Chapter 2 — The Devil
1355 Words
The car door outside Maya’s apartment had closed.
I knew it.
I had heard it.
Neither Maya nor I moved.
For several seconds, the only sound in the apartment was the rain tapping against the windows.
Maya slowly lowered the kitchen knife she had picked up.
“Tell me you locked the door.”
“I did.”
She looked at me.
“Then why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because I don't know if whoever is outside is still there.”
My phone vibrated.
Both of us jumped.
I looked down.
UNKNOWN NUMBER
My stomach tightened.
The call ended before I could answer.
Then another message appeared.
You shouldn't have gone to Maya.
I stared at it.
Maya read it over my shoulder.
“Okay,” she whispered. “That's officially terrifying.”
Another message arrived.
He knows where you are.
My fingers went cold.
“Who?”
The typing bubble appeared.
Then disappeared.
Nothing.
I waited.
Nothing.
Maya moved toward the window.
“Don't.”
She stopped.
“What?”
“Don't go near the window.”
She turned slowly.
“Why?”
“Because whoever is outside might be waiting for you to.”
A soft knock came from the front door.
Three taps.
My breath caught.
Maya's face changed.
Neither of us spoke.
Another knock.
Three taps.
Then a man's voice came through the door.
“Elena?”
I stepped backward.
Maya grabbed my wrist.
The voice came again.
“Elena Vale.”
I didn't recognize it.
But he knew my name.
My phone vibrated again.
This time the message was only four words.
Don't let him inside.
The door handle moved.
Maya's eyes widened.
Then—
the handle stopped.
Footsteps moved away.
We waited.
One minute.
Two.
Five.
Finally, Maya looked at me.
“You're leaving.”
“What?”
“You're not staying here.”
“Where am I supposed to go?”
She stared at me.
“I don't know.”
Neither did I.
My phone vibrated.
A location appeared.
DEVEReUX TOWER.
Under it:
Come alone.
I laughed once.
It wasn't because anything was funny.
It was the kind of laugh that escaped when fear became too large to hold.
“No.”
Maya shook her head.
“Definitely no.”
I stared at the location.
The name meant nothing to me.
But I knew one thing.
If the stranger who had followed me, called me, and somehow knew my past was connected to the Devereux family, then staying away from them might be exactly what whoever was watching me wanted.
I looked at Maya.
“I think I need to go.”
“Absolutely not.”
“I need answers.”
“You need police.”
“I don't even know what I'd tell them.”
“That someone knows your name?”
“He knows things nobody should know.”
“Then that's exactly why we call them.”
I shook my head.
“There's something else.”
“What?”
I looked toward the window.
“I think I've seen that car before.”
Maya's expression hardened.
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
And that was the worst part.
I didn't know.
But something inside me recognized it.
Not the car.
The feeling.
Like I had been watched before.
Long before tonight.
Across the city, Lucian Devereux stood at the end of a conference table while six men argued over a shipment that had disappeared from the southern docks.
He listened without speaking.
That was what frightened people about him.
Lucian didn't need to raise his voice.
He only needed to become quiet.
Adrian leaned back in his chair.
“Someone is testing us.”
Rafael glanced at him.
“Or someone wants us to think that.”
Isabella folded her hands.
“Either way, this isn't about the shipment.”
Lucian finally looked up.
“Explain.”
“The timing.”
Isabella's gaze moved toward him.
“The shipment vanished the same night the girl reappeared.”
Adrian smiled faintly.
Lucian's expression didn't change.
“Don't call her the girl.”
“Why?”
“Because she has a name.”
Adrian's smile disappeared.
“Interesting.”
Lucian stared at him.
“Don't.”
The room went silent.
Adrian raised both hands.
“I said nothing.”
“You were about to.”
Rafael stepped in.
“We found something else.”
He placed a photograph on the table.
Lucian looked at it.
Elena.
Taken from a distance.
Walking out of a*****e.
Alive.
Unaware.
Lucian's jaw tightened.
“How long?”
“Three days.”
“Who's been watching her?”
“We don't know.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“Maybe she's not as innocent as you think.”
Lucian looked at him.
“She's not part of this.”
“You don't know that.”
“I know enough.”
Isabella's eyes narrowed.
“That's exactly the problem, Lucian.”
He turned to her.
“You knew her mother.”
It wasn't a question.
Isabella remained silent.
Lucian's voice lowered.
“Did you know Elena survived?”
“I suspected.”
“That's not an answer.”
“No,” Isabella said. “It's the only answer you're getting tonight.”
Lucian's hand tightened around the edge of the table.
A phone rang.
Everyone stopped.
Rafael answered.
His expression changed.
He handed the phone to Lucian.
“It's for you.”
Lucian put it to his ear.
A distorted voice spoke.
“You should have killed her when you had the chance.”
Lucian said nothing.
The voice laughed.
“You remember the fire.”
Lucian's eyes hardened.
“You were there.”
“No.”
A pause.
“I was watching.”
The line went dead.
Lucian stared at the phone.
Rafael watched him.
“What did they say?”
Lucian stood.
“Find Elena.”
“We already—”
“Now.”
I arrived at Devereux Tower twenty-three minutes later.
I had told Maya I was going home.
That was the first lie.
The second was telling her I wasn't afraid.
The building was enormous.
Black glass.
Steel.
Guards at every entrance.
I stepped out of the taxi and immediately regretted coming.
A man in a dark suit approached.
“Miss Vale?”
“Yes.”
“Mr. Devereux is expecting you.”
I almost laughed.
Of course he was.
Inside, everything was silent.
Too silent.
The elevator opened directly into a private floor.
And he was waiting.
Lucian Devereux.
The Devil.
I had heard the name before.
Everyone had.
But nothing prepared me for the man himself.
He looked at me like he had been waiting years.
Not minutes.
Not hours.
Years.
His eyes moved over my face.
And something inside his expression cracked.
Only for a second.
Then it disappeared.
“You shouldn't have come here,” he said.
I stared at him.
“You invited me.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“I didn't.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
His eyes darkened.
“Someone else sent you that location.”
I reached for my phone.
The message was gone.
My blood turned cold.
Lucian looked at me.
“Now you understand.”
“Understand what?”
He stared at me for a long moment.
Then he said the words that changed everything.
“Someone has been trying to find you for twenty-one years.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Why?”
Lucian didn't answer.
Instead, his eyes dropped to the pendant around my neck.
His entire expression changed.
“You still have it.”
I touched the pendant.
“You know this?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
He looked at me.
And for the first time, the Devil looked afraid.
“Because I watched your mother put it around your neck.”
My mouth went dry.
“You knew my mother?”
Lucian's answer was barely a whisper.
“I knew you.”
Then the lights in the tower went out.
And somewhere in the darkness—
someone whispered my name.
“Lena.”
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD