4|Dreams

Levi Van Holt ran on autopilot for fourteen hours, fuelled by the strongest coffee he could find at various layovers. But he crashed almost immediately under a wave of exhaustion when he reached his office.

For a minute or maybe longer, he remained in his seat in the back of the Uber, unable to move, dreading the night ahead.

"Sir, are we at the right place?" Eyebrow raised, the driver turned in his seat.

"Yes. Thank you," Levi said as he gathered his messenger bag and luggage and gave the man a generous tip before he slipped out of the car.

The ground floor was ablaze with lights, but the rest of the building sat in darkness.

Levi trudged to the entrance, his eyes droopy, his shoulders sagged. If someone told him they'd hidden a body in his duffel bag, he'd believe them. But nothing in there would interest law enforcement other than several outfits and shoes. So he couldn't understand why it was so heavy.

He stopped to chat with the security guard in the lobby.

The older man beamed with pride when he talked about his children. His eldest would be off to varsity in a couple of months, and his youngest had recently started high school.

"If we can help in any way, Sol, don't hesitate to ask."

"You've done a lot for us by paying their school fees all these years, Mr Van Holt. Anything over and above that, we'd be taking advantage of you."

Levi nodded and smiled. "If you change your mind."

"Certainly, sir." Solomon took his hand and squeezed it.

They spent a few more minutes comparing notes on the quarter-finals last night.

A loyal Sun Downs supporter, Solomon was still reeling over his team's shocking elimination from the league. The odds were stacked against them, though, as soon as their opponents scored two goals ten minutes into the first half. He quit watching the match when it became clear they would not go to the semi-finals.

The game was low stakes for Levi since his team wasn't playing, so he'd stayed glued to the TV in his hotel room for ninety minutes, overindulging in beers and potato chips.

"It's wonderful to see you again, Sol," said Levi as he called the elevator to the tenth floor.

"You too, sir, and welcome home. It's good to have you back," the security guard replied as he returned to his comfy seat.

While he waited for the elevator, Levi narrowed his wide-set grey eyes to slits as he took in his surroundings. He was happy the place was still in one piece. But Mark Turner—his best friend, business partner, and chief financial officer—had gone overboard with the office makeover.

The only familiar item in the lobby was the studio's logo flashing behind the marble reception desk.

Everything else was new—from the colourful armchairs and two three-seaters in the waiting area to the massive abstract mural taking up the opposite wall. The bright rug and the glass coffee table were also recent additions.

When his partner suggested a few office improvements, Levi agreed, even though they weren't necessary. But now, confronted by all this newness, he should have asked about the cost instead of trusting Mark to make sound financial decisions in his absence.

The makeover wouldn't break their bank balance. But Levi would have preferred to use the money on something worthwhile, like the end-of-year bonuses for staff.

He shuffled inside the elevator, and as it sped to his floor, he did his best to avoid eye contact with his reflection. But his face in the mirror walls followed him everywhere, reminding him that he needed at least 24 hours of uninterrupted sleep, a shave, and a haircut, not necessarily in that order.

His hair had grown very long over the past several weeks. The beard, too, was now an intolerable length. The longest he'd kept one was for the Movember challenge the year before. He'd broken his own record. He was now going on two months, and it itched like crazy.

Happy he was alone, Levi gave in to the urge and scratched his chin, groaning with relief when the tingling subsided.

The motion sensor lights flickered on one after the other when he stepped out of the elevator and plodded down the hallway, the long shadow on the wall his only company. His Vans squeaking on the smooth floors with every step he took amplified the silence around him.

The stuffy heat hit Levi as soon as he opened his office door, but he didn't mind. He was thrilled to be home and even happier that Mark's renovations hadn't made it up here. Everything was still exactly as it was when he left.

He inhaled deeply, appreciating the familiar smells as he dropped his luggage just inside the door, removed his messenger bag and jacket and dumped them on the couch.

He pushed up the sleeves of his black t-shirt and waltzed over to his desk. Expecting a thick film of dust, he was pleasantly surprised when he ran a finger on the glass top and found it clean. His assistant had done a good job taking care of the office. Not so much at arranging the files, though. He preferred them colour coded according to priority. Green at the bottom and red at the top. Not this jumbled mess.

But the files were tomorrow's problem.

He pulled out his phone and checked the time.

12:50 AM.

Grateful he still had a few minutes to collect himself, he poured two stiff drinks, sat on the sofa in front of the bar, and waited.

At 1:00 AM on the dot, the private investigator knocked on his door, and Levi invited him inside, pleased he was punctual. Tardiness was high up on the long list of things he hated.

They'd never met in person because Mark hired him while Levi was gone. But they'd talked on the phone a few times, and he had always imagined a burly man in dark shades and a trench coat.

He was way off the mark. Seth was none of that.

He didn't have a potbelly and thinning hair, and his gruff voice didn't fit his tall, scrawny frame clad in blue jeans and a white Rock Union University hoody. He looked so young he could have easily passed for a high school senior. His dark eyes, though, behind round rimless glasses, held a maturity and sincerity Levi found comforting.

They shook hands and exchanged names.

Levi offered him one of the glasses.

Seth declined, explaining he didn't drink. He didn't give reasons, and Levi didn't ask. Instead, he pulled out a bottle of still water from the bar fridge and handed it to him.

"Thanks," said Seth as he took it and turned on his laptop.

"What did you find?" Levi asked.

The PI slid the laptop across the smooth glass coffee table, and a thick, uncomfortable knot settled in Levi's stomach the longer he scanned the report.

Mild intrigue flitted in his eyes as he surfed through Colleen's digital footprint. All the places she'd visited included the usual online shopping sites, social media pages, animal shelters, women's organisations, and thousands of search results on various topics and forums—things Levi assumed were typical for a twenty-eight-year-old woman.

One site, though, stood out.

Dreams.

Colleen visited the place over a thousand times in the weeks leading up to her disappearance and a ton more before that.

Dreading what he'd find, Levi opened the link, an audible sigh of relief shooting through his suddenly parched mouth when he got a 404 error.

Maybe this was a sign he should stop here, suspend the search, and pray Colleen would resurface like she'd always done in the past after vanishing for a few weeks.

Despite what his head told him, Levi knew in his heart that this time was different. It wasn't just a few days or a few weeks. It was going on—

"The site is by invite only," Seth explained, breaking through his thoughts. "Each user has a unique link and code. It doesn't work when forwarded or accessed from an unsecured network."

A sliver of ice slithered up Levi's spine as his heart dropped to his feet at Seth's announcement. With trembling hands, he slid the MacBook back at the PI and finished both drinks.

Not for the first time since Colleen's disappearance, Levi wondered what sort of trouble she'd gotten herself in.

"Do you know anything about this place?" He got up, massaged his eyes and stretched, his stiff joints creaking with every movement. He desperately needed to catch up on sleep.

"They specialise in companion services."

"You mean escort services?" Levi corrected him as he paced the room, pausing in front of the window wall behind his desk. He was a straight shooter, never minced his words or skirted around an issue.

His shoulders drooping and his eyes glued to the floor, Seth appeared to be at a loss for words and unsure how to tell him the truth, finally whispering, "I'm sorry."

Levi shrugged off his apology and gazed unseeingly at the night sky beyond the glass. It wasn't Seth's fault that Colleen had made stupid choices.

"The parent company is The Corporation," Seth announced.

"You mean Rock Castle's underworld?" Levi corrected him again.

It didn't matter if they chose to call themselves the mob or went with the more professional name. They were still a criminal organisation. One Levi always hoped and prayed he never had to get entangled with.

"Their client base is a network of uber-wealthy, powerful men and women. Doctors, lawyers, CEOs, financiers, hoteliers and politicians, and they are all associates of the Ivanovs— directly or indirectly," Seth continued.

Levi wasn't surprised that Andrei and Aleksei Ivanov, heirs to Aero Shipping, one of the largest logistics companies in the country, had their hands in Dreams. After all, everyone had long suspected they dabbled in prostitution.

What was stunning, though, and perhaps the hardest pill to swallow, was that Colleen was somehow involved.

As if he could read his thoughts, Seth tried to ease his fears. "It's unclear at this point if she was a client or—"

Levi's back and shoulders stiffened as he turned back from the window. He didn't like the 'or' part of Seth's explanation, the unspoken words and loaded suspicions. He hated the pitiful look in his eyes even more.

He expelled a long, shaky breath. "I need to access Dreams."

"You mean as a client?"

"Is there any other way?"

There wasn't.

Seth closed his laptop and shook Levi's hand again, promising to have his Dreams profile within a week.

"Why so long?"

It turned out that creating a believable internet identity took more than a couple of hours.

After seeing Seth off, Levi returned to the sofa and pulled out his phone. It was late, and his parents should have been sleeping. But he knew they were waiting anxiously to hear from him.