Chapter Four: A Thorn In The Silk
604 Words
The hallway was ink-black as Tari crept along the southern corridor, heart pounding with every step. Each marble tile beneath her feet felt like a warning bell, each shift of the shadows a threat. The silence wrapped around her like a velvet noose.
Midnight. Just like the note said.
She counted the security cameras — seven between her bedroom and the south wing — and ducked into blind spots, rehearsed from memory. Dora once said, “This house is a palace of glass. But even glass has its corners.”
She reached the old linen closet beside the servant stairs.
And waited.
Then… the door creaked open from the inside.
Jericho pulled her in with quiet urgency, his hand covering her mouth as he pressed her against the wall. His body was all heat and tension, his breath fast, but his eyes calm — calculating.
“Don’t scream,” he whispered.
She didn’t.
He pulled back slowly, giving her space. “You followed the note.”
“You wrote it?”
“No,” he said, “but I made sure you got it.”
---
The hidden room was a narrow crawlspace between walls — once used by staff during the estate’s older days. Jericho led her deeper into the dark, away from the cameras and ears.
“You’re not safe here,” he said finally, his voice low. “I don’t mean just from Felix.”
She stared at him. “Then why are you helping me? You work for him.”
“Correction: I work under him. Doesn’t mean I serve him.”
Tari’s breath caught. “You’re one of them.”
His jaw tightened. “Was.”
“What changed?”
He looked at her — something fierce, and mournful, in his eyes. “My sister.”
Tari’s heartbeat slowed. “What happened?”
“She was one of the brides.” He paused. “Bride Number Three. Married into the system. Vanished within six months. I found her journal, hidden in an old vent. That’s how I learned what they do — the conditioning, the surveillance, the... obedience program.”
Tari’s legs felt weak. She leaned against the wall, hands trembling.
“They’re not just training wives,” Jericho said. “They’re building assets. Women who look perfect. Who speak when told. Who sign over everything without question. Investments in human form.”
Tari whispered, “And me?”
He exhaled. “You’re Bride Number Seven. But you’re the first one they fear.”
---
Flashback – Felix & Jericho (Three Years Ago)
In the back of an armored vehicle, Felix sat across from a younger Jericho — cleaner-shaven, angrier.
“You want in?” Felix asked. “You prove yourself.”
“How?”
“There’s a woman. Brilliant. Defiant. Headstrong.” Felix handed him a file. Tari’s picture was paperclipped to the top. “I want her.”
Jericho stared at the file. “To protect?”
“To own.”
Jericho’s hands clenched, but he nodded. “Understood.”
But he never truly did.
Not until now.
---
Present
Back in the crawlspace, Tari took a slow breath. “What do you want from me?”
Jericho’s voice was soft now. “To help you. But you have to trust me. And if we’re going to survive this, we have to move fast.”
“Why now?”
“Because Felix is planning to transfer you. To the next stage.”
Tari blinked. “What stage?”
Jericho looked away. “Let’s just say... once you cross that line, there’s no version of you left.”
- Writer
