THE MAN IN THE SHADOWS
1538 Words
BILLIONAIRE BET
CHAPTER 3 — “THE MAN IN THE SHADOWS”
---
Maya didn’t see who grabbed her.
She only felt the world tilt—her feet leaving the ground, her breath knocked from her chest—as an arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her through a maintenance door behind the courtyard.
The door slammed shut.
Silence swallowed her scream.
“Let me go!” Maya gasped, struggling against the iron grip around her.
“Stop moving,” a low voice ordered. “Do you want to get shot?”
The stranger pinned her gently—but firmly—against the wall.
She froze, heart pounding violently.
His outline was tall, broad, and shrouded by shadows. Maya could barely see his face, only strong shoulders, dark clothes, and an aura that felt colder than Theo and Damon combined.
“Who are you?” Maya whispered, breath trembling.
The man didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he stepped back just enough for her to breathe—but not far enough for her to run.
“You’re in danger,” he finally said. His voice was deep, calm, and chillingly steady. “And you have no idea why.”
“No kidding,” she snapped. “Two men are fighting over me, someone’s sending death threats, and now I’m being dragged into closets by strangers!”
The man huffed—a faint, humorless sound.
“You think Damon Locke and Theo Drake are the only ones with eyes on you?”
Maya blinked. “What does that mean?”
“It means,” he said, stepping closer until she felt his breath on her cheek, “you were targeted long before today.”
Her stomach dropped. “Why?”
“Because of him.”
“Who—Damon?”
He nodded once. “You’re the first person he’s spoken to in months. The first person he’s tried to protect. That makes you leverage.”
“No,” Maya breathed. “I don’t even know him.”
“Exactly,” the man said. “And that makes you unpredictable. Dangerous.”
She stared at him, pulse racing.
“How do you know Damon?”
He finally leaned back—and the faint light hit his jaw.
Sharp. Angular. Familiar.
Too familiar.
Maya clutched the wall. “Are you—?”
---
He removed the black cap from his head, revealing dark hair—similar to Damon’s but styled, rich-looking, unmistakably expensive.
“I’m Adrian Locke,” he said simply. “Damon’s older brother.”
Maya’s heart thudded painfully.
“The Adrian Locke?”
The one the media loved.
The one the board trusted.
The one who stayed behind while Damon vanished from their world?
“I didn’t even know he had a brother,” she whispered.
Adrian smiled without warmth. “He didn’t want you to know.”
Maya’s voice trembled. “Are you the one who sent that threatening message?”
“No,” Adrian said calmly. “If I wanted to warn you, I’d say it to your face.”
That didn’t help.
At all.
“What do you want from me?” she whispered.
Adrian studied her with unsettling intelligence. “I want you to survive.”
Before she could ask more, the door burst open.
Damon stormed inside—eyes wild, breath ragged, fury radiating off him like heat.
“Maya!”
She pushed past Adrian instantly. “Damon!”
He grabbed her shoulders, scanning her frantically for injuries. “Are you hurt? Did he touch you? Did he—”
“I’m fine,” she said. “But your brother—”
Damon whirled on Adrian, rage exploding.
“What did you do?”
Adrian raised a brow. “Saved her life. Someone fired at her, if you didn’t notice.”
“You stay away from her,” Damon growled.
“She’s already involved, Damon. Thanks to you.”
Maya’s gaze bounced between them.
“You two… don’t get along.”
“That’s an understatement,” Adrian muttered.
“She doesn’t need your protection,” Damon snarled. “You’re not part of this.”
Adrian’s expression darkened. “When someone tries to shoot at my family, I’m part of it.”
“She’s not your family!”
Silence slammed into the room.
Maya’s breath hitched.
Damon realized too late what he’d revealed.
Adrian’s lips curved slowly.
“Oh. Now I understand why Theo is so interested.”
Maya flushed. Damon went still—too still.
“I didn’t mean—” he began.
“Maya Rivers,” Adrian interrupted, “is the first person Damon has cared about in three years.”
Maya’s face burned. “I—I don’t—”
Damon stepped in front of her protectively. “Adrian, shut up.”
Adrian ignored him. “Theo saw it too. That’s why he came here.”
Maya swallowed hard. “Cared about…? You don’t even know me.”
Damon turned to her, voice low. “You’re right. I don’t. But I—”
He faltered.
His jaw clenched.
Words strangled in his throat.
Adrian watched with sharp amusement. “Let me guess. You’re struggling to say the word like.”
Damon shot him a murderous look.
Maya’s heart pounded wildly.
“You two need to stop,” she whispered. “All of this—this is insane. Billionaires and guns and bets and threats… this isn’t my world.”
“It is now,” Adrian said.
Maya shook her head. “I never asked for this! I just wanted to earn a scholarship. I wanted a normal life.”
Damon stepped closer, guilt clouding his eyes. “I’m sorry. You got dragged into something that has nothing to do with you.”
“Then take me out of it,” she pleaded.
He inhaled sharply. “I don’t know if I can.”
---
The door burst open again.
But this time—it wasn’t security.
Or students.
Or Theo.
It was a man in tactical black gear.
Face covered.
Weapon raised.
“Target acquired,” the masked man said, pointing directly at Maya.
She froze.
Damon lunged.
Adrian cursed.
The gun fired.
---
A scream cut through the cramped room—
but it wasn’t hers.
It was Damon’s.
Maya stared in horror as Damon staggered backward, clutching his arm, blood seeping between his fingers.
“Damon!”
“I’m fine,” he gritted out, though his face had gone pale.
Adrian tackled the masked man with vicious efficiency, knocking the gun away and slamming him into the wall.
“Who sent you?” Adrian snarled.
The man spat at him.
“You Lockes are all the same.”
Adrian’s grip tightened. “Answer the question.”
The man only laughed.
“You’ll never win this.”
Adrian’s fist cracked against his jaw. The masked man collapsed.
Maya rushed to Damon, ripping off her cardigan and pressing it against the wound.
“Hold this,” she whispered, hands shaking.
Damon looked at her—really looked—eyes dark with pain and something deeper.
“You shouldn’t have been anywhere near me,” he rasped.
Maya’s throat tightened. “Stop saying that.”
“It’s true.”
“I don’t care!”
Damon froze.
Adrian dragged the unconscious attacker aside and turned to them. “We need to go. Now. Theo’s not the only one coming after you two.”
Maya exhaled a trembling breath. “Where?”
Adrian met Damon’s gaze. “Somewhere safe.”
Damon shook his head. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“You don’t have a choice,” Adrian snapped. “You’re bleeding. She’s marked. And someone just tried to kill her. If you stay here, she’s dead in an hour.”
Silence.
Maya squeezed Damon’s hand.
Damon squeezed back.
And that tiny exchange told Adrian everything.
“Fine,” Damon finally bit out. “But we do this my way.”
Adrian smirked. “Your way got you shot.”
“And your way got her dragged into hell.”
Another explosion of silence.
Another unspoken confession.
Another warning unheeded.
---
Adrian pulled out a burner phone and typed a message.
“We’re evacuating.”
Maya blinked. “Evacuating where—”
A text pinged.
Adrian read it.
His expression fractured for the first time.
Damon saw it. “What is it?”
Adrian looked up slowly.
“Maya’s house,” he said.
“It’s been broken into.”
Maya’s blood ran ice-cold.
“No… no, that can’t—my mom—!”
She reached for her phone but Damon grabbed her hands.
“Maya, listen to me—”
“No! I have to call her!”
Adrian’s voice cut like a blade.
“There’s no answer.”
Maya staggered back.
Damon caught her before she could fall.
Her heart felt like it was tearing in half, fear swallowing her whole.
“Mom…” she whispered. “My mom…”
And then—
Maya’s phone buzzed.
A new message.
From an unknown number.
Her fingers trembled violently as she opened it.
One sentence.
One threat.
One nightmare.
---
“We have your mother. Come alone if you want her alive.”
---
- Writer
