Chapter 1
1017 Words
The library smelled like old paper and mildew. Elena pressed her fingertips against her temples until it hurt.
Sixteen hours. She'd been studying for sixteen hours straight and the words were floating on the page. Constitutional law. Case precedents. None of it was sticking anymore.
Her phone buzzed. She didn't need to look to know what it was. Another payment reminder. Medical bills from Mom's last year. Two years later and they still wouldn't let her forget.
She swiped it away. $47,328.
The number lived in her skull.
Three more days until finals. Three more days to prove she was the best in her class. Three more days until interviews that would either save her or bury her.
The library was closing. Outside, rain hammered the windows.
Elena shoved her books into her backpack. She should call a cab. She should be smart about this.
But cabs cost money and the bus stop was only fifteen minutes if she cut through the warehouse district.
She stepped into the rain. Water soaked through her jacket immediately, cold against her skin. She walked fast, head down, counting her steps. One hundred thirty-two steps to the first intersection. Turn left. Keep going.
The warehouse district was dead at night. Just empty buildings and broken streetlights throwing shadows that moved wrong.
She was halfway through when she heard voices.
Elena stopped walking.
Angry voices from somewhere to her right. Then scared voices. Then a sound that made her stomach drop…
Gunshot.
Run. You need to run.
But she didn't run. She turned toward the alley instead. Just to look. Just to see if someone needed help.
Blood. So much blood spreading dark across the wet pavement.
A man in a gray suit, face down. Not moving. His hand was stretched out like he'd been reaching for something.
Another man stood over the body. Gun still raised. He wore all black and he wasn't panicking. Wasn't rushing. That was worse somehow.
Then he looked up.
Their eyes met.
Elena couldn't breathe. Couldn't move. Her brain screamed at her to run but her legs wouldn't work.
He took a step toward her.
She ran.
Her feet slipped on wet pavement. Her backpack slammed against her spine with every step. Behind her…footsteps. Shouting. She ran faster, lungs burning, vision blurring.
She burst onto a main street. Cars. Lights. People.
The footsteps stopped.
Elena kept running. Six blocks to the police station. Her legs were shaking so hard she almost fell up the steps.
"I need to report a murder." The words came out wrong. Too fast. She tried again. "I witnessed a shooting. Warehouse district. Less than ten minutes ago."
The officer at the desk looked at her. Then he picked up his phone. Slow. Too slow.
"Detective Wade handles homicides," he said. "He'll want to talk to you."
Something in his voice made her skin crawl.
She sat in a plastic chair, dripping water onto the floor. Other officers walked past. They looked at her strangely. Nervous. Almost sorry.
Detective Wade showed up twenty minutes later. Rumpled suit. Tired eyes that didn't match the rest of him.
"Miss Moreau? Let's talk."
She told him everything. The body. The shooter. The exact location. Wade took notes, nodded in the right places. But he kept checking his phone. And when another officer whispered something through the cracked door, Wade's face went blank.
"We need you to stay here tonight," he said. "For your protection."
"I have finals in three days."
"This is serious. The person you saw is dangerous."
The way he said it made her chest tight. "Am I being detained?"
"Of course not. Protective custody."
"Then I can leave."
Wade's jaw tightened. "I wouldn't recommend that."
"Noted."
She walked out. Felt his eyes on her back the whole way.
Outside, the rain had stopped. The streets gleamed under yellow lights.
A black car sat idling at the corner.
Elena's stomach dropped. She turned left, walking fast. At the next intersection…another black car.
They were following her.
She changed direction toward campus. More people there. Security. Cameras. But the cars stayed with her, patient and far enough back that she couldn't see the drivers.
She made it to her apartment building as the sun started coming up. Locked three deadbolts. Pushed her dresser against the door. Sat on her bed with pepper spray in one hand and her phone in the other.
Then she noticed the window.
Open. Just an inch.
She always locked it.
Someone had been inside.
Elena grabbed her backpack, her laptop, and her father's watch. Left everything else.
She didn't go back.
For three days she slept in library study rooms. Showered in the gym. Studied in crowded coffee shops where she could see all the exits.
The black cars kept appearing. Watching.
She woke up at 3 AM on the second night, convinced someone was breathing outside the door. It was just the heating system. She didn't fall back asleep.
On exam day, Property Law, question three… she read it four times and still couldn't make sense of it. Through the window she could see a black car in the parking lot.
After her last final, she walked to the parking garage. Keys in hand. Almost safe. Almost done.
Six men stepped out from behind the concrete pillars.
Professional. Armed. Not police.
She tried to run. They surrounded her before she made it three steps.
"Miss Moreau." The voice was polite. Terrifying. "Please come with us. Mr. Vescari would like to speak with you."
Her mouth went dry. Everyone in the city knew that name. Vescari. The family that owned half the underworld.
"And if I refuse?" The words came out as a whisper.
The man smiled. It was the coldest thing she'd ever seen.
"That would be unfortunate."
Six men. Six guns she could see.
She got in the car.
They drove north toward the estates on the hill. Through the tinted window, Elena watched campus disappear. Three days ago she'd been worried about passing finals. That person felt like a stranger.
The monsters were taking her home.
- Writer
