ROOM 1108

The Strange Woman

Aria stared at Damien. The city lights reflected across the apartment window, painting pale streaks across his face. For the first time since the encounter with him, he looked afraid. A man that calm wouldn't chicken out so easily, not without a good reason. It was the kind of fear one couldn't fake.

Below them, the silver-haired woman disappeared into Blackwood Residences. Aria looked back toward the street. Then at Damien. Then back again, trying to understand what she'd just heard. Finally, she spoke.

"You said she buried you."

Damien didn't answer. His eyes remained fixed on the building entrance waiting. He seemed as tho he was deep in his thoughts analyzing the situation. The silence stretched. Aria folded her arms.

"Do you mean your funeral?"

"No."

His answer was instant, like he had seen a ghost. Aria frowned.

"What do you mean, no?"

Damien finally turned toward her. His face looked pale beneath the apartment lights.

"I meant exactly what I said."

A chill crawled up her spine. The room suddenly felt colder.

"You keep talking like you actually died."

Damien looked away into the dark glass, staring at his own reflection. When he finally spoke, his voice sounded distant.

"Maybe I did."

The words hung between them like stagnant air in a windowless room. Aria stared then shook her head.

"No."

"No?"

"People don't just come back from being dead."

A faint smile appeared.

"That's what I used to think too."

Before she could respond, Damien moved quickly. Far faster than she'd seen all night. He crossed the apartment and switched off the lamp. Darkness swallowed half the room. Aria jerked backwards in astonishment…

"What are you doing?"

"Helping us."

Another light went off. Then another.

The apartment grew darker with each second, only the faint city glow remained. Damien moved to the windows, closing curtains, checking locks. Watching the hallway camera feed displayed on a tablet near the desk. His movements were precise. Like somebody who had done this many times before. Aria watched in silence. A disturbing realization settled over her. This wasn't the behavior of a man hiding from embarrassment. It was the behavior of a man hiding from danger.

"Damien", She called out

But there was no response from him.

"Damien."

Still nothing.

The tablet screen reflected in his eyes. Several camera feeds appeared. The lobby, garage, elevators, hallways.

The silver-haired woman entered the lobby. The concierge immediately stood, smiling and greeting her respectfully. Damien appeared nervous despite the camera's distance.

She didn't smile back. She simply walked toward the elevators. Aria noticed something, everyone moved when she entered. Staff straightened. Residents stepped aside. Even through silent security footage, her authority was obvious. Who was this woman?

The elevator doors opened. She stepped inside. The camera feed switched. Now she appeared on another floor slowly moving upward. Closer and closer. Aria's pulse quickened.

"Who is she?" Aria asked, but Damien remained focused on the screen. Then quietly he answered.

"The reason I've survived this long."

That wasn't an answer and they both knew it.

"Try again."

He exhaled slowly. Showing signs of tiredness. Like someone carrying a burden for years.

"Her name is Evelyn Blackwood."

The surname immediately caught Aria's attention.

Blackwood.

As in Blackwood Residences. As in the building itself?

The realization made perfect sense, and somehow made everything worse.

"She owns the building?"

"Part of it."

"Then why are you hiding from her inside her own building?"

Damien's jaw hardened. The elevator camera switched again to the Ninth floor. She was still approaching. Finally, he answered.

"Because she thinks I'm dead."

Aria stared. The words should have sounded ridiculous but it didn’t.

Instead, they had a different one. He'd lived like this fear for years.

The elevator reached the tenth floor.One more floor remained. Aria glanced toward the apartment door. For the first time, leaving sounded like a fantastic idea. She'd known this man less than two hours. Yet somehow she'd already discovered…a hidden apartment, a dead man and her mother's connection to him, and a powerful woman hunting him.

This wasn't normal. None of it made sense to her. Didn't make sense in any situation. Seemed like a script from a movie. She needed to get away from all of it. She needed sleep and time to process it all. Elena placed her palm on her forehead, overwhelmed from attempts to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

"Maybe I should go."

Surprisingly Damien didn't argue. He simply nodded.

"Probably."

"You agree?"

"Yes."

Now she was even more suspicious. Anyone would try to keep allies in a situation of that nature. Damien seemed willing to let her walk away. Which meant either he trusted her, Or he believed she'd come back. The second possibility bothered her. Aria moved toward the door. The photograph remained tucked beneath her arm. She wasn't leaving that behind, not after what she'd discovered. Halfway through, something caught her eye. A newspaper resting on Damien's desk. Looked recent. About a few days old. The front page had been folded neatly.

A photograph occupied most of the page leaving a little column for the article. Aria stopped. Something about the image felt familiar. She stepped closer, then froze. The silver-haired woman. It was the same woman downstairs, standing beside several executives. In front of flashing cameras, formal smiles and business suits, the headline read:

BLACKWOOD RESIDENCES ANNOUNCES NEW CHAIRWOMAN

Aria frowned in confusion. Chairwoman? She looked lower. Toward the printed name beneath the photograph. Her heart stopped. She had recognized the surname instantly. Not Blackwood, but the smaller name beneath it. The one listed as her maiden name. The one almost anyone would skip. One Aria had seen on her old family documents and photographs she'd sorted through, after the funeral.

A name her mother used before marriage. One she hadn't thought about in years.

Slowly, Aria read it again to be sure. Her blood turned cold.

"No way."

The newspaper trembled slightly in her hand. Across the room, Damien looked up suddenly realizing what she'd found. Aria's voice barely sounding impossible as she tried to speak...

"That's impossible.”