Chapter 39 : Oriri's Payroll

Only hours later, Raven was sitting alongside Kade in the backroom of an elite restaurant during the dinner hour. From the main dining room, there was a pretty flow of piano music, where all the ordinary people—or at least, the ordinary upper-class— here enjoying their steak tartar and fillet mignon.

Raven wore what Kade had selected for her: a clean, smart pantsuit of darkest navy blue. The feeling of steel in her bones was still with her, even stronger with Kade sitting beside her.

“Are you going to tell me why we’re here?” Raven murmured. “Or shall I continue to guess?”

“What would you guess?”

“That this is the next step in getting me inside Oriri.”

Kade took a sip of the absurdly expensive whiskey he ordered. It was all the confirmation she needed.

“And may I ask why we have to do this so publicly?” she continued, picking up her own glass and whirling its amber contents. “Why in a restaurant, and not behind closed doors at the office?”

“Because the people we’re meetin