Shadows of His Promise

Secrets in the Shadows

The next morning, New York City was drenched from the storm the night before. The sidewalks reflected a pale sunrise, but Avery did not find peace. She had spent the evening holed up in her apartment, replaying it in her head. the messages, the blackout, the bullet casing.

She always closed her eyes to see Ethan's face beneath the pale emergency light, his face incomprehensible.

She had already reached Morgan Industries headquarters at 8 a.m. The office was abuzz with subdued tension. Rumors circulated like wildfire. It appeared that everyone knew something went wrong at the dinner, but no one would say anything.

Lila greeted her as soon as she stepped out of the elevator. "Ms. Morgan, our IT department informs us that our servers were hacked again this morning."

Avery stood frozen. "Again?

"Yes. Around 2:30. Same access profile, someone with your ID."

Her heart racing. "Lock the system down. I want a full security trace, now."

Lila nodded and ran off. Avery stood in her glass office, gazing out at the city skyline, the picture of the city merging with her own agonized face. Like five years ago all over again. Secrets. Accusations. Ethan.

And betrayal.

Two hours later, Ethan appeared in her office unannounced.

He looked like he hadn't slept either. His collar was unbuttoned on his shirt, jaw shadowed. Something rough seemed to attend him, something not of the groomed billionaire type he usually presented himself as.

"We need to talk," he stated flatly.

Avery crossed her arms. "Either about the hacker, or about someone attempting to kill us last night?

"Both." He shut the door. "I ran a system check this morning. The same IP used to access your files used to access one of my company's encrypted databases three minutes later. Whoever it is, they're after both of us."

Avery frowned. "So you think it's an inside job?"

"I know it is." Ethan placed a printed file on her desk. "This is a record of all access attempts over the past seventy-two hours. Examine the last one."

Avery read the page, then stopped.

Her stomach tightened. "This can't be correct."

"It's correct," Ethan replied quietly.

The last access was logged to one of her most trusted workers, Lila Thompson.

Avery's hands trembled. "Lila has been with me since the beginning. She'd never do this."

"I believed the same about my COO five years ago," Ethan replied. "Until he sold my designs to our competitors for ten million."

Avery stared at him with a bitter look. "That's why you fled to another nation, isn't it?"

Ethan's face grew icy. "It was one of the reasons."

Silence fell between them. Avery's gaze drifted to the window, her mind racing. Lila? Her loyal assistant who'd worked long hours of overtime with her, who'd tolerated late nights and chaos? No, this did not compute.

Unless someone had taken advantage of her access without her knowledge.

"I'll have a word with her."

Ethan's head was shaking. "Not yet. If she's involved, taking her in now will only make her hide the evidence."

"Then what do you suggest?"

"Let me do it."

She stared at him. "You can't just—"

"I can and I will," he interrupted, his tone crisp. "Whoever is doing this is trying to push us against each other. We will not allow that to happen again."

Avery froze. The words again hung between them like an old scar that had been ripped open.

Her voice softened, against her will. "You think we can trust each other after what happened before?"

He stepped in closer, his gaze locked onto hers. "I don't easily give trust these days, Avery. But I do know what betrayal is. And it isn't you."

Her ribcage was compressing. For an instant, the world outside their glass walls didn't exist.

Then her phone buzzed for the second time.

She automatically grabbed for it, but the screen was blank. No messages. Instead of the white space, a photo flickered on the screen for one second, a still photo of her and Ethan standing together in front of La Scala the night before.

Her heart froze. "Someone just took this photo."

Ethan walked around the desk, his jaw clenched. "Send it."

She tried, but the picture disappeared. Deleted.

There was a chill that went down her veins. "They have them in my phone too."

Ethan stroked his hair. "It is not about business. Whoever it is, they are watching all our actions."

The door creaked and Lila walked in with a folder. "Ms. Morgan, the security team managed to trace the source of the breach."

Avery cut her off bluntly. "Who was it?"

Lila trembled, her voice unsteady. "They said it came from our internal network. From my terminal. But I promise, I didn't do anything."

Ethan's expression didn't alter. "You didn't leave your post last night?"

"Yes, for ten minutes. I stepped away to get a cup of coffee while the system was refreshing. When I came back, everything seemed okay."

Avery stared at Ethan. "That's enough to generate fake access logs."

He nodded. "So there is someone in your office secretly battling you both."

Lila looked as if she'd seen a ghost. "Ms. Morgan, do I call the police?"

Avery shook her head. "Not just yet. If it's someone close, I don't want to scare them off."

Lila nodded and left the office. As soon as the door closed behind her, Avery turned to Ethan. "She's scared. She's not our enemy.".

Ethan remained silent for a long time. Then he went to the door. "Perhaps not. But whoever it is, wants us off guard. And at the moment, they're winning."

He was gone before she could respond.

Avery stood by herself in her office, looking out over the city once more. The morning light had become hard and unyielding, glinting off each glass skyscraper like a knife.

Then her phone vibrated again, private call, no ID.

She stopped, then answered. "Hello?"

A distorted voice echoed, metallic and unpleasant.

"You were warned, Avery Morgan. But since you chose not to listen to your warning, maybe you'll know when someone you care about disappears."

The call ended.

Her knees nearly gave way. She grasped the side of the desk, her heart pounding in her head.

"Disappear?" she whispered.

Her phone vibrated once more. This time it wasn't a call. It was a photo.

The picture had Lila, who stood in front of the Morgan Industries building, looking confused, having just been snapped seconds before.

And towering over her in the background, barely discernible in the reflection off a passing car window, was the dark-hooded figure of a man.

Avery's hands shook as she stared at the photo. Lila, walking outside the building, unaware of the hooded figure standing behind her in the reflection. Her throat tightened. She grabbed her phone and called Lila's number.

It rang once. Twice. Then went to voicemail.

"Lila, it's me. Call me back the moment you receive this.".

She slammed down the receiver and grabbed her jacket. Nothing, not even a business emergency, took precedence over her assistant's well-being. She tore out of her office, ignoring her employees' startled glances.

Ethan was already in the elevator when she arrived, as if he'd been waiting.

"I saw the message," he said quietly.

Her eyes widened. "How?

“It appeared on my phone too. Whoever is behind this is sending it to both of us now.”

The elevator doors closed, sealing them inside. Avery turned to him. “We have to find her. That message said.”

“I know what it said,” Ethan cut in. “I already sent my security team to trace her phone signal. They’ll update us as soon as they find anything.”

Avery tried to slow down her breathing. "If anything happens to her."

"It won't," Ethan said, his voice steady.

The sincerity in his voice caught her off guard. For a moment, she saw the Ethan she knew before everything fell apart. The man who had promised to protect her at all costs.

But those promises had been incinerated five years ago.

As the doors of the elevator opened, they stepped into the street. The city was its usual chaos, cars honking, people running, yet somehow it all seemed sharper, more threatening.

A black SUV pulled up beside them. Ethan's head of security, a hulking man named Marcus, stepped out.

"We traced the phone signal," Marcus said. "Last ping was near the East River docks, Pier 19. Then it went dead."

Avery's chest tightened. "The docks? That's industrial."

Ethan nodded grimly. "And all but empty during the day."

They climbed into the SUV. The drive through the city felt like an eternity. Avery stared out the window, her reflection superimposed over the skyline. Her head spun, churning over who would want to hurt her or Ethan. Who would kidnap Lila?

Ethan sat beside her, silent but alert, his phone in hand. Every few minutes, he received updates from Marcus’s team. Nothing yet.

Finally, they reached the old docks. The area smelled of salt and oil. Seagulls screamed above the empty warehouses.

Marcus signaled his men to spread out. “We’ll sweep the perimeter.”

Avery followed Ethan to a warehouse near the end of the pier. The huge metal doors stood open, swaying in the wind.

"Wait back," Ethan whispered.

The air within was damp and cold. Footsteps echoed on the concrete. Avery's heart thudded against her chest. Then, somewhere, distantly, she heard something, a phone ringing.

She turned in the direction of the sound. There, next to a stack of crates, was Lila's phone, screen cracked, buzzing on the ground.

Avery started forward, but Ethan grabbed her wrist. "Wait."

He bent and carefully picked it up. "Still warm. She was here recently."

Avery's voice trembled. "Then where is she now?"

His answer was interrupted by Marcus's voice over the earpiece. "We found something behind the storage units."

They ran outside. Marcus stood by a dumping dock, pointing to a shred of ripped fabric on a nail, light pink, the same color as the blouse Lila had on that morning.

Avery's face turned pale. "That's hers."

Marcus's expression was grim. "There's more." He pointed to a tire track in the mud, leading away from the warehouse. "The car's been here within the last hour."

Ethan's jaw tightened. "Get recordings from nearby traffic cameras. Someone must have spotted that car."

Marcus nodded and rushed off to make the call.

Avery slumped against a crate, her eyes blurring. "This is my fault. I should have taken the warning."

Ethan crouched in front of her. "No. Whoever is doing this, they've been planning it long prior to last night. You're not to blame.".

She looked for any trace of dishonesty in his eyes but saw only resolve. "You sound like you care again."

He exhaled softly. "I never stopped."

Her heart clenched. They were back in the past again for a moment, before lies, before heartbreak. That vision faded when Marcus returned.

"Sir, we've got a match on the vehicle," he said. "Black sedan, no plates, but the camera caught the driver for a split second."

He handed Ethan a tablet. Avery leaned in to see. The picture was grainy but clear enough to discern one thing that made her blood run cold.

The driver was a woman.

And not just any woman.

It was Sabrina Hart, Ethan's former assistant.

Avery's voice was barely a whisper. "That's impossible. She disappeared years ago."

Ethan's grip on the tablet tightened. "She didn't disappear. She's back."

Avery's gaze was locked on him. "Do you have any idea what this means?"

He nodded slowly. "It means the person doing all of this isn't just after us. They're someone who knows every secret we've tried to bury.".

Avery might respond, Ethan's phone vibrated again. Another message appeared, and they both read it at the same time.

> One betrayal deserves another. You took everything from me. Now you'll watch everything you love vanish, starting with her.

Avery's eyes widened. "They're talking about Lila."

Ethan's eyes darkened. "No. They're talking about you.".

Avery turned to him, a confused expression on her face, but before she could utter a word, the shriek of squealing tires pierced the dockyard.

A car appeared from the back of the warehouse and came speeding straight for them.

Ethan grabbed Avery's hand and pulled her onto the deck just as the car crashed through the wooden railing, splinters flying in all directions.

The vehicle stopped a couple of feet away, revving its engine. The driver's window rolled down.

And in the tinted glass, Avery saw a face she never thought she would lay eyes on again, one that belonged in the past that destroyed everything.

Her voice shattered in a whisper. "It's her…"

The car door opened.

And the horror from five years ago stepped out.