling voice.

His assistant walked in. His favourite one, Calanthe. He leaned back in the chair, watching her confusion for a second as she took in the room before pulling her face into that expression that said she was a professional who wouldn’t ask questions her boss didn’t want to answer.

“I moved your appointment to next week, like you asked, and I transferred your late afternoon client to Daniel,” Calanthe said.

This could’ve been an email. Which meant Calanthe had an alternative motive, so he kept staring at her, waiting for more. She stared back.

“Is that all?” He broke the silence.

“Is it?”

“If I wanted therapy, I’d hire a psychologist or a prostitute.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“But you were thinking about it.”

“Not that you have any proof. Last time I checked, your powers were shadows.”

A small smile tugged at his lips. He opened his mouth only to close it again.

“Sometimes saying sorry is enough,” she said, and he raised an eyebrow at her. “That is, if you want to keep her.” Calanthe didn’t give him a chance to respond. She dashed out of his office, the door closing behind her.

Fucking Calanthe. She saw through him too much.

Did he wish to keep Roselin? He knew the answer to that.

Roselin was his obsession. A dangerous one. Ryu realised it when she slept against him, his fingers wrapped around her naked breast, and all he could think about was how he wanted to murder everyone who wished to harm her. Which wasn’t even considering how he felt about letting her return to her own apartment. Roselin had a fire in her soul that burned in her eyes. She was intelligent, creative, had a bit of a temper, and a dark side. Roselin didn’t think anyone understood her. Or as she put it, “spoke her language”. But he did. He recognised the loneliness on her face. The sadness and fear. Even the twisted wrath and broken trust, she hid so well. He took it upon himself to gain her confidence. To treasure it and to protect it.

Yet, he broke her trust.

He harmed her. Used his shadow blade to cut her arm. Needless to say, he hadn’t meant to. He wanted to keep her safe from that boy — the predator. She may claim that the boy wasn’t, but Ryu knew it. Ryu killed people like him, and damn the world if he wasn’t going to rid the city of those so-called men.

Another knock. This time, Calanthe didn’t wait for him to call her in. “Mister Botan, you might want to watch the lobby’s camera.” Calanthe used the tone she reserved for times when she understood her place, but she wasn’t asking him to do something. She was telling him.

He opened the security cameras of the building on his computer, switching to the video image of the lobby.

“Any specific ones—” he asked, his voice drifting off as he found the one Calanthe meant. He’d recognised Roselin anywhere, and she was standing in the lobby, her long blonde hair loose, and her figure tempting him to claim her. He shifted in his seat, his cock twitching at the thought of Roselin’s tight cunt. For some reason, she was wearing a cap.

“I see you found the right one,” Calanthe said.

“Nobody lays a finger on her,” Ryu said, his voice darkening as Gunther grabbed Roselin’s shoulders. “Send Hugo,” Ryu told Calanthe. He might be better suited to deal with the situation.

Calanthe said something into the small microphone she wore, and he guessed it went straight to Gunther and Hugo’s earpieces.

Ryu’s jaw tightened, his lips pressing in a thin line. The last message he got from Roselin was about how he was an ass and had betrayed her trust. How he’d broken his promise to her. She was crying, and it made the shadows around his heart contract. He wasn’t supposed to feel that way, but he did, and he didn’t know how to stop it. Weakness was a dangerous thing to have in the life he was living.

Roselin seemed tense. She wiggled her arm to get out of Gunther’s grip as she said something. The elevator doors opened, and Hugo stepped out.

Ryu took his headphones and turned up the volume.

“Mister Botan will contact you when he wants to,” Hugo said.

“This is an emergency,” Roselin hissed through her teeth, her hands clenched into fists, but it wasn’t the anger he noticed; it was the fear. 

“Do we have any information about an incident at Miss Bessett’s home?”

“Nothing,” Calanthe answered, as she typed on her tablet.

Roselin straightened her back. “I received a note with a threat, and since Ryu is the only person I know who may have enemies, I thought he might know more.”

Ryu perked up in his seat, watching the screen. One of his hands rested on the headphone as the other gripped the desk.

“Can I see the note?” Hugo asked.

“No.”

Hugo sighed. “I can take the note to Ryu, and he can respond to you later.” 

Roselin scoffed. “I would like to give it to him myself,” she said, but seemed to realise Hugo wouldn’t give in. He was well-trained and even more disciplined. “I didn’t bring the note.”

Fuck. Ryu wanted the note. Needed it.

“Come back later.” Hugo turned around.

“Wait, please.” She bit her bottom lip, and it drove Ryu insane. The fear made him want to kill whoever instilled it in her, but the curve of her lip between her teeth made him want to fuck her mouth. “I really need Ryu’s help.”

“He’ll contact you, Miss Bessette.”

The anxiety in her eyes dimmed as a fire of anger burned hot on her face. “Ass,” she yelled. People in the lobby turned to them. 

Hugo shot a quick glance at the camera. Neither the army nor Hodo Security prepared the man for dealing with a short-tempered girlfriend. Ryu wasn’t equipped for it either. Usually, the girls he slept with did whatever he said.

“Whatever happens is on you.” Roselin pointed at the camera. No, not the camera. At him. 

Ryu stood up, the desk chair rolling backwards. Roselin turned around and walked out with two security guards following her. He blinked at the screen, removing the headphones. “What do we know about a note?” Ryu asked Calanthe, meeting her gaze.

“Nothing.”

“How come we don’t have any clue about what’s going on?” Ryu said, the muscle in his jaw twitching. Shadows rose. He was losing his patience again.

A light pink blush spread across Calanthe’s cheeks. She wasn’t someone who didn’t have answers because if something was unknown to her, she made damn sure she learned what it was or recommended a person who could.

“We haven’t had Miss Bessette tracked. You didn’t want us to.” She paused, her hands clenching and unclenching around the tablet. “But if you have the note, I can figure out who wrote it.”

Ryu wasn’t often taken off guard. He personally hated the feeling and did everything in his power to prevent it. This time, however, he was and by his own damn personal assistant. Calanthe had struggled with her powers and made it very clear that she didn’t wish to use them for work, so Ryu had it stated in her contract that she didn’t have to use her Mageía abilities. Even without them, she was of great value to the company. Calanthe had proven herself many times.

He put the headphones down slowly. “You understand you don’t have to…”

“I know.” Calanthe shot him a smile. “Would you like me to notify the Driver you’re leaving?”

He took a deep breath and exhaled calmly. Part of him felt like he needed to tell Calanthe that he didn’t love Roselin. That it didn’t matter if she walked away, because he wasn’t someone who chased. But he couldn’t.

Sometimes saying sorry is enough. That is, if you want to keep her.

He wanted her back in his bed, her body against his. He wished for her to smile at him once more. And he would kill anyone who planned to harm her.

“I think I’ll drive myself. Tell the valet I want my car.”