Bound to his Dark Vow

The Wrong Badge

Nobody moved.

The voice outside came again.

"Police. Open the door."

Daniel glanced at Adrian.

"What do we do?"

Adrian didn't answer immediately.

He walked toward the entrance and looked through the security monitor.

Two men stood outside.

Both wore police uniforms.

One of them looked directly at the camera.

Then he raised his hand and knocked again.

Adrian's expression changed.

"That's not the police."

My stomach dropped.

"How do you know?"

"The uniforms are wrong."

Daniel moved closer to the monitor.

"He's right. Look at the badges."

I stared at the screen.

The badges were too small to see clearly.

But Adrian had already reached for his phone.

"I'm calling the station."

He made the call while Daniel moved toward the side entrance.

A few seconds later, Adrian lowered the phone.

"There's no police unit assigned to this address."

My mouth went dry.

"So they're here for me."

"Most likely."

The men outside knocked again.

This time, harder.

Adrian turned to us.

"Go upstairs."

I didn't argue.

For once, I knew better.

Daniel followed me toward the staircase while Adrian remained downstairs.

Halfway up, I heard a loud crash.

The front door.

Someone had forced it open.

I stopped.

Daniel grabbed my arm.

"Keep moving."

We reached the upper hallway.

I looked back.

Adrian was standing at the bottom of the stairs.

One of the men had entered the house.

He wasn't holding a weapon, but there was something in his expression that made it obvious he hadn't come to talk.

Adrian said something I couldn't hear.

The man answered.

Then another person entered behind him.

Daniel pulled me into a room and shut the door.

"Stay here."

"Where are you going?"

"To help Adrian."

"Daniel—"

He was already gone.

I locked the door.

My breathing became uneven.

I stood completely still, listening.

Footsteps.

Voices.

Then silence.

I looked around the room.

It appeared to be a study.

Books lined the walls, and an old wooden desk sat beside the window.

I moved toward it.

There was something strange about the desk.

One drawer was slightly open.

I pulled it out.

Inside were several old documents.

I knew I shouldn't touch them.

But then I saw a familiar name.

Jonathan Marlowe.

My hands trembled as I picked up the file.

The first page contained a photograph of my grandfather.

Underneath it was a date.

Twenty-three years ago.

I turned the page.

There was a handwritten note.

If anything happens to me, the original records are in the place where it all began.

I read it twice.

The place where it all began.

What did that mean?

Before I could think about it, I heard footsteps outside the room.

I quickly put the file back.

The handle moved.

I stepped away from the door.

It moved again.

Then stopped.

A voice came from the other side.

"Elena?"

It was Adrian.

I unlocked the door.

He stepped inside and closed it behind him.

"Are you hurt?"

"No."

He looked at me carefully.

"Good."

"What happened downstairs?"

"It's handled."

"Who were they?"

"We don't know yet."

I stared at him.

"That's becoming your favorite answer."

He almost smiled, but the expression disappeared quickly.

Then his eyes fell on the desk.

"You were looking through that?"

I shook my head.

"No."

He walked toward it.

I knew immediately that he didn't believe me.

Before he could open the drawer, I spoke.

"I found something."

He stopped.

"What?"

"My grandfather left a message."

I told him what I'd seen.

His expression became serious.

"What did it say?"

I repeated the sentence.

Adrian was silent.

Then he looked toward the window.

"The place where it all began."

"You know what it means."

"I have an idea."

"What?"

He turned toward me.

"The old Blackwood factory."

I frowned.

"What factory?"

"It was abandoned years ago."

"Why would my grandfather leave something there?"

Adrian looked at the file.

"Because that's where he and my father first discovered the missing money."

A noise sounded downstairs.

We both turned.

Daniel's voice echoed through the hallway.

"Adrian!"

Adrian opened the door.

"What?"

Daniel appeared at the end of the corridor.

"We need to leave."

"Why?"

Daniel looked at me.

"Because one of the men got away."

My stomach tightened.

"And he left something behind."

He held up a small black envelope.

Adrian took it.

Inside was a photograph.

He looked at it.

Then handed it to me.

It showed my grandfather standing outside an old factory.

Beside him was Adrian's father.

And in the background was a third man.

Someone I recognized.

My heart stopped.

It was Daniel's father.

I looked at Daniel.

He had gone completely pale.

"That's impossible," he whispered.

Adrian stared at the photograph.

"Apparently not."

For the first time, nobody had an explanation.

And that frightened me more than anything that had happened that night.