Bound By His Shadow

The Lock that Breathes

The warehouse smelled of rust and damp wood, it's silence broken only by echo of my breath. The sound of my footstep echoed as I approached the wall of safety deposit boxes. Hundred of identical steel doors stared back at me like soulless eyes.

My hand tightened around the silver key Ethan had gave me back at the office. It felt heavier now, as though it carried the weight of every lie, every secret, every warning.

I was suppose to be scared the moment I steeped my foot into this ware house but surprisedly I wasn't because I'm really keen to find out the truth.

A whisper of movement stirred behind me. I spun, but the shadows reminded still.

Though it was that of Marcus who was at the extreme end at the same room I stood, but it felt as though he was close to me.

“Seven days,” Marcus voice coiled from where he stood… you need to hurry and open that box before time runs out Amelia. The truth kills as much as it saves.”

My stomach tightened. Was I already too deep? But no I must find the truth.

I lifted the key to the lock that seemed to call to me. Box 117. The number was etched faintly on the brass plate, worn with age. The number was written on the key so I knew the box straight up. My hand trembled as I slid the key inside wondering what will be hidden inside the rest boxes too.

The lock resisted, then clicked with a metallic sound.

The box slid open with painful slowness. Inside, wrapped in black velvet, lay a single envelope. Across it, my name was written in neat cursive… Amelia Rivers.

Phew… I made a sigh of relief as it wasn't something that was going to make my heart cut, at least not for now… what I'm i even thinking.. my heart has been cut from the beginning.

This wasn't chance. This wasn't fate. Someone had placed this here long before I had arrived.

Fingers shaking, I tore the seal.

A photograph slipped out.

Not the same pic of before, another one ..

My mother, younger, smiling. And beside her… not Ethan this time. Marcus.

The edges of the picture were burned, as though someone had tried to destroy it.

My phone buzzed violently in my pocket. I yanked it out, nearly dropping the photo.

It was just a normal message. I was relieved.

The warehouse lights flickered just as I was about to keep my phone back to my pocket.. I quickly slied the phone into my pocket because it can't be risked.

A sound echoed… the door slamming shut.

I whirled, closed my eyes from the fear of what might show up, heart pounding.

Calm down Princess. Have you forgotten I was here with you.

It was Marcus and I actually forgot he was here with me.

Then why did you make it sound scary… you could just walk up straight here. I said letting out a sigh of relieve.

He ignored my question.

”Curiosity,” his voice drawled, smooth as silk. It always do run in the family.

My throat went dry. “Why was my mother with you?” “

His smile cut through the darkness.

“Because long before Ethan Blackwell claimed your life, Amelia… you belonged to me.”

**********

The words sliced through me sharper than any blade. “Belonged to me.”

I staggered back, clutching the photograph against my chest like it might shield me from the weight of his truth.

My nails dug crescents into my palm as Marcus stepped closer, the dim light grazing the sharp planes of his face. His presence was magnetic and suffocating, like the room itself bowed to him.

“You're lying,” I whispered, though my voice betrayed the tremor in my chest. This ..this is some twisted game you're playing.”

My mother will never…

Would never what? Marcus interrupted softly, his smile cutting deeper than any shout. “Stand in the shadows? Trade loyalty for survival?”

He sighed… Look Amelia, the woman in that photograph knew exactly what she was doing.

My pulse roared in my ears. Every word he spoke threatened to undo the fragile memories i clung to of my mother…warmth, lullabies, sacrifice. Not him.

“Is it a game, Amelia? Or have you been lied to so throughly that the truth tastes poisonous?”

I shook my head violently. “No. Ethan…he..”

“Ethan?” Marcus laughed, a low, hollow sound that cracked the silence. “He kept you like a bird in a glided cage. Fed you what you wanted to hear. But your mother…” He touched the scorched edge of the photo.”She knew. She choose.”

“Why burn the photo then?” I demanded, like I knew he was the one who burnt it, forcing steel into my voice. Why hide it?”

Because the past has teeth, Amelia. And once it bites, it never lets go.”

Wow…he was the one who even tried to burn it like I was right! I didn't say out loud though.

Surprisingly I said out of boldness…

“Stop dancing around it. Tell me why my mother was with you.

You’re more like her than you realize. Same fire. Same hunger for truth, even when it's poison. That’s why Ethan fears you.

Ethan fear me? I questioned myself.

He didn't even answer my question.

You think he gave you that key to protect you? Marcus voice dropped, silk over steel. “No, Amelia. He gave it to control the timing of your discovery. To keep you tethered to him. Because once you knew…”

He stepped close like he wasn't close enough… his scent cologne..dark, spiced, deliverate.

“...you would never leave.”

“I'm not your pawn. And I'm not his either.”

I was so proud of my sudden courage.

And for the first time, Marcus smile faltered..onkh for a fraction of a second, but enough. His eyes darkened.

He coughed.. more like mocking me.

Take this… he stretched out another key he brought from his pocket… “BOX 212”he said smoothly. “The piece Ethan will never show you, he gave you only the key to 117. Open it, and you’ll understand why your mother chose me first.” and everything you thought you knew about your family…about yourself ..is about to shatter.”

I took it.. beginning to question my self? Who are this two men that have come to destroy me because obviously they aren't helping me? I hope it won't turned out one of them is my father…because a lot of imagination and question ran through my head. Why didn't my mother tell me all this before she died.. Yes she was always busy but…still. Tears dripping down my face as I held the key.

Before I could speak, he stepped back to the spot he stood at first.

My chest heaved. Every instinct screamed to run. Yet my feet moved forward. One step. Then another.

Toward the lock that might now ruin me totally.

**********

My hand hovered over Box 212. The photograph card burned against my skin as though it carried Marcus presence even in his absence. Every instinct screamed that opening it meant stepping into a trap.

My pulse hammered as I slid the card into the slot. The mechanism clicked. The steel drawer creaked open.

Inside was no envelope or photograph this time. Only a single item lay under the harsh warehouse light..a blood-red flash drive.

My breath caught.

My phone buzzed again. I snatched it up, expecting another message. But it wasn't from Marcus. It was Ethan.

Don't touch it. Leave now.

My throat went dry. My gaze darted around the warehouse. Had he been watching? How did he know?

Before I could process, the warehouse door burst open. Ethan strode inside, his presence like a storm breaking through the stale air. This time he didn't come in with his regular suit. He came in with a black top and black jean… the top designed with something like blood, Enough to scare someone. His eyes burnt with fury and fear.

“What the hell are you doing here, Amelia?” His voice cracked against the silence, sharp enough to slice through my confusion.

How did you know I was here? I asked.

You haven't answered my question he said grabbing me away from the boxes.

“I…I had to know. Marcus…”The flash drive still clutched in my hand.

“Marcus,” he screamed anger inside him.

Marcus came out from where he was and confronted him.

“Little man, Don't that name scare you?”

Ethan's grip on my waist tightened, dragging me a step behind him as though he could shield me from Marcus venom. His jaw was clenched so tight that the veins along his neck strained beneath his skin.

“Stay away from her,” Ethan growled, his voice low, dangerous.“

Marcus laughed was a dark ripple across the room, the kind that didn't just echo… it lingered.

Stay away? “You should've told her that years ago, Ethan. But it's too late. She's already in too deep.”

The air thickened between them, tension sparking like steel against flint. I looked from one to the other, my heart hammering against my ribs. Two men, bound to my mother's past, both claiming pieces of my future. And sadly I can't even figure out who is telling me the truth.

“Marcus,” Ethan spat the name like poison his jaw tightening. Stay out of my business. Pointing his finger towards him. He turned towards me… Don't believe anything he says, he's using you and feeding you lies about your mother.

My chest heaved. The flash in my hand burned like a brand. “And you’re not? You gave me the key, Ethan but you kept this one from me, I said as I raised the second key Marcus gave me. You’ve been holding back the truth too!”

So why are you so desperate to keep me from the truth? Huh? I demanded, wrenching my hand free from Ethan's hold. “You both speak riddles, but neither of you will tell me everything. What's on this drive? Why was my mother with Marcus? And you too?

I said already almost sheading tears.. but it could be heard from my voice.

Ethan eyes searing with warning. “Because not all truths save, Amelia. Some bury.”

Oh please! Another riddle. What truth? You said this countless times.

Marcus smirk widened, as if Ethan had just prove his point. “And there it is. The great protector finally admitting he's been keeping you in the dark. Do you see now, Princess? You were his weapon…, or worse, his weakness.”

“Enough!” Ethan snapped, steeping closer to Marcus. “If you drag her into your games, I swear…”

Marcus tilted his head, eyes glinting with mockery. “Swear what? That you’ll protect her? Like you protected her mother?”

The words sliced. The air open. Ethan froze, his gusts curling at his sides. His silence was louder than any denial.

I stumbled back, my breath catching in my throat. Ethan moved toward me like he wanted to hold me from falling.. I stop him giving him a signal of “Don't Bother”.

“My.. my mother? What happened to her?”

Neither men spoke..

The flash drive in my hand suddenly felt alive, pulsing with answers neither of them would give me. I tightened my grip around it, desperation twisting inside me.

“If you won't tell me,” I whispered, then I’ll find out myself

I turned towards the exit, but Ethan blocked my path, his eyes burning into mine. “Amelia, listen to me. If you open what's inside that drive, there is a possibility that you might not survive it.

“And if she doesn't,” Marcus said smoothly from behind him, “she’ll never know why her mother chose me first.

Ssshhh Ethan hissed, “Shut the trap up..” he cut Marcus rudely. It sounded funny to me but I didn't show it.

I was a little bit scared but my determination crystallized in that instant. I shoved past Ethan, holding the drive to my chest.

“No more lies,” I said, my voice breaking but fierce. “I'm done being your pawn.”

For a moment, neither moved..The. Marcus smile sharpened like a blade, and Ethan's face fell into shadow.

Somewhere deep inside me, I knew: Whatever was inside this drive would not just answer questions. It would destroy the world I thought I knew.

**********

The flash drive slipped between my fingers and clattered to the floor. The sound echoed like a gunshot. Both of them froze.

From the shadows above, something shifted. Not Marcus… something else. Someone else. The rafters groaned as dark figure moved, watching.

Ethan's jaw clenched. His voice dropped, urgent. “We’re not alone.”

The lights flickered once more, plunging the warehouse into near-darkness..

That was the first time I saw Marcus a little bit scared.

My pulse pounded so hard it drowned out the silence.

“Who's there?” I asked, my voice sharper than I felt. My fingers curled, edging to snatch up the flash drive, but Ethan hand covered mine before I could move.

“Don't,” he hissed. His grin was iron, desperate.

A laugh trickled down from the beams above. Slow. Mocking. Feminine.

I knew that laugh.

My stomach dropped. “Sophia.”

The shadows shifted, and she stepped into the light, her heels tapping against the catwalk above. Her hair gleamed like molten hold under the flickering bulbs, her lips curved into that venomous smile she wore so well.

How she did that; those light flickering…I don't know like some form of witch. Who cares anyway? I hissed immediately I saw she was the one even though I was surprised and it wasn’t loud anyway.

“Seven days?” Marcus was being generous. You won't last three.” She said.

That was when I rembered what the mask guy Ethan and I met at that room said. “Seven days”. How did I forget?

“Did you really think the office was the only battlefield, Amelia?” She purred. “Blackwell industries doesn't just run on contracts and merges. It runs on secrets.”

My throats tightened. I should have expected this. Sophia’s jealousy wasn't a game…it was a weapon. And now, she had brought it here, into the place where my past and my present collided.

Ethan's voice was lethall calm. “Sophia. This isn't your war.”

She titled her head, mocking. “Isn't it? You think Marcus came to me by accident? You think I didn't see the way you've

been…protecting her?” Her eyes locked on me, glittering with something between triumph and hate. He gave me what you couldn't, Ethan. “The truth.”

The photograph in my pocket felt like fire. The flash drive at my feet like a loaded gun. And between them, Ethan's hand still gripping mine…hot, steady, torn.

For the first time, I realized: it wasn't just Marcus or Ethan. Sophia was part of this too. And she wasn't going to stop until she burned me out of his world.

Anyway I want to be burnt out of it. She could make it fast.

And now I knew… Ethan was the protective one, Marcus was the Exposive and talked less too one and Sophia I think she is just here to destroy.

**********

Sophia’s gaze dropped to the flash drive still lying between us, her smile sharpening.

“Pick it up, Amelia.” Let see how brave you really are.”

Ethan shifted, stepping in front of me, but Marcus laugh rolled the warehouse, low and cutting.

“Let her choose. That's what this was always about.”

My hand hovered,as i bent, trembling, torn between Ethan's warning grip and Sophia dare. My chest burned with a thousand questions I couldn't silence.

The air crackled like a storm ready to break.

Then Sophia's voice cut through, velvet and venom.

“Open it…or i will.”

I could have challenged her. Yes! But I don't know why I was just suddenly silent. Maybe fear or just… I don't know what else to call it.

Well I'm never letting her take hold of this drive. That one thing I know.

Her heel pressed against the railing above ready to descend. Ethan's eyes darted upward, fury igniting in their depths. Marcus only leaned back into the shadows, like he had been waiting for this exact moment.

And me… my breath hitched as my fingers itched toward the drive.

Because for the first time, I wasn't sure if the truth would set me free…

…Or kill me.