Debt to the Devil

THE PANTRY PASSAGEWAY

Cecelia’s POV

The old grandfather clock down the hallway struck two in the morning, and I could hear the heavy boots of the four guards shuffling outside my door as they began their nightly shift rotation, their voices muffled by the thick wood as they exchanged brief greetings before walking down toward the main stairs.

I knew I only had about five minutes before the new set of enforcers arrived to take their places, so I moved quickly toward the glass terrace doors, holding Mary’s metal hairpin tightly between my fingers while my knees shook with pure adrenaline. I inserted the bent wire into the old brass lock mechanism, turning it carefully just like my stepfather showed me years ago when he used to lose his house keys, and a satisfying click echoed in the quiet room as the latch finally gave way.

I pushed the heavy glass door open and stepped out onto the dark balcony, keeping my body pressed flat against the stone railing because I did not want the floodlights in the lower courtyard to catch my shadow, and I looked down at the slanted tiled roof of the kitchen extension which sat about six feet below my position. I gripped the edge of the stone ledge, swinging my legs over the side before letting myself drop quietly onto the dark tiles, and my new wolf senses must have absorbed the impact because my feet hit the surface with barely a sound, which was a massive relief since the kitchen staff slept just across the corridor.

The small pantry window was slightly ajar to let the heat out from the evening baking, so I slid it upward and squeezed my body through the narrow opening, landing softly on a sack of flour stored inside the storage room where the heavy smell of dried herbs, onions, and cured meats immediately hit my nose. I stepped out into the dark kitchen, but before I could even plan my next move toward the main hall, a very distinct scent of mint and expensive wood smoke drifted through the air, and I instantly recognized it as River’s personal scent because it was the same smell that covered his jacket when he held me at the docks.

The trail led directly toward the back of the large kitchen pantry where an old wooden door sat partially open, revealing a narrow concrete stairwell that led down into the deep cellars where Marcus kept his private vintage collections, and I could hear a low voice echoing from the bottom of the steps.

I crept down the stairs, taking care to place my weight near the wall where the concrete was solid and would not creak, and I stopped behind a massive stack of wooden wine crates just a few feet away from where River was pacing back and forth with his phone pressed to his ear.

“I told you to stay away from the docks after the shooting, because Marcus is already turning the entire city upside down looking for the sniper, and if he finds any link connecting that rifle to my private security team, we are both dead men,” River said into the receiver, his voice dropping to an angry, harsh tone that was completely different from the smooth, polite manner he always used around the mansion.

“The job is done and Moretti is gone, you got exactly what you paid for, but you still haven’t transferred the remaining balance to my offshore account,” a gravelly voice replied through the speaker, the volume just loud enough for my heightened hearing to catch every single word from behind the crates.

“You will get your money when I am sure that Marcus hasn’t tracked the ballistics back to our circle, because right now he thinks a rival syndicate ordered the hit to steal his eastern routing data, and I need to keep him focused on that narrative while I handle the girl,” River snapped, running a hand through his hair while he continued to pace across the cold stone floor of the cellar.

“Why do you care so much about Moretti’s stepdaughter anyway, because she was just supposed to be the bait to draw Marcus out into the open, but now you are risking our entire operation just to keep her locked up in that house,” the voice on the phone asked, sounding completely annoyed by the delay in payment.

“She is not bait anymore, because she belongs with me, and I killed Richard specifically to ensure that she would have absolutely nobody else left to turn to in this world except myself,” River confessed, his voice filled with a strange, possessive intensity that made my entire body go completely cold behind the wooden crates.

“Richard was going to give up my name to her during that interrogation, and if she found out I was the one funding his luxury lifestyle while planning to destroy Marcus, she would never trust me again, so I had to eliminate the threat before she could learn the truth.”

“You are becoming completely unhinged over this girl, River, and if Marcus senses even a fraction of your obsession, he will rip your throat out before you can even reach for your weapon,” the partner warned, his tone full of genuine concern for their plan.

“Marcus only sees her as a ghost from his past because she looks like his dead lover Anya, but he doesn’t understand what she really is, and he will never look at her the way I do,” River said, his jaw clenching as he stared toward the stairs, my heart began to beat so loudly against my ribs that I was terrified he would hear it through the silence of the basement.

“I am going to dismantle his territory piece by piece, when he is finally weak enough to fall, I will take Cecelia away from this place and she will realize that I am the only one who can actually protect her from the chaos of this life, so just deliver the final data keys to the western border guards and wait for my next signal.”

He cut the call abruptly and shoved the phone back into his pocket, exhaling a long, sharp breath while he stood completely still in the center of the room, and the sudden silence in the cellar became so heavy that I barely dared to breathe.

I knew I needed to get back to my room immediately because the information was too dangerous for me to handle alone, but as I shifted my weight to take a step backward toward the concrete stairs, my boot accidentally brushed against an empty glass bottle sitting on the floor, and it rolled out into the open with a loud, ringing sound that made River spin around instantly toward my hiding spot.