Chapter 69: What exactly is going on?
The drive home was a blur.
By the time Malik pulled through the gates and parked in front of the house, Raina could barely remember the journey. The mountain remained fixed in her thoughts like a splinter lodged beneath her skin. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the empty grave again—the disturbed earth, the hollow pit, and the awful realization that Felix was not where he was supposed to be.
Nothing about it made sense.
The photographs had been real. Tengu had confirmed that much. The location was real. The burial site was real.
Yet the body was gone.
Every answer she uncovered seemed determined to create three more questions.
Who was X-Reveals?
How did he know where Felix had been buried?
And if Felix was no longer in that grave...
Then where was he?
By the time she reached her bedroom, the silence of the house felt oppressive. She sat on the edge of her bed and stared at her phone for several moments before scrolling through her contacts.
Her thumb hovered over Malcolm’s name.
Then she pressed call.
The line rang twice before connecting.
"Finally."
Malcolm sounded irritated.
Not nervous.
Not relieved.
Irritated.
"Why aren’t you answering your phone?" he demanded. "I’ve been trying to reach you all day."
Raina leaned back against the headboard.
"Oh?"
Her voice remained perfectly calm.
"And why exactly would I answer?"
A sigh crackled through the speaker.
"Can we skip the games for once?"
"Games?" Raina repeated. "I don’t remember us being friends, Malcolm. Friends call each other casually."
For several seconds neither spoke.
Then Malcolm broke the silence.
"We have a bigger problem."
Raina rolled her eyes.
"Do we?"
"Yes."
"What makes you think that?"
His voice lowered immediately.
"I’m being watched."
Internally, Raina nearly laughed.
Of course you are.
Frank’s men had been tracking Malcolm around the clock for weeks. After everything he had done, there was no chance she would allow him to move freely.
Still, she kept that information to herself.
"Watched?" she asked. "What exactly does that mean?"
"It means I opened my front door this morning and found a note."
That got her attention.
"What kind of note?"
Paper rustled on the other end of the line.
When Malcolm finally spoke again, his voice sounded noticeably tighter.
"It said, ’You disappoint me.’"
A pause followed.
Then:
"’And I see all.’"
The words settled heavily between them.
Raina frowned.
That didn’t sound like Frank.
It certainly didn’t sound like any of Frank’s men.
"What makes you think X-Reveals sent it?"
"Because there was a giant red X drawn across the paper."
Now she sat up straighter.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Her people were watching Malcolm, but they weren’t stupid enough to make contact. Frank wouldn’t permit it.
Which meant someone else had approached him.
Someone who knew exactly how to get under Malcolm’s skin.
"Why would X-Reveals threaten you?" she asked carefully. "Aren’t the two of you practically partners?"
A bitter laugh escaped him.
"You really think that’s what we are?"
"Aren’t you?"
"No."
The answer came immediately.
Too immediately.
"We worked together because we wanted the same thing."
"Which was?"
"You gone."
"How flattering."
"I’m serious."
"So am I."
Malcolm ignored the comment.
"Our relationship was always temporary. An enemy-of-my-enemy arrangement."
"And now?"
"And now I think I’m the enemy."
Raina turned her gaze toward the bedroom window. Thunder rumbled somewhere beyond the city skyline.
"What changed?"
"I told you about him."
Her brow furrowed.
"What?"
"I told you he existed."
His voice had become noticeably quieter.
"Maybe that’s enough."
"Or?"
"Or maybe he’s simply cleaning house."
The words lingered.
Raina frowned slightly.
Cleaning house.
That wasn’t how Malcolm normally spoke.
"You make him sound organized."
A brief silence followed.
Too brief.
Then Malcolm said something that made her sit upright.
"He isn’t organized. He’s obsessive."
Raina froze.
Malcolm continued before realizing what he’d done.
"He spent months watching that house."
The silence that followed was immediate.
Raina’s expression hardened.
What house?
She had never mentioned the abandoned property.
Not to Malcolm.
And didn’t Malcolm say they had never met before?
Apparently realizing his mistake, Malcolm quickly corrected himself.
"I mean... people like him do that."
But the damage was already done.
Raina said nothing.
She simply filed the information away.
Months watching the house.
How would Malcolm know that?
The conversation continued, but her attention had sharpened considerably.
"You know what the worst part is?" Malcolm asked suddenly.
Raina remained silent.
"The note wasn’t the first thing."
That caught her attention.
"What do you mean?"
A tired laugh escaped him.
"For the last few days I’ve felt like somebody was following me."
"You just said that."
"No. I mean before the note."
His voice slowed.
Careful.
Measured.
Like somebody reliving something unpleasant.
"There was a black sedan behind me three days in a row."
Raina frowned.
"Did you get the plate?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because every time I tried, it disappeared."
The answer irritated her.
Yet Malcolm sounded sincere.
"The first day I ignored it. The second day I noticed it. By the third day I was looking for it."
"And?"
"And it vanished."
Raina said nothing.
Malcolm continued.
"Then Tuesday night I got home and found my television on."
"What?"
"I know I turned it off before I left."
His voice had grown quieter.
"There were muddy footprints in the kitchen."
A pause.
"When I checked again later, they were gone."
Raina frowned.
"You think someone entered your house?"
"I know somebody entered my house."
"You have proof?"
"No."
The answer came immediately.
"That’s the problem."
For the first time, Malcolm sounded genuinely unsettled.
"Every time I think I have proof, it disappears."
Silence followed.
Then:
"Honestly?"
"What?"
"X-Reveals scares me more than you do."
That snapped her back to the present.
"I’ll pretend that wasn’t insulting."
"I’m not trying to insult you."
His voice sounded tired now.
"You calculate. You plan. You think ahead."
"And he doesn’t?"
"No."
The answer came instantly.
"He doesn’t care how he gets results."
A pause.
"He only cares that he gets them."
For the first time during the conversation, Raina heard genuine fear.
Not panic.
Not exaggeration.
Fear.
The controlled kind.
The kind that crept into a person’s voice when they finally realized they were standing next to something far more dangerous than they originally believed.
"And I’m afraid for my family."
Raina stared down at the floor.
Despite everything Malcolm had done, she believed him.
That was the uncomfortable part.
Fear like this couldn’t be faked.
Not convincingly.
Not for this long.
"I’ll call you back."
"Raina, wait—"
She ended the call.
Immediately.
Before he could recover from his mistake.
The room fell silent once more.
But now the silence felt different.
Heavier.
More meaningful.
Slowly, she replayed one sentence in her head.
He spent months watching that house.
How did Malcolm know that when he said they haven’t met before?
Her phone was already in her hand when she dialed Frank.
He answered on the second ring.
"Boss."
"Your men are still watching Malcolm?"
"Every day."
"Good, I think he saw you guys, the guy is paranoid tell your men to be careful from now on "
She stood and began pacing.
" Understood boss"
A silence then
" Frank I need to know something? Malcolm called and I wanna know one thing . Would any of your men be stupid enough to approach him directly?"
"No."
The answer came without hesitation.
"Leave notes?"
"No."
"Threaten him?"
"Definitely not."
That confirmed what she already suspected.
She explained the note and the red X.
Frank listened quietly.
When she finished, he was silent for several seconds.
"I’ll increase surveillance."
"Good."
"If somebody else is getting close to Malcolm, we’ll find out."
"I hope so."
The call ended.
The next day Frank called back.
Raina answered immediately.
"What is it?"
Something in his silence bothered her.
"Boss."
"What happened?"
"I checked the surveillance."
"And?"
Frank exhaled slowly.
"The note shouldn’t exist."
Raina stopped pacing.
"What?"
"We reviewed six hours of footage."
Paper rustled.
"No one approached the house."
She frowned.
"What do you mean no one?"
"I mean exactly that."
His voice sounded irritated.
As though the situation offended him.
"No one approached the mailbox."
"No one approached the front door."
"No one entered the property."
The room seemed colder.
"Then how did the note get there?"
"We don’t know."
Frank hated saying those words.
She could hear it.
"I checked neighboring cameras."
"Nothing."
"Delivery drivers?"
"Nothing."
"Neighbors?"
"Nothing."
Raina stared at the rain outside.
For several moments neither spoke.
Finally Frank said,
"I’ll keep digging."
"Do that."
The call ended.
Yet the unease remained.
Because Frank wasn’t the sort of man who accepted mysteries.
Everything had an explanation.
Everything could be tracked.
Everything could be found.
But this time he had nothing.
Raina crossed to her desk and opened her laptop.
For nearly an hour she dug through public records.
Property databases.
Historical maps.
Archived tax reports.
Anything connected to the abandoned house because that was all she got from when bunny head invited her there
Most of it led nowhere.
Dead ends.
Missing files.
Contradictory ownership histories.
But eventually she found something.
The utility records.
Raina stared at the screen.
The property was officially abandoned.
According to city records, nobody had lived there for more than twelve years.
Yet electricity usage appeared throughout the previous six years
Not enough for a family.
Not enough for permanent residency.
Just enough.
Enough for lights.
Enough for equipment.
Enough for somebody to use the property occasionally while making sure nobody noticed.
A chill crawled down her spine.
Someone had been using the house.
Someone who wanted everyone to believe it was empty.
Her thoughts immediately returned to Bunny Head.
Every road led back to him.
Every answer seemed connected to him.
And somehow she still knew almost nothing because Felix had died just four years ago and the house has this record for about six years ago . So it doesn’t connect not exactly
The realization irritated her.
No.
It frightened her.
For the first time in years, she wasn’t controlling the board.
Someone else was.
Raina stared at the abandoned house’s records for several moments before another realization struck her.
She grabbed her phone and dialed Tengu.
He answered almost immediately.
"That was fast."
"I need a favor."
A weary sigh escaped him.
"Those words are never good."
"Do you still have that contact in the housing committee?"
A brief pause.
Then:
"Yes."
Raina moved toward the window and watched rain slide down the glass.
"I need ownership records."
"For the house?"
She froze.
For a moment she forgot to breathe.
Slowly, very slowly, she lowered the phone from her ear.
Then raised it again.
"What house, Tengu?"
Silence.
A long silence.
The line remained quiet.
Then Tengu spoke.
Carefully.
Too carefully.
"Raina..."
But she was no longer listening.
Because for the second time that night, someone had known something they should not know.
And suddenly she wasn’t sure which possibility was worse.
That Bunny Head had been watching everyone.
Or that someone close to her had been helping him.
To Be Continued...
