Smoke and Shadows
1232 Words
Elena didn’t sleep.
She lay in her massive bed, staring at the ceiling she used to pretend was the sky when she was little. Back when the De Luca mansion still felt like home. Back when her father’s voice didn’t sound like the roar of a lion.
A knock came at her door at dawn.
“Go away,” she muttered into her pillow.
The knock came again. Sharper.
She sat up, her hair a mess, mascara still faint under her eyes.
“What?” she snapped, swinging the door open.
Aaron stood there, a fresh shirt unbuttoned at the collar, sleeves rolled up with .
She blinked, startled. “You’re still here?”
He leaned against the doorframe like he owned it. “I had a room prepared. Your father and I had more to discuss.”
She crossed her arms. “Congratulations. I don’t care.” She turned to leave then stopped
Aaron’s gaze swept over her, slow and unreadable. “You cry pretty, you know.”
She nearly slapped him but exercised self-control.
Instead, she stepped forward, chin raised. “You know what’s sad? I think you actually believe you're charming.”
He smirked. “You’re fun when you’re mad. But I didn’t come to flirt.”
“Then why are you here?”
He pulled something from his pocket—a photo. Folded. Worn. He handed it to her.
Elena took it with hesitation. Her breath caught.
It was a grainy shot, taken from a distance. Black and white surveillance quality. But the man was unmistakable.
Liam.
He was stepping out of a building, head down, hoodie up. But even blurred, she recognized the shoulders. The walk. The quiet storm of him.
Her fingers trembled. “Where did you get this?”
Aaron’s tone dropped, like steel under silk. “He’s being watched.”
Elena looked up sharply. “By who?”
Aaron stepped closer. Too close. “That’s the question, isn’t it?
“You don’t know him.”
“I know he’s dangerous. You think I didn’t run background checks after seeing you two leave together?”
Her mouth went dry.
Aaron continued, voice low. “Liam Davies. No registered address. No job on paper. But a name that shows up in whispers. Ex-enforcer for the Marino family in New York. Disappeared five years ago after a shootout left three men dead.”
Elena stared at him. “You’re lying.”
“I wish I was. You think your father would let this marriage happen if he thought you were still seeing someone like that?”
“I’m not seeing him.”
“But you’re thinking about him.” He looked almost... amused. “I can see it all over your face.”
She shoved the photo back into his chest. “Stay out of my business.”
Aaron grabbed her wrist, firm but not cruel. “I’m not your enemy, Elena. You think I want this arrangement? I’m here because I’m tired of being a shadow in my father’s empire. This marriage gives me power. And it gives your father leverage.”
She yanked her hand free. “So we’re just both tools in someone else’s game?”
Aaron nodded slowly. “Pretty much. But here’s the thing, if you run to Liam again, it won’t be your father you have to fear.”
She froze.
“What does that mean?”
Aaron leaned in, whispering. “It means I won’t seat back and watch another man coming close to my territory, I mark my own pretty good”
Meanwhile......
Dominic moved through the warehouse like a ghost.
Empty crates. Dust-covered floors. Old blood on rusted metal.
He stopped at a steel door and knocked four times, two fast, one slow, one fast.
It creaked open, revealing a disheveled man with a scar splitting his upper lip. “Russo.”
“Carmine,” Dominic said coolly.
“You’re late”
Dominic stepped inside. “I don’t work for you.”
Carmine snorted. “Then why are you here?”
Dominic tossed a black and white blur photo onto the table. “I want you to help find someone”
“Who”
Dominic’s jaw tightened. “If i knew, would I ask you to find her?”
Carmine looked up. “You Don’t know her?”
Dominic didn’t answer.
“You better give up the chase.”
“No.”
“How in the world should I find her, Dominic.”
He looked Carmine dead in the eyes. “That’s why I am here.”
Dominic’s voice was barely a whisper. “I need to find her.”
Carmine lit a cigarette, took a long drag, looked Dominic straight in the eyes “Then why? Or you are interested in her?”
Back at the mansion...
Elena paced her room, heart racing.
Liam. Tracked. Hunted. A killer?
No. She didn’t believe it. But the fear was real. Aaron’s warning hadn’t been an empty threat.
She picked up her phone, fingers shaking, trying to decide whether to message him or not.
Well, he was not her business anymore.
A knock came again.
This time, it was her maid.
“Elena,” she said softly, eyes wide, “your father wants to see you. In the study.”
Elena frowned. “Why?”
The maid hesitated. “There’s someone here asking about you. A woman.”
“Who?”
The maid lowered her voice. “She says her name is Cindy.”
Elena’s heart dropped.
No.
Not here. Not now.
Not her.
She stood up slowly, anger crawling up her spine.
If Cindy was here... things were about to get even messier.
And maybe the past Elena was trying to forget had just walked through the front door.
Elena walked toward the study like a storm in heels.
The house was quiet, but her heart wasn’t.
Cindy? Cindy?
Here?
The girl who once braided her hair at sleepovers.
The same one who stabbed her in the back with a smile.
Elena pushed the double doors open.
There she was.
Standing in front of Giovanni De Luca’s towering bookshelf, out of place and uncomfortable in a beige trench coat, her hands nervously clutching the strap of a cheap purse.
“Cindy,” Elena said flatly.
Cindy turned.
And for a moment, both women froze.
No smiles. No hugs. No forced greetings.
Just silence. And years of betrayal between them.
“Elena,” Cindy said softly, eyes wide. “You look... strong.”
“I didn’t ask for compliments,” Elena said, stepping into the room. “I asked why you’re here.”
Giovanni, who had been standing by the fireplace, quietly cleared his throat. “I’ll give you both ten minutes. That’s generous.”
He walked out without waiting for a reply.
As soon as the door shut, Elena crossed her arms. “Start talking.”
Cindy let out a shaky breath. “I know I’m the last person you want to see. But I didn’t come to fight. I came to…….”
Elena laughed, dry and sharp. “How thoughtful. You stole my boyfriend, lied to my face, and vanished. And now you’re my guardian angel?”
“I didn’t know it would end like that”
“You didn’t care how it would end,” Elena snapped. “You only cared that he picked you.”
- Writer
