Captive To The Underworld King

Chapter 9: One Room

"What did you find in your last investigation?" Kade asked.

"Hmm...the three victims have one thing in common," Dahlia replied, completely focused on the folder.

"Which is?"

"They visited the same bar before their deaths. I don't know if that counts, but they met with someone unknown, and they all died the very next day." She explained.

"Same bar?" Kade repeated, his eyes fixed on the folder.

"Yes, and when I visited, I found out they all used the same room. So it narrows down to one thing: there's someone in that room. Either the person is staying there, or they meet them there." She said. "But no one has ever seen anyone else enter or leave that room aside from the victims."

"So the bar has a motel?" Kade asked.

"Apparently, yes." She nodded. "My plan was to lodge there to keep an eye on that room, if a particular someone hadn't decided to kidnap me." She added the last part with a glare.

Kade stared at her for a beat but didn't comment. "Did you get the exact room?" he asked instead.

"Got it from my source."

"Good." Kade stood up, turning his back to her. "We'll move by evening."

"Move?" Dahlia asked, confused.

"If we want to get to the bottom of this, we trace every lead we get."

"Ohh." Dahlia nodded. "Then we move this evening." Determination flashed in her eyes.

Something unreadable flickered in Kade's eyes, but he said nothing. He walked out of the room, and Dahlia followed.

She felt happy at the thought of going undercover. She missed her life. She missed the risk and the thrill of uncovering the truth.

A smile appeared on her lips as she practically skipped the rest of the way to her room.

"Don't stare at her," Styx said beside Kade, who stood in a corner watching her go.

"I'm not," Kade replied calmly and turned away, heading to his room.

—EVENING—

Dahlia walked out of her room already dressed. She wore baggy blue jeans, a white cropped top, and white sneakers. She didn't bother with a bag since she had nothing to put in it; she'd just shove her phone in her pocket.

She walked to the screen room but couldn't find Kade or Styx.

*Where the f**k is he now?*

She stood rooted to the spot, trying to figure out which room in the hallway was his.

She had been living here for over a week now, but she had never paid attention to which room was his. She hadn't cared to know.

Dahlia sighed and walked down the hallway, studying each door and trusting her intuition. There were five rooms: hers, the screen room, and three others.

She stopped in front of one of the three. It looked different from the rest. Small flowers were carved around the peephole, so subtly that anyone could overlook them, but Dahlia caught them on a second glance.

*Lilies? What's his obsession with lilies and white?*

She knocked anyway, certain it was his room, and it was.

Kade stepped out and closed the door behind him in such a calculated way that she couldn't catch a single peek inside.

He was already dressed: white sweatpants, a white T-shirt, and white sneakers, his tattooed arm and neck completely covered.

He didn't say a word. He walked past her without so much as a glance.

*Arrogant bastard.*

Dahlia hissed and followed him out of the mansion. They took an escalator right outside the building, but instead of going up, it went down, lowering them into the ground, straight to his underground parking garage.

Dahlia gulped at the sight.

*Does he own an automobile company?*

She tried counting the cars but couldn't get past twenty before they seemed to multiply in front of her. Different colors, sizes, brands, and models. He even had bikes.

"I don't have forever, Quinn."

His deep voice jolted her out of her thoughts, and she rushed to the car. She was about to open the back door when he spoke again.

"Get in the front."

Dahlia stared at him for a moment. She wanted to say something, but nothing came, so she just glared and moved to the front door. Kade joined her and started the engine. A wall-like gate she had never noticed slid up, revealing the outside of the estate, and he drove off at full speed.

*Being a criminal is kinda fancy.*

—THE GLOWING LANTERN—

Kade pulled into the driveway, and they stepped out and headed into the bar, where loud chatter was already spilling out.

"Won't the people in there recognize you?" Dahlia asked the question that had been on her mind.

"I'm not here for them." He didn't spare her a glance.

"But if they recognize you, they'll panic, and that'll blow our cover," she pointed out.

Kade paused mid-step, his back to her, seeming to consider her words before letting out something like a chuckle. "They panic; they die."

"You're not here to kill; you're..."

"I've allowed you to talk back a lot today. Don't overdo it." He said it coldly before disappearing into the bar.

He hadn't raised his voice, and his expression hadn't changed, but Dahlia still felt the chill of his words.

She sighed, half frustrated and half angry, and followed him inside.

They stopped at a small receptionist counter beside the main entrance. Dahlia stepped forward before Kade could speak. She didn't trust him with that.

"Hey, good evening. Can we get two rooms, please?" She smiled.

The receptionist looked up at her, then started to look at Kade, but Dahlia coughed and pulled her attention back.

The receptionist clicked around on her laptop before smiling politely. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but there's only one room left."

"One room?" Dahlia repeated.

*One room with this white monster? Hell nah!*

"Yes, ma'am."

"Ohh..."

"We'll take it," Kade said.

"What?" Dahlia blurted out before she could stop herself.

Kade only tilted his head to the side, as if daring her to talk back again.

"Aren't you a couple? You don't need to be shy, ma'am." The receptionist smiled, not really looking at Kade, and even if she had, she probably wouldn't have recognized him. His hair had fallen over his face, covering one side of it.

*It must have come loose during the drive.*

"We..."

"Keys?" Kade said.

The receptionist went through the booking process and handed the key to Kade. "Take the stairs." She gestured toward a staircase not far from them.

Kade walked off, and Dahlia gulped before following.

They reached the room, and both paused at the entrance. One bed, one bathroom, one everything.

"Which one is the target room?" Kade asked.

"The last one down the hall." Dahlia pointed, and Kade followed her finger, nodded, then walked in.

He sat on the bed, fingers tapping against his knee. "According to my research, the meeting only happens at night. So we'll be spending the night here."

"What? Spending the night? Together? In the same room?" Dahlia blurted.

"You seem to have forgotten my words from a few minutes ago outside."

"We're here for an investigation. You need me; that's why I'm here. That doesn't mean you can control my choices. We're technically partners." Her voice came out firmer than she expected.

Kade stood and walked toward her slowly, backing her against the wall and caging her there.

"Partners?" he repeated.

Dahlia swallowed hard.

As much as she hated to admit it, he still intimidated her. She was known as the fearless one in her industry, the journalist who willingly covered cases others were too scared to touch.

And now here she was, caged against a wall, gulping in fear because of a man who didn't even raise his voice.

"Good," Kade said suddenly, and withdrew.

—BLACK CATHEDRAL—

The cathedral stood alone in the middle of nowhere, its light flickering in a sickening way.

It was rumored to be haunted, so no one visited. Even the nearby homeowners had moved away after people started going in and never coming out.

Cobwebs ran from the corner of the door down to the doorknob.

A man dressed in all black, including a black nose mask, twisted the knob and stepped inside as if it wasn't his first time there, and it truly wasn't.

Inside, the cathedral was in ruins: broken furniture streaked with dried blood, blood on the walls, cobwebs twisting across the hall. At the far end, on the bishop's seat, sat a figure in the dark.

"Boss." The masked man knelt on one knee, his fist pressed to his chest in a pledge.

"Speak." The voice was thick, distorted, and chilling.

"Roman is dead. Kade killed him."

"That useless fool. One simple task, to kill the damn journalist, and he ended up being the one killed," the figure hissed.

"But...the journalist seems to be staying with Kade."

"Interesting." The figure gave a low, slow chuckle.

"And I have something you may like." The masked man sounded like he was smiling behind the mask.

"Let me hear it."

"Both of them are at The Glowing Lantern as we speak."

"Really?" Something eager crept into the voice.

"Yes, boss."

The figure's laughter rolled quietly across the hall, slow and low, until it faded.

A gloved finger reached out and curled around a strand of cobweb, and something dark twisted in the shadows where the face should be.

"Prepare a gift for our guests."