Hidden Shadows
772 Words
Selene's POV
I spent the entire bus ride home staring at the offer letter in my hands.
I must have read it at least twenty times.
Congratulations...
The word didn't even feel real anymore.
I got the job.
I actually got the job.
For months I'd been sending applications everywhere, collecting rejection emails like they were souvenirs. Every interview ended the same way.
"We'll call you."
They never did.
But today...
Someone finally believed in me.
I couldn't stop smiling.
The moment I opened our apartment door, the familiar smell of stew filled the tiny living room.
"Mum?" I called.
She appeared from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a faded towel.
The second she saw my face, she froze.
"You got it."
It wasn't a question.
I laughed before throwing my arms around her.
"I got it!"
She hugged me tightly, and for the first time in months, I felt her shoulders relax.
"I knew you would," she whispered.
"No, you didn't."
She laughed.
"No... but I prayed."
I looked around our little apartment.
The peeling paint.
The old sofa we'd repaired more times than I could count.
The tiny dining table that only had three matching chairs because the fourth had broken years ago.
I'd spent my whole life here.
And suddenly...
It didn't feel like a prison anymore.
It felt like the beginning.
"I'm going to take care of us," I promised.
Mum cupped my face.
"You already do."
That night, I couldn't sleep.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw him.
Damien Blackwood.
There was something unsettling about him.
Not because he was handsome.
He was.
Painfully so.
But it was his eyes.
They looked...
Lonely.
Like someone who carried the weight of an entire world without ever asking for help.
I rolled over with a groan.
Why was I thinking about my boss?
I barely knew the man.
Still...
The way he'd looked at me...
It hadn't felt like he was meeting me for the first time.
It felt like...
No.
You're imagining things.
The next morning, I decided to celebrate by buying coffee from the café near the bus station.
The queue was longer than usual.
I checked my phone while waiting.
One missed call.
Unknown number.
I frowned.
I never answered unknown numbers.
As I slipped my phone back into my bag, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
Someone was watching me.
I turned around.
Nothing.
People hurried past without paying me any attention.
A delivery driver loaded boxes into a van.
A woman pushed a pram.
An old man read a newspaper.
I shook my head.
You're being paranoid.
"Miss?"
I turned back towards the cashier.
"Your coffee."
"Oh. Thank you."
I reached for it.
CRASH!
A man slammed into my shoulder.
Coffee spilled across the pavement.
"Oh my gosh!"
"I'm so sorry," he said quickly before disappearing into the crowd.
That was strange.
He hadn't even looked at me.
I sighed.
There goes my celebration.
As I bent to pick up my bag...
I realised the zip was open.
My stomach dropped.
The envelope containing my employment contract...
...was gone.
Damien's POV
"They've made contact."
The words echoed through my office.
I looked at Marcus, my head of security.
"What happened?"
"They staged a distraction."
"Did they take anything?"
He nodded once.
"Her employment contract."
I closed my eyes.
Exactly as I'd expected.
"They're testing us."
Marcus folded his arms.
"Should we tell her?"
"No."
His eyebrows rose.
"She deserves to know."
"No," I repeated.
"The less she knows, the safer she is."
Marcus looked unconvinced.
"They've waited ten years."
"I know."
"They're getting impatient."
"I know."
"They'll come after her again."
I stood and walked towards the window.
Rain tapped softly against the glass.
"They won't touch her."
Marcus was quiet for a moment.
"You sound certain."
"I am."
"Because?"
I turned to face him.
"Because if they want Selene..."
"They'll have to go through me first."
After Marcus left, I unlocked the bottom drawer of my desk.
Inside sat a thick brown file.
Across the front, stamped in bold black letters, was a single word.
CARTER.
Photographs.
Police reports.
Newspaper clippings.
Letters.
Every detail of the tragedy that had changed everything.
I stopped on one picture.
A frightened little girl with tear-stained cheeks stood outside a burning house, clutching a stuffed rabbit.
Selene.
She'd been too young to remember what really happened that night.
But I remembered.
Every second of it.
Because I had been there.
And I'd made a promise to a dying man.
A promise I intended to keep.
Even if it destroyed me.
- Writer
