Chapter 314: Silence

CHAPTER 315

ROMEO POV

The city drifted by beyond the windshield in long ribbons of gold and white.

Streetlights stretched across the rain-darkened road, their reflections breaking beneath the tires of the sedan as I drove without hurry.

A faint smirk lingered on my lips. It had been there ever since the alley. Katya. For a girl who had looked me in the eye only minutes ago… She was still the same Katya.

The realization amused me far more than it should have. From the outside, she’d done well. She hadn’t looked away. She hadn’t lowered her head. She hadn’t begged.

Anyone watching from a distance would’ve thought she’d stood her ground. But I hadn’t been watching from a distance.

I’d been standing close enough to hear the change in her breathing.

Close enough to notice the way her shoulders stiffened the instant I took a step toward her. Close enough to see the tiny pulse fluttering wildly at the base of her throat.

She’d been terrified.

Completely. Every inch of her body had betrayed what her eyes tried so desperately to hide.

A quiet breath escaped through my nose. Almost a laugh.Almost.

I swallowed it before it became anything more. Not because it wasn’t amusing. Because I had company.

The silence inside the car had become almost tangible. I didn’t need to look behind me to know what the atmosphere felt like.

I could sense it. Two girls sat rigidly in my back seat, trying very hard not to disturb the quiet.

Trying very hard not to attract my attention.

It was… refreshing. Most people had an uncontrollable need to fill silence with meaningless conversation.

Apologies. Excuses. Questions.

Chiara, of all people, seemed to be fighting that exact instinct.

I could almost hear her thinking. Should she thank me again? Should she apologize for interrupting my evening? Should she ask how far we were from home?

Every few seconds, I caught the faint rustle of fabric behind me.

Someone shifted. Then immediately stopped again.

Good. I preferred it this way.

Silence unsettled people.

People hated silence because it left them alone with their own thoughts. With their fears.

And tonight… There was plenty for both of them to think about. My fingers tapped lazily against the steering wheel.

My gaze lifted briefly to the rearview mirror. Gray eyes met golden.

Katya. She was staring out the passenger-side window, though I doubted she actually saw anything beyond the glass.

The passing lights painted shifting patterns across her face.

She looked… Smaller.

Not physically.

Fragile. The oversized fear she’d carried out of that alley had somehow shrunk everything else about her.

Even the dress. My gaze lingered for another second.

Black. Short. Elegant. Far more revealing than anything I’d imagined she’d willingly wear.

Interesting. Who would’ve thought? The same girl who constantly looked ready to argue with me…

Who tried so hard to convince herself she wasn’t intimidated… Had walked into one of the most exclusive clubs in the city looking like she belonged there.

The corner of my mouth lifted another fraction. Nonna would have a heart attack if she saw what Katya had left the house wearing.

Then again…

Knowing Nonna… She probably would’ve been proud but blame Chiara.

Correctly. My eyes returned to the road. The engine purred beneath my hands. The city had begun thinning around us now, the busiest streets giving way to quieter roads.

Behind me, no one spoke. I wondered how long they could keep it up. Probably not much longer.

Chiara wasn’t built for prolonged silence.

Katya, on the other hand… She was unpredictable.

And Tonight, fear had stolen whatever words she might’ve had.

A pity. I preferred her angry. The smirk faded. My thoughts drifted backward.

To the alley. To the club before that. To everything that had unfolded exactly as intended. The first stage had gone almost perfectly.

The confusion inside the club had spread faster than anticipated.

Once panic took hold, it did the rest of the work for me. People stopped thinking. Stopped observing. Stopped asking questions.

They simply wanted out. Predictable. Fear always stripped people down to instinct. The smoke had accelerated everything. Not enough to trap innocent people inside. Just enough to force an evacuation and fracture whatever order security still believed they had.

By the time the first emergency calls reached the authorities, the situation had already moved beyond Michael’s control.

Exactly where I wanted it.

Tonight, every piece had fallen where it needed to. The police hadn’t arrived by accident. The chaos hadn’t erupted by chance.

Neither had the smoke.

Every decision had been calculated long before the first guest stepped through those doors.

I didn’t enjoy disorder for its own sake.

Disorder was useful. It exposed weaknesses. It forced masks to slip.

And Michael had shown me every crack I needed to see. A faint vibration came from the dashboard as another notification appeared before disappearing again.

Ignored.

There would be reports waiting for me.

Updates. Confirmations. Names. They could wait.

For the first time that evening, my attention drifted somewhere it hadn’t been part of the original plan.

Katya. I hadn’t wanted her caught in the middle of it. She was never the target. The timing had simply…

Complicated matters. When she’d disappeared upstairs with Chiara, I’d adjusted accordingly.

By the time the smoke spread beyond the lower level… I’d already stationed myself outside.

Waiting. Not because I doubted she could find an exit. Because I knew panic made people unpredictable.

For a brief moment… Longer than I cared to admit… I’d considered going back inside.

An unnecessary risk. One I’d dismissed almost immediately.

Then… The back door had opened. She’d stumbled out beside Chiara, coughing so violently she could barely remain on her feet.

Relief had come and gone so quickly I almost failed to recognize it. Curious. I disliked unnecessary variables.

That was all. Nothing more. The memory of her freezing over the first body crossed my mind. She’d looked as though the world had stopped turning.

It probably had. For someone like her. Death wasn’t new to me. It was merely another consequence of choices people insisted on making.

For Katya… It had still been something shocking.

Another glance found the rearview mirror. This time she wasn’t looking out the window anymore.

She’d lowered her head slightly, her hands folded tightly in her lap. Still clutching herself together. Still pretending she wasn’t exhausted.

The dress rode higher against her knees as she sat, and she made an absent attempt to tug the hem down before giving up.

She’d become self-conscious.

Interesting. She’d worn it confidently enough into the club. Now she looked almost uncomfortable inside it.

Perhaps because she finally remembered whose car she was sitting in. Or perhaps because she had realized something else.

From the moment she stepped into the back seat… Her way home had stopped being in her hands.

It was in mine. The thought settled quietly in my mind.

Not with triumph. Simply as fact. Outside, another traffic light turned green. I eased the car forward without changing expression.

Behind me, the silence remained unbroken.

I intended to keep it that way for a little while longer.