Chapter 7
727 Words
Flashback – Damien’s POV (Two Years Ago)
The first time I met Jade Santiaga, she walked into my club like she was looking for a fight — or a place to hide.
Maybe both.
She was in a red leather jacket, hair wild, eyes even wilder. She sat at the bar and ordered something strong, straight, and fast.
“You don’t belong here,” I said, leaning beside her.
She smiled without looking at me.
“Neither do you.”
She didn’t flinch when I sat beside her.
Didn’t back away when I touched her wrist and said, “This place eats people like you.”
She leaned closer and whispered, “Then maybe I’m the one doing the eating.”
I should have known then.
She wasn’t running from something.
She was the storm.
---
We weren’t a love story.
We were a blood pact.
She needed information. I had it.
I needed loyalty. She faked it.
And for a while, it worked.
Until it didn’t.
Until she used what I gave her to go behind my back.
Until the night she disappeared — not kidnapped, not stolen.
Gone.
By choice.
To protect someone.
To protect Lyra.
---
Lyra’s POV (Present Day)
My chest hasn’t stopped aching since he said it.
> “She’s alive. And she doesn’t want to be found.”
That should bring relief.
But it doesn’t.
It brings rage.
Jade didn’t just leave me behind.
She buried me.
Let me believe she was dead.
While she ran off with secrets and pain and whatever twisted relationship she had with Damien.
I don’t know who I’m more furious with — her for running, or him for protecting her.
But the worst part?
I still want him.
Even now.
Especially now.
---
The house is too quiet.
So I open the laptop.
Half-expecting another anonymous message.
And I get one.
But it’s not anonymous.
Not this time.
Sender: J.S.
Subject: Stop digging.
> “I’m alive. That’s all you need to know.
You’re not ready for the truth, Ly.
If you push too far, you’ll end up like me.
Or worse—get him killed.
Leave it alone.”
My hands tremble.
Not just because it’s her.
But because I know exactly what she’s saying between the lines.
Something is watching me.
Watching us.
---
Damien’s POV
She hasn't come out of her room in hours.
And I don’t like it.
I know what silence means in this house.
It’s not peace. It’s preparation.
I knock.
No answer.
I open the door.
She’s sitting on the floor, laptop open, face pale.
“What is it?”
She doesn’t speak.
Just turns the screen to face me.
I read the message.
Then again.
My blood runs cold.
“She contacted you,” I say.
Lyra nods. Her voice is hoarse. “Why now?”
I don’t answer.
Because the real question isn’t why now.
It’s who else knows she did.
---
I take the laptop and wipe it.
Trace the message source.
But it’s bounced through so many layers, it’s impossible to tell where she sent it from.
Could be across the city.
Could be two floors up.
What scares me most is the last sentence.
> “Or worse—get him killed.”
She’s warning Lyra.
About me.
Or about someone pretending to be me.
Which means only one thing:
There’s another player in the game now.
---
Lyra’s POV
He paces the room like a caged animal.
I’ve never seen him like this.
“Talk to me,” I say.
He doesn’t stop.
Just mutters, “It’s happening again.”
“What is?”
He looks up. Something raw behind his eyes.
“When Jade ran… I thought I was being careful. I thought I could outsmart them. I thought no one else knew what we were doing.”
I whisper, “Who’s ‘them’?”
He doesn’t answer.
And that terrifies me more than anything.
---
Later that night, I go back to Jade’s room.
Not to snoop.
Just to… feel close to her.
Even if she left me.
Even if she lied.
I sit on her bed.
And feel it shift.
Something’s under the mattress.
I reach beneath.
And find a second flash drive.
This one has a single label on it.
> “In case he lies.”
---
- Writer
