SECRETS IN THE SHADOWS
1079 Words
It was too quiet in the building. Not moving enough. As the night went on, every shadow seemed to whisper a secret, and each one felt like a warning against Amarae's skin.
She told herself not to be scared. But her heart? She was sure that the walls could hear the beating.
As Amarae walks down the dark hallway of Donovan Enterprises, her heels hit the smooth marble floor and make a noise. For some reason, she takes a small flashlight around with her and tries to look calm even though no one is looking.
"Just a peek," Amarae said in a whisper to herself. That's all. I'll know right away if he's hiding something with just one look.
When she stops at the frosted-glass door that says "Nicholas Donovan – Private Office," her chest gets tight. She isn't sure.
Thought from Amarae: "If he catches me, I'm done." But if I don't look... I will never know the truth.
She carefully and slowly opens the door. The hall is brighter than the office, which is only lit by moonlight coming in through floor-to-ceiling windows. His desk is huge, like a chair, with papers neatly stacked and not touched. Too neat. Way too good.
She said under her breath, "You don't trust anyone, Nicholas?" “Not even you.”
She opens doors without making a sound. Most of them are empty or full of pens. After that, one box stays put. Locked.
Her heart beats fast.
There is never anything good in a locked box in a billionaire's office.
She takes a thin pin out of her bag and gets down on her knees to open the lock. She works the pin with shaking hands. Last but not least, click. The door opens by sliding it open.
There are files inside. Not thin, sealed, and marked with big black ink words. Making deals. Transfers between banks. Reports kept secret.
She stops in her tracks when she sees a name she knows written on one of them.
"No, it's not possible."
The file is brought closer by her. Her dad's name is written across the front. Signed. Timed. Oh, and the autograph is wrong. Too sharp. Too much practice.
It was faked. It needs to be. But why would Nicholas have this?
Each line as she quickly turns the pages screams treason. Deals that would destroy whole businesses. They were all linked to her father by his name.
There is a squeak from the floor outside the room. She stops moving, holding the file tightly in her hand.
Nicholas asked in a low, sharp voice from the hallway, "Who's there?"
Amarae's whole body gets stiff. It's her turn to turn off the flashlight, close the box, and push the file back further. As the door handle turns, her chest shakes.
Nicholas steps in, and moonlight spills across the floor. He is tall, sharp, and dangerous even in the dark. His cold blue eyes look around the room and then land on her.
Nicholas asked, "What are you doing here...?" "Amarae?"
Her throat gets dry right away. His look cuts through her lies like a knife before she can even say them.
Amarae forced a smile and said, "I couldn't sleep." I chose to... walk around. "Get my mind off of it."
He moves toward her. He is so strong that his presence fills the room with heat and pressure. He keeps quiet. Don't laugh. Just looking at her with a calm that scares me.
"Weird." A lot of people go to their rooms to clear their minds. Not in buildings that are locked.
Amarae takes a deep breath. She leans against the desk to look casual, even though her knees hurt.
"I got lost." It seems like this place is a maze.
It's very quiet. After slowly going around the room, Nicholas's eyes stop on the drawer she had opened and look at every surface and detail. It hurts her stomach.
"That drawer... looks moved," Nicholas said in a sharp, quiet voice.
Right away, Amarae asked, "Does it? "I... I don't know."
As he gets closer, his voice gets softer and more dangerously close.
"Do you always lie like this, or do you save your better lies for later?"
The air between them is charged with electricity and tense. He is suspicious of Amarae, but there is something else going on beneath it. A spark of interest. A desire that neither of them can state.
"You think I'm lying about everything," Amarae said softly, almost shaking.
Nicholas leaned in closer and breathed close to her ear. "I know you are." The question is, "Why?"
Her heart beats fast. She wants to push him away, but her body tells her not to and makes her lean into the heat he gives off. She has to force herself to look into his cold eyes.
"Maybe you only see lies because you live in them," Amarae said in a quiet voice.
His eyes flash in a dangerous way. She feels like she's gone too far for a moment. He doesn't look angry, though. Instead, he looks like he's pleased or even aroused by her disobedience.
"You're brave." Okay, I'll give you that. But being brave in my world? That's how people get hurt.
She hides her fear with a smile that shakes.
"Perhaps I'm already broken."
She can't stop the words from coming out. His eyes soften for a split second and then get hard again. He steps back and looks at her with his hands in his pockets, as if she were a puzzle that he wants to take apart piece by piece.
"Go to your room again." Right now.”
Before her mind can say anything, her body does what it's told. But when she gets to the door, his voice follows her. It's low and sharp, and it sounds like both a warning and a promise.
"I don't trust you... but I can't let you go," Nicholas said almost to himself.
Amarae's hand on the doorknob is shaking. She is afraid to look at him again. Not after hearing that.
That's because, deep down, he was hungry. And something far more dangerous.
And in her bag, pressed against her side, she realizes she hadn’t shoved the fake file back properly. There is still one page folded inside and squished in her pocket.
Name of her dad. Nicholas’s secrets.
Her mind is racing.
He will destroy me if he finds out.
- Writer
