Old Wounds
1314 Words
The penthouse no longer felt like home after Leo’s drawing.
The walls seemed thinner somehow, as if danger could slip through the cracks at any moment. Shadows stretched longer across the marble floors, and every creak of the old building made Ellie’s pulse jump.
Nobody said it out loud, but they were all waiting for something terrible to happen.
Kael reacted the only way he knew how.
Security doubled overnight.
New cameras covered every hallway. Motion sensors guarded every entrance. Armed guards rotated shifts outside the building twenty-four hours a day. Even the elevators required biometric access now.
And the children had rules.
Strict ones.
“No leaving your rooms after nine except for the bathroom,” Kael announced during breakfast.
Grace immediately slammed her fork down beside her eggs.
“We’re prisoners.”
“We’re protected,” Kael corrected calmly.
“Same thing.”
Despite everything, Ellie nearly smiled.
Grace had inherited Kael’s stubbornness and Ellie’s fire. Even after everything they’d survived, something inside her still refused to bend.
Kai remained silent at the table.
He ate his toast methodically while his eyes moved constantly between the windows, the hallway, and the security monitors mounted near the kitchen.
Always watching.
Always calculating.
Ellie’s chest tightened.
He’s been trained for this, she realized.
Most children learned nursery rhymes.
Kai had learned survival.
Leo barely touched his breakfast.
He pushed scrambled eggs around his plate without looking up once. Since the beach, he hadn’t drawn a single picture.
That frightened Ellie more than the nightmares.
“Leo, sweetheart,” she asked gently, “are you okay?”
The little boy froze.
Then he whispered, “He said not to tell.”
The entire table went silent.
Kael slowly set down his coffee cup.
“Who said not to tell you?”
Leo’s eyes stayed fixed on the tablecloth.
“The man.”
“What man?”
“The one in my dreams.” His voice sounded distant, almost trance-like. “He said if I told anyone, he’d hurt the baby.”
Ellie frowned in confusion.
“What baby?”
Leo finally looked up.
“The one in Mommy’s tummy.”
Silence crashed over the room.
Ellie stared at him.
Then instinctively placed a hand against her stomach.
An hour later she sat in the bathroom staring at two pink lines on a pregnancy test while her hands trembled uncontrollably.
Positive.
Pregnant.
After everything they’d survived, after the fear and trauma and sleepless nights, she hadn’t noticed the signs. She thought the exhaustion came from stress.
Not this.
Never this.
Kael stood quietly in the bathroom doorway watching her.
His expression was unreadable.
“Say something,” Ellie whispered.
For a second he simply stared at the test.
Then at her.
Then slowly, carefully, he crossed the room and knelt in front of her.
“A baby,” he said softly.
His hand rested against her stomach.
“Our baby.”
Fear flickered through Ellie immediately.
“Is that… okay?”
Kael looked up at her, and for the first time in weeks she saw something beyond exhaustion in his eyes.
Hope.
Raw and terrified.
“It’s everything,” he admitted quietly. “But Ellie… Moreau can’t know.”
A bitter laugh escaped her.
“He already does.”
She held up Leo’s drawing from the beach—the faceless figure standing behind them.
“He’s inside our lives already, Kael. Inside our home. Maybe even inside our children’s heads.” Her voice cracked. “How do we fight someone we can’t even see?”
Elena arrived shortly before noon carrying several thick files and a grim expression.
The atmosphere in the penthouse shifted immediately.
“Moreau’s network spans seventeen countries,” she explained while spreading photographs across the dining table. “He never handles things personally. He uses people—doctors, teachers, therapists, nannies, guards. People no one would suspect.”
“Like Dr. Sloan,” Ellie muttered.
“Exactly like her.”
Kael flipped through photographs and reports silently.
Names.
Bank transfers.
Locations.
Disappearances.
“Where is Moreau based?” he asked.
Elena shook her head. “Everywhere and nowhere. He moves constantly.”
“Then we force him into the open.”
Elena looked up sharply. “How?”
Kael leaned back in his chair slowly.
“You said he wants my company.”
“Yes.”
“Then we make him think he can have it.”
Ellie immediately turned toward him. “Kael—”
“It’s bait,” he clarified. “We leak fake documents. Make it look like the company’s collapsing. Make him believe I’m desperate enough to negotiate.”
“And when he comes?”
Kael’s eyes darkened.
“I’ll be waiting.”
That night sleep refused to come.
Ellie lay curled beside Kael with one hand resting protectively against her stomach while the city lights flickered through the bedroom windows.
Kael stared at the ceiling beside her, still awake.
Fear settled heavily between them.
Finally Ellie whispered, “What if we lose again?”
Kael turned slightly. “Lose what?”
“You. The children. This baby.” Her voice trembled. “I can’t survive another fire, Kael. I can’t rebuild everything from ashes again.”
For a long moment he said nothing.
Then he rolled toward her and pulled her tightly into his arms.
“Then we don’t burn,” he whispered. “We fight. We protect each other. We survive.”
“And if surviving isn’t enough?”
He kissed her forehead gently.
“Then we thrive.”
She wanted desperately to believe him.
Then a floorboard creaked in the hallway.
Kael moved instantly.
One second he was beside her.
The next he had a gun in his hand.
“Stay here,” he whispered.
Ellie’s heart pounded as he disappeared into the dark hallway.
Kael moved silently through the penthouse checking every room with practiced precision.
Kitchen.
Office.
Living room.
Nothing.
Then he noticed the children’s bedroom door standing slightly open.
Grace slept curled around her stuffed bear.
Kai lay awake pretending to sleep, eyes barely open as he watched the doorway.
But Leo’s bed was empty.
Kael’s blood ran cold.
He found the boy standing alone in the living room staring out across the city skyline.
“Leo?”
The child didn’t move.
“He told me to wait here.”
Kael tightened his grip on the gun. “Who told you?”
“The man.”
Kael carefully scanned the windows and shadows around the room.
Nothing.
No movement.
No sign of forced entry.
“Leo,” he said quietly, “look at me.”
Slowly the boy turned around.
His eyes looked wrong.
Glassy.
Distant.
Like someone sleepwalking with their eyes open.
“He said to tell you something,” Leo whispered.
Kael forced himself to stay calm.
“What did he say?”
“The queen is already on the board.” Leo tilted his head strangely. “You just can’t see her yet.”
Then suddenly he blinked.
Confusion replaced the empty expression instantly.
“Daddy?”
Kael lowered the gun immediately and crossed the room in seconds, scooping the child into his arms.
“Why am I in the living room?”
“It’s okay,” Kael whispered tightly. “You’re safe.”
But even as he said it, he wasn’t sure he believed it anymore.
A few minutes later Ellie’s phone buzzed on the nightstand.
Unknown Number.
Her stomach tightened as she opened the message.
Beautiful family you’re building.
Shame about the cracks.
Attached beneath the text was a photograph taken earlier that morning at the beach.
A close-up shot of Ellie smiling in Kael’s arms.
Close enough to see every detail on her face.
Close enough to know whoever took it had been standing nearby the entire time.
Watching them.
And none of them had noticed.
- Writer
