CHAPTER 11 — Within the Walls
717 Words
Ariella left the main hall with her pulse still thrumming beneath her skin, every heartbeat echoing the same truth:
Someone had been close enough to carve a message into the snow.
Close enough to erase camera footage.
Close enough to know she was here.
Close enough to remember something her father had hidden.
She moved down the hallway with measured breaths, fingers brushing the marble wall as if it could anchor her.
Damien and Elias followed behind her—one silent and watchful, the other simmering with contained violence.
“Stop walking ahead,” Elias said, voice clipped. “You’re an open target in the halls.”
Ariella didn’t turn. “If I stay still, I’ll feel trapped.”
“Better trapped than dead,” he muttered.
Damien shot him a sharp glare. “Elias.”
Elias didn’t apologize.
Damien slowed his steps until he walked beside Ariella, his tone softening in a way he only ever used with her.
“We’re not trying to cage you,” he murmured. “We’re trying to buy time while we figure out who’s moving against you.”
Ariella’s eyes lifted to meet his briefly.
“And if time runs out?”
Damien’s throat tightened before he answered.
“Then it’ll be our bodies in the way, not yours.”
Elias exhaled sharply—annoyed, but not disagreeing.
“Enough talking in the hallway. Let’s get her to her room and lock it down.”
Ariella stopped walking.
“No.”
Elias blinked. “No?”
“I’m not hiding in my room like prey,” she said, voice steady. “I’m scared, but I’m not weak.”
Damien watched her, something fierce flickering in his eyes.
“Ariella,” he said quietly, “your bravery is going to get you killed.”
“Or it’s going to keep me alive,” she shot back. “I don’t know who’s hunting me. I don’t know why. But I’m not going to drown in fear.”
For a moment, the three of them stood in a silent triangle of defiance, fear, and stubborn protectiveness.
Then—
A soft click echoed overhead.
Elias’s head snapped up first.
“That’s a camera,” he murmured.
Damien stiffened. “They shouldn’t be moving.”
Slowly… deliberately…
the surveillance camera above them rotated, turning its lens until it pointed directly at Ariella.
Her breath hitched.
Someone was watching her.
Right now.
“Get back,” Damien ordered, stepping in front of her.
Elias moved behind her, flanking her instinctively.
Ariella’s voice trembled. “What does this mean?”
Damien answered without looking away from the camera.
“It means whoever is after you is already inside these walls.”
Elias’s voice was colder, sharper.
“And they’re not hiding anymore.”
The camera clicked again—another adjustment—
and this time it tilted downward, as if bowing.
Mocking.
Ariella felt her stomach twist.
“Damien… Elias… I don’t feel safe here.”
Damien turned to her, eyes burning with something she couldn’t name.
“You’re safe with us.”
Elias’s hand brushed the small of her back—barely a touch, but enough to steady her.
“You’re safer than you think,” he murmured.
Ariella didn’t know if she believed them.
But she believed the way they moved without speaking—
one stepping forward, the other stepping behind—
as if they’d done it a hundred times before.
As if she was already theirs to protect.
Damien reached for her arm. “We need to get you out of this hallway.”
Elias nodded. “Safe room. Now.”
But before they could take a step—
The lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then the entire east wing went dark.
Ariella grabbed Damien’s coat on instinct.
Elias drew his weapon.
A soft, distorted voice crackled through the hallway speakers—static-filled, warped, but unmistakably directed at her.
“You can’t hide her.”
Ariella’s blood iced.
Damien pulled her close, protective, urgent.
Elias leveled his gun toward the darkness.
The voice returned, slower this time, almost taunting:
“Not anymore.”
Silence fell like a blade.
Ariella felt her breath tremble.
Someone wasn’t just hunting her.
Someone was inside her home, speaking directly to her.
And they wanted her to hear every word.
---
- Writer
