Secrets in the Study
633 Words
Dinner was served in a dining room that could sit twenty but held only two.
Christiana sat at one end of the long table. Silas at the other. Staff appeared with plates, some kind of fish she didn't recognize, vegetables that arrange like art when she didn't touch everything perfect and cold.
Silas ate in silence, didn't even look at her. She pushed her food around her plate. Couldn't taste anything.
"You're not eating."
His voice made her shake.
"I'm not hungry." She said quietly.
"You need to eat." He said, leaving no room for question. "You'll have events to attend. Can't have you passing out."
She forced down a bite. It tasted like nothing. They ate in silence for another ten minutes.
Finally, Silas set down his fork.
"The first event is Friday." He said finally. "It's a charity gala. You'll wear what's been selected for you."
"Do I get a say in..."
"No." He reached for his wine. "You're there to look the part. Nothing more."
He stood. "We're done here."
He walked out.
Just like that. Left her sitting there with a plate full of food she couldn't eat and questions burning in her throat.
Christiana sat in that huge dining room, alone, and felt the walls closing in.
She didn't go back to the bedroom. Instead she wondered through the dark Mansion, pass the rooms she hadn't seen in daylight the stars had vanished.
She found herself on the second floor, in a hallway she didn't remember from earlier.
One door stood slightly ajar. Light spilled from inside.
Christiana moved closer. Peered through the gap.
A study. All dark wood and leather. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. A massive desk facing windows that overlooked gardens she could barely see in the darkness.
And on that desk...A silver frame. A photograph.
Her feet were already moving. Through the door. Across the room. Her heart pounding against her ribs.
The photograph was old. Maybe fifteen years. Two men with arms around each other's shoulders, laughing at something outside the frame.
One was young, early twenties, maybe, with sharp features and something in his expression that looked almost... hopeful.
It looked like silas. It had to be him.
The other man was older. Wearing a suit that had seen better days. Smiling that wide, genuine smile she remembered from her childhood.
Her father. The air left her lungs.
There was writing at the bottom. Faded but readable. "To new beginnings. Partners forever.
They were partners. Her father and Silas.
Her hands shook as she pulled out her phone, angling it to capture the picture. Then she heard footsteps in the hallway, coming closer.
Christiana's heart stopped. She shoved her phone in her pocket and bolted for the door, slipping into the hallway just as a shadow appeared at the far end.
It was Silas. She pressed herself against the wall, barely breathing, as he walked past. He didn't look her way. Just headed straight for the study.
She waited until he disappeared inside, then moved quickly in the opposite direction. And went down the stairs, through the foyer.
Her father and Silas were partners.
What the hell did that mean?
She spent the night in a guest room. It was small compared to others, but still bigger than her entire apartment.
She barely slept. Just kept replaying the image in her head. Her father's smile. Silas's younger face.
What had happened between them? Why had her father never mentioned Silas? Why had Silas chosen her for this arrangement?
The questions spun until dawn broke through the windows.
When she finally went downstairs, she found breakfast laid out in a smaller dining room. Just two place settings.
Silas was already there. Coffee in hand, reading something on his tablet.
He didn't look up when she sat.
- Writer
