Secrets and Lies
897 Words
Niko did not believe in coincidences.
By the time Adrian Vale’s name appeared in one of his case files three days later, he already knew something was wrong.
Rain streaked across the massive windows of his office while the city glowed beneath the darkness outside. The law firm had mostly emptied for the night, leaving only silence and the soft ticking of the expensive clock hanging behind his desk.
Niko flipped through the custody documents slowly.
Adrian Vale.
Business owner.
No criminal convictions.
Clean public image.
But Niko knew better.
Years ago, he had defended men connected to an underground organization involved in money laundering, extortion, and trafficking. Adrian had been younger then. Quieter. Standing in the background while dangerous men made decisions.
Niko remembered his face now.
And that realization sent ice through his veins.
A knock interrupted his thoughts.
Marcus stepped into the office holding two coffees. “You’re still here?”
Niko tossed the file onto the desk. “What do you know about Adrian Vale?”
Marcus frowned immediately. “Bad news.”
“How bad?”
“Connected people. Untouchable people.” Marcus hesitated. “Why?”
Niko leaned back slowly. “He’s trying to take custody of his children.”
“That woman?” Marcus asked carefully. “The one from the café?”
Niko’s silence answered for him.
Marcus sighed heavily. “Niko, don’t do this.”
“Do what?”
“You’re getting personally involved.”
Niko’s expression hardened. “I’m handling a case.”
“No,” Marcus muttered. “You’re protecting someone.”
The room fell silent.
Because for the first time in years, Niko couldn’t deny it.
Later that evening, Niko parked outside Ela’s apartment building just as the rain began again.
He spotted her immediately.
She hurried down the sidewalk carrying grocery bags while talking quietly on the phone, tension visible in every movement.
Then a black SUV slowly turned the corner behind her.
Niko’s body went rigid.
The vehicle crawled forward too deliberately.
Watching.
Following.
Ela noticed it too.
Her pace quickened instantly.
So did the SUV.
Something dark exploded inside Niko.
He stepped directly into the street.
The SUV stopped abruptly inches from him.
For one dangerous second, nobody moved.
Then the driver’s door opened.
A large man stepped out wearing black gloves and a cruel smile.
“You should move,” the man warned.
Niko lit a cigarette calmly despite the rain.
“Or what?”
The man laughed softly. “You don’t know who you’re interfering with.”
“No,” Niko said quietly. “But I know who she belongs to.”
Ela’s breath caught sharply behind him.
The man’s smile vanished.
“She belongs to Adrian.”
Niko’s gray eyes turned glacial.
“No,” he repeated softly. “She doesn’t.”
The tension snapped violently.
The man lunged first.
Niko moved faster.
His fist connected with brutal force, sending the man crashing against the SUV. Pain exploded through his knuckles, but years of buried rage surged through him too powerfully to stop.
The man swung back.
Niko dodged and slammed him against the vehicle hard enough to dent the door.
“Tell Adrian,” Niko growled near the man’s ear, “if he follows her again, I’ll bury him.”
The man spat blood onto the pavement before shoving Niko backward and climbing back into the SUV.
Tires screeched against wet asphalt as the vehicle disappeared into traffic.
Silence followed.
Heavy.
Violent.
Ela stared at Niko in shock.
Rain soaked through his white dress shirt, revealing blood smeared across his knuckles. His chest rose unevenly with restrained fury.
For the first time since meeting him, she looked afraid of him.
Niko noticed immediately.
His expression darkened.
“He sent them after you,” he said quietly.
Ela wrapped her arms around herself tightly. “You could’ve killed him.”
“Maybe I wanted to.”
The honesty in his voice terrified her.
“Niko…”
He turned toward her slowly.
There was still violence lingering behind his eyes. Raw. Uncontrolled.
But beneath it was something worse.
Fear.
Not fear for himself.
Fear for her.
“You don’t understand how dangerous this is,” Ela whispered.
“Then explain it to me.”
Tears burned unexpectedly behind her eyes.
“I left Adrian two years ago,” she admitted shakily. “At first he begged me to come back. Then he threatened me. When that stopped working…” Her voice cracked softly. “He started using the children.”
Niko stayed silent.
Deadly silent.
“He says if he can’t have me, nobody will.”
Rain dripped from Niko’s dark hair as he stepped closer carefully, like approaching a wounded animal.
“Look at me.”
Ela hesitated before lifting her eyes to his.
“I won’t let him touch you.”
The promise in his voice was terrifyingly sincere.
She should have pushed him away.
Should have told him to leave before he destroyed himself trying to save her.
Instead, she whispered the truth she had been avoiding for weeks.
“I think you scare me almost as much as he does.”
Pain flickered briefly across Niko’s face.
But it disappeared just as quickly.
“Difference is,” he said quietly, “I’d rather die than hurt you.”
And somehow that frightened her most of all.
- Writer
