Page 16 of Beautiful Ruins
6
Izzy
It took me longer than I wanted to accept the truth.
He really thought I was a spy.
He genuinely believed someone had sent me to watch him.To listen.To learn.To report back.And somehow, that was worse than if he’d decided I was just a random inconvenience who’d wandered into the wrong night.
Because… did Ilooklike a spy?
And what did a spy even look like, anyway?
I pictured a grey trench coat and a magnifying glass, which made absolutely no sense and somehow made it worse.As unglamorous as it got.I didn’t look clever or covert or predatory.I looked like a woman who’d made a bad decision after midnight and was paying for it in full.
And yet, my captor was deeply invested in the idea that I was exactly that.
He wasn’t afraid of spies.
He was… interested in them.Wary.Curious.The way a man studied a blade, not worrying about whether it would cut him, but inspecting it for balance, weaknesses, hidden faults.Measuring what it could do in the right—or wrong—hands.
I figured that out the moment he stopped threatening me and started asking questions.
Real ones.
Casually.Questions that didn’t sound like traps until you realized they circled back, overlapped, tested the edges of my answers.He watched my face more than he listened to my words, like he already knew the truth and was just waiting to see if I’d trip over it.
That was when it clicked.It would’ve been impressive if it hadn’t been terrifying.
The house itself was obscene in its comfort.Clean lines.Expensive finishes.Windows that framed the property like art.Guards stationed at every entrance, inside and out.Men everywhere—alert and armed.Most of them ignored me entirely.The ones who didn’t looked at me like I’d wandered in from another planet.
Like I didn’t belong here.
Maybe they weren’t used to seeing women in this place.Or maybe they just weren’t used to seeing one who wasn’t afraid of them.
They all deferred to him.Subtle changes in posture when he entered a room.Conversations stopping mid-sentence.Orders carried out without question.There was no shouting, no posturing.Just solemn obedience.The kind that came from respect, not fear.
That unsettled me more than the guns.Because I had absolutely no idea who this man was, but I could see that he was someone important.
I tested the boundaries carefully.Took the food when it was offered.Didn’t throw things or scream or beg to be released.I watched.I listened.I paid attention to who moved first when he spoke, who watched him even when he wasn’t talking.
Just like a spy would.
He was the one with all the power here.
And worse—he enjoyed this.
I saw it in the slight curve of his mouth when I pushed back instead of folding.In the way his eyes sharpened when I challenged him, when I met his questions head-on instead of shrinking.I wasn’t an inconvenience to him.I was a puzzle he wanted to solve.
The good news was, he wasn’t going to hurt me.Not while I was still interesting.Curiosity kept me alive, which meant I wasn’t entirely disposable.
The bad news was, he wasn’t letting me go until he was satisfied.
And I didn’t think he was the sort of man to rush satisfaction.
At night, when the sounds around the house faded and the guards changed positions outside my door, my thoughts spiraled.That was when the guilt crept in.When I replayed the moment I’d decided to go looking for Nathan, like I could rewind time and slap myself out of the stupid, foolish ideas in my head.
What kind of idiot went wandering through that part of the city that late?
