The Man In Black
818 Words
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Three years after my father's death, I had learned one important lesson.
Never trust a man who arrives on a motorcycle after midnight.
Especially when he's wearing black.
Especially when half the neighborhood goes silent the moment he removes his helmet.
And definitely not when he walks straight toward your front door.
I stood behind the curtain of my bedroom window, watching the stranger park his motorcycle beneath the flickering streetlight.
The engine died.
Silence overwhelmed the street.
My fingers tightened around the curtain.
"Who was he?"
I'd never seen him before.
Yet something about him made my stomach twist.
He was tall, broad-shouldered, and dressed entirely in black. A leather jacket covered his shoulders, and a silver emblem was stitched across the back—a black serpent wrapped around a skull.
He looked up.
Straight at my window.
I froze and couldn't move.
There was no way he could see me through the curtain.
"Was there?"I imagined
The man removed his gloves slowly.
Then he walked toward our house.
My heart started pounding heavily.
I stepped away from the window.
Someone knocked.
Three slow knocks .
My mother wasn't home. She had gone to my aunt's house earlier that evening.
I was alone.
The knocking came again ,but somehow loud this time.
I reached for my phone.
Before I could call anyone, an heavy voice came through the door.
“Elena Carter.”
My blood ran cold, I became stiff for some seconds.
He knew my name.
I moved closer to the door but didn't open it.
“Who are you?”
A pause.
Then—
“Damon Black.”
The name meant nothing to me.
Until I remembered where I'd heard it.
The newspaper.
The rumors.
The Black Reapers.
My father's old business partner had once warned me never to say that name aloud.
My hand fell away from the doorknob.
“What do you want?”
“I need to talk to you.”
“At midnight?”
“Yes.”
“I don't think so.”
Another silence.
Then Damon said something that made every thought disappear from my head.
“Your father didn't die in an accident.”
I stopped breathing, it came like a surprise.
For three years, I'd been told my father lost control of his car on a rainy night.
Three years of believing it.
Three years of grieving.
Three years of wondering why the police had never found anything suspicious about the accident.
My voice came out barely above a whisper.
“What did you say?”
Damon stepped closer to the door.
“I said your father was murdered.”
My heart slammed against my ribs.
I unlocked the door.
The moment I opened it, I regretted it.
Damon Black stood on my doorstep.
Up close, he was even more intimidating.
His expression was unreadable, his dark eyes fixed on mine.
But it wasn't his appearance that frightened me.
It was the envelope in his hand.
He held it out.
“Your father left this for you.”
I stared at it.
“What is it?” I asked with my right hand trembling.
“Something he knew you would need one day.”
I didn't take it.
“Why didn't he give it to me himself?”
Damon's jaw tightened.
“Because he was dead before he got the chance.”
My eyes dropped to the envelope.
There was a name written across it.
ELENA CARTER.
My father's handwriting.
I knew it instantly.
My fingers trembled as I reached for it.
But before I could open it, Damon caught my wrist.
“Don't.”
I looked up sharply.
“Why?”
His eyes darkened.
“Because once you read what's inside, your life will never be the same.”
He released me.
I looked down at the envelope.
Then back at him.
“What does it say?”
Damon took one step backward.
“Ask yourself something first.”
“What?”
“Why would your father leave a message for you warning you about me…”
He paused.
“…when I was the man he trusted most?”
My stomach dropped immediately.
Damon turned toward his motorcycle.
I stared after him.
“Wait!”
He stopped.
I ran onto the porch.
“You said my father was murdered. Who killed him?” I asked with tears in my eyes.
Damon looked over his shoulder.
For the first time, I saw something in his eyes.
Regret.
Then he said the words that shattered everything I thought I knew.
“I did.”
He put on his helmet.
The motorcycle roared to life.
And before I could ask another question, Damon Black disappeared into the darkness.
Leaving me alone with my father's letter…
…and the horrifying possibility that the man standing between me and the truth might also be the reason my father was dead.
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